News & Notes

Growth management bill with local government preemptions dies

A new growth management bill (SB474/HB7129) that was making its way through the legislative process ultimately died during the last days of session. The highly controversial bill, opposed by FAC, would have preempted local governments and virtually eliminated school concurrency. During the final days of session many strike-all amendments were filed which while making other changes to the bill did not address the concerns FAC has had with the bill throughout session.

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Despite numerous attempts, County lobbyists stop Expedia Bill

When it was clear the online travel company tax exemption bill would likely die in the legislative process, many attempts were made by proponents to amend other bills that were being heard on the House and/or Senate floor. However, through the vigilance and hard work of the FAC lobbying team and county lobbyists those attempts failed, ultimately preventing this loss of millions of dollars of revenue to state and local governments.

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Cuts to County Health Departments drastically reduced

Down from a proposed $30 million reduction, the House and Senate budget conferees agreed to a $9.28 million reduction to cost based reimbursement rate (CBR) for County Health Departments. CBR earnings support a substantial portion of the county health departments’ primary care safety net infrastructure and a $30 million reduction would have forced many county health departments to restrict or close their clinical care components. FAC and county lobbyists worked tirelessly on this issue that quickly became one of FAC’s top priorities.

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