Plastic Bag Tax Pits Ariz. State Sen. vs. City; Citizen’s Police Academy Roleplaying Tragedy
Connecting state and local government leaders
Also in our State and Local Daily Digest: Houston’s pensions nightmare; federal legal fight with energy utility in Montana; and hazardous train derails in Kentucky town.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS | Republican state Sen. Gail Griffin of Hereford wants Attorney General Mark Brnovich to investigate the charter city of Bisbee for ignoring a new Arizona law prohibiting local regulations on plastic bags. That law went into effect Saturday along with a second requiring the AG to look into any legislator’s complaint of a locality violating state law. Should Brnovich find something amiss, Bisbee will have 30 days to rescind its nickel-a-bag tax on disposable bags—lest the state withhold state-shared revenue from its budget. Because this is the first such complaint, it looks precedent setting. Bisbee’s city attorney argues charter cities have final say on matters of local concern and that they should be grandfathered in under the new law. [Arizona Daily Star]
PUNTA GORDA, FLORIDA
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT | A 73-year-old retired librarian was shot and killed by a police officer in a role-playing exercise called “shoot/don’t shoot.” The scenario was taking place as part of a citizen’s police academy—a way for citizens to become better acquainted with police procedure—in the small harbor town north of Fort Myers. During the training exercise, Mary Knowlton was shot by a police officer playing the “bad guy” in a hypothetical confrontation. S“I am devastated for everyone involved in this unimaginable event,” said Punta Gorda Police Chief Tom Lewis in a press release. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now investigating how this role-playing situation turned deadly. [Miami Herald]
HOUSTON, TEXAS
MUNICIPAL PENSIONS | While the nation’s fourth-largest city is certainly not alone when it comes to mounting challenges it faces from unfunded liabilities for municipal pensions, what Houston is facing is daunting. Over the course of 15 years, the city’s three pension plans have $4 billion worth of unfunded liabilities—the amount of money that’s promised to workers but hasn’t been funded. A new analysis from the Kinder Institute at Rice University and undertaken by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College details what exactly went wrong. Part of the problem: When it comes to rate of return, the “assumptions of Houston's pension plans are more optimistic than those of their peers. Other public pension systems have been reducing their rate of return assumptions in recent years.” But Houston’s assumptions about future performance continues to be optimistic. [Houston Chronicle]
HELENA, MONTANA
FIREFIGHTING | While the federal government continues to fight raging fires out West, it’s also waging a legal battle with Montana’s largest utility, NorthWestern Energy, for compensation for its services during a 2010 wildfire east of Helena. The Lakeside fire burned almost 900 acres over the course of three days with 200 responders led by the U.S. Forest Service. Power line negligence on NorthWestern’s part caused the fire, according to the U.S. District Court suit. The government seeks $485,855 for fighting the fire plus interest and penalties. NorthWestern denies any liability, positing the cause could have been an “Act of God” or some unknown source. "If a responsible party has been identified, the government seeks to recover costs," said Forest Service spokesman David Smith. "We've collected from energy companies, mines, and individuals over the years." [Independent Record]
FALMOUTH, KENTUCKY
DERAILMENTS | A train transporting hazardous materials, including at least one car of sulfuric acid, derailed here Wednesday morning, prompting authorities to issue a precautionary shelter-in-place order for most of the town’s 2,500 residents. No injuries were immediately reported. Officials from the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet said in the afternoon that the car with the sulfuric acid was not leaking, but that one with a cargo of fatty acid had been breached. The CSX train was traveling from Cincinnati to Atlanta. [Cincinnati Enquirer]
ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI
AQUARIUMS | Plans for a new $45 million aquarium in downtown St. Louis were formally announced Tuesday. The 75,000-square-foot facility is slated to open in 2018, according to the developers. It is set to be built at the site of a failed shopping mall in the city’s Union Station. Built in 1894, the station was once a busy rail hub. But it closed in 1978 when Amtrak service in the city moved to St. Louis station. The station was renovated into a marketplace in the mid-1980s, but faltered in the years that followed. A firm called Lodging Hospitality Management now owns the site. “It’s exciting,” LHM’s chairman and chief executive, Bob O’Loughlin, said Monday. “You’re taking something that is very iconic in Union Station, and I think we can all feel good that it has a bright future.” [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]