Legislative Update
posted: 02/08/2007
RESOLUTIONS FROM 2006 STATE CONFERENCE
Opposition
to Unfunded Mandates
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED the County
Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas and its 254 current members do
hereby resolve that for the foregoing reasons, it is in the best interests of
Texas counties and their taxpayers to support and favor the passage of
legislation, including an amendment to the Constitution of the state of Texas,
that would expressly prohibit the imposition of a mandatory governmental program
on Texas counties, whether by an act of the Texas Legislature or a state agency
or by executive order, unless the state of Texas has fully funded and disbursed
all necessary funds to enable Texas counties to operate said governmental
program.
Indigent
Health Care
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County Judges and
Commissioners Association of Texas opposes any attempt to impose a mandatory
assessment upon Texas counties to fund a regional or statewide health care
system.
Federal
Funding for Indigent Health Care
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT
RESOLVED that the
County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas requests that the state of
Texas expand its Medicaid
program to obtain federal matching
funds for indigent health care and relieve the property taxpayer of this unfair
burden.
Opposition
to Appraisal Caps and Revenue Caps
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that
the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas does hereby express its
opposition to efforts to limit local control and does hereby oppose any attempts
to impose revenue caps or appraisal caps upon Texas
counties.
Indigent Criminal
Defense
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the
County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas requests that the
provisions of indigent criminal defense legislation be revised to simplify the
administrative and reporting requirements and improve the efficiency of the
indigent criminal defense program, and that formal criminal proceedings be
initiated within 30 days in all criminal cases; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the
Legislature appropriate sufficient funds to compensate counties for the full
cost of implementing the indigent criminal defense program and
submit the program to full Sunset Review in 2008.
Mandatory
Attorney Fees in Child Protective Services Cases
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the
County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas requests that mandatory
representation in Child Protective Services cases be repealed unless fully
funded by the state of Texas.
Local
Option Development Authority
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County Judges and
Commissioners Association of Texas requests that counties be granted local
option authority to adopt county development plans and impose reasonable impact
fees to fairly distribute the infrastructure costs for new
development.
County
Fees and Fines
NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED that
the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas requests that all fines
and fees collected at the county level be retained by the county for local
budget needs.
Opposition
to Granting Powers to Municipal Utility Districts and Special Utility
Districts
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County Judges and
Commissioners Association of Texas opposes the Legislature granting additional
powers to municipal utility districts and special utility
districts.
County
Support of Hurricane Victims
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County Judges and
Commissioners Association of Texas requests that the federal and state
governments provide full and complete reimbursement to Texas counties for all
costs incurred for hurricane relief efforts; and
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that
the County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas requests that the
federal and state governments provide sufficient funding for the acquisition,
installation and maintenance of emergency generators to maintain electrical
power for public water supply and sewer systems during disaster
disruptions.
Filing
Deadline Conflict
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County Judges and
Commissioners Association of Texas does hereby request that the state
Legislature amend the Election Code to prevent filing deadlines that coincide
with federal, state or local holidays.
State
Hospital System
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County Judges and
Commissioners Association of Texas requests that the Texas Legislature increase
the capacity in the state hospital system to adequately meet the needs of the
citizens of Texas.
Waste
Tire Disposal Fee
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County Judges and
Commissioners Association of Texas does hereby request that the
state of Texas institute a program for the proper mandatory recycling or
disposal of scrap tires and provide sufficient funding to operate the
program.
State
Driving License Fees
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County Judges and
Commissioners Association of Texas does hereby request that the state
Legislature abolish the additional driving license fees being assessed for
certain criminal violations.
CJCAT
Resolutions Committee
Wichita
County Judge Woodrow W. Gossom Jr., Chairman
Rockwall
County Commissioner Bruce Beaty
Tom
Green County Judge Mike
Brown
Roberts
County Judge Vernon Cook
Johnson
County Judge Roger Harmon
In
addition to the above-adopted resolutions, the County Judges and Commissioners
Association of Texas Resolutions Committee requests
that:
Ø
the
State Executive
Board
establish criteria and policy to recognize retiring judges and commissioners at
the Annual State Conference.
In
addition, the Resolutions Committee requests that the following items of
legislative interest be assigned to the Association’s general counsel to be
developed as amendments to other legislation:
Ø
Remove
the Interest and Sinking Fund amount from the General Revenue Tax Levy that is
part of the 8 percent levy for indigent health care.
Ø
Allow
counties to retain a proportionate amount of funds from fine and fee collections
when the county collects from its own collections
effort.
Ø
Direct
a study by the CJCAT general counsel, the Texas Association of Counties, or the
Legislature to determine the amount of local resources that are spent for the
support of state agencies such as Community Corrections and Supervision (Adult
Probation), Department of Public Safety, Texas Cooperative Extension,
etc.
Ø
Revise
the definition in Chapter 387 of the Local Government Code regarding “Special
Assistance Districts” to allow any county to be eligible to collect sales tax in
the areas that have not reached the 8.25 percent cap.
Ø
Oppose
the closure of local Department of Human Services (DHS) offices and any further
regionalization of human services including mental health and mental retardation
(MHMR) and aging programs.
Ø
Support
additional funding for county transportation needs and local control of
overweight trucks on county roads and urge the state to refrain from diverting
funds to non-transportation programs.
Ø
Support
legislation to ensure that homeland security funds remain under local
control.
Ø
Urge
the Legislature to provide sufficient space in the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice for all state offenders.
Ø
Support
continuation of the Office of Rural Community
Affairs.
Ø
Support
legislation to exempt volunteer fire departments from the state motor fuel
tax.
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