2025 R22 – Provincial Consultation on Legislative Changes

Whereas the Province has enacted a significant volume of legislative and regulatory amendments affecting the authority of local governments, and these changes span across multiple, diverse topics and require specialized knowledge to implement locally;

And whereas many British Columbia local governments are small organizations with a lean staff and fixed capacity, and local governments have not received permanent core funding to increase capacity for ongoing demands of new legislation, and multiple changes province-wide limits the availability of qualified consultants to create temporary capacity:

Therefore be it resolved that UBCM urge the Province to:
• conduct meaningful technical level consultation with local governments about the feasibility and practicality of implementation, prior to amending legislation that affects the capacity and authority of local governments;
• to consider reasonable timelines for local governments to adapt to legislative changes;
• to consider the timing of multiple significant changes to core legislation across multiple topics;
• to coordinate the release of regulations and policy with statute amendments to assist local government staff in meeting timelines; and
• provide sustained core funding to local governments to accompany permanent changes that create additional workload for local government staff.