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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES-2018-071 Resolution Regarding Items Proposed for Inclusion in the NCACC 2019-2020 Federal LegislRES-2018-071 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Resolution Detailing Orange County’s Recommendations Regarding Items Proposed for Inclusion in the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners’ (NCACC) 2019-2020 Federal Legislative Agenda WHEREAS, the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) organizes a process every two years to adopt a federal legislative agenda representing the collective interests of North Carolina counties; and WHEREAS, the purpose of the process is to develop a list of federal legislative priority items affecting counties that may be addressed during the upcoming federal legislative biennium; and WHEREAS, the goals and issues included in the NCACC Federal Legislative Agenda are presented at the National Association of Counties (NACo) and provide guidance and strengthen NCACC and NACo representatives as they converse with members of the US Congress and committees on legislative matters; and WHEREAS, NCACC has begun the process to develop its 2019-2020 Federal Legislative Agenda and requested Orange County and all other North Carolina counties to submit proposed federal legislative issues by November 30, 2018 for consideration for inclusion in the 2019-2020 NCACC Federal Legislative Agenda; and WHEREAS, Orange County believes there are many issues of importance to all North Carolina counties that should be included in NCACC’s 2019-2020 Federal Legislative Agenda; NOW THEREFORE we, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, do hereby recommend that NCACC include the following items in the NCACC Federal Legislative Agenda: 1) Support Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) Dedicated Funding – The USDA’s Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) provides financial and technical assistance to help conserve agricultural lands and wetlands and their related benefits. ACEP helps American Indian tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations protect working agricultural lands and limit non-agricultural uses of land, and also helps restore, protect and enhance enrolled wetlands. Agricultural land easements protect the long-term viability of the nation’s food supply by preventing conversion of productive working lands to non-agricultural uses, and provide additional public benefits, including environmental quality, historic preservation, wildlife habitat and protection of open space. North Carolina counties urge Congress to establish a dedicated funding source to support ACEP; 2) Support Prohibiting Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity – Currently, the actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity of an individual can be used to limit, segregate, or classify an individual and adversely affect an individual's status. An employer can also fail or refuse to hire, can discharge, or can otherwise discriminate with respect to the compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment of such an individual. Legislation is needed to prohibit such practices that would adversely affect individuals based on such actual or perceived orientation or identity; 3) Support Federal Minimum Wage Increase to $15 per Hour – Support legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour for all public and private sector employees to enhance people’s economic security, improve access to safe and secure housing, boost the economy with increased spending, decrease dependence on government assistance programs, and improve the lives of families; 4) Support the Creation and Implementation of a “Marshall Plan” to Mitigate Climate Change – The world’s leading climate scientists warned in a 2018 landmark report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that urgent and unprecedented changes are needed for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5C, which they say is affordable and feasible although it lies at the most ambitious end of the Paris Agreement pledge to keep temperatures between 1.5C and 2C. The United States must respond to this existential threat by rapidly implementing the equivalent of a “Marshall Plan” to address the climate change crisis which has already begun to disrupt communities and natural systems around the globe; 5) Support Federal Legalization of Marijuana – Ten states have already legalized marijuana for recreational use, and 30 states have legalized marijuana for medical use. Federal legalization of marijuana will end the unnecessary waste of law enforcement resources used to enforce the failed policy of prohibition, and correspondingly allow for regulation and taxation generating revenues to support other law enforcement activities, education, transportation, environmental and other government programs. Legislation for legalization should also include provisions for the review, vacation, and expungement of federal arrests and convictions for minor marijuana-related offenses; and 6) Support Medicare for All – As efforts move forward at the federal level to improve and/or replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act and address the ever-growing need for health care services and increases in health insurance premium costs, efforts should move forward to consider the “Medicare for All” legislation. Medicare for All would expand the Medicare program to provide all individuals residing in the United States and territories with free, tax-funded, medically necessary health care including primary care and prevention, prescription drugs, emergency care, long-term care, mental health services, dental services, and vision care. This Medicare expansion would be paid for in part through taxes (in place of no longer needed insurance premiums), but also by savings realized through the provision of preventative universal healthcare and the elimination of insurance company overhead and hospital billing costs. Some analysis of a Medicare for All plan estimate immediate savings at $350 billion per year. Others have estimated long-term savings amounting to 40% of all national health care expenditures due to expanded preventative health care service delivery and the resulting averted costs for major health care services. This the 13th day of November 2018. ________________________________ Mark Dorosin, Chair Orange County Board of Commissioners