On Tuesday night, Bozeman Commissioners began working on their legislative priorities ahead of the 2023 legislative session starting in January.
The city outlined four main priorities ahead of the session. Housing looks to be one of the city’s priorities, taking a look at barriers that limit housing to be removed and create policies that add more housing.
Sustainability was a topic that the city wants the state legislature to focus on encouraging more green energy policy.
The commission also wants to prioritize a local option sales tax, which they say can tap in on money from tourism on luxury goods. They would want the money to be used for things such as rural communities, infrastructure, and property tax relief, but are open to making it more flexible in order to make it more appealing since the topic has come up before.
The last major item the city looks to see is having more local control.
‘We really need to be thoughtful about what we really want to accomplish. putting our DEI work as a key priority for us. I mean workforce, sustainability also, but land use and local control should be up there as a key priority because I think that’s important,” says Mayor Cyndy Andrus.
The Commission will have a finalized version of its priorities at an October meeting.
