Okaloosa County BOCC — August 6, 2013 — TRIP REPORT, FAC Legislative Conference — reading text

TRIP REPORT: FAC Legislative Planning Conference, Sept. 18-20, 2013 at West Palm Beach, FL ATTENDEE: Commissioner Dave Parisot REPORT DATE: October 7, 2013 The Agenda for subject conference is attached. Key issues in the various Workshops of interest to Okaloosa County are as follows: A. Federal Committee: 1. The Federal surface transportation program, MAP-21 (P.L. 112-141) funded programs for 2013 and 2014. It is set to expire on Sept. 9, 2014. With gas tax revenues decreasing, efforts are needed to enhance Federal transportation revenue streams. The primary Federal highways impacting Okaloosa County are U.S. 98 and Interstate 10. 2. Flood Insurance: The Biggert-Waters Act to enhance the solvency of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) will have significant increases in flood insurance premiums on properties in flood zones effective Oct. 1st. Current properties will be “stepped” into the new rates over four years. However, of particular impact will be those properties in a flood zone that change property owners and flood insurance is required by the mortgage companies. It appears that some of the flood maps used by FEMA are erroneous. 3. Numeric Nutrient Criteria at the federal level need to continue to be monitored. 4. There is proposed Federal legislation to repeal or eliminate the existing tax-exempt status of municipal bonds. This could devalue such bonds to potential buyers. 5. Monitor impacts of the Federal affordable Care Act for impacts on our employee health insurance. 6. Support revisions to the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) 90 providing greater participation of local governments as a primary first responder in efforts to protect local communities. (This is also a recommendation by the Governor’s Oil Spill Commission of 2012.) B. Finance, Tax, and Administration Committee: 1. I input an item to support legislation that would change F.S.125.0104 to allow use of bed tax revenues to help fund increased public safety during the tourism season within the tourist development sub-districts. This could be done by allowing use of current bed tax “pennies” for these purposes or allow a county to assess an additional ½-cent to 1-cent for public safety purposes (e.g., increased law enforcement due to high tourist numbers; lifeguards for beach safety; etc.) 2. Local Business Tax: FAC anticipates legislation to eliminate or significantly modify the criteria that local governments (counties & cities) now have in F.S. Chapter 205. 3. FAC anticipates attempts in the 2014 State legislative session to establish “Main Street Fairness” between “brick & mortar” businesses and remote businesses conducting business in Florida via the internet or mail order sales. 4. I submitted an agenda item to allow County Property Appraisers/Clerks of Court to charge a filing fee for Value Adjustment Board review of taxable property assessments that will equitably recoup the counties’ costs for the programs instead of the current maximum $15 fee. 5. Florida Retirement System (FRS): Oppose any FRS benefit changes that result in an increase in the FRS county and employee contribution rates. I pointed out that in the current assessment of the County employer contribution rates, the FRS does not distinguish between what the employer pays for an employee in the “defined benefit” plan vs. an employee in the “investment plan” (similar to a 401k), even though the investment plan pays a generally lower retirement benefit. Decreasing the employer contribution could help employers to encourage employees to participate in the investment plan which vests in 1-year vs. 8-years. 6. FAC staff anticipates that the “Sovereign Immunity” proposed legislation from the 2013 legislative session will be back in the 2014 session. C. Public Safety Committee: 1. With the victory for Florida’s counties in the Okaloosa, et. al., lawsuit against the Dept. of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) on county cost/share relationship of funding of DJJ detention of juveniles which reduced County cost estimates from $71 million to $32 million for FY 2013-14, FAC staff anticipates major legislative action in the 2014 session. DJJ is working on an “agency bill” in this area. 2. Support legislation that puts county inmate medical costs on a par with that of the State prison system of no higher than the rates for Medicare plus 10%. 3. Oppose legislation which would shift inmates with less than a year on their sentence at the time of sentencing to county jails instead of State prisons. 4. The issues with synthetic drugs require constant watching as the formulas are constantly changing. D. Growth Management, Transportation, Agriculture, & Environment Committee: 1. I input an item to increase the dollar cost cap for counties to self-perform road projects from the current $400,000 limit to $750,000 [F.S. 336.41, (4) (b) and (c)]. 2. Support state funding for the Small County Road Assistance Program (SCRAP). 3. Oppose any efforts to divert revenues from the State Transportation Trust Fund for non-transportation purposes. 4. Support reducing the permit review time and costs associated with joint coastal permitting process. E. Health & Human Services Committee: 1. The primary issue here is the Medicaid unfunded mandate, particularly the amount of this “tax” allocated to each county by the State. Under the current program, the Medicaid bill to Okaloosa County will continue to increase from the current $1.5 million to a point of approx. $2.2 million by 2020 as a result of SB1520 passed by the 2013 State Legislature (F.S. 409-915). Data from individual counties as to Medicaid enrollment and services received by county residents is not very reliable. Counties have no say as to who gets enrolled in Medicaid, what services they receive, or where they receive services. Beginning FY2013-14, counties no longer have the opportunity to review AHCA information to verify county residency. This is troublesome as beginning in FY2015-16, the Medicaid formula will begin transitioning to being based on each county’s respective share of Medicaid enrollees. 2. Transportation Disadvantaged (TD): support continuation of a TD system and adequate funding of such by the State and to protect the TD trust fund.