Legislative Analysis for Counties: FY 2024 Appropriations

This program brings locally or regionally produced foods into schools, including sourcing local agriculture for school meal programs, providing hands-on learning activities and consolidating food-related education into standards-based classroom curriculum. Counties support the initiatives that promote access to healthy food in schools while supporting local agriculture. 

WIC supports early childhood development, a key county priority, through nutrition assistance and service referrals. Though administered at the state level, WIC operates through 1,900 local agencies, including county health departments, at thousands of clinic sites. 

The Water and Waste Disposal Program helps counties make critical investments in our nation's water infrastructure. Critical infrastructure, such as water and wastewater, remain a priority for many rural communities. The cost of building, maintaining, and upgrading local water systems is a challenge for many small towns and rural counties. Beyond the public health interests, clean and reliable water is a necessity to spur economic growth. Studies have concluded that water and sewer projects can save or create jobs in rural communities by attracting and retaining businesses.  

The Rural e-Connectivity (ReConnect) Loan and Grant Program furnishes loans and grants to provide funds for the costs of construction, improvement, or acquisition of facilities and equipment needed to provide broadband service in eligible rural areas. NACo supports federal funding for broadband connectivity infrastructure projects that build out to unserved and underserved areas.    

The purpose of this program is to encourage and improve telemedicine services and distance learning services in rural areas using telecommunications, computer networks, and related advanced technologies by students, teachers, medical professionals, and rural residents. 

NACo supports federal funding for broadband connectivity infrastructure projects that build out to unserved and underserved areas.  

The Community Connect provides financial assistance to eligible applicants that will provide broadband service in rural, economically-challenged communities where service does not exist. 

NACo supports federal funding for broadband connectivity infrastructure projects that build out to unserved and underserved areas.    

This program provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities in rural areas. An essential community facility is defined as a facility that provides an essential service to the local community for the orderly development of the community in a primarily rural area, and does not include private, commercial or business undertakings. Counties support extending eligibility for the Community Facilities Direct Loan & Grant Program to rural governments to provide financial assistance to county operated facilities.  

Rural Housing Services’ rural housing loan and rental assistance programs give families and individuals the opportunity to buy, build, rent or repair affordable homes located in rural America. NACo supports the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) housing programs and opposes any effort to move these programs to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

Administered by USDA's Rural Business-Cooperative Service, rural business programs assists rural communities with creating and expanding entrepreneurship and job creation opportunities, as well as develop and access new markets and products, through strategic investments and technical assistance. NACo calls on Congress to provide needed support to USDA so that it may explore innovative approaches for building community capacity and introduce additional economic enhancement opportunities to rural businesses. 

The Rural Cooperative Development Grant program improves the economic condition of rural areas by helping individuals and businesses start, expand or improve rural cooperatives and other mutually-owned businesses through Cooperative Development Centers. NACo supports this flexibility and urges Congress to adequately fund Rural Housing, Rural Business  

Cooperative and Rural Utility Services during the annual appropriations process. 

The EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth. 

Counties support accurate and fair census data, which impacts the distribution of funding across numerous federal programs. NACo supports full funding for the American Community Survey, which provides county leaders with critical data to demonstrate emerging and local trends. Counties also support the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates program and the Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) Program. 

Byrne-JAG provides resources to counties across the country to utilize emerging and evidence-based approaches to address the public safety challenges facing their jurisdictions 

The COPS program supports local law enforcement agencies to ensure they have the tools, personnel and resources necessary to protect and serve their communities every day. 

SCAAP reimburse states and local governments – including counties – for the cost of incarcerating undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of certain crimes. 

Second Chance Act grants provide counties with the resources needed to help individuals successfully reintegrate back into the community following their release from jail 

JJDPA is the principal federal program through which the federal government sets standards for the care and custody of juveniles and provides direct funding to counties to facilitate compliance with these standards. 

JMHCP provides state and local governments with grants for a broad range of activities, including jail diversion programs, mental health courts, creating or expanding community-based treatment programs and providing in-jail treatment and transitional services 

The Drug Courts program grants to states, state courts, local courts and local governments for the development and establishment of drug courts. 

The Veterans’ Treatment Courts program provides grants and technical assistance for state, local and tribal governments interested in starting or expanding veteran treatment court programs.  

PDMP provides funding for electronic databases that track controlled substance prescriptions. PDMPs help providers identify patients at risk of opioid misuse, abuse and/or overdose due to overlapping prescriptions, high dosages, or co-prescribing of opioids with benzodiazepines. 

500 counties serve as home to at least one military installation, and county leaders are committed to ensuring that active-duty service members and their families have the supports and resources they need to thrive. Military Personnel funding includes military pay, suicide prevention and sexual assault response programs, the basic allowance for housing, basic needs allowance and other provisions impacting qualify of life for active, reserve, and National Guard military personnel. 

The Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program supports cost-sharing agreements between the Military Services and state and local governments to preserve military organizations by avoiding land use conflicts near military installations, addressing environmental restrictions that limit military activities and increasing resilience to climate change. 

Counties support the Weatherization Assistance Program, which helps low-income households make weatherization and energy-efficiency improvements to their homes to reduce energy costs. 

Counties support federal investment in water infrastructure projects at the local level.  

USCIS administers the nation’s naturalization and immigration system including work verification for employers and processing applications for permanent residence. Funding may be used for USCIS operations and support including the E-Verify Program, application processing, the reduction of backlogs within asylum, field, and service center offices, and support of the refugee program. 

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) Shelter and Services Program (SSP), formerly known as the Emergency Food and Shelter-Humanitarian Aid (EFSP-H) program, provides funding to county governments and non-profits who are receiving influxes of migrants. Counties are the traditional front-line providers of social, health and supportive services, and this funding helps relieve that financial burden.  

The DRF allows FEMA to fund authorized federal disaster support activities as well as eligible state, local, tribal and territorial actions such as providing emergency protection, rebuilding, and debris removal. 

This program assists state, local and tribal efforts to prevent acts of terrorism and prepare to respond to threats and hazards that pose security risks for localities. 

UASI Programs assists high-threat, high-density urban areas in efforts to build and sustain the capabilities necessary to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from acts of terrorism