Orange County 2024 Priority Legislative Issues with Attachments

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1 ORANGE COUNTY 2024 PRIORITY LEGISLATIVE ISSUES Mental Health, Behavioral Health, and Substance Use Issues — Seek legislation to develop and fund mental health and behavioral health facilities and services at the state and local level that: • Ensure adequate State-funded mental health, developmental disability and substance use disorder services and facilities are available, accessible and affordable to all residents; • Include dedicated resources for community para-medicine projects and enhanced mobile crisis response; • Support Medicaid reimbursement to EMS for behavioral health transport to crisis centers; • Reimburse behavioral health urgent care services at a sustainable rate; • Reduce the number of people with mental health issues in county detention centers; • Ensure that state resources fund service provision costs, inclusive of crisis intervention and treatment; • Provide assistance to NC residents, especially youth, who are dealing with the impacts of COVID; • Increase innovation waiver slots more aggressively to meet the Olmstead Act requirements; • Increase compensation for mental health providers, psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, and direct support staff funded by innovation waivers and other Medicaid sources; and • Support both House Bill 563 and related amendments that: • Provide additional regulation on hemp-derived products such as Cannabidiol (CBD), and prohibiting those designed to resemble well-known candy and other snack food products; • Raise the legal age to purchase and use hemp-derived products to 21; and • Incorporate a ban on the flavoring of vape products. School Capital Funding — Support a State bond referendum to address school capital needs to provide needed capital funding to support school infrastructure, renovations, and new construction; and support legislation to: • Allocate State surplus funds for statewide school capital needs; and • Ensure methods used to distribute school capital funding consider the needs of all counties. Racial Equity in Criminal Justice — Support continued consideration and implementation, where practicable, of the recommendations of the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice (TREC), including: • Legislation to legalize the possession and use of marijuana and permit licensed businesses to engage in retail sales to adults, as this decriminalization will in turn broaden the agricultural economy and jobs as well as enhance revenue for governments with taxes, licenses, and other associated revenues that can be utilized to address opioid and other drug-related problems and other needs; • Policing reforms to address use of force, community oversight and law enforcement training on crisis intervention; • Funding at the county level to expand access to diversion and restorative justice programs; • The reduction of fines, fees and costs in criminal court, noting that such fines, fees and costs disproportionately impact people of color and people of low income.