Time to protect our turf in D.C.

Also see:
NACo Legislative Conference information
NCACC requests federal issues proposals

January in Washington, D.C., is usually chilly, but during NACo’s annual State Association Presidents and Executives Meeting, which was held Jan. 11-13, the weather was very mild. That may just be a harbinger of things to come on the federal front later this year, as several boiling issues that impact counties could come to the front-burner in Congress.

During the three-day meeting, state executives and presidents heard remarks from Sen. Charles Grassley (Iowa), chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance; the Honorable Antonin Scalia, a member of the United States Supreme Court; and Jim Miklaszewski, Pentagon correspondent for NBC News.

Attendees also received an update on the federal budget process from Bill Hoagland, budget counsel for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.), and a legislative briefing from NACo Legislative Director Ed Rosado. Hoagland talked about structural problems with the federal budget, echoing problems we have heard our state leaders talk about over the past several years.

The constant theme that emerged during this three-day event was that counties need to be on the alert. Among the major federal issues on the immediate horizon are the rewrite of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, saving the Community Development Block Grant program – again – from the budget ax, pension and retirement savings reforms, homeland security funding, eminent domain and sales tax simplification.

These and other federal issues could affect county authority or revenues, and county elected officials need to be aware of these impacts. That’s why it is important that all county commissioners in North Carolina strongly consider attending NACo’s annual Legislative Conference on March 4-8 in Washington, D.C.

The conference will include workshops on all the above topics and many others of interest to North Carolina county officials. In addition, numerous guest speakers will provide a federal perspective on critical issues like immigration reform. With the natural disasters that made headlines in 2005 still fresh on everyone’s mind, NACo will host a series of workshops designed to determine if your county is ready to cope with the next disaster.

In addition to the NACo events, the NCACC is hosting a Congressional breakfast for the North Carolina delegation on Wednesday, March 8. The Association is inviting the state delegation to the breakfast to give county officials an opportunity to meet with their representatives and talk about these and other critical issues.

If you have not yet received your registration form for this breakfast, click here for a PDF version, or contact the Association offices at (919) 715-2893.

A county commissioner’s authority may end at the county border, but the responsibility to be aware of issues extends to Raleigh and Washington, D.C.