Agenda - 04-20-2021; 8-a - Minutes

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17 1 2 Commissioners Renee Price and Amy Fowler are serving on the 2021 LIWG and have worked 3 with staff on the proposed 2021 legislative package, which consists of the two attached 4 documents, in preparation for the Board's April 19, 2021 Legislative Breakfast meeting with 5 Orange County's legislative delegation. 6 7 As the LIWG considered its approach for this year, the Group decided to identify a set of 8 Legislative Priorities and a set of Other Legislative Interests. The Group ultimately identified 9 twenty-two (22) Legislative Priorities, acknowledging that the full Board of Commissioners may 10 want to consider modifying the list, exchanging one item for another item, other potential 11 revisions, etc. Attachment 1 is the draft list of twenty-two (22) potential 2021 Orange County 12 Priority Legislative Issues from the LIWG. 13 14 While the LIWG wanted to focus on the twenty-two (22) Priorities in Attachment 1, it also 15 decided that the County should also express its positions on other topics. Attachment 2 is a 16 draft listing of Other Orange County 2021 Legislative Interests. It includes issues the Board has 17 submitted in past years to the County's legislative delegation, with some updates as necessary, 18 as well as a few new items. 19 20 The Board will need to discuss and consider Attachments 1 and 2 as provided by the LIWG. 21 22 The work of the Legislative Issues Work Group to this point is based on the current information 23 available for the 2021 General Assembly Session. The issues addressed by the Group may 24 evolve and change over the session and require additional attention by the Group and Board of 25 Commissioners. New issues may also arise necessitating additional review. 26 27 Greg Wilder said once the legislative agenda is approved, it will be sent to the County's 28 legislative delegation prior to the April 19, 2021 legislative breakfast meeting. 29 Commissioner Fowler said there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed, and she 30 welcomes comments for prioritizing issues over others. 31 Chair Price agreed, and said the work group wanted to present a wide variety of issues 32 to the legislative delegation, including issues that would be easier for the delegates to gain 33 momentum on during the legislative process. 34 Commissioner Greene asked if this year's legislative agenda is different from the 35 previous year. 36 Chair Price said, since there was no breakfast meeting last year, some items from were 37 continued to the new legislative agenda. 38 Commissioner Fowler said some items were reprioritized and some language was 39 changed from the previous list. 40 Greg Wilder said several are similar, but some are new, such as training for law 41 enforcement officers. He said a dangerous dogs item is listed, but has been revamped based 42 on advice from the Animal Services Advisory Board. 43 Commissioner Hamilton said some of the items describe the background of the issue 44 and why it is included, but others do not have much information listed. She asked if there could 45 be consistency in presenting the items with the rationale for why they are priorities. She said, 46 for example, the Smart Start and NC Pre-K item, she would like the reason for including it on the 47 list to be added. 48 Commissioner Hamilton said she would not put the dangerous dogs issue as a priority, 49 but rather would add it to the "other" interests, and, conversely she would add expansion of 50 classes, school impact fee authority, state funding education capital, maternity leave for school 51 employees to the priority list. She said she wants to support teachers in the County, and set the