Oregon counties will be undertaking critical health and human services policy work and partnership development at the Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) in 2024 along three tracks.
Internally, counties are convening monthly at AOC Health and Human Services summit meetings to share and deliberate on local solutions and to develop legislative priorities for local system improvement for the 2025 legislative session. The next summit meeting is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 22, 1 to 4 p.m., at the AOC headquarters in Salem.
To guide AOC’s legislative advocacy in the 2024 short session, our Health and Human Services Steering Committee will meet January through March on AOC Day at 8 a.m., followed by a joint Health and Human Services and Public Safety Steering Committee meeting from 9 to 11 a.m. A stand-alone Public Safety Steering Committee meeting will begin immediately following the joint meeting.
Legislative concepts with potential impacts to county government and programs slated for consideration in the 2024 session include Ballot Measure 110 reforms, local behavioral health system improvements, behavioral health and community corrections gap funding for services to mandated populations, emergency medical services modernization, treatment courts system stabilization, and jail-based medication assisted treatment for opioid addiction.
The Local Government Advisory Committee for Health and Human Services will resume its regular schedule on the fourth Friday at 10 a.m. on Jan. 26, where we look forward to welcoming the new Oregon Health Authority (OHA) Director Dr. Sejal Hathi and discussing how OHA and counties can partner more closely in 2024 on the development of community services funding proposals and legislative advocacy for system improvement.
Contributed by: Jessica Pratt | AOC legislative affairs manager