Richardson City Council Work Session October 7th, 2024
LEGISLATIVE AGENDA PREP
All councilmembers are present as well as City Manager Don Magner and City Secretary Aimee Nemer.
No speakers are present.
The only item on tonight’s agenda is discussing the upcoming legislative session. Police Chief Gary Tittle presents. This is a preliminary discussion. A detailed presentation of the city’s legislative agenda will be presented at a future meeting. City Manager Don Magner notes that Chief Tittle is the Legislative Committee Chair for the Texas Police Chiefs Association.
Chief Tittle notes that the 89th Texas Legislative Session and 119th Congressional Session will begin in January. He also notes that Texas added two congressional seats after redistricting. Richardson contains four state house districts: HD33 (N & NE Richardson), HD70 (NW Richardson), HD102 (S Richardson), and HD112 (Central Richardson). HD70 and HD112 are contested this election. Richardson also contains three state senate districts: SD2 (Central & N Richardson), SD16 (S & W Richardson), and SD8 (Tiny portion SW of PGBT & U.S. 75). Only SD8 is contested this election. Richardson also contains two U.S. congressional districts: CD24 (W Richardson) and CD32 (Rest of Richardson). These are both contested seats this election. The 89th Texas Legislative Session will last from Jan. 14th – June 2nd. Legislators will file bills from Nov. 11th – March 14th. The 119th U.S. Congress begins Jan. 3rd and continues for two calendar years.
Chief Tittle highlights four top areas of concern for forming this year’s legislative agenda. The first is to preserve the ability for locally elected officials to govern responsive to the needs of residents and other stakeholders. The second is to oppose any action that would erode home rule authority of cities or establish unfunded mandates. The third is to support legislation seeking to restore home rule authority eroded prior to this session. The fourth is to support legislation that blocks the prohibition of city councils authorizing public funds used for communicating with legislators and state agencies and for paying membership dues to organizations that hire lobbyists.
Councilman Corcoran asks when the city’s legislative agenda will be finalized. He suggests that they should consider dates of other cities’ agenda ratification and try to be responsive to those agendas. City Manager Don Magner answers that he was considering bringing the legislative agenda before Council on Oct. 21st. Don states that this would give residents two weeks to offer comments and feedback on this agenda.
Councilman Barrios refers to a packet that is not included in the agenda documents or handouts. He asks about two areas under a Public Safety section. This is to support legislation that provides grant funding or resources to protect local police and enhance their ability to serve. Within this, he has questions about sub-bullets two and four. The first is regarding custodial Class C arrests. He asks for clarification that we aren’t advocating for arrests for misdemeanor speeding. Chief Tittle clarifies that the desire is to keep things as they are and allow officer discretion on arresting for Class C misdemeanors. Councilman Barrios asks for examples of Class C misdemeanor arrests. Chief Tittle answers that they are usually related to drugs and paraphernalia.
The second sub-bullet regards opposing legislation that legalizes cannabis. He asks why it would be an issue if it’s decriminalized. Chief again answers that the desire is to keep things the way they are now, keeping cannabis illegal. He adds that this session will focus on defining the different forms of cannabis and different specific chemical compounds to regulate it more effectively. They will also be looking at the strategies other states have implemented to protect youth from using cannabis. He cites a recent executive order from Governor Newsom of California that created a minimum age requirement to purchase hemp products and prohibits any hemp food or beverages. He cites the 2018 Hemp Farm Bill and subsequent 2019 Texas Hemp Farm Bill as reasons some areas are not as effectively regulated today.
Council discusses a cricket game at UTD, National Night Out, Cottonwood Art Festival, and the Boards & Commissions Reception. Then, Council convenes into executive session to conduct an evaluation of the city manager. The footage stops here.