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5 <br /> <br />Representative Verla Insko said there has been an increase in funding for Smart Start <br />and early childhood education, and there is bipartisan support for these services; but the State <br />is still below the 2007 funding levels. <br />Representative Verla Insko referred to mental health funding, and said as hospital beds <br />were closed, funding was supposed to go into building community based facilities, which never <br />happened. She said expanding Medicaid would help provide mental health services to the <br />uninsured. She said the funds that were saved by closing hospitals went into Medicaid mental <br />health services, but only for those who are Medicaid eligible. <br />Senator Valerie Foushee addressed item #6: Raise Age for Juvenile Jurisdiction in <br />Criminal Court. She said this was accomplished in the 2017 budget, and will go into affect on <br />December 1, 2019. <br />Representative Graig Meyer referred to item #20: Broadband/Digital Infrastructure, and <br />said the Bright Futures Act passed the House in the last session, and has a good chance of <br />passing in the Senate. He referred to item #240: bona fide farm use, and said he negotiated a <br />study of the bona fide farm use to be put into one of the agricultural oversight committees. He <br />said he has been watching the committee agendas, and this has never been added to one. He <br />said he is unsure why, but will continue to pursue it. He referred to item #33: Agricultural <br />Economic Development, and said he thinks there will be continued efforts from the Legislature <br />to support the growth of the industrial hemp industry, and possibly helping to support the <br />development of a privately owned processing center that would be convenient for farmers. <br />Chair Dorosin said this is the list in the packet is from last year, and the Board will make <br />a new list. <br />Senator Valerie Foushee referred to item #15: Voter Registration and Voting, and said <br />all of this has been accomplished, with the exception of restoring straight party ticket voting and <br />public financing. <br />Commissioner Marcoplos asked if it is useful for the Board to hone down to 2 or 3 well- <br />defined issues, or to provide a laundry list of more generic issues. <br />Representative Verla Insko said a prioritized package is useful, and it is effective to <br />send something to them as the issue is on the agenda. <br />Senator Valerie Foushee said it is helpful for the County to include a resolution. <br />Commissioner Price asked if there is any update about the reduction in class sizes for <br />K-3. <br />Representative Graig Meyer said after the special session bill, which was an attempted <br />fix to this issue, it is now known that the class size mandate is going to be delayed by one full <br />year, and then staged in over four years. He said there is a pledge to provide additional funding <br />of specials classes, which will increase annually over the four years. He said there are two <br />problems: 1.) the formula used for the new funding allotment is less generous than the standard <br />per pupil allotment, so school districts are still going to be short on teachers; and 2.) there is still <br />no capital funding for increasing school facility space to meet the mandate of the class size <br />dropping. He said a verbal pledge was given by legislative leaders to address capital needs <br />during the short session. He said the House has been broadly supportive of a schools <br />infrastructure bond to try and address the massive capital needs of schools across the State, <br />but the Senate has not taken up this issue, nor expressed much interest. He said he has no <br />predictions about work actually being done on school capital needs. <br />Representative Verla Insko said she expected this bill will come to the House, and may <br />be able to be passed. She said the smaller class mandate is not possible for many school <br />districts to accomplish without significant capital increase, and building new classrooms. <br />Senator Valerie Foushee said the Senate will not take up this bill in the short session. <br />Commissioner Rich said the Board passed a resolution where everyone is registered to <br />vote when they reach a certain age, and she asked if this has hit the floor.