National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C.            Vol. 31, No. 15 * August 9, 1999

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New policy resolutions deal with Internet
access, farm funding ... and much more

By County News staff

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St. Louis County treated NACo Board Members to a free street sign commemorating Mark McGwire Drive. From left are: Carl Hansen, Cook County, Ill.; Robert Paulson, Winnebago County, Iowa; Lyle Shields, Champaign County, Ill.; and Lynn Cartlidge, Forrest County, Miss.

These policies had been forwarded to the floor for adoption by NACo’s Board of Directors. Earlier, the Board, sitting as the Resolutions Committee, approved all of the resolutions forwarded from steering committees.

Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Resolutions sent from this steering committee and approved by delegates state that NACo:

• urges Congress to fund the Rural Community Advancement Program (RCAP) conservation and rural housing programs at least at levels proposed by the Administration for FY2000.
• should track trade regulations affecting rural counties as they are being drafted by federal agencies.
• calls on Congress to develop and support programs to provide rural communities with assistance in attracting and retaining business and industry and support the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service.
• supports monitoring of fair marketing practices by USDA in order to protect the American consumer and the Livestock producer. Also supports adequate funding for meat inspection.
• supports revising the requirements of the Food Quality Protection Act so that they may not hinder the expeditious issuance of Section 18 emergency exemptions for limited use of unregistered pesticides when no other control methods or pesticides are available.
• supports legislation that would encourage growth of export markets by removing barriers that hinder efforts to create foreign markets for American agricultural products.
• supports legislation requiring that meat and meat food products imported into the United States bear a label identifying the country of origin at the final point of sale.
• urges the EPA to recognize the severely negative economic impact of the loss of important crop protection chemicals in agricultural areas of the country. Further urges the EPA to use the best scientific data so that important pesticide uses are preserved; and work closely with the USDA to improve consultation with all stakeholders.
• strongly urges Congress to investigate the producer-to-retail spread of the cost of food. Congress should investigate anti-trust laws, packer concentration and vertical integration.
• urges leadership of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Rural Action Caucus to develop an action plan to provide short-term and long-term relief for farmers, ranchers and rural agricultural counties.

Community and Economic Development
Resolutions sent from this steering committee and approved by delegates state that NACo:

• urges Congress to fund Community Development Block Grants at $5 billion in FY 2000 and to limit CDBG set-asides to those that are authorized by statute and traditionally have been funded out of CDBG.
• supports Clinton’s request for additional funding to assess, cleanup and redevelop brownfields. Urges EPA to set aside funds for revolving loans for both cleanup and site assessments.
• supports the Commercial Revitalization Tax Credit Act (S. 889) to provide business growth in low-income economic areas.
• supports efforts to open new markets in underserved areas where the economic boom has not reached, and supports promoting private sector investment in untapped markets.
• supports key provisions of the "American Homeownership Act of 1999 that expand homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income people.

Human Services and Education
Resolutions sent from this steering committee and approved by delegates state that NACo:

• supports federal legislative initiatives to assist emancipating foster youth in their transition to independent living, including extending Medicaid eligibility, increasing funding to Independent Living Programs and permitting states to make foster care maintenance payments to children up to age 23.
• urges Congress to promptly reauthorize and adequately fund the Older Americans Act (OAA). This reauthorization should strengthen the role of counties and give them greater flexibility. Also supports an initiative to provide all Medicare beneficiaries with access to an affordable prescription drug benefit.
• urges the federal government to support and help fund comprehensive local plans and efforts to address poverty issues including homelessness, mental health and substance abuse.
• urges counties to develop partnerships with school systems and other organizations having a vested interest in education such as chambers of commerce, parent/teacher organizations and teacher associations to offer services to complement curricula.
• supports legislative and/or administrative relief to allow states and localities in county administered human services greater flexibility in the design, implementation and operation of human services automated systems.
• supports increased federal funding for after-school programs and that county governments have access to these funds.
• supports the expansion and creation of programs to provide early childhood development and education services, such as Early Head Start and Women, Infants and Children.

Environment, Energy and Land Use Steering Committee
Resolutions sent from this steering committee and approved by delegates state that NACo:

• urge the Senate to deny ratification to the Kyoto Protocol or any agreement that applies mandatory commitments to reduce or limit greenhouse gas emissions only to the developed nations.
• encourage county leaders to spread the word about the recycling programs they have established, the growing markets for recycled materials and the importance of buying recycled products.
• support states’ and counties’ ability to regulate the negative impacts of confined animal feeding operations.
• urge the Department of Energy to develop national policies regarding the transportation of radioactive waste.
• support an Administration proposal, Better America Bonds, a program of tax credits to help leverage public and private funds for improving the environment and communities.
• support fully FY2000 federal funding of the U.S. Geological Survey Federal-State Cooperative Water Program.
• urge Congress to support a review and revision of the methods to determine carbon monoxide attainment status.
• urge Congress to address the issue of interstate transportation of municipal solid waste.

Betty Lou Ward, NACo president, irons out a procedural wrinkle during the policy meeting of the NACo Board of Directors.

Health
Resolutions sent from this steering committee and approved by delegates state that NACo:

• support the adoption of tax credits, as opposed to tax deductions, for long-term care insurance.
• support a policy that allows state flexibility in deciding whether to utilize funds from the Community Mental Health Block Grant and from the Substance Abuse Treatment and Prevention Block Grant funds for integrated, concurrent treatment programs with co-occurring disorders.
• urge all counties to pursue actively the allocation to county governments of tobacco settlement funds in amounts that fairly compensate each county for its expenditures attributable to tobacco-related disease and disability.
• support the formulation of a Congressional Mental Health Advisory Committee only if the focus is expanded to examine gaps in services and appropriate prevention and treatment strategies.
• urge Congress to amend the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to ease the restrictions to qualify for compensation for individuals and their families exposed to radiation and who are experiencing medical conditions associated with uranium mining or milling including lung cancer.
• support a policy to expand Medicaid and Medicare to allow workers with disabilities to retain their health benefits when they return to work.

Intergovernmental Relations
Resolutions sent from this steering committee and approved by delegates state that NACo:

• urges Congress to take no action on S. 511 or similar amendments to the Voting Accessibility Elderly and Handicapped Voters Act until the National Task Force on Election Accessibility reaches a consensus. Some of the proposed amendments have no know method of implementation; others conflict with state laws.
• as part of its general policy of opposing unilateral federal preemption of non-federal governments and local authorities, opposes further preemption and unilateral imposition of limits on Tribal governments and Tribal sovereignty.
• urges the U.S. Department of Commerce and Congress to develop outreach programs to counties to ensure that communities are not undercounted, leading to a loss of funding for counties.
• urges Congress and the Administration to support legislation that would require federal departments and agencies to conduct a cost benefit analysis to determine whether the benefits to be derived from issuing a new regulation justify the costs to state and local governments.
• supports "State Veterans’ Cemeteries" and urges Congress to substantially increase funding to the Department of Veterans Affairs for the purpose of constructing more state Veterans’ Cemeteries in needed areas to accommodate the 40,000 World War II veterans who die each month.

Justice and Public Safety
Resolutions sent from this steering committee and approved by delegates state that NACo:

• call on Congress and the Administration to modernize the flood hazard-mapping program. Local governments often bear the financial burden of submitting data to revise or amend FEMA maps. FEMA is seeking funding to develop and modernize maps through digital conversion.
• urge Congress to support a criminal justice expenditure formula that is fair to counties and support a dedication of block grant funds to prevention as they consider the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act.
• urge Congress to make changes in S. 899, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to transform the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant into a local Criminal Justice Block Grant and to change the formula so that relative criminal justice expenditures is clearly the major element.
• support a national law that would require all guns to have child safety locks.
• urge Congress to pass H.R. 985, to remove unnecessary restrictions, on county law enforcement agencies that use surplus aircraft equipment for rescue, patrol and other purposes.
• support the efforts of the National Civil Defense/Emergency Management Monument Committee to build and maintain a monument at the National Emergency Training Center in Emmitsburg, Md.
• encourage the passage of the National Forensic Sciences Improvement Act, which will provide grants to existing local and state forensic labs to improve productivity, quality measures and overall operation and achieve professional certification based on standards.
• urge the president and FEMA to slow down the rulemaking process on the insurance requirements to ensure that counties and other affected parties have full and substantial input in the development of the rules.
• urge the federal government to fully reimburse states and counties for the costs of incarcerating undocumented aliens who have committed serious crimes in the United States and have been convicted of felony or misdemeanor offenses.

Taxation and Finance
Nine taxation and finance policy resolutions went before and were approved by NACo members. The resolutions:

• gave strong support for an amendment to the U.S. tax code that would provide simpler and more flexible criteria in determining arbitrage earning from tax-exempt bond proceeds.
• continue NACo’s opposition to limiting local governments’ use of tax-exempt bond financing for publicly-owned professional sports facilities.
• again in the bond area – increase the state volume cap for private activity bonds from $150 million per or $50 per capita to the larger of $250 million per state or $75 per capita.
• oppose a Clinton budget proposal that would make it costlier for counties to borrow money through bond proceeds because it makes it costlier for property and casualty insurance companies to invest in municipal securities.
• urge Congress to withhold studying the repeal of the Tower Amendment. The Tower Amendment prohibits federal agencies from regulating state and local government bond issuances.
• support passing the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1999, which, in the House-passed version, includes provisions favorable to state and local governments.
• urges the Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce to recommend that all taxes on the sale or use of tangible property be treated fairly and equitably whether the sale takes place over the counter, by phone, by mail order or by Internet. Furthermore, the resolution urges Congress to pass legislation that would re-define "nexus" to include electronic as well as physical nexus.
• support the pursuit of federal legislation that would allow county governments to intercept the federal tax refund of taxpayers who owe outstanding court-ordered obligations in criminal or juvenile justice proceedings.
• champion federal legislation that would allow local governments to issue tax-exempt bonds to cover the cost of uncollected and delinquent real property taxes.

Transportation and Telecommunications
NACo delegates adopted 10 policy positions in this area. The resolutions:

• support and encourage investments in advanced telecommunications services for rural counties and their citizens.
• affirm local cable franchise authority when deciding whether to require all cable companies to provide open access to all Internet service providers.
• requests a repeal of federally mandated standards for road sign and pavement reflection and center and edge line markings.
• urge the federal government to create a new program that would fund capital investments to increase the safety of minor arterial, collector and local roads. No such program currently exists.
• urge the Federal Communications Commission and the federal-state board to immediately establish a fully funded national universal service fund that could be accessed by facilities-based telecommunications companies providing service to high cost areas. The current program that allows small rural telephone companies to continue receiving high-cost support expires in 2001, and the FCC has postponed any decision on the funds future.
• continue NACo’s opposition to any federal efforts to preempt local zoning authority over the siting of any telecommunications facility, especially land based wireless communication facilities (cellular and PCS phone towers) and radio and television broadcast towers.
• urge U.S. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater to direct state governments to pass along – for local government priority projects –the same increase in federal transportation dollars received by the state under TEA-21. Some states have failed to consult with or seek concurrence from local governments when allocating federal transportation funds.
• support reauthorization of the Airport Improvement program at a level of at least $2.4 billion; an increase of $3 in the Passenger Facilities Fee, assistance for smaller communities in attracting and expanding air passenger service and taking the Airport Trust Fund off-budget.
• oppose the re-opening of TEA-21 to redistribute excess federal fuel taxes. If TEA-21 re-opened, distribute excess tax revenue ($1.5 billion) directly to local governments for highway projects.