National League of Cities

From Sunshine Review

The National League of Cities is an organization that advocates for stronger local government. It works with 49 state municipal leagues, representing more than 19,000 cities, villages, and towns. More than 1,600 municipalities of all sizes pay dues to NLC and participate as voting members in the organization. It was founded in December 1924.^[1]

[edit] Purpose

The National League of Cities has five key objectives^[2]

To develop and advocate policies that strengthen and support cities.
To strengthen the ability of city officials to serve their communities.
To retain and expand membership by delivering innovative, effective, and quality services.
To promote the image and enhance the stature and influence of NLC and the municipalities it represents.
To provide an organizational structure that is flexible, efficient, and responsive to the diverse needs of municipalities and state municipal leagues.

[edit] Budget and Funding

Virtually all cities and towns pay dues to the organization, which support its operations. In 2008, the dues ranged from $253 per year (for a town of fewer than 1,000) to as much as $89,449 per year (for a town with a population of 4,000,001 or more)^[3].

[edit] Income and Expenses

**National League of Cities**
Year	Total Expenses	Total Income	Membership dues (included in Total Income)
2006^[4]	$15,363,205	$16,245,804	$6,675,838
2005^[5]	$15,590,594	$15,325,187	$6,372,387
2004^[6]	$14,898,733	$16,023,357	$6,085,609

Note: Tax years begin October 1 in the current year and end September 30 the following year.

[edit] Lobbying Priorities

The lobbying priorities of the National League of Cities is outlined in the organization’s An Agenda for the Nation ^[7] .

[edit] Housing

The NLC wants federal funds to provide for locally managed housing vouchers and low-income housing tax credits, transitional housing and other services for the homeless, and broader access to credit^[8].

[edit] Infrastructure

The National League of Cities is pushing for more federal funds for localities, and wants the reauthorization of the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund and the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund. The NLC is also calling for a national convention of interested parties to "promote ubiquitous broadband deployment" nationally^[9].

[edit] Health Care Reform

The NLC wants preventative medicine to be the focus of health care, and wants national performance standards for medical practitioners. It also wants funding for an information and outreach campaign geared towards all uninsured individuals who are eligible for government health care programs like Medicaid and the SCHIP^[10].

[edit] Sustainability

The NLC calls for the establishment of a national greenhouse gas registry and a cap on total emissions, support for mass transit, passenger rail, non-motorized transportation, and the development of alternative fuels and low-emission vehicles^[11].

[edit] Poverty Reduction and Economic Opportunity

The policy recommendations of the National League of Cities for reducing poverty consist of three strategies^[12]:

Reduce poverty: The NLC wants more money for welfare programs, support for housing and community redevelopment projects, and a redevelopment of federal poverty measures.
Improve education: The NLC asks the for funds to provide for at-risk and drop-out programs, enhancement of after-school programs, federal-state-local partnership for improving school.
Build a skilled workforce: The NLC calls for a higher minimum wage, to fund workforce development and training programs, focused on attracting disadvantaged youth "and other hard-to-employ populations."

[edit] Public Safety and Homeland Security

The NLC is asking^[13] for more investment into disater prevention and resilience, "all-hazard" approaches to public safety, federal government provided examples for cities as to how they can meet their safety goals, and publicly funded education of citizenry for preparedness.

[edit] Immigration

NLS supports^[14] an immigration policy that will provide illegal immigrants a path to citizenship by allowing them paying fees and back taxes. This policy will also focus on integration to prevent reliance on welfare programs. NLC also wants a national or other ID and a program like and programs such as E-verify to make illegal avenues to jobs less attractive.

[edit] Governments Working Together

The policy section under “Governments Working Together” aims for “dialogue that engages local, state, regional, and federal leaders in 'national' rather than federal policymaking”^[15]. The National League of Cities specifically asks for:

A summit comprising local, regional, state, and federal leaders.
The establishment of an Office of Intergovernmental Affairs within the White House policy apparatus as a liaison between the president and local leaders.
A permanent entity to facilitate the flow of information between different levels of government and for facilitating consensus building.

[edit] Economic Recovery

The National League of Cities' proposals for federal distribution of economic stimulus funds can be found on their website. The "Economic Recovery" NLC policy proposes three targets for improvement:

1 Infrastructure investment: This section of the NLC's funding for federal highway and public transit systems and other such public works programs.

Amtrak
Airport Improvement Act
Community Development Block Grant Program
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program
State clean water and drinking water programs

2 Support to individuals: The NLC wants funding for Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment, and job-training programs.

3 Access to financial markets: Under the Economic and Recovery Plan, the NLC asks for an extension of Treasury and Federal Reserve authority for giving state and local governments access to the capital markets. The NLC also believes in raising the bank-qualified debt limit from $10 million to $30 million for small issuers to place their issuance directly with banks.

[edit] Organization

NLC policy is developed by seven committees of municipal officials. The committees have a specific set of issues under its jurisdiction, and policy development in each committee is limited to these issues. Each committee consists of a steering committee, which researches the agenda topics chosen and drafts policy, and a larger policy and advocacy committee, which chooses the policy agenda for the year and reviews the proposed policy proposals by the steering committee.

Kathleen Novak, Mayor of Northglenn, Colorado, is the 2008 president of the organization.

See Policy and Advocacy Committees

[edit] State chapters

See National League of Cities members list

The National League of Cities represents 49 state municipal leagues, through which it represents more than 19,000 cities. ^[16] A state municipal league's member cities can become direct members of the NLC, as in Alabama, for example. ^[17]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

[0] State Municipal Leagues: The First Hundred Years

[1] Strategic Plan: The Five Key Objectives

[2] 2008 Membership Application

[3] Form 990, National League of Cities 2006

[4] Form 990, National League of Cities 2005

[5] Form 990, National League of Cities 2004

[6] An Agenda for the Nation

[7] At Issue - Housing

[8] At Issue - Infrastructure

[9] At Issue - Health Care Reform

[10] At Issue - Sustainability

[11] At Issue - Poverty Reduction and Economic Opportunity

[12] At Issue - Public Safety and Homeland Security

[13] At Issue - Immigration

[14] At Issue - Governments Working Together

[15] National League of Cities - State Municipal Leagues

[16] Alabama League of Municipalities - What is the League

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