Florida Association of Counties Releases 2012 Priorities

Floridas counties opposed changes to the Florida Retirement System that would increase local government and employee contribution rates, as Florida Association of Counties released a list of priorities for the 2012 session.

The priorities list focuses on the pension program, pretrial services, county health departments, juvenile justice reform and changes to a governments ability to impose and collect impact fees.

By working together, commissioners from urban to rural and across party lines come together to support a legislative agenda that focuses on the preservation of home rule -- the idea that government closest to the people governs best, Doug Smith, FAC president and Martin County commissioner, stated in a release.

Florida Retirement System:

OPPOSE: any FRS benefit changes that result in an increase in the FRS county and county employee contribution rates.

SUPPORT: requiring all legislation that potentially results in an increase in the FRS contribution rate to be analyzed and evaluated to determine the direct fiscal impact of proposed changes to all local and state government to be eligible for consideration.

Pretrial Service Agencies:

SUPPORT: maintaining county ability to provide nonmonetary and risk-assessment pretrial release services that ensure the safety and welfare of local communities by preventing new offenses and ensuring those appear as obligated.

OPPOSE: legislation limiting the discretion of the first appearance judge, requiring written reports and eliminating the presumption of release on nonmonetary conditions.

SUPPORT: changing pretrial program reporting requirements as provided in s. 907.043, F.S. (Florida Statutes), from weekly to monthly updates.

OPPOSE: legislation that restricts pretrial services to only indigent defendants.

SUPPORT: legislation that requires bail bondsmen to report information as required of pretrial service agencies in F.S. 907.043.

County Health Departments:

SUPPORT: maintaining state general revenue funding for county health departments.

OPPOSE: any state reductions to the CHD trust funds.

SUPPORT: legislative efforts to retain cost-based reimbursement for CHDs and to align reimbursement methodologies with federally qualified health centers reimbursement methodologies under managed care.

SUPPORT: efforts to enable CHDs to transition to managed care under the statewide Medicaid Managed Care Program without impacting service capacity.

SUPPORT: reinstating the exemption from rate control for county health departments.

Juvenile Justice Reform:

SUPPORT: recommendations of the joint Department of Juvenile Justice and Florida Association of Counties Workgroup regarding juvenile detention; including but not limited to:

1. Align the DJJ detention budget with the statutory split. The Department has submitted a legislative budget request for $2.7 million that would help satisfy this recommendation.

2. Clarify in statute that post-disposition detention stays, including those associated with post-disposition administrative handling, such as violations of probation and pickup orders, are not the responsibility of the county. Predisposition detention stays associated with violations of probation related to new charges will remain the responsibility of the county.

3. Progress with detention reform, including the implementation of a scientifically-validated risk-assessment instrument that can accurately predict the risk of reoffending and court appearance.

4. Require the Department to collaborate closely with the counties and achieve accountable and collaborative governance at the local level.

Proportionate Fair-Share Mitigation:

Recent legislative changes to the proportionate share funding process prevent counties, under certain circumstances, from charging a development its fair share of road improvements necessary to support that development.

SUPPORT: changes in law that give counties the option of using the proportionate share process and modifying the proportionate share language to allow local governments to determine if the proportionate fair share payment is adequate to satisfy the requirements of the local government concurrency management system.

SUPPORT: modifying the proportionate fair share language in statute to ensure local governments can charge each development its proportionate share of road improvements when the road is currently deficient or when development causes the road to operate below its adopted level of service.

SUPPORT: clarifying language in statute that requires local governments to apply a credit only to that portion of any transportation impact fee that would have been used to fund the same improvements on which a proportionate fair share contribution is calculated, while eliminating the requirement that counties give a dollar-for-dollar credit for impact fees paid or payable in the future.

For a full list of priorities go here.