The City Council of Arlington held a special meeting on January 7, 2025, convening in executive session at 12:50 PM and reconvening in open session at 2:36 PM. The open session lasted until 4:40 PM. Council discussed the upcoming 89th Texas Legislative Session, a Form-Based Code pilot area, neighborhood matching grants, a foreign direct investment strategy, the 2025 bond election, charter amendments, and received committee reports. No formal votes were taken; direction and consensus were provided on several items.
Okay, we're gonna go ahead and call the afternoon session of the city council meeting to order. Uh, hope everybody had a good holiday season and off to a brand new twenty twenty five. Uh we're gonna go into a closed session pursuant to BTCA Government Code, chapter five five one point zero seven one, zero seven two and zero eight seven. We'll go ahead and call the city council session back to order. We're gonna move on down to three point one. Good afternoon, uh, mayor and council uh Jay Warren. Um optimistically called mandate We're gonna try. Uh Director of Communication Legislative Affairs, and happy new year to you all. Um I I think it's safe to say that intergovernmental relations is busy year-round, but we we do have a couple of times where we're really hit a busy stretch, if you will. And in particular, we're in one uh about to begin one right now. Not only are we having the beginning of a new Congress as well as the inauguration of a new president, but starting next week, we'll be in the next legislative session uh for the state of Texas. And so our IGR manager, Natalie Ralston in the lead up to this, has done a lot of work. She and I have all met with you all related to the uh legislative agenda, which went through committee process and approval by the council. We've met with departments asking them what issues they see out there so we can have all that on our radar. Also, she's worked really hard on how we will get information out to the different departments throughout the course of the uh the session so that she can get good intel back from them that we might be able to use to impact the legislation that's moving its way through the Texas House and the Texas Senate. Uh so with that, she also will be more communicating with you all more and more during the session, so you're up to date on the issues that are of importance to the city, and all that is again tied to our legislative agenda that you all passed last fall. So I want Natalie to come up, uh, share some of the work she's been doing and how she'll be communicating with you all. And in addition to that, I'll tell you about some key dates that will be coming up as we go through the legislative session. So, Natalie. Uh thank you, Jay. Um, Mayor, Council members, uh, Natalie Rawlson and our governmental relations manager. I'll just um go into a little bit more depth on the things that Jay has covered. As you know, the 89th legislative session opens next Tuesday, and I'm gonna give you a brief overview of how our organization manages it, or rather manages your expectations relative to the session and what you can expect uh from the from the IGR team going forward. Okay, so I'm gonna cover um how we've prepared for session, what happens during and post-session, including how you're kept aware of the changing landscape, and how the organization, including each of you, um engages with the process and with the city's delegation. So, like Jay said, back in March of last year, we kicked off the process of putting together the city's state and federal legislative agendas for 2025 and 26. And it's something we do every two years ahead of the new legislature in Congress. At your place, you'll find a copy of the current state legislative agenda, and if you'll please leave this here at the end of the meeting, it'll be available for you every uh council meeting throughout session. There are also copies in your office, including federal copies, but if you need another of either one of them, just let me know. I have several to spare. Um so the process for developing the agenda involved surveying the departments and meeting with directors to understand their needs and concerns and seeking input from each of you. All that information is pulled together into five key areas for which uh which we share with the municipal policy committee for feedback and then bring to the full council for final approval. Those five um key priority areas for this session are on your screen and in the agenda in front of you, and I won't go over them here. Since adopting the legislative agenda, we've been meeting with members of the delegation to discuss the priorities. These meetings have included the mayor, a council member, Jay, and me. And we're still working through these. So if you haven't been scheduled for one yet, don't worry. I've still got a few more to get on the books. Um bill analysis, which happens before and during session is an ongoing process. As of yesterday, 2,443 bills and resolutions have been filed so far. And out of those, we have flagged 667 that could impact the city. So we're working with departments and the city attorney's office to analyze them and look at the specific impacts they might have on the city. Uh moving into session itself, let's go over some key dates. As I mentioned, more than 2,000 bills and resolutions have been filed as of yesterday, and legislators have until March 14th to file bills and started doing so on November 12th when the window opened. The 89th legislature will kick off next Tuesday, January 14th, then we'll adjourn on Monday, June 2nd. And for this year, Tarrant County days at the Capitol are scheduled for February 10 and 11. And the itinerary is almost finalized. So once we have that, we'll get with you for um get get you those details. So bill analysis will continue throughout the session since bills can be amended or changed during committee or floor hearings. And I won't go into that right now, but I'll keep you updated as things progress. The like Jay said, the analysis, the analysis from the departments and the city attorney's office is uh really important because it helps our team work with our legislators and partners to make sure these priorities and concerns are highlighted that you've highlighted are heard and hopefully addressed.