Olympia City Council approves 2023 legislative priorities

The Olympia City Council approved the legislative priorities for 2023, including continuing to support climate change, addressing homelessness and affordable housing, and supporting mental and behavioral health.  

In a previous city council meeting on December 13, Olympia's legislative liaison Susan Grisham presented two-page information on the legislative priorities.

Councilmember Dani Madrone wanted to bump off changes to the property tax levy lid lift from the top of the priority list and replace it with Deschutes Estuary restoration funding.

"I think it is an important issue for all of us," Madrone said of the property tax levy lid lift priority. "But if there is no viable legislation coming forward that we are supporting …we can switch it with the Deschutes Estuary."

Under the legislative priorities, Olympia will support the Department of Enterprise Services State funding request to design and construct the Deschutes Estuary Alternative.

Councilmember Lisa Parshley agreed with Madrone about moving the property tax off the top spot but said she wanted to keep it on the front page.

The council believes the current 1% levy restricts revenue growth when costs increase more than 1% per year.

The city council supported raising the levy lid lift by more than 1% for specific projects or initiatives; and increasing the levy lid lift based on the rate of inflation or 1% annually, whichever is higher.

"I've spoken to legislators who feel it's not that big of a priority for many cities. We need to step up and say yes, it is. We might even want to go to AWC [Association of Washington Cities] over this because then we need some more noise in the legislature about this. It's not raising very high. That's why I want to keep it there," Parshley explained.

Homeownership

Both Madrone and councilmember Yen Huynh agreed to have more homeownership opportunities. They requested Grisham to include more information on condominium reform policy with the hope of increasing the affordable housing supply.

Mental health support and ADA

For Councilmember Dontae Payne, support for mental health and behavioral health resources should also be on the first page.

He said the city council has been discussing the issue repeatedly and the community workgroup from the Reimagining Public Safety process recommended prioritizing mental health issues.

"I would add some language about community-based mental health care, which is important because we tend to treat those needing mental health resources as folks we like to send off somewhere. These are people who live here, and we're asking for funding to treat people and respond to their needs here in our community," Payne instructed Grisham.

Payne also inquired if there is any legislation related to critical infrastructure improvements for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility with sidewalks.

He cited an article that mentioned that Washington State faces an epidemic of inaccessible sidewalks. "It claims that 71% of our city sidewalks do not meet ADA standards. That is pretty significant if it is true. I think we have a real opportunity here as the capital city to lead that conversation and to have the state start to do something with this. It would be great to find out if anything is happening around that," Payne said.

The Legislative priorities include:

Further legislative action related to climate change and statewide climate justice initiatives

• A building electrification program to help residents and building owners transition to all-electric buildings, with an emphasis on ensuring low- and moderate-income residents, multifamily housing, and small businesses are prioritized.
• A point-of-sale vehicle incentive program for zero-emission medium and heavy-duty vehicles, emphasizing small business and high-polluting sectors.
• Updates to land use planning that take into consideration climate change and resiliency.
• State funding for cities and counties and to address climate mitigation and resilience within their comprehensive plans.
• Legislation that reduces packaging and plastics, as well as improves recycling markets in Washington state.

Further state resources and support to address homelessness and affordable housing

• Continued state support for the operation and management of permanent supportive housing sites.
• The creation of new tools, incentives, revenues and resources that cities can use to increase affordable housing supply, including statewide missing middle housing.
• State leadership and support for renter/tenant protections, including rent stabilization and tenant screening.
• State resources for low-income community members to achieve housing stability and pathways to homeownership.

Support mental health and behavioral health resources

• Further state leadership and funding to expand and create better access to mental health and behavioral health resources.
• State investments in education funding for professionals to enter the mental health and behavioral health fields.

Support for tax structure reform

• Making the Washington state tax code more fair, adequate, stable, and transparent.
• Improving Washington state's tax structure to benefit individuals, families, and businesses in Washington state.

Further support regarding public safety reforms

• Funding to help cities with resources related to the ongoing implementation of public safety reforms (i.e. body cameras, Blake decision, etc.)

Further legislative action to reduce gun violence

Further state leadership is needed to put safeguards in place to prevent gun violence in public spaces, expanding the prohibition of open carry to all publicly owned facilities.

Support for $4.5m in grants for parks projects

• Several Olympia Parks projects have been included in the ranked list of projects totaling $3.5M that will be recommended for inclusion in the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program Budget. The funding would support the development of Yelm Highway Park and improvements to Kaiser Woods.
• The Armory has been included in the ranked list of projects totaling $1M that will be recommended for Inclusion in the Washington State Historical Society's Budget. The funding would support critical code improvements, stabilize the building envelope and better ADA accessibility.