AG 2010 05 17 - Laserfiche WebLink

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4. Water Capacity/Reservoirs -Seek legislation to streamline the permitting of local water supply reservoirs without sacrificing the scientific rigor of Environmental Impact Assessment and the opportunity for public comment. 5. Yard Waste Facilities -Seek legislation clarifying that runoff from yard waste staging areas at county landfills does not require wastewater treatment. 6. Watershed Pollution Rules -Seek legislation eliminating required retrofitting by counties of existing development under rules impacting nutrient levels in existing watersheds. Human Services 1. Mental Health Funding -Seek legislation to ensure that state-funded mental health, developmental disability, and substance abuse services are available, accessible and affordable to all citizens and that sufficient state resources fund service provision costs inclusive of sufficient crisis beds. 2. Health and Social Services Funding -Support state funding to provide adequate health and social services, specifically: - assist each school system in reaching the school health nurse:student ratio of 1:750 and incorporate into the allocation formula a criterion that recognizes the level of county effort in funding school nurses. The Legislature should examine the appropriateness of the target ratio for small school districts and consider whether a target of nurse hours per day per school is a better measure of nurse availability; - restore the financial incentives for counties that opt to be "Electing Counties'; - restore funding of the Division of Emergency Preparedness and Regulatory Compliance within the county health departments to previous levels; -support additional funding for child-care subsidies and increase the administrative limit from 4 percent to 5 percent to enhance program integrity and eligibility review, - increase the "general aid to county" funding for local health departments to build necessary infrastructure and support the capacity to provide essential public health services; and, -support funding for the NC FAST automation initiative in social services. 3. Local Discretion, Inspection Fees -Support legislation that would provide greater discretion at the county level to establish fees for the inspection of food and lodging facilities. 4. Records Sharing, Communicable Diseases -Support legislation which provides immunity from civil or criminal liability to persons required to provide information and records to health officials conducting communicable disease investigations when such information is not otherwise covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or other federal or state law. 5. Allocation Formulas, Health and Human Services - Support a study with representative stakeholder participation to examine the county allocation formulas applied by the Department of Health and Human Services to determine the sufficiency, equity and efficiency of each formula, assuring that formulas fairly respond to the needs of all counties. 6. Smoking Regulations -Support legislation to allow Boards of Public Health, upon request of Boards of County Commissioners, to adopt a rule or regulation regulating smoking in places of public accommodation. 7. Back-Up Generators for New Adult Care Homes -Support legislation to require all newly constructed adult care homes to have back-up generators. (Adopted by the Board of Directors at its Feb. 18, 2009, meeting.) Intergovernmental Relations 1. Transportation Funding -Oppose legislation shifting the state's existing responsibility for funding transportation construction and maintenance projects to county governments. 2. Modernize Annexation Laws -Support legislation modernizing the annexation laws as follows: - Requiring the development of joint utility service plans for urbanizing areas; - Requiring cities to reimburse counties for the loss of sales tax due to an annexation - Increasing the degree of urbanization required to annex property; - Requiring a referendum on proposed involuntary annexations in areas where public services -water and sewer and solid waste - are already in place; and - Requiring the direct provision of municipal water and sewer services to customers within three years of an annexation. - Providing that counties have the option of continuing to provide utilities to annexed areas. - Setting the effective date for involuntary annexations to be June 30 following the date of adoption or final resolution of an appeal. 3. Collective Bargaining for Public Employees -Oppose legislation authorizing local governments to enter into collective bargaining agreements with public employees, or mandating dues check-off programs. G-4 Page 146