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19 <br /> 1 Greg Wilder, County Manager's Office, reviewed the following background <br /> 2 information: <br /> 3 <br /> 4 BACKGROUND: <br /> 5 The 2019 North Carolina General Assembly "long session" convened on <br /> 6 January 30, 2019. The Board of Commissioners has historically appointed a Legislative <br /> 7 Issues Work Group (LIWG) to work with staff to develop a proposed legislative package for <br /> 8 the County. Based on the work of the LIWG, the BOCC has then reviewed and approved <br /> 9 packages of legislative items to present to Orange County's legislative delegation. <br /> 10 <br /> 11 Commissioners Renee Price and Mark Dorosin are serving on the 2019 LIWG and have <br /> 12 worked with staff on the proposed 2019 legislative package, which consists of the two <br /> 13 attached documents, in preparation for the Board's March 11, 2019 Legislative Breakfast <br /> 14 meeting with Orange County's legislative delegation. <br /> 15 <br /> 16 As the LIWG considered its approach for this year, the Group decided to keep the list of <br /> 17 priority legislative issues short and focused, aiming for five to seven legislative priorities. <br /> 18 The group ultimately identified seven legislative priorities, acknowledging that the full Board <br /> 19 of Commissioners may want to consider modifying the list, exchanging an item for another <br /> 20 item, or other potential revisions. Attachment 1 is the draft list of seven potential 2019 <br /> 21 Orange County Priority Legislative Issues. <br /> 22 <br /> 23 While the LIWG wanted to focus on the seven priorities in Attachment 1, it also decided <br /> 24 that the County should continue to express its positions on multiple other topics that were <br /> 25 relevant in previous years and continue for 2019. Attachment 2 is a draft listing of Other <br /> 26 Orange County Legislative Interests. It includes legislative issues the Board has submitted <br /> 27 in past years to the County's legislative delegation. <br /> 28 <br /> 29 The Board will need to discuss and consider Attachments 1 and 2 as provided by the <br /> 30 LIWG. The work of the Legislative Issues Work Group to this point is based on the current <br /> 31 information available for the 2019 General Assembly Session. The issues addressed by the <br /> 32 Group may evolve and change over the session and require additional attention by the <br /> 33 Group and Board of Commissioners. New issues may also arise necessitating additional <br /> 34 review. <br /> 35 <br /> 36 Commissioner Dorosin said he and Commissioner Price worked on this work group <br /> 37 who reviewed attachment 2, and prioritized 7 top priorities (attachment 1). He said the list <br /> 38 is open for review and edit. He reviewed these top priorities below: <br /> 39 <br /> 40 2019- Orange County Priority Legislative Issues 1 <br /> 41 <br /> 42 Broadband/Digital Infrastructure — Support legislation, funding, and other efforts that provide <br /> 43 counties with flexibility and opportunities to support options for increasing access to high-speed <br /> 44 internet connectivity and expanding digital infrastructure/broadband capability to the un-served <br /> 45 and under-served areas of the state. Access to high speed internet connections will reduce <br /> 46 disparities, enhance quality of life for all the State's residents, and broaden opportunities in <br /> 47 areas such as education, jobs creation, small business development, health care, civic <br /> 48 participation, and growth in farm enterprises. <br /> 49 <br /> 50 Priority School Issues — Support legislation to address the following issues related to schools: <br />