Legislative Policies

Legislative Policy Development Process

Metro Cities has four standing committees which develop the organization's policy positions based on input from representatives of member cities:

  1. Housing & Economic Development
  2. Municipal Revenue & Taxation
  3. Transportation & General Government
  4. Metropolitan Agencies

Officials of any member city may serve on committees. Each committee meets approximately three times during the late summer and early fall and then submits policy recommendations to the Board of Directors for review, modification and distribution to the general membership. The general membership meets in November before each legislative session to debate and adopt the official Metro Cities positions for that session. In matters of legislative policy, each member city has one vote, plus one additional vote for each 50,000 population or major fraction thereof above the initial 50,000. Legislative policy requires a two-thirds affirmative vote of the members present and voting to be adopted.

During the legislative session, when the committees are not meeting, the Board of Directors may establish a Board policy position, with a two-thirds majority vote, in response to pending legislation or agency rules and regulations. This position is then referred to the appropriate committee for review and formal policy development at the earliest possible time.

The Housing and Economic Development Committee considers all issues related to economic development and housing, including subsidized housing, affordable housing and proposals of the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA). It also develops policy dealing with economic development issues, HRAs, tax increment financing (TIF) and development authorities.

The Municipal Revenues Committee considers any matter concerning city revenues, property taxes, and city expenditures; including state aid formulas and dollars, levy limits, property tax assessments and fiscal disparities.

The Transportation and General Government Committee considers all major issues related to air and surface transportation, including funding sources at all government levels. Metro Cities appointees to the Transportation Advisory Board (TAB) and Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) are encouraged to join, along with other city officials. This committee also considers all major issues that have an impact on metropolitan area cities outside the scope of other Metro Cities’ committees. This includes issues such as organized waste collection, administrative fines, data privacy, building codes, and local control/authority.

The Metropolitan Agencies Committee considers legislative issues and other policies related to the Metropolitan Council and metro agencies. It monitors the structure and relationship between the regional and local units of government and reviews amendments to the Regional Development Guide and policy plans. It has developed policy on land use planning, Metropolitan Council selection process, density, sewer availability charge, inflow and infiltration, and regional growth.