Minutes 03-11-2019 Legislative Breakfast

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1 APPROVED 04/02/2019 MINUTES BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Legislative Breakfast March 11, 2019 8:30 a.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a breakfast meeting with the Orange County Legislative Delegation on Monday, March 11, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. at the Solid Waste Administrative Offices in Chapel Hill, N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Penny Rich and Commissioners Jamezetta Bedford, Mark Dorosin, Sally Greene, Mark Marcoplos, Earl McKee, Renee Price COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: None COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: John Roberts COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Bonnie Hammersley, Deputy County Manager Travis Myren, Clerk to the Board Donna Baker, Assistant to Manager for Legislative Affairs Greg Wilder (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) LEGISLATIVE DELEGATION PRESENT: Senator Valerie Foushee, Representative Verla Insko, Representative Graig Meyer Commissioner Rich called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m. Chair Rich said this year's Legislative Issues work group was comprised of Commissioner Price and Commissioner Dorosin. She noted in the Board's agenda packet that a lot of the stated goals have been around for a long time on the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) legislative agenda. Chair Rich said the Board, in selecting its legislative issues, also looked at the priorities of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC). She said the BOCC list is in no special order. Chair Rich said in a SAPFO meeting she attended last week, the group asked her to ask the Delegation to support House Bill 251, and whether there is any chance of this bill being approved. She said class size is a great concern for both school districts. Representative Insko said she is still working with the Medicaid expansion bill, and their goal is to identify different interest groups across the state that will be helped by this expansion. Representative Insko said a public hearing to hear both bills has been requested; they are confident one bill will pass in the House, but not sure about the Senate. Representative Insko said a $72 million appropriation was given to the state to support urban and small urban transit systems. She said she is working on this issue. Representative Insko said more bills are coming forth to put additional funding into mental health reform. Representative Insko said she would like to hear about Cardinal Innovations, and there is some interest on the GOP side about making changes to Cardinal. She said are they are fortunate to have Secretary Cohen, and she said this is a big transition. Representative Insko said they would be going live with 4 state and one regional state wide pre-pay plan, and there will be a broker that will be responsible for this. Her concern is about people that have moved, and this is supposed to go live in November. She said they are enrolling clients now. She is concerned about not having enough senior staff at the Department to fill in gap. Senator Foushee said the letters go out in July, and clients need to sign up by November.