News from Across the Nation - March 6, 2017

ALABAMA

●  A state senator has introduced a bill that would shift 70 percent of the costs of caring for mentally ill county jail inmates to the federal government under Medicaid, the Associated Press reported. Counties currently pay for inmates’ behavioral health care.

The measure would also make it possible for county inmates to resume federal mental health care benefits immediately upon release. Currently, Medicaid coverage is terminated when a person enters a county jail.

 

● BIBB COUNTY is receiving a $546,000 grant from the state to make infrastructure improvements for a German auto parts plant being built in the county.

The company, MollerTech, is building a $46 million factory to manufacture interior parts for future Mercedes-Benz SUVs.

The Community Development Block Grant funding was made available through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.

 

CALIFORNIA

●  ALAMEDA, CONTRA COSTA and SAN MATEO counties will split $1.275 million from a settlement with Bay Area Rapid Transit for BART’s alleged environmental safety violations, The Daily Californian reported.

In their lawsuit, the counties claimed BART did not have an emergency response plan in place in case diesel fuel or petroleum leaked from storage tanks near its stations. The diesel tanks run generators at several BART stations.

●  The shortage of beds for people suffering mental health crises will abate in ORANGE COUNTY, and children especially will benefit.

The Board of Supervisors recently approved a $23.9 million, three-year contract with a nonprofit to operate a facility to temporarily house teenagers and adults, being held involuntarily, who experience sudden psychiatric episodes.

The 22-bed center is scheduled to open in December and will be the only psychiatric facility of its type in the county that serves teens. Three others are planned, according to the Orange County Register.

“This is a critical step forward in addressing the issue of children’s mental health considering that 50 percent of mental health conditions begin by age 14,” Supervisor Andrew Do said.

HAWAII

Eighty-three percent of the proceeds from Hawaii’s hotel tax go to the state, while the other 17 percent is distributed among four counties: HONOLULU CITY and COUNTY, and MAUI, HAWAII and KAUAI counties.

Now, some state lawmakers want to eliminate the counties’ share.

House Bill 1586 would phase out the counties’ share of the transient accommodations tax, leaving counties to make up the difference through property tax hikes.

The HAWAII STATE ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES is supporting a different bill, H.B. 317, which calls for a 55 percent/45 percent distribution.

IDAHO

Two eastern Idaho counties are among the latest targets of computer hackers. In the more serious of the incidents, BINGHAM COUNTY’s servers were hit with a ransomware attack last month. Hackers demanded $25,000 to $30,000, which the county refused to pay. It chose, instead, to rely on its backed-up data, EastIdahoNews.com reported.

“Every department in the county is affected in some way,” said Bingham County Commissioner Whitney Manwaring. “Phone systems, computer systems, everything. Some departments are handwriting documents.”

In TETON COUNTY, a hacker claimed responsibility for disrupting the county’s website, replacing its homepage with an image of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a Turkish flag and the words “Hacked by Jacksparrow.”

Officials said there’s no evidence that the two incidents were linked.

MARYLAND

A nurse is challenging HOWARD and BALTIMORE counties’ stun-gun bans on Second Amendment grounds. Leah Baran sued the counties in federal court after Taser International refused to ship a stun gun to her Howard County home.

She said she needs the device to protect her from an ex-boyfriend who is currently serving a lengthy prison sentence. He has vowed, if released, to kill her, the Baltimore Sun reported.

MONTANA

LAKE COUNTY commissioners say the county can no longer afford to prosecute felony crimes committed on the Flathead Indian Reservation, and they want the state to pick up the nearly $2 million a year tab.

Currently, the county and the reservation operate under a federal law that gives the county jurisdiction over felonies on the reservation within county borders, according to the Associated Press.

County commissioners have already passed a resolution of intent to withdraw from the federal law. Meanwhile, state Rep. Greg Hertz has sponsored a bill making the state responsible for the cost of prosecution.

OHIO

A state proposal to stop requiring governments to send notices via certified mail could save CUYAHOGA COUNTY up to half a million dollars a year.

State law currently requires certified mail for 27 different functions, and the U.S. Postal Service certified mail rate ranges from $4.61 to $6.59 for a 1-ounce letter.

Shelley Davis, administrator of the Cuyahoga County Board of Revision, told the  House state and local government committee that the certified mail requirement, established when electric typewriters were state of the art, is obsolete, The Plain Dealer reported.

PENNSYLVANIA

Similar to a recent change in protocol in New Jersey, ALLEGHENY COUNTY District Attorney Stephen Zappala plans to have assistant district attorneys sign off on all felony arrests before charges are filed.

The change will make the prosecutors, rather than police officers, determine the charges in all such cases. The change will create two new warrant offices for this work. Pittsburgh’s municipal court will be staffed by an assistant district attorney 24 hours a day, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. All Pittsburgh police officers planning to file felony complaints and warrants must have them reviewed by the assistant DA prior to filing criminal charges.

SOUTH CAROLINA

The attorney general’s office says BEAUFORT COUNTY must pay the multimillion-dollar bill for clearing Hurricane Matthew storm debris from local waterways and marshlands, including damaged docks. Estimates peg the price tag at more than $5 million.

An opinion written in January said “a coastal county, such as Beaufort County, possesses ‘legal responsibility’ with respect to debris cleanup in the tidelands areas,” The Island Packet reported. While the attorney general’s office doesn’t determine FEMA eligibility, the opinion said, “We hope that state and local authorities are fully reimbursed for the cost imposed in responding to (the Hurricane Matthew) disaster.”

Confusion over whether the water was the property of the county or the state departments of natural resources, health and environmental control necessitated the attorney general’s ruling.

TEXAS

A Texas Supreme Court-backed system would make judicial records accessible to the public online as soon as this fall, and 95 counties don’t like it.

BASTROP COUNTY is one of the most recent to come out in opposition, after the commission passed a resolution to that effect. Clerks say it will deny them control of their own records by placing them in the care of the state through the re:SearchTX system and robbing their offices of critical revenue since clerks currently charge $1 per page for public records. Commissioners passed a resolution opposing the change, the Austin American Statesman reported.

WISCONSIN

Sensing that the hordes of Pokémon Go players could be the harbinger of more augmented reality games, MILWAUKEE COUNTY is asserting control over its parks being used as playing fields.

A new ordinance requires that game developers get a permit before including parkland in games, like any other business or group that wants to host park events. The fees will be on a sliding-scale from $100–$1,000, depending on how much of the park will be used and how many people are expected to be there, the Associated Press reported.

Crowds playing the game in one of the county’s parks in 2016 took parks officials by surprise. It led to traffic congestion, overflowing bathrooms and so much trash that the county had minimum-security inmates help clean up.

News From Across the Nation is compiled by Charles Taylor and Charlie Ban, senior staff writers. If you have an item for News From, please email cban@naco.org.