HomeMy WebLinkAboutInterim Legislative PrioritiesDepartment of Administrative Services
Dave Kanner, County Administrator
August 13, 2009
TO: Board of Commissioners
FROM: Dave Kanner
RE: Interim legislative priorities
1300 NW Wall St, Suite 200, Bend, OR 97701-1960
[541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202
www.co.deschutes.or.us
At your July 29 work session, Mark Nelson of Public Affairs Counsel suggested that if
the County had any legislative priorities for PAC to carry to the February special session,
it would be best to identify them right away. He noted that these should be limited to one
or two urgent matters that cannot wait for the '11 regular session.
Following the meeting with PAC, I solicited input from the department heads and heard
back from only two of them. Scot Langton suggested pushing for restoration of the $5
million that was cut from the A&T grant. Mike Dugan suggested restoration of funding
for district attorneys.
To the above I would add: Restoring the tax increment financing mechanism to the TPR
fix that was removed from HB 3379; and restoration of the cut to video lottery
disbursements to counties.
(Of course, you may have ideas of your own that you consider priorities.)
The above items are mostly matters of statewide concern that are perhaps best addressed
through AOC or other statewide associations. The HB 3379 matter has more direct local
impact, but if the February session is focused on additional budget cuts, this would be a
huge uphill battle.
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