Tualatin City Council Work Session - July 13, 2026: 2027 Legislative Agenda Development
Tualatin City Council Work Session - July 13, 2026: 2027 Legislative Agenda Development
The Tualatin City Council held a work session on July 13, 2026, to discuss the development of the city's 2027 legislative agenda at the state and federal levels. The meeting included presentations from staff and their lobbying team from Thorn Run, review of themes and priorities, discussion of specific funding requests, and an initial conversation about the League of Oregon Cities (LOC) legislative priorities. The council provided direction to refine themes, prioritize projects, and continue discussions in August.
Discussion Items
- 2027 Legislative Agenda Overview – Deputy City Manager Megan George introduced the session, explaining the goal to gather initial input on themes, priorities, and funding requests. The team from Thorn Run (Dan, Tyler, Leah) provided context on the importance of early planning and outlined the legislative landscape in Salem and Washington, D.C.
- State Legislative Landscape – Tyler described three major themes in Salem: transportation funding (including a failed 2025 package that was referred to voters and defeated 87%), Medicaid budget challenges (HR1 implementation costing $420 million in the upcoming biennium, projected to double by 2029), and economic development (the Prosperity Council's recommendations including industrial site readiness). Dan added federal updates: the expiration of the bipartisan infrastructure law on September 30, 2026 (likely extended), HR1 impacts (70,000 drop in SNAP participation in Oregon), and the new 21st Century Road to Housing Act passed without signature.
- Themes and Priorities Discussion – The council reviewed the existing 2026 themes (transportation, housing/human services, economic development, local control, etc.). Comments included: Council President Pratt and Councilor Reyes emphasized losing local control over housing mandates from Salem; Councilor Hillyer prioritized social services and eviction prevention; Councilor Brooks stressed the importance of health care and small business; Mayor underscored economic development and industrial site readiness, noting the state's $10 million for infrastructure was far too little. The council agreed to keep existing themes with minor wording tweaks and add mental health under housing/human services.
- State Legislative Agenda Priorities – The council reviewed the 2026 state agenda items. They supported carrying forward transportation funding, housing/human services (with added emphasis on mental health), and economic development (including specific reference to Prosperity Council recommendations).
- Federal Project Funding Requests – Cody Field reviewed the list of capital projects. Council provided feedback: support for a shade structure program (possibly tied to solar panels), inclusion of the Nyberg Creek Trail (economic development through I-5 access), and the Teton-Sherwood intersection for safety. The riverfront park construction was recommended for state funding rather than federal. The reservoir upgrades were noted as possibly suitable for federal discussion. Council agreed to narrow down to three different project types for federal asks (one trail, one lower-cost item like shade structure, one transportation project) and to have Thorn Run vet with Rep. Salinas' office.
- LOC Legislative Priorities – Leah presented the ballot process for the League of Oregon Cities. Council discussed the list of potential priorities from LOC committees. Councilor Hillyer noted health is not explicitly listed and asked to consider impacts of insurance system changes. The council will review the full list and narrow to five top items for the August meeting.
- City Manager Report – Sheriff provided updates: Washington County discussing federal grant rule changes; attended Oregon City Managers Conference; Viva Tualatin was a success; community survey launched; sidewalk backlog project begun; water quality report posted; food cart pod code in progress; and the Martinazzi Sewer Project open house scheduled for July 23.
- Council Round Table – Councilors reported on committee meetings: CAC (scoring projects), CCAA (interviewing student appointees), National League of Cities summer meeting in Louisville (housing bill, civility pledge, street tree canopy program), chamber of commerce board, Metro Mayor's meeting (Rose Quarter closure warning), freight subgroup of governor's transportation vision committee, and Washington County Quartet Committee (vehicle registration fee increase of $10 every other year for five years, effective in phases, with 40% going to cities).
Key Outcomes
- The council directed staff to keep existing legislative themes with minor language updates and to add mental health as a priority under housing/human services.
- For state priorities, the council supported the three existing categories (transportation, housing/human services, economic development) with added specificity on mental health and industrial site readiness.
- For federal projects, staff and Thorn Run will develop a shortlist of three projects (e.g., one trail, one shade structure, one transportation project) and discuss with Rep. Salinas' office ahead of the September trip to Washington, D.C.
- The council will review the LOC priority list and select five top items to be discussed and voted on at the August work session.
- No formal votes were taken; this was a work session to provide direction for further refinement.
Meeting Transcript
I'm gonna hold off for a moment. Six months. I said one. Do you want to call it to order? She said we're recording. Ready to go. All right. All right. Good evening, and welcome to the July 13th, 2026, 12th to City Council work session. We had some IT issues. Are we streaming or no? Yes. Okay, we are streaming. All right. We are working on some IT issues, but we're going to change the work session. Um subjects. We're going to swap them. So the first thing up tonight is our 2027 legislative agenda development. This is going to be led by Megan George along with our team from Thorn Run. Welcome, Megan. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor, members of the council. I'm Megan George. I'm your deputy city manager. And I've got a whole team with me here today. So in addition to myself, we've got Cody Field, our policy analyst at the city, and then three members of our lobbying team from Thornrun. So Dan, Leah, and Tyler. We're going to do a bit of musical chairs since five is too many to fit at this table. So you'll see me, and then you'll see them, and then you'll see Cody, and then you'll see me, and then you'll see them again. Just to let you know where we're going and why we keep dancing. So we are here this evening to talk about the 2027 legislative agenda. Um Cody and I were here a couple weeks ago to begin that discussion specific to funding requests to include on both of our agendas. And at that time, we explained why, even though it is only July or June at the time, we are already beginning to talk about our priorities. So for tonight's presentation, we have two sections. The first section is on that 2027 legislative agenda. And within that, we'd like to talk about themes, priorities, bringing back the funding requests, and then draft timelines, um, which are versions of what you've seen previously. So that's the first part of the presentation. Our goal is to collect input and initial insight from council on those lists, but not necessarily to finalize the lists. We will be back before you in early August with the draft of the state agenda based on tonight's discussion. And in between now and then, our team at Thorn Run will be having conversations with our various representatives so that we can get a more refined look at the project specifically. The second part of our presentation this evening has to do with the League of Oregon Cities legislative priorities. So at this point, the League of Oregon Cities has sent a ballot out to all 241 cities in Oregon asking for their top five priorities for the leagues board to include on their list of priorities entering into 2027. So we'll show those on the screen, I think, um, at some point, if not there in your packets. Um if you can access those via our website. Um we'll review those and get some initial insight from Thornrun and allow council time to discuss initial thoughts, with again the idea being that this will be the first conversation, but that we'll bring it back in early August for you all to continue that discussion. So that's the plan for this evening. Um I'm gonna invite Dan, Tyler, and Leah up to the stage now, and I'll be close by. I do have we came with paper. We don't uh you're not the only ones that struggle with IT. We often struggle with IT ourselves.
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