Okaloosa County BOCC — April 27, 2013 — Okaloosa 2013 State Legislative Issues — reading text

State Legislative Issues • Support legislation that would provide an equitable share of State DMV drivers licenses with the counties who are providing the drivers license services via the County Tax Collector offices • Support continued State Aid to Libraries. (Library Cooperative) • Oppose any legislation or rule that would change juvenile detention cost share assessment as determined by the recent DOAH order. (Corrections) • Support legislation that would have DJJ assuming responsibility for all secure juvenile detention – predisposition or otherwise. (Corrections) • Oppose any legislation that would increase the amount of time that a defendant would spend in custody before being placed on pre-trial release. (Corrections) • Oppose any legislation that would limit a defendant’s qualifications for pretrial release supervision or otherwise weaken pretrial services programs. (Corrections) • Support legislation that limits medical costs to 110% of the Medicare rate. (Corrections) • Support legislation that returns retirement age to 55 years and length of service to 25 years for Special Risk Class members. (Corrections) • Support the continuation of Coordinated Transportation Disadvantaged system and to avoid costly duplication of TD Systems (Growth Management) • To enhance and maintain the independence of the state’s five water management districts. Northwest Florida is facing totally different issues than South Florida related to water supply (Water & Sewer) • Oppose the Competitive Consultants Negotiations Act (CCNA). The current system is working great and does not need to be changed. Right now, we select the most qualified consultant for each particular project, and then negotiate to come to terms. If that were changed to make it price based, we could be severely affected by having to hire less-than- qualified engineering firms to perform critical infrastructure projects. To do this would be making the engineering profession a commodity (Water & Sewer) • Support legislation in favor of Self-Performing Construction Projects. The current legislation is transparent and does not need to be changed. If we desire to perform a construction project with our own crews valued at over $300,000, we need to have a Public Meeting to gain Board Approval after proving that self-performance is in the public’s best interest. We can perform the project faster, better, and more economical that contracting it out, in which contractors add markup, profit, per diem, etc. and the quality is often compromised by cutting corners. From year to year, there is proposed legislation that would prohibit self-performance of projects. Such a change to the current legislation would not be in the public’s best interest (Water & Sewer)