DALLAS LOBBIES THE LEGISLATURE

Though it appears that the city of Dallas won’t have a Washington lobbyist for a while, Dallasites won’t be voiceless in the Capitol. This year’s City Council Legislative Task Force has stepped up its efforts to do a little lobbying of their own, as is apparent by its close review of the 1983 legislative package.

The Task Force is headed by Councilman Sid Stahl and includes Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Fred Blair, councilmen Joe Haggar and Lee Simpson, City Manager Charles Anderson and Assistant City Attorney Adrian Acevedo. Early last month, the group presented a legislative recommendation package to the council.

The group recommended support of 27 items in the package. Of the 27, the task force labeled 14 as “High Priority.”

Two such priorities were to substantially increase transportation funding and continue current urban parks funding. Another was to enable cities to increase the local share of the hotel/motel occupancy tax. They recommended various ammend-ments to the Property Tax Code including penalties for late business personal-property tax renderings. The force also wants payment of outstanding warrants, parking citations and delinquent automobile property taxes before auto registration, and/or driver’s license renewal.

Also high on the task force’s list is stiffening laws and legalizing some minority business programs. If the group has its way, municipal court jurisdiction will be increased from a $200 fine limit to a $1,000 limit.