Governmental Affairs and Policy Committee members have identified these issues as critical to local government administration:

• Financing and revenue diversity
• Infrastructure
• Public safety.

Coalition Activity 

ICMA participates as a member of coalitions with Big 7 partners and other organizations to support policy initiatives, including the Pension Funding Task Force.  ICMA, along with the other members of the Pension Funding Taskforce,  released a one-page guide - Books, Bonds, and Budgets - in July 2013. The August 28 "Getting a Grip on GASB and Pension Funding" webinar explored these distinct calculations.

Policy Priorities

• Tax-exempt financing
• Revenue diversity (shrinking federal and state resources)
• Pension funding 
• Infrastructure
• Managing health care costs
• Cybersecurity
• Climate change & Energy conservation
• Intergovernmental relations
• Regionalism and shared services
• Immigration reform  
• Reintegrating Veterans

ICMA partners with several organizations in advocating on behalf of local government. In particular, ICMA is a part of the "Big 7" -a collaboration of seven associations in Washington D.C., that represent their state and local government members from a broad and far-reaching perspective.  Executive directors of these seven organizations meet regularly to discuss issues and legislation impacting state and local governments.  Frequently the Big 7 prepare joint letters to members of Congress on pending legislation expressing a unified position on behalf of their memberships.

The Big 7 are:

• International City/County Management Association (ICMA): Representing professional appointed local government administrators, including city and county managers, department heads, and assistant managers.
• Council of State Governments (CSG): CSG is the multibranch organization forecasting policy trends for the community of states, commonwealths and territories on a national and regional basis.
• National Association of Counties (NACo): Founded in 1935, NACo is the national organization that represents county governments in the United States and provides services to the nation’s 3,066 counties.
• National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL): NCSL was founded in 1975 and is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories.
• National Governor's Association (NGA): NGA is the collective voice of the nation's governors, representing governors and their senior staff members on Capitol Hill and before the Administration on key federal issues.
• National League of Cities (NLC): NLC represents municipal governments throughout the United States with the mission to strengthen and promote cities as centers of opportunity, leadership, and governance.
• U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM): The U.S. Conference of Mayors is a nonpartisan organization representing the 1,139 cities with populations of 30,000 or more. Cities are represented by their chief elected official, the mayor.

Other ICMA Partners:

ICMA also works closely with the State and Local Legal Center, Government Finance Officers Association, the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers, the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, the National Association of State Budget Officers, most recently on issues relating to pension funding and GASB regulations.

ICMA also collaborates with the Center for State and Local Government Excellence, which provides in-depth research into policy issues that impact local government.

The ICMA Executive Board directed the organization's Governmental Affairs and Policy Committee (GAPC) to produce annual policy white papers, depending on resources available and the topics that require a managerial perspective.  ICMA and the GAPC select key policy issues to which ICMA members bring an important perspective and produce white papers on these issues for general release to ICMA membership, other Big 7 organizations, and the general public.

ICMA's Policy Papers

• Blockchain Technology: Local Government Applications and Challenges (November 2018) 
• Public-Private Partnerships (P3s): What Local Government Managers Need to Know (December 2017)
• Infrastructure Financing: A Guide for Local Government Managers (January 2017)
• Municipal Bonds and Infrastructure Development - Past, Present and Future (August 2015)
• Leveraging Local Change: The States' Role (May 2014) 
• Management's Perceptions of Annual Financial Reporting White Paper (December 2013)
• Striking a Balance: Matching the Services Offered by Local Governments with the Revenue Realities (December 2012)
• Coping with Crisis: How are Local Governments Reinventing Themselves in the Wake of the Great Recession? (December 2011)
• 211/311: Is There a Case for Consolidation or Collaboration? (July 2010)
• Measuring the Results of Economic Stimulus Investments: Local Government Leading the Way (October 2009)
• Restoring the Intergovernmental Partnership: What Needs to Change(July 2009)
• Immigration Reform: An Intergovernmental Imperative (December 2008)
• A Networked Approach to Improvements in Emergency Management (August 2006 with April 2009 update)
• Emergency Management and Homeland Security (An Overview) (August 2006)

Other White Papers

• Navigating the Fiscal Crisis: Tested Strategies for Local Leaders (January 2009)
• Navigating the Fiscal Crisis: An Introduction for Elected Officials (2009)
• A Proposal for an Intergovernmental Policy Council 
  This proposal was created by ICMA and with the support of NACo and NLC.  The proposal outlines ideas on how to rebuild the intergovernmental partnership between the federal, state, and local governments.

The Governmental Affairs and Policy Committee (GAPC) is ICMA's member-based committee tasked with reviewing current and proposed federal, and in some cases state, legislation for impacts on local governments. GAPC members are your eyes, ears, and early warning flag for these legislative policies, including fiscal policy, trade issues, taxes, unfunded mandates, homeland security, pensions and human services, infrastructure, and more.

The committee meets twice annually, once in the fall at the ICMA Annual Conference and again in the spring, in conjunction with the NLC and NACo legislative conferences.

The Knowledge Network hosts the Government Affairs and Public Policy blog and the GAPC's online discussion group.

GAPC Leadership

• Chairman: Melinda Moran, County Administrator, County of Mathews, VA
• Vice-Chairman: Scott Slatton, Legislative and Public Policy Advocate, Municipal Association of South Carolina

White Papers

ICMA's board has directed the committee to produce policy white papers each committee year, depending on ICMA resources available and topics needing a managerial perspective.  Final drafts are circulated to committee members and available to the membership and other Big 7 organizations.