SALT LAKE CITY — As its newest president, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker is hoping to give the National League of Cities more pull in Washington, D.C.

"It is in our municipalities and communities where real innovation, real action and real decisions are being made," he said. "We are driving not just our local and regional economies, but we are driving progress in our country overall."

Becker was named president of the group — comprised of leaders from 19,000 member municipalities — on Saturday, following a week-long annual Congress of Cities in Austin, Texas. He has served as vice president for the group in the past year and said it gives leaders the ability "to share and to learn from each other so that we and our communities can work smarter and better."

The two-term mayor said Salt Lake City also stands to benefit from his new post.

"In the coming year, we'll be working on advocacy for legislation that will have significant, positive impacts including pushing for action on the Marketplace Fairness Act that will bring millions to Salt Lake City and tens of millions to the state of Utah, as well as a long-term federal funding commitment for municipal transportation and transit projects," Becker said, adding that he'll push for more affordable housing, education opportunities and climate change.

"And, all of this will be guided by municipal leaders — the very people at the forefront of getting work done on behalf, and to the benefit, of residents in cities like ours and across the country."

The league is celebrating its 90th year in existence and Becker follows St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman.

"We know from being on the front lines the realities of what our constituents need and want from their government," Becker told the Deseret News Saturday.

He hopes to use the size of the group to manuever more meaningful connections with financial, intellectual and political resources. He also hopes to help leaders across the country launch new programming to re-connect children with the natural world and the benefits he believes come with the knowledge and experience of outdoor environments.

Becker, a former National Park Service employee, said cities need to help kids spend more time outside, avoiding what he called "an unhealthy trend."

"This trend has troubling impacts on our kids and on our planet — in terms of their mental and physical health, and also in terms of their understanding and appreciation of these spaces, which will affect their decision-making later on when they become leaders and business owners and voters," he said.

He hopes to develop partnerships to expand opportunities for kids, regardless of their background, to experience nature in and around their own cities.

Becker also plans to help the league support passage of the Marketplace Fairness Act, which he said would help Salt Lake City collect up to $2 million in annual revenue from Internet sales. The state of Utah would allegedly stand to see an increase of $100 million or more from the deal.

"Our local businesses have been at a disadvantage when competing against remote sellers and every city receiving sales taxes has suffered financially from the non-collection of sales taxes on remote sales," Becker said, adding that Congress' inaction on the issue is harming local communities. "This is fundamentally unfair and we all know it."

Next year will be the last year of Becker's second term, the first of which he began in 2008. He has not announced whether he will run again for mayor.

Email: wleonard@deseretnews.com, Twitter: wendyleonards