In Unusual Move, Council Reverses 20 Budget Bills Imposing Checks and Balances on Executive Departments

Including legislation that could have led to transparency about what landlords are charging tenants.

By Erica C. Barnett

Every year, as part of the budget process, the Seattle City Council adopts dozens of Statements of Legislative Intent (SLIs) and budget provisos, which serve as checks on the power of the mayor and executive departments and provide transparency into how the city is spending its money.

A typical SLI might require a department to report back on its progress or reveal more about its spending (or lack thereof); in recent years, SLIs have required Mayor Bruce Harrell's Unified Care Team to provide reports on its ever-expanding "encampment response" work; established a task force to come up with progressive revenue options to address a yawning budget deficit; and mandated a new online portal to help renters understand their rights.

Last year, the city council passed 36 SLIs. On Tuesday, the City Council—voting unanimously, and without discussion, for a bill sponsored by Council President Sara Nelson—undid all but 16 of them. Although the council passes legislation every year signing off on, and making technical edits to, the previous year's SLIs, this is ordinarily a perfunctory measure; for the council to reverse most of the accountability and transparency measures imposed by a previous council is an extreme move that may be unprecedented.

During Tuesday's council meeting, Nelson portrayed the decision to reverse the previous council's directives as a necessary corrective on the previous council's misplaced priorities as well as a matter of budget necessity.

"Some of the SLIs are intended to establish a glide path, or lay the foundations, for a policy priority of council members who are no longer here. to eventually advance that initiative in the future," Nelson said. "Second, SLIs take a lot of staff time, especially to do them right, and the mayor has enacted a hiring freeze. ... So in this One Seattle [a reference to Mayor Bruce Harrell's official slogan], I am trying to to remove some of the unnecessary burden on our on our executive departments.

"And then finally, some were removed because they contemplated ... a future legislative action that would have fairly broad budget implications."

Here are some of the SLIs the council has abandoned, meaning they'll no longer be implemented, along with their primary sponsors:

• A bill directing the city to convene a team to make recommendations for helping people who violate the city's vehicle equipment laws—those who get pulled over for broken taillights and other minor issues—comply with the law, including a potential grant fund to help low-income people pay debt from fines. The SLI would have also required "an update on SPD's efforts to determine how to de-prioritize traffic stops regarding vehicle equipment violations." (Teresa Mosqueda)

• A SLI directing the City Budget Office to come up with a plan, including cost estimates and legal issues that would need to be resolved, for making the Office of Police Accountability independent from the Seattle Police Department—a longstanding goal of police accountability advocates. (Mosqueda)

• A directive to the city's Office of Construction, Planning and Development and Office of Housing to collect data on rents, unit size, and other information about rental units in the city. Nelson was a staunch opponent of this rent transparency requirement last year, arguing that requiring landlords to divulge what they charge tenants would “burden small landlords” who are “really struggling to deal with the impacts of the pandemic on their businesses.” (Alex Pedersen)

• A SLI asking the city's Finance and Administrative Services Department to propose responsible contractor requirements for large city contracts, in line with those imposed by other agencies like Sound Transit. These requirements might have included things like prevailing wages, policies that support workplace equity, health insurance and other benefits. and respect for the right of workers to organize. (Mosqueda)

• A bill that requesting a study of a four-day work week for most city employees "to address gender and racial pay gap issues and improve work/life balance." Nelson has been a vocal proponent of mandatory back-to-office policies and in-person council meetings, describing full-time on-site work as a way to improve camaraderie between office workers and support downtown businesses near City Hall. (Morales)