Tracking Legislation that May Impact Flagstaff

Each year, the Flagstaff City Council adopts state and federal legislative priorities that drive our advocacy and the work of the city’s lobbyists. Our state priorities include forest health, transportation, affordable housing, workforce development, early childhood education, clean energy, rural broadband access, regulation of investor-owned short-term rentals, and protecting state-shared revenues. Our federal priorities include funding for completing the Rio de Flag flood control project, infrastructure (stormwater, transportation, water), flood control, forest health, rural broadband access, workforce development, Amtrak, and our airport.

Here’s some legislation we’re tracking and that stands to have an impact on Flagstaff. One concerning bill is Senate Bill 1108, which would give Flagstaff businesses a 10% tax credit for the difference between their hourly labor costs and the state’s minimum wage. That part doesn’t sound bad, and I’m guessing many businesses would like to have that tax credit available to them. However, the total amount would then be withheld from the city’s share of state funding. The State’s Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimates that the tax credit would completely wipe out the funding the city receives from State Shared Income Tax – more than $17 million in the first year of implementation.

Ironically, the cuts to core services the city would be forced to make would also impact our business community. Passage of this bill would mean a 20% reduction in operating expenditures in the General Fund, which pays for things like police officers, firefighters and facility maintenance, as well as parks and recreation services.

Senate Bill 1117 would require cities to approve all residential zoning requests and would make all housing types by-right, meaning whatever was proposed in a neighborhood would have to be approved.

House Bill 2543 would appropriate approximately $10.6 million to Flagstaff transportation projects and flood mitigation.

Senate Bill 1224 would restore the $10 million allocation from lottery dollars for the State Parks Heritage Fund for trails, protecting cultural sites and education.

Some of these issues have been priorities for several years, for instance, the Rio de Flag project. Staff and prior councils have secured $52 million for the project and now, in order to remove more than $1 billion in property assets from the flood plain, we continue to engage the U.S. Army Corps, BNSF Railway and the Arizona Department of Transportation to keep the project moving forward as quickly as possible.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act have provided much-needed funding to help us address long-standing capital improvement needs. In fact, without this federal help, we’d have to push some projects farther out and wouldn’t have the means to address others; I know the same is true for many of our partners as well. FBN

By Becky Daggett

Becky Daggett is the mayor of Flagstaff.