AURORA | City lawmakers are hoping next year brings big things, such as pot-club reform, hazmat route regs and the perennial favorite: cash for roads.
Aurora city council members looking to give direction to lobbyists for next year want those things and more from state and federal lawmakers under the state’s Gold Dome and at the U.S. Capitol.
Their priority list is similar to that of 2018, city staff reported to the council this week during the body’s study session.
At the top of the city’s wish list at the state Legislature is how state lawmakers will define “open and public” when it comes to consuming marijuana in public, like “pot clubs.”
“For the 2019 session, the city will support legislation that defines open and public consumption and provides guidance on how to regulate on-premise consumption,” a draft of legislative priorities from the city says.
The city is also concerned about legislation relating to municipal courts, specifically a bill from last year that sought to reform the current bail bond system. “Concerns were raised that the legislation would have left municipal courts without remedies to (incentivize) individuals that frequently fail to appear in court,” the draft priorities said of last year’s bill. That legislation didn’t pass, but city staff say there has been some murmerings of that issue coming back in 2019.
Priorities at the state also include transportation funding, sales tax centralization and a set of Gallagher Amendment-related bills that includes a proposal to “replace Gallagher with a property tax split based on regions, not statewide, and a proposal to temporarily provide ‘backfill’ funding for libraries and fire districts from the general fund.” The draft policies show the city in support of that legislation.
A draft bill that would allow highway authorities and regional transportation authorities to petition the Colorado Department of Transportation to create a hazmat route is off the table, according to Aurora’s draft policies. That’s an issue the city has been watching and instructed the Aurora state delegation to pay close attention to.
I-225 acts as a hazmat route where various toxic materials and oil and gas can easily be transported, but some are eyeing creating another route along E-470. That would cost the Aurora Fire Department approximately $2 million, according to numbers Chief Fernando Gray presented to the city earlier this year.
The city says it’s opposed to any change to the current hazmat route designation statute.
At the federal level, Aurora’s top priority is constructing the I-70/Picadilly Road interchange. The city wants the Colorado Congressional Delegation to support a request for federal funding for the project.
This is the third year the city has made that funding from the Department of Transportation a major priority, but it has failed to lock down a grant. City staff said they would complete an assessment of whether the city should continue to move forward on that avenue of funding.
The city is also asking for support with Buckley Air Force Base, this year the city is specifically pushing Colorado’s delegation to direct future missions to the base. The city has been eyeing the F-35 program.
Water, protecting headwater forests, funding aquatic nuisance species inspection programs, lifting the illegality of banking services in the marijuana industry and increasing certain housing grants specifically for homeless veterans have also made the short list of priorities that may impact the city.
