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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: June 2, 2009 <br />Action Agen~l~ <br />Item No. !!~~ <br />SUBJECT: Resolution Opposing Section 10.26 of Senate Bill 202 - "Public Health <br />Improvement Plan" <br />DEPARTMENT: Health PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Resolution <br />Section 10.26 of Senate Bill 202 <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Rosemary Summers, 245-2411 <br />PURPOSE: To approve a Resolution Opposing Section 10.26 of Senate Bill 202, "Public Health <br />Improvement Plan", and forwarding the resolution to Orange County's legislative delegation. <br />BACKGROUND: The North Carolina Senate's Appropriation Act of 2009 (Senate Bill 202) <br />contains a special provision (Section 10.26) to establish a Public Health Task Force to develop <br />a Public Health Improvement Plan. The entire provision was added without input from local <br />government officials or local and State public health professionals. The Public Health <br />Improvement Plan includes the establishment of the flexible spending formula and the flexible <br />spending account would be based upon funds already received by public health. The flexible <br />spending account is equivalent to single stream funding which would disrupt the reallocation in <br />funding streams and be unnecessarily stressful to an already fragile public health system, a <br />system that is funded with too few dollars. State dollars directly provided to local public health <br />amount to less than 5% of the total local expenditures. In addition the Plan is directed to <br />redefine core public health services and directs the North Carolina Department of Health and <br />Human Services (DHHS) on the distribution of funds beginning July 2010. The majority of <br />funds currently allocated to local public health are federal block grant funds that carry federal <br />restrictions on their use and require a certain level of state match to draw these funds into the <br />state. <br />A comprehensive statewide Public Health Improvement Plan, updated in 2008 by a Task Force <br />with broad representation from across the State, was reviewed and approved by the legislatively <br />appointed Public Health Study Commission. In addition, in 2008, the NC Division of Public <br />Health commissioned the NC Institute of Medicine to establish a 1-year Prevention Task Force. <br />This group is charged with collecting and sanctioning evidence-based strategies to improve <br />public health. An interim report has been published and the study concludes this fall. <br />