Instructions for Submitting Legislative Proposals for the City of Alexandria's 2024 General Assembly Legislative Package
While January seems very far off, it is time to begin preparing the City’s Legislative Package for the 2024 General Assembly Session. The 2024 Session will be a “long session,” expected to last 60 days, beginning on January 10, 2024. This session will include consideration and of a new biennial budget for the Commonwealth, as well as legislative initiatives.
To give staff sufficient time to prepare a draft package, we are asking you to identify any legislative proposals, budget initiatives, and statements of principal you may want to recommend for inclusion in the City’s package and flesh out these proposals using the forms provided.
In addition to General Assembly priorities, budget initiatives and principles, we are also asking you to identify Federal/Congressional policy priorities, budget initiatives and principles. We will be working with our federal lobbyists to establish a Federal Legislative Package that can be used in our efforts on The Hill and with the Administration.
If you are receiving these materials because you or your staff provide support to a Board or Commission appointed by the City Council, please be certain that this information and these materials are provided to your Board/Commission for their review, discussion, and submission.
We have created separate submission “forms” to be completed and submitted for a legislative priority, a budget initiative, or a statement of principle. These completed forms will provide the information City legislative staff need to draft items for review by staff, consideration by the City Council’s Legislative Subcommittee and, ultimately, by Council as a whole.
- A legislative priority is a specific legislative proposal that the City intends to work with our General Assembly delegation (or other members of the General Assembly) to draft and submit as a bill or resolution. Federal legislative priority proposals may be more general and may not require a bill or resolution. If a Department, Board/Commission or Council Member submits more than one legislative priority, these submissions must be prioritized by importance so that City resources can be focused on key priorities for the session. If you would like to propose changes to an existing legislative priority, please include the current language from the 2023 Legislative Package in your submission and edit, or augment, the existing language using tracked changes.
- A budget initiative is a proposal that the City intends to work with our General Assembly delegation to draft and submit as an amendment to the State budget for the biennium. Federal budget initiatives may be more general and may, instead, focus on the need for additional Federal funding for programs. If more than one budget initiative is submitted by a Department, Board/Commission or Council Member, the requests must be prioritized by importance.
- A legislative or funding statement of principle represents a general position on issues which might be considered by the General Assembly or by Congress. These statements of principle provide direction to City legislative staff on particular issues of importance to the City and allow legislative staff some discretion and flexibility to react immediately to actions that may arise during the session. If you would like to propose changes to an existing statement of principle, please include the current language from the 2023 Legislative Package in your submission and edit, or augment, the existing language using tracked changes.
Accompanying each submission form is an “information sheet.” These sheets will provide additional information to be used by the City Manager, Deputy and Assistant City Managers, and the Legislative Director to make recommendations to Council. In addition, if the proposal is adopted by Council and included in the Legislative Package, to craft testimony, develop background information, prepare outreach materials, and draft bill language.
If you have any questions about the “practicality” of pursuing particular proposals, or would like assistance in drafting your proposal, please contact Sarah Taylor to discuss the pros/cons, previous legislative attempts by the City, or to answer any other questions you may have about submission or use of the forms.
SUBMISSION PROCEDURE AND TIMEFRAME:
Completed forms submitted by Departments and Council Members should be submitted by September 22, 2023. The Legislative Director will compile all draft submission forms for consideration and will work with the City Manager, Deputy and Assistant City Managers, and Department heads to fully vet all submissions.
BOARD/COMMISSION SUBMISSION PROCEDURE AND TIMEFRAME:
Submissions from Boards and Commissions must be endorsed by the full entity and may not be proposals by individual Board/Commission members. In order to accommodate Board/Commission schedules and summer breaks, all requests for proposals/positions should be submitted by October 6, 2023. Boards and Commissions may also recommend that existing positions be retained in the Legislative Package.
All items submitted by Boards and Commissions will be presented to Legislative Subcommittee as items for their consideration, though these items may be edited or augmented to ensure Council receives any necessary additional background information from City staff.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- Please focus proposals on needs rather than wants and prioritize proposals that will help us advance work that is already underway (deliver a service more efficiently, implement a project more quickly, etc).
- The Package will be crafted around the City Council Priorities – please focus on proposals that fall within and support our efforts to achieve the goals set forth in these Priorities.
- Please make your proposals as actionable as possible.
- If your proposals are scalable in any way, please indicate how they could be scaled up/down, depending on the political environment/budget picture/other unknown variables.
- If you submit more than one proposal, please prioritize them in some way.
- Note that our Legislative Package will, again, be broken out into Legislative Principles and Legislative Priorities. For reference, the 2023 Legislative Package is available here to refresh your memory.