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Legislative Breakfast

Orange County · Board of County Commissioners
Monday, March 17, 2025

Regular meeting State legislative agendaDrugs and addictionBonds and debtBroadband and technologyBudget and appropriationsCivil rights and nondiscriminationElections and districtsHealth and human servicesHomelessness and shelterHousing and affordabilityParks and recreationPolice and public safetyRoads and transportationSchools and education

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What's on this agenda

The commissioners' annual legislative breakfast with the county's state senator and two state representatives, at 8:30 AM in the Whitted Building. The county sent them its 2025 priority legislative issues in advance; this is the meeting to talk them through. The only document on file is that packet - the letter and the priorities themselves - and a single-page record of the meeting that does not extract as text.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The county's asks for the 2025 session, as sent to its delegation, run to four areas.

Health and human services is the longest. On mental health the county wants state-funded services and facilities that are actually available and affordable, dedicated money for community paramedicine and mobile crisis response, Medicaid reimbursement for ambulance transport to crisis centres, and a Medicaid code that pays behavioural health urgent care at a sustainable rate. It wants fewer people with mental illness in county detention centres, achieved by funding community services and more inpatient beds rather than by the jail. It asks for innovation waiver slots to be increased more aggressively against a waiting list of roughly 17,000 people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, and for better pay for the providers who serve them. On hemp-derived products it asks for regulation, a purchase age of 21, a ban on products designed to look like well-known sweets and snacks, and a ban on flavoured vapes. For older adults it asks for up to seven more paid long-term care ombudsman posts statewide, adult protective services reforms with recurring funding, and money for meal delivery to people who cannot reach a meal site.

On schools the county asks for calendar flexibility, full funding of state allotments including enrolment growth and capital, higher teacher and staff pay at every year of service, class size reductions matched by state staffing money, and full funding for public pre-kindergarten. It asks for a periodic accounting of per-pupil funds so money follows students, rather than the present system that counts where a student sits on a single day of the year. And it asks the legislature to cut funding for and narrow eligibility for private school vouchers, specifically reversing their availability to families who are not low income, on the argument that vouchers drain money from public education. It supports a state bond for school capital and full funding of the Leandro remedial action plan.

On general government the county backs the state's racial equity in criminal justice recommendations, including legalising marijuana possession and licensed retail sale, policing reforms on use of force and community oversight, county-level money for diversion and restorative justice, lower court fines and fees on the grounds that they fall hardest on people of colour and people with low incomes, and an end to automatic licence revocation for failing to appear or pay - made retroactive and without restoration fees. It asks for authority to regulate concealed weapons on county playgrounds and parkland and for a red flag law, and for independent non-partisan redistricting after each census.

Two transport and technology asks close it: removing the state law's restriction on funding stand-alone bicycle and pedestrian projects, and speeding up federal broadband money into eligible parts of the county.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (4)

Discussion item · 4
  1. 1 Health and Human Services Legislative Priorities
    Discussion item Drugs and addictionHealth and human servicesHomelessness and shelterHousing and affordabilityState legislative agenda
    Mental health and substance use funding, community paramedicine and mobile crisis response, Medicaid reimbursement for behavioural health transport and urgent care, fewer people with mental illness in detention, innovation waiver slots against a waiting list of about 17,000, and better pay for providers. Regulation of hemp-derived products including a purchase age of 21 and a ban on flavoured vapes. For older adults, up to seven more paid ombudsman posts statewide, adult protective services reform with recurring funding, and meal delivery money. Support for affordable and permanent supportive housing, foster care resources, and recurring funding for workforce housing so local government sta…
  2. 2 Public Education Legislative Priorities
    Discussion item Bonds and debtBudget and appropriationsSchools and educationState legislative agenda
    Calendar flexibility, full funding of state allotments including enrolment growth and capital, higher pay at every year of service, class size reductions matched by staffing money, more school safety funding, and full funding for public pre-kindergarten. A periodic accounting so per-pupil money follows students rather than counting attendance on a single day. Reduced funding and narrower eligibility for private school vouchers, reversing availability to families who are not low income. A state bond for school capital and full funding of the Leandro remedial action plan.
  3. 3 General Government Legislative Priorities
    Discussion item Civil rights and nondiscriminationDrugs and addictionElections and districtsParks and recreationPolice and public safetyState legislative agenda
    Support for the state racial equity in criminal justice recommendations: legalising marijuana possession and licensed retail sale, policing reforms on use of force and community oversight, county money for diversion and restorative justice, lower court fines and fees, and an end to automatic licence revocation for failure to appear or pay, retroactive and without restoration fees. Authority for counties to regulate concealed weapons on playgrounds and parkland, a red flag law, and independent non-partisan redistricting after each census.
  4. 4 Transportation and Broadband Legislative Priorities
    Discussion item Broadband and technologyRoads and transportationState legislative agenda
    Removing the state transportation investment law's restriction on funding stand-alone bicycle and pedestrian projects, which limits infrastructure for cyclists, pedestrians and personal mobility device users. Speeding up federal broadband deployment money into eligible parts of the county.

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