Identify a County Legislative Coordinator

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ACCG Needs County Legislative Coordinators

The 2011 legislative session will soon begin!  As state budget and policy decisions increasingly impact local governments, it is very important that Georgia counties remain actively engaged in the legislative process and have improved communications regarding potential and pending legislation. 

While the Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) has an excellent policy team and legislative reporting tools, many commissioners are unaware of what’s happening at the State Capitol until long after the General Assembly has taken action.  In addition, there are situations in which the ACCG policy team needs assistance on a particular issue or specific data that can only be provided by counties. 

In order to facilitate information exchange and increase county involvement in the legislative process, ACCG is asking each county to designate a County Legislative Coordinator (CLC).

View map to see if your county has already designated a CLC.

The County Legislative Coordinator must be designated by the County Commission Chairman.  ACCG has developed a draft resolution for use in taking this action.

The primary responsibilities of a County Legislative Coordinator:

• Monitors and evaluates on a continuing basis legislative reports and alerts from ACCG for their impact on county government operations.
• Presents a brief legislative report or update to the Board of Commissioners at each commission meeting during the legislative session.
• Informs Commissioners and other county officials of ACCG’s position on legislation affecting counties.
• Ensures that Commissioners, county officials and staff receive the ACCG legislative reports and action alerts.
• Informs and trains Commissioners, County Officials and staff on the use of the legislative tracking feature on the ACCG website and references the resources available at www.accg.org.
• Initiates action in response to action alerts from ACCG and coordinates that response with the ACCG policy team.
• Coordinates the counties response to requests for information made by ACCG.
• Receives notification when local legislation is introduced for the county.
• Works to strengthen the relationship between the Board of Commissioners and the local legislative delegation.
• Maintains contact information on the local legislative delegation.
• Assists ACCG Policy staff in contacting and communicating with local legislative delegation.

The person designed to serve in this capacity should have:  

• Access to all department heads and county officials to obtain information and data.
• Access to the Board of Commissioners.
• Working knowledge of county operations.
• Ability and time to respond to requests for information from the ACCG policy staff in a timely manner – even brief responses are helpful. 
• Authority within the county government structure to receive timely responses to request for information.
• Knowledge of the various departments within the county and the point of contact within each to obtain information and feedback.
• Ability to provide periodic reports to the Commissioners and other county officials on the legislative reports and activities of ACCG.

ACCG and Georgia counties will be more effective at the General Assembly by working together as a team.  These coordinators will serve as a valuable asset to county advocacy efforts.        

Please forward the County Legislative Coordinator’s contact information to Kathy Nilsson at knilsson@accg.org or (404) 522-5022. 

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