Okaloosa County BOCC — March 18, 2013 — Agenda — reading text

 Stormwater Regulations Revision to Address Discharges from Developed Sites. NUMERIC NUTRIENT CRITERIA RULEMAKING MONITOR implementation of EPA’s Numeric Nutrient Criteria. On November 30, 2012, EPA approved the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s (FDEP’s) version of Numeric Nutrient Criteria (NCNC). The EPA’s approval should be strongly supported by local governments. However, significant concerns remain with the Agency’s decision to propose additional rules to fill in “gaps” in the Florida regulations concerning certain streams (i.e. ditches), tidal creeks/streams and also for estuaries. Where unreasonable new regulations are imposed, we would seek your assistance in opposing them. PUBLIC SAFETY & EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PUBLIC SAFETY SUPPORT federal programs for County law enforcement, such as:  State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) provides partial reimbursement to counties for the costs associated with the detention and incarceration of undocumented criminal aliens. While it is the federal government’s responsibility to protect and secure our nation’s borders, local governments incur millions of dollars in un-reimbursed expenses each year as a result of housing undocumented individuals who violate state or local laws.  Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program provides local governments with critical funding necessary to support a range of program areas including law enforcement, prosecution and courts, crime prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and Page |6  enforcement, planning, evaluation, technology improvement, and crime victim and witness initiatives.  Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Program provides local governments with critical funding necessary to advance public safety through community policing strategies. The County supports the COPS Hiring Program (CHP) which provides funding directly to law enforcement agencies to hire new and/or rehire career law enforcement officers, and to increase their community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts, and the COPS Secure Our Schools (SOS) Program which grants funding to local governments working in partnership with public schools to improve school safety and prevent school violence within their communities.  Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act promotes innovative and collaborative efforts between criminal justice and mental health systems and assists law enforcement with training on how to identify the symptoms of mental illness and the most effective ways to safely resolve encounters with these individuals. These specialized law enforcement-based programs include: Mental health courts; Mental health and substance abuse treatment for incarcerated individuals with mental illnesses; Community reentry services; and Cross-training of criminal justice and mental health personnel.  Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Reauthorization that supports state and local efforts to prevent delinquency and improve the juvenile justice system. Program funding supports direct funding for research, training and technical assistance, and evaluation of youth crime prevention programs, such as: Community-Based Violence Prevention; Internet Crimes Against Children; Juvenile Accountability Block Grants; Gang Reduction; and Enforcement of Underage Drinking Laws Programs.  Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) Reauthorization administers financial and technical assistance to communities to facilitate the creation of programs, policies, and practices aimed at ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. OVW programs are designed to improve criminal justice responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking and to increase the availability of services for victims of these crimes. Page |7   Second Chance Act/Prisoner Re-entry Program provides federal grants to local government agencies and nonprofit organizations to provide employment assistance, substance abuse treatment, housing, family programming, mentoring, victims support, and other services that can help reduce recidivism.  Nationwide Interoperable Public Safety Broadband Network that allows first responders nationwide to communicate with one another at all times and without delay. Such a program should: (1) ensure increased network capacity for first responders and public safety officials; (2) provide for an Emergency Response Interoperability Center to ensure that first responders nationwide can communicate with one another via public safety wireless broadband communications; and (3) establish a grant program to help fund the construction, operation and evolution of the public safety broadband network. EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS SUPPORT programs for County emergency preparedness activities, such as:  State Homeland Security Grant Program implements state Homeland Security strategies to address the identified planning, organization, equipment, training, and exercise needs to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from acts of terrorism and other catastrophic events.  FEMA Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Programs provides federal grants directly to local fire departments and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) organizations to help address a variety of equipment, trainings and other firefighter-related needs – this includes the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Program which and the Fire Prevention and Safety (FP&S) programs which provide funding for the hiring of firefighters and EMS personnel and fire public education campaigns. AGRICULTURE RURAL DEVELOPMENT ISSUES IN THE FARM BILL SUPPORT current federal investments in rural development and support increasing local flexibility of these investments through a Farm Bill reauthorization and funding for USDA Rural Development programs. These programs assist rural Page |8  counties in their efforts to partner with all sectors to develop water/wastewater infrastructure, community facilities, broadband, electric, housing, renewable energy and capital for businesses. HEALTH CARE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT IMPLEMENTATION MONITOR implementation of the Patient and Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), including the exchanges, subsidies for coverage, and penalties for failure to do so, which go into effect beginning in 2014. In 2013, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) will finalize several rules and regulations that will be important to states and local governments. TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMUNITY ACCESS PRESERVATION ACT SUPPORT passage of the Community Access Preservation Act. The bill would preserve and protect Public, Educational and Government (PEG) community access television stations nationwide. With the Florida Sunshine Law mandating local government transparency through the televising of city council and county commission meetings, school board meetings, local emergency information and other public programming not otherwise broadcast on television, passage of this legislation remains critical to our ability to protect the availability of these much- needed channels. Page |9