It is time for action.
I participated recently in a press conference in Washington, D.C. to talk about implementing welfare reform - devolution's first major testing ground. Counties across the country will be the laboratories for this test. While states have been given the authority and the federal block grant funds to implement reform, it will be county elected officials and their administrators who will ultimately face the challenges and opportunities presented by the law.
Clearly, welfare needs fixing. The new law, despite its flaws, provides state and local governments with new challenges, opportunities and additional flexibility to put people on the road to being able to support themselves and their families. Counties are moving forward on welfare reform.
However, we need answers. And, we must issue challenges to the governors of the 50 states where the next round of welfare devolution will be fought.
As your NACo president, I urge all county officials to take the following actions:
First, the federal law requires that the states consult with local governments when developing their new systems. If your governor has not done so, counties must demand that the governor sit down with your state's county leaders and draft a state plan of action conforming to the new welfare law.
When you sit down with the governor, there are three questions you should put on the table. I call it the "County Challenge."
The first question is:
How high are counties going to have to raise local property taxes simply to absorb the emergency health care costs of people who no longer qualify for medical assistance under block grants?
The second question is:
Are counties expected to provide care for the expected increase in homeless families when they are unsuccessful in achieving self-sufficiency within the time limits established?
And finally,
If states choose to deny cash assistance and Medicaid to legal immigrants, will counties have to pay for increased general assistance costs and increased indigent health care costs?
For an issue as complicated as welfare, there are no silver bullets. But the dialogue must begin among county, state and federal officials, so that we can all move ahead together, in sync, to help our citizens in need.
Without our active involvement, counties will find placed at the doors of their county courthouses another new, albeit nonfederal, unfunded mandate.
Now is the time to act. Pick up the phone. Organize. Taking the initiative
to enter into discussions with our state public servants will help determine
whether we successfully meet the opportunities and challenges of devolution's
first major test. Our communities' residents expect we will. Those in need
know we must.