There's a motion and a second to adjourn the agenda review meeting.

All in favor?

Anyone opposed?

And the agenda review meeting from Monday, March 3rd, 2025 is adjourned at 9 18 a.m.

Mayor, would you like to convene the work session?

Yes, please.

Thank you.

Good morning.

This is a work session of the Alphasa City Council for Monday, March 3rd, 2025.

It is 918 a.m.

Mayor Johnson is present in presiding along with Mayor Pro Tem Chavez, Representative Acevedo, Representative Maldonado Rocha, Representative Oyotrejo, Representative Nino, Alternate Mayor Pro Tem Pietro, Representative Limore, and Representative Canales.

Good morning.

Good morning, Mayor City Council.

Omar Martinez.

Item number one is presentation, discussion, and action on the City of El Paso's legislative agenda for the 119th United States Congress.

Good morning again, Council.

Good morning.

Omar Martinez with Strategic and Legislative Affairs.

This item is an overview of the new uh federal legislative agenda.

And so the objective of today's presentation is to discuss and take action on city state of El Paso's first legislative agenda in recent history dedicated to the 119th United States Congress.

But before we begin, I'd like to take some time to give credit to staff.

Alejandra Gorski, who had to leave us uh last week on leave.

Uh she is the MVP of this effort, and so I'm sure she's listening or she will go back and listen, but I want to make sure that she gets the credit where it deserves.

I also want to give thanks to the comptroller's office.

Everything in this presentation would not have been possible without their collaboration.

So even though I'm here sitting before you and covering these items, a lot of the background work was was Elda, uh Margarita and their staff.

So today we're gonna go over six different items, what the agenda is, why it matters, how we plan to how staff would implement this.

We're gonna talk about our rapid response program, and then hopefully a council actual in support.

Council action in support.

So this is an overview of what's strategic and legislative affairs.

It's it's a new department under the city manager's office, and these are our six functions.

Today uh we're focusing on the federal side of legislative affairs.

However, many many council members joined us for the for El Paso Days and Austin on the state side.

Now we're focusing on the federal side.

There's a lot of similarities but also key differences.

In particular, the amount of funding we get from the federal government is significantly higher.

And so the purpose of the agenda is really to implement the city's mission.

It allows it is it is a vehicle for to pro uh I'm sorry, it is a vehicle and a legislative platform for city departments.

It is a way for city departments to engage directly with federal agencies and do what we do best, which is secure the funding and deliver services to uh our constituents.

We're also uh it's also important to note the city's rapid response strategy to new federal developments, executive orders, potential funding cuts, these issues that we're newly facing with the federal government, and also it is a document that helps drive partnership and coordination with federal agencies and members of Congress and local partners.

Know that a lot of this work we've already been doing informally.

This is the first time we're coming to council to uh give you a sense of what of how we wish to move forward for the for uh this next year.

What city needs more than anything is flexibility to be able to respond to new forms of federal rulemaking through the federal register and also uh adapt to changes in grant programs.

What you see here is the very short schedule of this the development of this agenda.

We essentially started formally on January 3rd with the start of the 119th Congress, and from February to March, we received input for uh from city departments on March the today's March 3rd, and we're hoping for approval of this initial plan.

We will come back to city council with updates and essentially changes to the uh as the federal government requires them of us.

Also make note that on March 10th, we would bring this document to the National League of Cities to get additional support and compare to what other cities might be doing across the nation in response to federal changes.

At this at the next start of next quarter, we will begin with implementation, and that includes at least one monthly update to city council, including our veterans and military affairs program, grants updates, and also any new legislative updates.

We will know a lot of what the federal rulemaking changes uh will be as they will be um changing.

I'm sorry, the deadlines that are put forth by the Trump administration.

We will be able to see them then.

And again, we will continue to provide updates thenceforward.

And so a lot of this effort started in January 30 at the start of the President Trump's administration.

And working with the Comptroller, city staff created a tracking tool to monitor more than 505 million dollars in funding.

This is funding that has a federal nexus or comes directly from the federal government.

And the purpose of this is for us to be able to understand any changes that the federal government imposes on us and monitor legislation, funding cuts, and executive orders and the impact on city programs.

On February 26th, for example, although it's not noticed in this presentation because it was so recent, an executive order from the Trump administration implementing a cost efficiency initiative under the Department of Government Efficiency or DOJ was announced.

And so we're expecting a detailed review of all federal agencies, and we will have more information within 30 days on how these would impact the city.

How would how these would impact the 505 million dollars shown here?

However, just do know that staff is working on the background analyzing any of any of these potential changes, and we will bring these changes to city council for your review and consideration should we need to make any major policy changes.