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COUNTY PRIORITY SPOTLIGHT: ISSUES IDENTIFIED DURING RURAL HOSPITALS HEARING
On Aug. 3, the Senate Republican Policy Committee held a hearing in the southwestern part of the state focused on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's rural hospitals. Among the panel of testifiers were Greene County commissioners Mike Belding and Betsy McClure and Washington County commissioners Diana Irey Vaughan, Nick Sherman and Larry Maggi, who discussed the challenges they see in their counties related to healthcare. Several issues were mentioned by the commissioners, including response times for emergency healthcare situations both during and outside of a pandemic, as well as concerns with testing, PPE, hospital capacity, revenues and staffing. The need for broadband to aid in telemedicine was another significant area of discussion, with Vaughan noting how Washington County is trying to use its federal CARES Act funding to deploy hotspots around the county to increase access where there is currently no or unreliable broadband access.
During the hearing, commissioners also highlighted two areas of focus for counties and specifically referenced two of CCAP's legislative priorities for 2020 - broadband expansion and solutions to the EMS crisis. Counties recognize the increasing need in both of these areas before the pandemic and stress their importance to the function and well-being of everyday life in the commonwealth, especially as people adapt to a new normal. More information about the 2020 County Legislative Priorities can be accessed on the CCAP website, www.pacounties.org.
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COUNTY POLICE AND MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM SHOWCASED DURING HEARING
As a part of a broader discussion on police reforms, the House Democratic Policy Committee held a hearing on Aug. 13 to discuss police approaches to mental health. The two panels consisted of representatives from Delaware, Franklin and Fulton counties, as well as other advocacy organizations.
Cori Seilhamer, Mental Health Program Specialists and Certified CIT Coordinator for the Franklin/Fulton County Office of Mental Health/Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities/Early Intervention, presented a ride-along partnership program between the counties and law enforcement in their region. Seilhamer demonstrated the success of the Mental Health Co-responder program in diverting individuals away from the criminal justice system, as well as how an increase in Crisis Intervention Trained (CIT) law enforcement officers has positively contributed to that success. CIT is more than training, bringing organizations together and provides tools to enhance supports in the community. This program is partially funded by the county's Behavioral HealthChoices program and county mental health base dollars, which can be used to pay for supplemental community-based mental health programs.
The co-responder program demonstrates the unique partnership between county professionals and law enforcement and has been replicated similarly across the commonwealth. This echoes the work of the CCAP Comprehensive Behavioral Health Task Force, which focuses on integration of behavioral health best practices into community programming and everyday aspects of life, particularly through identifying potential partnership opportunities.
Increased funding for mental health services, specifically county mental health base dollars, is the top county legislative priority for 2020. More information can be found on the CCAP website on the Priorities page.
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DEPARTMENT OF STATE RELEASES 2020 PRIMARY ELECTION REPORT
In June, Gov. Wolf signed House Bill 2502 (Rep. Natatlie Mihalek, R-Allegheny) into law as Act 35 of 2020, which tasked the Department of State to work with counties to issue a report on the 2020 primary election administration, including mail-in and absentee ballot data.
The Department released the report on Aug. 1, comprising a collection of data relating to the 2020 Primary Election from the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE) and responses from uniform surveys to each county election director. The report was intended to assist in mapping additional changes to Pennsylvania's Election Code that would be useful prior to the November general election, as well as providing the Department's recommendations for potential policy and legislative changes. Several of those recommendations echo reforms counties are seeking, extending poll workers to outside of the voting district, and allowing poll worker appointment up to 60 days before an election.
In particular, counties concur with recommendations to allow pre-canvassing of mail-in ballots to begin as early as three weeks before election day. As expected, it took several days in most counties to fully process all of the mail-in ballots because of the sheer volume and the inability to begin the pre-canvass before 7 a.m. election day, since counties' resources are already dedicated to the operation of the in-person election that day and are often unable to shift resources to the pre-canvassing process at the same time. Allowing counties to begin the pre-canvass process up to three weeks in advance would offer adequate time to complete necessary tasks and assist in providing accurate and timely results following the election.
With the completion of the report, CCAP urges the General Assembly to swiftly act on necessary election reforms, stressing that in order to give counties the best opportunity to thoroughly respond to and prepare for any changes impacting the November election, which could include developing new processes and procedures, educating voters and retraining poll workers, for instance, they will need adequate time to do so successfully.
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EXECUTIVE ORDER AS LATEST FEDERAL COVID-19 RESPONSE
On Aug. 8, President Trump signed an executive order and three memorandums to address the expiration of federal unemployment compensation benefits and other assistance, as a congressional stalemate over a fifth legislative COVID-19 relief package continues.
Specifically, the executive order would aid renters and homeowners by directing federal agencies to seek existing resources that could be reallocated to provide temporary financial assistance to those struggling to make rental and mortgage payments due to the continuing pandemic. The executive order does not, however, require any agency to take specific action to mitigate evictions or extend the CARES Act moratorium on evictions. (Gov. Wolf has signed an executive order that provides a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures for Pennsylvanians who are not receiving relief through state or federal programs through Aug. 31.)
One memorandum would partially extend the federal pandemic unemployment insurance (UI) benefits, which expired at the end of July. However, the new UI benefits would be reduced from an additional $600 to $400 per week and require states to cover 25% ($100 of the maximum per week) of the benefit to receive the federal funds after governors submit a request to FEMA. Another memorandum directs the Secretary of the Treasury to use his authority to defer payroll taxes for employees, reducing the deduction from workers' paychecks for social security and Medicare taxes from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, 2020. Finally, the third memorandum directs the Secretary of Education to provide waivers for federal student loans and modifications to extend student loan repayment relief until Dec. 31, 2020.
Counties continue to advocate with Congress for additional flexible, direct federal aid to address the enormous economic and public health challenge that COVID-19 has presented. More on the county impact of federal legislation can be found on the NACo website, www.naco.org.
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IFO OFFERS JULY REVENUE COLLECTIONS UPDATE
On Aug. 3, the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released its July revenue update, showing the collection of $4.1 billion last month. The IFO and the state Revenue Department estimate that approximately $1.6 billion of the total collected reflects money that can be attributed to the COVID-19 tax deadline extensions and otherwise would not have been collected in July, therefore, portraying an atypical revenue increase for that month. In addition, overall collections for the prior FY 2019-2020 still fall $3.2 billion short of the July 2019 projection that was used to develop the FY 2019-2020 budget, leading to an overall shortfall for the recently ended fiscal year.
The IFO noted that at least some of the 20.2% increase in inheritance tax collections compared to last year was likely attributable to delayed payments related to the extended closure of county courthouses. Personal income tax (PIT) also increased, totaling $2.31 billion in July, with about $1.29 billion growth over July 2019 collections being entirely attributable to the extension of the final PIT payments of the tax year due to the pandemic. The IFO also notes that revenues were likely bolstered in July due to pent-up demand after business closures in previous months coupled with the continued impact of federal stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment compensation benefits.
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CCAP COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS OPEN
CCAP members who want a voice in shaping Association policy are encouraged to submit their name to be considered for appointment to a policy committee. The committees, which cover a broad range of issues related to county government, give members an opportunity to offer input on policy matters at the state and federal levels. For more information and to complete the form to seek a CCAP committee appointment, go to www.pacounties.org and select Boards and Committees under the About Us tab, then click Committee Interest.
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VOTING MATTERS
On Aug. 7, each CCAP member was emailed a voting matters packet with items to be considered at the Tuesday business meeting of the upcoming CCAP Virtual Annual Conference. The agenda packet includes proposed policy resolutions, along with information on officer elections and site selection for the 2025 Annual Conference. The resolutions will be deliberated during the business meeting on Aug. 18, and then submitted by electronic ballot to the full CCAP membership within 10 days of the conclusion of the business meeting for final adoption. The deadline to register for the business meeting is Aug. 17 at noon.
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