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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrange County 2025 Legislative Priority Issues r JAMEZETTA BEDFORD,CHAIR Orange County Board of Commissioners JEAN ARILYN ARTS I�/CE-CHAIR Post Office Box 8181 MAR/LYN CARTER FOWLER SALLY GREENS 300 West Tryon Street SAL EARL Hillsborough, North Carolina 27278 KEF OR � �rf h e at PHYLLIS PoRTIEASCOTT February 26, 2025 Senator Graig Meyer Representative Renee Price Representative Allen Buansi Dear Senator Meyer and Representatives Price and Buansi: This letter is to express the Board of Commissioners' appreciation for your support and assistance with legislative initiatives of importance to Orange County. We appreciate the effort and time you invest on our behalf and hope the 2025 legislative session affords opportunities for further collaboration. Please find attached an Orange County 2025 Priority Legislative Issues document outlining Orange County's most important legislative interests for 2025. We appreciate the opportunity to share this information with you and look forward to your support. We also look forward to our discussion with you on these and potentially other legislative issues at our Legislative Breakfast on March 17, 2025 at 8:30 am in the Donna Baker Meeting Room at the Whitted Building in Hillsborough. Please contact me or other Board members directly for any additional information, or if there is anything we can do to assist with your efforts in Raleigh. We can also be reached through Laura Jensen, the Clerk to the Board, at her office in Hillsborough at (919) 245-2130. Sincerely, Jamezetta Bedford, Chair Orange County Board of Commissioners Enclosures www.orangecountync.gov Orange County,North Carolina (919)245-2130 ORANGE COUNTY 2025 PRIORITY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES Mental Health, Behavioral Health, and Substance Use Issues — Seek legislation to develop and fund mental health and behavioral health facilities and services at the state and local level that: • Ensure adequate State-funded mental health, developmental disability and substance use disorder services and facilities are available, accessible and affordable to all residents; • Include dedicated resources for community para-medicine projects and enhanced mobile crisis response; • Support Medicaid reimbursement to EMS for behavioral health transport to crisis centers; • Establish a Medicaid code to reimburse behavioral health urgent care services at a sustainable rate; • Reduce the number of people with mental health issues in county detention centers by funding additional community-based mental health services and increasing in-patient beds at State hospitals and residential behavioral health facilities; • Ensure that state resources fund service provision costs, inclusive of crisis intervention and treatment; • Increase innovation waiver slots more aggressively to meet the Olmstead Act requirements to serve members of the public with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (IDD) (current waiting list of approximately 17,000); • Increase compensation for mental health providers, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, and direct support staff funded by innovation waivers and other Medicaid sources; • Approve and fund implementation of the 1115 Medicaid Waiver approved by the Federal government. This Waiver authorizes NCDHHS to invest in housing, food, transportation and reentry for more high-needs Medicaid recipients; and • Support legislation to: • Provide additional regulation on hemp-derived products such as Cannabidiol (CBD), and prohibiting those designed to resemble well-known candy and other snack food products; • Raise the legal age to purchase and use hemp-derived products to 21; and • Incorporate a ban on the flavoring of vape products. Support for Older Adults — Seek legislation to: • Strengthen the state's Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program by addressing staffing concerns associated with paid ombudsman positions (potentially seven (7) additional positions statewide) and defining roles and responsibilities of the county volunteer committees that monitor conditions in facilities; • Implement changes recommended by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' Adult Protective Services Improvement Design Team and provide recurring state funding to support needed capacity to protect all vulnerable older and disabled adults across the state; and • Provide additional funding to provide for the delivery of meals to those individuals across the state with limited mobility/access to meal sites. Affordable Housing — Support legislation and additional funding to increase affordable and accessible housing, including permanent supportive housing for individuals with disabilities. Foster Care — Seek legislation providing additional resources and state leadership for foster care, along with funding for dedicated physical spaces and necessary staffing to serve foster children held in county custody. Workforce Housing — Seek legislation to provide recurring funding to State affordable housing programs such as the Workforce Housing Loan Program to enhance opportunities for local government employees to reside in the jurisdictions they serve. PUBLIC EDUCATION Priority School Issues — Support legislation to address the following issues related to schools: • Provide local school systems with calendar flexibility; • Provide full funding for State allotments including Average Daily Membership (ADM) growth and infrastructure/capital, and support legislation to provide for an overall increase in funding based on ADM outside of the current formula system; • Provide a periodic accounting process for State per pupil funds so that funds and pro-rated funds follow students to their respective schools, as opposed to the current process that only considers State funding allocations based on students' attendance location on a single day during the school year; • Increase salary compensation for teachers and staff at all years of service; • Impose class size reductions commensurate with State funding for staffing; • Provide increased funding for school safety initiatives; • Provide full funding for public Pre-K education which benefits both students and the general public through improved life-long health/mental health, achievement; and other benefits; and • Reduce funding and limit eligibility for/availability of private school vouchers (especially reversing the availability of funding for non-low income families), as vouchers constrain available funding for public education statewide, encourage students to leave public education, and limit services and educational opportunities for all remaining public school students. School Capital Funding — Support a State bond referendum to address school capital needs to provide needed capital funding to support school infrastructure, renovations, and new construction; and support legislation to: • Allocate State surplus funds for statewide school capital needs; and • Ensure methods used to distribute school capital funding consider the needs of all counties. Full Funding of the Leandro Remedial Action Plan — Support equity and racial justice by fully funding the Leandro Remedial Action Plan, which details additional comprehensive, targeted education funding over the next eight years, predominantly to low-wealth and minority communities, in order for the State to come into compliance with its constitutional obligation to provide every student a sound basic education. GENERAL GOVERNMENT Racial Equity in Criminal Justice — Support continued consideration and implementation, where practicable, of the recommendations of the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice (TREC), including: • Legislation to legalize the possession and use of marijuana and permit licensed businesses to engage in retail sales to adults, as this decriminalization will in turn broaden the agricultural economy and jobs as well as enhance revenue for governments with taxes, licenses, and other associated revenues that can be utilized to address opioid and other drug-related problems and other needs; • Policing reforms to address use of force, community oversight and law enforcement training on crisis intervention; • Funding at the county level to expand access to diversion and restorative justice programs; • The reduction of fines, fees and costs in criminal court, noting that such fines, fees and costs disproportionately impact people of color and people of low income; and • End automatic driver's license revocation for failure to appear in court and failure to pay court fines and fees and ensure this statutory change is retroactive, with notice to drivers and without requiring the payment of restoration fees. Concealed Weapons in Parks and Red Flag Law — Support legislation authorizing counties to regulate the carrying of concealed weapons on county-owned playgrounds and in county-owned parklands, and allowing courts to prevent access to firearms for individuals who show signs of being a danger to themselves or to others. Mental illness, escalating threats, substance abuse and domestic violence are among the circumstances in which a judge should have the authority to order weapon restrictions or surrender. Non-Partisan Redistricting Process for Elections — Support legislation to establish a process for an independent, non-partisan redistricting process after each United States Census for the election of representatives from North Carolina to the United States House of Representatives, the North Carolina House, and the North Carolina Senate. Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Funding — Support legislation to remove the restriction on State funding for stand-alone bicycle and pedestrian projects imposed by the North Carolina Strategic Transportation Investment Law. The restriction limits the development of infrastructure for bicyclists, pedestrians, and users of personal mobility devices. Broadband Expansion — Support efforts to encourage the North Carolina Department of Information Technology, Division of Broadband and Digital Equity, and private providers to expedite the allocation of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) funding for projects in eligible areas of Orange County to deliver essential broadband access to residents.