The Tempe City Council received updates from the city’s government-relations staff on draft federal and state legislative principles for 2026–27, including a federal funding outlook that staff warned could delay grant decisions and a recap of local priorities the city will continue to press in the coming year.

Jonathan Sheffield, the city’s government relations director, told the council that recent federal changes have shifted priorities in Washington and that appropriation-level disputes have produced a government shutdown that began Oct. 1. Sheffield said the new tax-and-budget package (identified in his remarks as H.R. 1) set a fiscal framework favoring tax cuts and spending reductions and that open appropriations questions have created “delays in funding decisions” for local grants and federal awards. He said the Congressional fights had already led to personnel reductions and service interruptions at some federal agencies and warned Tempe could see slowed grant disbursements or application processing.

Council members asked about specific projects. Councilmember Gabbard asked whether the planned Rio Salado-to‑Sloan Park streetcar project remained funded; Eric Iverson, director of transportation sustainability, said the city had secured a RAISE grant that advances streetcar design and that staff will continue to pursue capital funding for construction.

On the federal principles document, staff noted a handful of edits from prior years: they removed references to the Inflation Reduction Act because of the recently passed tax law, updated language on Waters of the United States to reflect new implementation guidance, and added language calling for equity and access funding for parks and recreation systems.

On state legislative principles, Sheffield said staff added language supporting locally adopted building and fire codes and local control of photo radar enforcement and flagged license-plate‑scanner regulation as an anticipated topic for the next state session. The presentation also noted that a state-level statute on sober living home reform passed this past session and so related language was removed from the local principles.

No formal action or vote on the principles documents was taken during the session; staff circulated drafts to council and department directors for review.