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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution - 3477 - Adopt City Of Lubbock 1991 Legislative Program - 10_22_1990Resolution # 3477 October 22, 1990 Item # 14 DGV:dw RESOLUTION WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Lubbock deems it to be in the best interest of the citizens of the City of Lubbock to request that the Texas Legislature enact certain legislation during the 1991 legislative session to benefit the City of Lubbock and its citizens; and WHEREAS, the City of Lubbock desires to forward to the Texas Municipal League certain position comments prepared by the City of Lubbock pertaining to the resolutions of the Texas Municipal League for inclusion in the Texas Municipal League's 1991 legislative package; and WHEREAS, the City Council desires to authorize the Mayor of the City of Lubbock to sign such resolutions of the City of Lubbock as may be hereafter prepared for submission to the Texas Legislature in accordance with the City of Lubbock's legislative proposals; NOW THEREFORE: BE IT AUTHORIZED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LUBBOCK: THAT the City Council of the City of Lubbock hereby endorses and supports the attached City of Lubbock 1991 legislature program proposals and hereby requests and encourages the Texas Legislature to consider passage of such proposed legislation; and THAT the City Council of the City of Lubbock hereby forwards the attached position comments to the Texas Municipal League for consideration in drafting the final resolutions contained in the Texas Municipal League's 1991 legislative program package; and THAT the Mayor of the City of Lubbock is hereby authorized and directed to sign such additional resolutions of the City of Lubbock as may be necessary to promote the City of Lubbock's position with regard to legislative proposals for the 1991 session of the Texas Legislature; and THAT the final legislative proposal package of the Texas Municipal League is hereby approved and endorsed by the City Council of the City of Lubbock, Texas. Passed by the City Council this 22nd day of anette Boyd, city Secretary October , 1990. B . C . Mc' I N MAYORi APPROVED AS TO CONTENT: APPROVED AS TO FORM: 2P s �-- a � Z\. Bob Cass, Deputy City Manager ald G. n ive , irst Assistant City Attorney �%4t g� 17 DRAFT Dear The members of the Lubbock City Council are appreciative of the service that you have provided the citizens of Lubbock and of the State of Texas in the Texas Legislature. The City Council has prepared this legisla- tive agenda for your information and hope that this material will be of benefit to you and your staff. The 1991 Legislative Program for the City of Lubbock contains fourteen specific legislative issues that reflect the City Council's general overall legislative philosophy. The City of Lubbock works closely with the Texas Municipal League to determine the position on issues that mutually affect all Texas cities. A summary of these priorities is also enclosed for your information. The City of Lubbock has designated a member of our staff, Bob Cass, Deputy City Manager, to serve as the legislative coordinator for the 1991 Legislative Session. Should you or members of your staff need any information or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Cass, members of the City Council or other members of our staff. The City of Lubbock understands the many responsibilities that you have during the legislative session, and we very much appreciate the cooperation that you extend to the citizens of Lubbock. Sincerely, .000 C� ` r B. C. "Peck" McMinn Mayor BCM:ytb N-6 CITY OF LUBBOCK 1991 LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS CITY OF LUBBOCK 1991 LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM Executive Summary ...................................... ............1-2 Article 45.54--Language................................................3 Article 6663-C Amendments............................................4-5 Amendment to Article 6687-C Motor Vehicle Code.........................6 Change in Law to Allow Use of Signature Stamps .........................7 Change in Law to Protect Magistrates.....................................8 Change in Statutory Limits on Fines....................................9 Collection of Hotel/Motel Taxes........................................10 Increasing Allowed Restitution Under Deferred Adjudication ............ 11 Pawnshop Regulations Amendment........................................12 Reproduction Fees..................................................13-14 1/2 Cent Sales Tax uses and provisions.................................15 Sale of Wines at Airport. .. ...................................... 16 Texas Local Government Code Amendments.............................17-18 CITY OF LUBBOCK 1991 LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM The Lubbock City Council develops a legislative program prior to the commencement of the biennial Texas Legislative Session. The legislative program is developed to communicate the City Council's position on vari- ous bills and issues to state legislators. These recommendations should provide adequate information on how a particular bill or issue will affect the City of Lubbock. Through participation in the State Legislative process, the Council seeks to ensure that the citizens continue to receive the most efficient and effective use of their tax dollars. The Council looks forward to working with our legislators during the 1991 Legislative Session and appreciate the favorable attention that we have received in. the past. There are fourteen issues that the City of Lubbock would like to see addressed during the 1991 Legislative Session. Some of the key propos- als in this year's legislative package include: 1) COLLECTION OF HOTEL/MOTEL TAXES: The City of Lubbock has proposed changes in the law relating to the collection of Hotel/Motel Taxes. This is an effort to improve the City of Lubbock's ability in collecting unpaid Hotel/Motel Taxes, which are oftentimes difficult, if not impossible, to collect. 2) CHANGE IN STATUTORY LIMITS ON FINES: In an effort to improve enforcement of certain violations, the City of Lubbock proposes that the maximum amount of certain fines be raised. 3) INCREASING ALLOWED RESTITUTION UNDER DEFERRED ADJUDICATION: The City of Lubbock proposes that the allowed amount of fine, in cases of deferred adjudications, be increased up to the amount of the actual damage done by the defendant. -1- Page Two 4) PAWN SHOP REGULATIONS AMENDMENT: The City of Lubbock would propose a number of changes in the Texas Consumer Credit Commission's regulations relating to pawn shops. We feel these proposed amendments will serve to increase the rep- utability of pawn shops, as well as decrease the use of pawn shops for the furthering of illegal activities. 5) 1/2 CENT SALES TAX USES AND PROVISIONS: The City of Lubbock supports the recommendation of the City of Midland that allows cities to impose a 1/4 cent sales tax for eco- nomic development use and a 1/4 cent sales tax for Tran- sit/Transportation use. Current state law requires the entire 1/2 cent (if adopted) be used only for one of these provisions. -2- ARTICLE 45.54-LANGUAGE Currently, Article 45.54 Code of Criminal Procedure, relating to deferred adjudication, uses the term"Justice of the Peace" when referring to those judges who have authority under the particular statutory section. We would propose that the language be changed. such that the term "Municipal Court Judge" is included. The current language is liberally interpreted to include Municipal Court Judges. This change would help to clarify this. -3- ARTICLE 6663-C AMENDMENTS We would propose the following amendments to Article 6663-C regarding the administration and funding of mass transportation: 1) An amendment stating that all discretionary money would stay within the same category and not be transferred into other categories; that is, MTA (20%), Small cities (40%), Rural transit systems (50%). A. This amendment would prevent discretionary funds which have been allocated to small cities from going to rural systems. 2) An amendment stating that funds be split between existing transit systems and new starts; 95% would go to existing transit systems. for the smaller cities, with the remaining 5% set aside to help new transit systems get started. Funds not used for new starts will be returned to discretionary funds to be used by other small cities in the second year of the biennium. B. At the present time, there are 24 cities with populations between 50,000 and 2.00,000. Thirteen of these cities already operate a transit system and would then qualify for 95% of the funds. If the other eleven cities decided to start a transit system, they would qualify for the remaining 5% of the funds. 3) An amendment stating that the 95% funding for small cities be. either designated as one-year grant only or spread over a two-year period with a state contract being automatically renewed for the second year. 4) An amendment stating that the funding level for the State Public Transportation Fund be doubled for this biennium appropriation or a minimum of $15 million dollars. Source of funding would be from the non -dedicated highway funds. C. Article 6663C states that the city can use State Public Transportation funds in the following ways: 1) 65% of local share can be used for capital and planning funds. -4- Article 6663-C Amendments Page Two 2) 50% of local share can be used for operating expenses.. 5) An amendment stating that the designated recipient status for small cities be grandfathered such that cities with populations. between 50,000 and 200,000 permanently remain the designated recipients. If these amendments pass, the City of Lubbock would be eligible for approximately $600,000 over the biennium. -5- AMENDMENT TO ARTICLE 6687-C MOTOR VEHICLE CODE Under current law, with the agreement of the County and the Department of Public Safety, a City can implement a procedure such that a driver will be refused his automobile registration and/or his driver's license will be revoked if he has outstanding traffic warrants. The statute authorizing this applies only to home -rule cities with a population of not less than 380,000. We would propose that the population requirement be lowered such that Lubbock and other cities like it would be able to implement and take advantage of this procedure. CHANGE IN LAW TO ALLOW USE OF SIGNATURE STAMPS The current case law in Texas holds that a judge who signs a warrant or other court document by using a signature stamp will not be extended judicial immunity in event the judge or court is sued for alleged civil rights or other statutory violations. In courts the size of Lubbock's, the judge ends of having to sign literally hundreds, if not thousands, of warrants and other documents in order to guarantee that if there is a lawsuit arising out of any of those documents, he will not lose or waive his judicial immunity. This is obviously an onerous burden on judges which we feel needs to be addressed by the legislature. We propose a change in the case law to allow judges in jurisdictions encompassing 100,000 or more population to use a signature stamp on warrants and other official documents without the risk of being sued and losing judicial immunity. -7- CHANGES IN LAW TO PROTECT MAGISTRATES Current law dictates that Municipal Court Judges are to arraign juvenile offenders outside the presence of law enforcement officers. That is, no law enforcement officer, including bailiffs are to be present whenever a magistrate or judge arraigns or takes the statement of a juvenile. Only the juvenile and the judge may be present in the courtroom. The hazards posed by the current law are obvious. The judge is left alone with a potentially violent and/or volatile juvenile. As current law does not allow magistrates to carry weapons, the judge or magistrate is vulnerable to assault by a possibly dangerous juvenile. We propose that a change be made in the law in this respect. We propose that the law be changed in such a way as to provide protection for magistrates. Allowing the presence of a law enforcement officer (i.e. a Bailiff), will achieve this desired end. CHANGE IN STATUTORY LIMITS ON FINES Other than zoning, safety and health code violations, the current maximum fine amount cannot exceed $200 per violation. This is not realistic, punitive or effective in some cases. By increasing the amount of fines for the Class C jurisdiction courts, the jurisdiction of such courts could be better enforced and respected under certain circumstances. We propose a change in the statutory limits of Municipal Court to allow a jurisdictional fine of up to $500, at least for certain offenses. MS COLLECTION OF HOTEL -MOTEL TAXES According to current state law, unpaid hotel/motel taxes do not run with the land. This is true even if the unpaid taxes are reduced to a judgement. In such cases the only alternative available is a suit for the amount from the prior owner. Unfortunately, this is often a very difficult matter to pursue as many times the prior owners are from foreign countries, are very mobile, or are otherwise judgement -proof. We would request that the Property Code and/or Tax Code and/or Civil Practice and Remedies Code be amended such that the unpaid taxes will attach to the land. This will allow us to either collect from the new owner or collect from the former owner at the time the transaction closes. -10- INCREASING ALLOWED RESTITUTION UNDER DEFERRED ADJUDICATION Under current law, a court can order restitution against the: defendant only up to the amount of the fined jurisdiction (i.e. up to $200); however, in many circumstances, the amount of damage done by a defendant against a person exceeds that amount. We propose that a Municipal Court be allowed to increase its jurisdictional amount for the purpose of requiring restitution under deferred adjudication. The Court should be. allowed to order restitution beyond the amount of the fine, notwithstanding that the fine amount itself cannot exceed $200. PAWN SHOP REGULATIONS AMENDMENT The Texas Consumer Credit Commission recently promulgated proposed regulations governing the operation of pawn shops. The proposed regulations appeared in the July 27, 1990 edition of the Texas Register. We would support the propsoed regulations in the following areas: Holding: The period during which pawned items must be held before they can be resold should be extended from seven days to thirty days. Identification: Hours: Loans: "Any time a pawn loan or purchase is made, the pawnbroker must require that the customer show acceptable identification which contains a photograph of the customer." In addition, the regulations provide that "a thumbprint of the person pawning, pledging or selling items to the pawnbroker or pawn shop shall be required, in a form approved by the Chief of Police, access to the prints will be restricted and not disclosed to the general public. Such prints will only be used by the Police Department for law enforcement purposes." Pawn shops will not be allowed to operate twenty-four hours a day. The businesses may not open after 9:00 p.m. or before 7:00 a.m. The change is intended to make it more difficult for thieves to pawn items stolen in late night burglaries. Pawnbrokers should not be allowed to give loans to anyone under 18 years of age, nor should they be allowed to give loans to anyone they believe to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Purchases: Pawnbrokers should be prohibited from purchasing any merchandise which appears to be the property of a rental company, motel, training school, construction company, or other business unless the seller shows proof of ownership. -12- REPRODUCTION FEES Article 6252-17a currently allows cities to charge a fee for copies made unless the request is for 50 pages or less. This excludes many requests for things such as accident and police reports, as well as other public records as they ,are quite often less than 50 pages in length. We propose that an amendment be made such that cities would be allowed to charge the same fee that the Texas Department of Public Services is now allowed to charge via Article 701(d), Section 47. Specifically, we would request that Section 9(a, b & h) be amended to read as follows: Section 9(a): The cost to any person requesting non -certified photographic reproductions of public records comprised of pages to legal size shall not be excessive. The State Purchasing and General Services Commission shall, from time to time, determine guidelines on the actual cost of standard size reproductions and shall periodically publish these cost figures for use by governmental bodies in determining charges to be made pursuant to this act. The cost of obtaining a standard or legal size photographic reproduction shall be in an amount that reasonably includes all costs related to reproducing the record including costs of materials, labor and overhead, unless the request is for 50 pages or less of readily available information. Section 9(b): Charges made for access to public records comprised in any form other than up -to -standard size pages or in computer record banks, microfilm records or other similar record -keeping systems shall be set upon consultation between the Officer For Public Records and the State Purchasing and General Services Commission giving due consideration to the expenses involved in providing the public records, making--L- r--e€ fort --tfl--mate-h -the ebarges-with--t-he--ac-tii*l--c-o-st-of-providing- the--r-ec{rrds Costs of providing the record shall be in an amount that reasonably includes all cost related to providing the record, including costs of materials, labor and overhead. -13- Reproduction Fees Page Two Section 9(h): If a governmental body refuses or fails to provide copies of public records at the ae-taal cost of reproducing the records as provided in Subsections (a) and (b) of this section, a person who overpays shall be entitled to recover three times the amount of the overcharge: provided, however, that the governmental body did not act in good faith in computing the cost. We also propose that this be added to this section: (i) Municipalities shall be allowed to charge a maximum fee of $4.00 for copies of records of 5 pages or less and a maximum of 10 cents for each page over 5. We believe that by implementing these changes, we would be allowed to charge the same fee that the Texas Department of Public Safety is now allowed to charge in Articles 6701(b), Section 47. -14- 1/2 CENT SALES TAX USES AND PROVISIONS Currently, a sales tax of 7 1/2% is applied to all applicable sales items in Lubbock. The State of Texas imposes a maximum sales tax of 8% in any community. Due to recent changes in the Texas Law, several options are currently available to the City and/or County for the use of the additional 1/2 cent sales tax. These include: 1) For economic development purposes Current state only allows this option to be exercised in 1/2 cent increments. Thus, if the City of Lubbock were to elect this option, it would preclude all other options. 2) For Public Transit/Transportion - Again, this option can only be elected in 1/2 cent increments. 3) For the reduction of property taxes 4) For use by the County for various options (Economic Development or other purposes). In September, 1990, the City Council agreed to support a request submitted by the City of Lubbock that will allow cities to adopt the remaining 1/2 cent sales tax for both economic development purposes and for Transit/Transportation purposes. This provision would seek a legislative change which would allow both of those options to be exercised in 1/4 cent increments. This change would allow communities to adopt both taxes and still remain within the 8% maximum imposed by the state. The City of Lubbock supports this legislation, in conjunction with. the City of Midland, and believes it would provide Texas. cities with a valuable option in the allocation of sales tax revenues.. -15 SALE OF WINES AT AIRPORT The Texas wine industry is continuing to gain international recognition through its participation in international contests, and it is of interest to tourists who visit Texas from all over the world. Lubbock vintners have expressed an interest in making their products available to the traveling public at the Lubbock International Airport. We propose that legislation be introduced providing for the sale of wine in souvenir bottles at the Lubbock International Airport and other airports within the State of Texas in order to assist in the promotion of Texas wines throughout Texas and the world. {16- TEXAS LOCAL GOVERNMENT CODE, CHAPTER 143 MUNICIPAL CIVIL SERVICE ACT The Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 143, i.e., the Municipal Civil Service Act, was originally enacted 43 years ago to prevent mismanage- ment of Police and Fire Departments and was a needed and well-inten- tioned statute at that time. Numerous amendments to this law, made by the Texas Legislature since 1947, have eroded the ability of local gov- ernments to effectively and responsibly manage their Police and Fire Departments under the Municipal Civil Service Act. Since 1947, politics has once again been reinstated into the Police and Fire operations through strong support of Police and Fire Union organi- zations to legislators that support amendments limiting the management ability of local governments. The experience of numerous cities across the State, with the use of hearing examiners under the Municipal Civil Service Act, has proven the hearing examiner system to be a failure. Police and Fire Chiefs have lost management authority over their own employees, particularly on dis- ciplinary issues. Although the City of Lubbock has not had a disci- plinary case appeal to a hearing examiner, Lubbock would likely share the same experiences of other Texas cities. Many cities in Texas and the Municipal Civil Service Act have had diffi- culty hiring and promoting qualified minorities. The Municipal Civil Service Act should be amended to provide for the hiring promotion using means other than strictly the written examination, therefore allowing municipalities to incorporate affirmative action plans into the Fire and Police Department for qualified applicants. The Municipal Civil Service Act should be amended to provide that a mu- nicipality may remove itself from the requirements of the Act using the same methods that are used to adopt the Act, thereby allowing cities to remove themselves from a provision which has changed drastically since the time it was originally created by the legislature and approved by the local electorate. A Task Force composed of elected administrative officials from cities across the State have determined that ten amendments to the Municipal Civil Service Act should be adopted to address these needed changes. These amendments are as follows: -�7- Texas Local Government Code Chapter 143 Page 2 1) An amendment specifying certain qualifications for hearing examin- ers under Chapter 143. 2) An amendment requiring hearing examiners to base their decisions on specific criterion. 3) An amendment requiring that hearing examiners base their decision on a preponderance of the evidence, not on clear and convincing evidence. 4) An amendment providing that an appeal to a hearing examiner is limited to cases of demotion, and definite suspension, or disci- plinary action of ten days or more. 5) An amendment providing that a hearing examiner should uphold the disciplinary decision of the Chief, if the hearing examiner makes a finding of the truth of specific charges against the firefighter or police officer. 6) An amendment requiring that the hearing examiner follow the proce- dural rules used by the Civil Service Commission and allow the City to appeal the hearing examiners decision for failure to fol- low the rules. 7) An amendment providing that a demotion is effective immediately, subject to appeal. 8) An amendment allowing affirmative action plans to be implemented in Fire and Police Departments. 9) An amendment conforming repeal procedures with adoption proce- dures. 10) An amendment providing for alternate testing procedures for Fire Departments.