 National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C. Vol. 33, No. 11 * June 4, 2001 Previous story | Table of Contents | Next story NACo executive committee hits Capitol Hill By Ed Rosado
(l-r) NACo President-elect Javier Gonzales, President Jane Hague and First Vice President Ken Mayfield (r) take camera time with FEMA Director Joseph Allbaugh (second from right). On May 2 and 3, and again on May 16, NACo’s executive committee conducted Washington fly-ins to meet with legislative and Administration leaders. Congressional Hill visits included meetings with Sens. Jean Carnahan (D-Mo.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Reps. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) and Paul Gillmour (R-Ohio). The NACo leadership also met with congressional staff members for then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), then-Senate Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and House Financial Services Committee Chair Michael Oxley (R-Ohio). Meetings with Bush Administration officials included the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Joseph M. Allbaugh; Eileen McGinnis, chief of staff to Christine Todd Whitman, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and Interior Secretary Gale Norton. The primary topics covered at the Capitol Hill meetings included President Bush’s FY02 budget proposal and the need for favorable congressional action to address the effects of the loss of revenue to counties due to noncollection of taxes on remote sales purchases. At the meeting with FEMA Director Allbaugh, the executive committee expressed strong support for the agency’s floodplain remapping and modernization project, and the important role accurate and usable floodplain maps play in local planning and development decisions. Allbaugh was very interested in this subject and asked for more information from NACo. Other issues brought to his attention were our support for annual funding of pre-disaster mitigation programs, such as Project Impact, and the continuation of a FEMA/NACo joint awards program honoring elected county officials for creating disaster-resistant communities. At the EPA, the executive committee highlighted NACo’s environmental legislative priorities as well as President Jane Hague’s Presidential Initiative on Smart Growth. Topics discussed included support for legislation to increase funding to clean up and redevelop brownfield sites, support for increased federal investment in water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure, concerns about the impact of new ozone standards on counties under the Clean Air Act, and our general position against unfunded federal regulatory mandates. President Hague and Immediate Past President C. Vernon Gray explained to Interior Secretary Norton the deep concerns of both urban and rural counties with regard to the way that the federal government administers the Endangered Species Act. They also asked the secretary to direct the land management agencies under her supervision to coordinate more closely with the “gateway communities” – that is, the counties adjacent to, and most affected by, federal land. Finally they underscored the importance of the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program to public lands counties and NACo’s firm commitment to pursue full funding for this program. |
