photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured Thursday, July 7, 2016.

City of Lawrence leaders are working to draft their annual list of legislative priorities for state leaders, which includes the city’s position regarding sales tax on groceries, criminal justice reforms and cleanup of the former Farmland Industries nitrogen fertilizer plant, among various other issues.

The Lawrence City Commission reviewed a draft of the legislative priority statement as part of its most recent meeting on Dec. 21 and gave some initial feedback to city staff regarding the draft. The draft priority statement comprises seven pages and 27 priorities, and it will come back to the commission for further discussion in January.

A summary of some of the issues in the priority statement is as follows, and the full draft of the statement is available as part of the commission’s agenda materials on the city’s website, Lawrenceks.org.

Sales tax on groceries: The city states that it supports efforts to reduce the burden of the state sales tax on groceries. A memo to the commission states that it’s anticipated that legislation will be introduced to eliminate the 6.5% state sales tax on food sales. The memo notes that an additional 2.8% of local sales taxes are also assessed in Douglas County. Commissioner Bart Littlejohn suggested the commission look at the local food sales tax as well.

Criminal justice reform: The city states that it supports reforms for criminal penalties on nonperson crimes as well as the recommendations from Gov. Laura Kelly’s Commission on Racial Equity and Justice. The city expressed support for legislative changes to move to a no-cash bond for certain crimes, incentive-based probation and “issues related to the criminalization of poverty.” Commissioner Amber Sellers suggested the city strengthen its statement by saying it supports the elimination of the criminalization of poverty, which she noted would mirror the language used in the Douglas County Commission’s recently approved legislative statement.

Cleanup of former Farmland Industries plant: The city requests state and federal funding to support the cleanup of the site of the former nitrogen fertilizer plant. The city states that the plant produced fertilizer for distribution throughout the country during its 48 years of operation and that the city supports the use of federal infrastructure funding, Brownfield funds and other state efforts to fund the cleanup. As the Journal-World has reported, the cost of the cleanup has far exceeded initial projections, and it could cost as much as $73 million over 30 years. Scott Wagner, management analyst with the city, told commissioners the city had strengthened the language regarding outside support for the cleanup.

Plastic bag legislation: The city states that it opposes restrictions at the state level that prevent municipalities from adopting ordinances related to the use of plastic or single-use bags. One such bill was introduced during the 2020 legislative session.

Renewable energy: The city states that it supports public and private incentives to encourage investment in renewable energy sources, including the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) legislation. Commissioners also discussed adding support for “energy efficient mortgages,” which help homeowners pay for home improvements related to energy efficiency — brought to the commission’s attention by the Sustainability Action Network.

Transportation priorities: The city expresses support for expansion of the west leg of the South Lawrence Trafficway; funding for alternative transportation projects such as the completion of Lawrence’s citywide trail system, the Lawrence Loop; state involvement to help increase the use of public transit between Lawrence and neighboring communities; and electric vehicle charging station infrastructure.

Local health department orders: The city states that local units of government should have access to resources and the tools they need without restrictions from the state to enforce local health department orders.

As in years past, the statement also includes support for home rule and local control, restoring funding for the arts, Medicaid expansion, as well as decriminalization of the use and possession of small amounts of marijuana and legalization of medical marijuana, among others. Sellers, who works in public policy at the state level, also made several suggestions to clarify or make the city’s statements more specific.

Wagner told commissioners that staff would try to get a final version of the priority statement back to the commission on Jan. 4, ahead of the start of the legislative session on Jan. 11.