Recent Chamber Advocacy Activities

· Supported continued private operation of trash hauling in Fort Collins. The City Council was considering a pilot program that would force local private haulers into districts. Furthermore, the City government would take over customer billing services of the private haulers. Many argued that this was the first step toward government take over of successful private enterprises. After significant adverse comments from the public, the proposal was finally dropped.

· Supported adoption of broad federal energy policy while opposing legislation that would harm supply and drive up cost. Energy is embedded in all products and services. Consequently, the availability and cost of energy is extremely important to business and the overall American economy. The Chamber – through NCLA - communicated its support to federal officials of a long-range, broad-based energy policy while expressing opposition to so-called ‘cap and trade' legislation. In an effort to promote the laudable goal of producing more sources of clean and renewable energy, cap and trade actually narrows the portfolio of affordable energy sources by intentionally driving up costs of critical traditional energy sources.

· Supported health care reform but opposed federal legislation that was adopted by Congress known as ‘Obamacare.' Costs of health care, and consequently, health insurance, have continued to go up. This has put significant financial pressure on business. The Chamber opposed the legislation because it did not actually address this fundamental issue.

· Opposed federal legislation known as the “employee free choice act.” This legislation is stalled in Congress. It would make union organization of private firms much easier by removing existing protections for private voting by employees.

· Supported City Council Resolution 2010-055 directing the City Manager to work with key business groups to support the promotion of five key industry clusters in Fort Collins. The clusters include clean energy, water innovation, biosciences, technology and uniquely Fort Collins. Focusing on these clusters allows the community to direct limited resources and messages to promote the development of these important business sectors.

· Engaged in Plan Fort Collins process. The City Council historically has adopted various master plans that embed their values and policy preferences. To ensure that the business perspective is considered in these documents, it is very important for business people to participate in these processes. Plan Fort Collins is an update of two master plans: Master Transportation Plan and City Plan.

· Support the expansion of the Colorado State University Engines and Energy Conversion Lab. CSU's EECL is one of the top small engine laboratories in the world. It anchors the community's clean energy efforts, but is in need of expansion, which the Chamber supports.

· Supported development of the region's water supply. Water is an essential natural resource. As such, it is often used a political device to stop or slow population growth. The Chamber has been an advocate for commonsense water development in recognition of the simple demographic reality that the area will continue to grow based on projections. Specifically, the Chamber has advocated for expansion of the City-owned Halligan Reservoir to its fullest capacity and has communicated qualified support for the proposed Glade Reservoir northwest of Fort Collins.

· Studying and monitoring City ‘green building standards' process. The City government is considering adopting so-called ‘green building standards' in the community's building code. While laudable, sometimes these types of initiatives are long on enthusiasm and idealism but short on practicality and commonsense. The Chamber is involved with the City's advisory groups to provide the latter perspective.

· Monitoring City discussions about revising the Poudre River floodplain. New regulations are being proposed that would dramatically restrict development in the Poudre River floodplain

· Supporting the creation of a South College Avenue Corridor Plan. The City of Fort Collins is studying the redevelopment of the area of South College Avenue between Prospect and Harmony. The Chamber supports this work and has been actively supporting the South College Business Association.

· Provided comment on City Tax Policy. The City's Economic Advisory Commission has been discussing various taxes or fees to finance City government. Some have potential while others are harmful. The Chamber noted support for ideas that would be beneficial to the economy and identified those that would put the community at an economic disadvantage.

· Wrote a background paper on a concept know as ‘feed-in tariffs.' Correctly, Fort Collins has developed a reputation as a center for clean and renewable energy. Consequently, various proposals surface that are said to foster the development of the clean/renewable energy sector. A recent example is the concept of ‘feed-in tariffs' or FiTs. Feed-in tariffs are price supports for renewable energy production. The price supports are imposed on power utilities, which are required to pay elevated prices for electricity generated using renewable energy technology. Long-term, guaranteed payments are made to producers for every kilowatt hour of electricity they generate. Basically, end-users of electricity (i.e. all Fort Collins electric utility customers) pay elevated electricity rates to support the development of renewable energy by paying a high fixed rate to producers of renewable energy that feed power onto the power grid. Since no specific legislation is pending, the Chamber has not taken an official position on FiTs.

· Chamber Negotiated a Lower and Sunset Sales Tax Increase. The Chamber convinced the City Council to lower the level of the proposed increase in the base sales tax and put a 10 year sunset on the tax. Additionally, the Chamber lobbied for inclusion of economic development projects in the proposal. The measure passed.