REGISTRATION DESK OPENS

Lower Level of Renaissance

REGISTRATION DESK OPENS

Lower Level of Renaissance

The National Flood Insurance Program in Texas, A Local Government Guide - The program will highlight changes in the Texas National Flood Insurance Program directed by the 79th Texas Legislature; updates on activities at the federal level including flood map modernization, and an educational session geared toured helping elected county officials manage their floodplains.

Speakers:

Bruce Barr, CFM, Texas Association of Counties

Mike Howard, State NFIP Coordinator, Texas Water Development Board

Rachael Andrews, Austin Regional NFIP Coordinator

Mike Fontenot, FEMA Region VI Debris

TAC Board of Directors Meeting

12:30pm - 1:00pm

1:00pm - 3:00pm

Speaker: Evan Smith, Senior Editor, Texas Monthly

Speaker:Jonathan Walters, Author and Staff Correspondent, GOVERNING

3:00pm -3:25pm

3:30pm-4:30pm

Restricting Local Government Revenue:  The Florida and Indiana Stories

Speakers:

Executive Director, Chris Holley, Florida Association of Counties and Executive Director

David Bottorff, Association of Indiana Counties

REGISTRATION DESK OPENS

Lower Level of Renaissance

Each association of county officials meets separately to receive in-depth Information for their specific office.  Discussions include anticipated legislative issues for the 81st Legislative Session.

Break

Sponsored by Southern Health Partners

General Session

10:15am-11:35am

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison - 10:15am-10:35am

Restoring the Partnership: How can state and county government become better partners?

Speakers:

Kris Heckmann, Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of Governor Rick Perry

Honorable Terral Smith, Chief of Staff, Office of Speaker Tom Craddick

Julia Rathgeber, Director of Policy, Office of Lt. Governor David Dewhurst

County Official Association President’s Lunch

Invitation only

Concurrent Sessions

1:00pm-2:15pm

Reestablish the Partnership: Legislative Process 101 + How to work with the Legislature and Testify

Speakers:

Victoria Ford, Government Affairs Advisor, K&L Preston Gates Ellis LLP

Don Green, Director of Budget and Policy, Office of the Speaker of the House.

Subdivision Regulation Update

Last session, the Legislature allowed any county to use additional platting authority formerly reserved for certain urban and surrounding counties. Learn what this additional authority can mean for your county as you prepare to meet the challenges of growth.

Speaker: Jeff Barton

Family & Medical Leave Act: What you need to know

This session will cover the highlights of the Family Medical Leave Act of 1990 and what department heads and supervisors should know to comply with this federal law.  Some proposed regulations will be covered as well as the new FMLA rights that the National Defense Authorization Act defined in 2008.  Basic administration requirements will be covered in this session along with reminders for supervisors and department head when dealing with employees needing federal protected leave under the FMLA. 

Speaker: Mary Ann Saenz, Human Resources Specialist, TAC

Indigent Defense: Developing Trends and Issues on the Horizon Indigent defense remains a significant issue for county government. Speakers at this session will discuss public defender offices, provide an overview of new funding strategies to assist counties with the costs of providing court-appointed attorneys, and address the array of legislative initiatives that may arise next session. The speakers will also review the U.S. Supreme Court's recent opinion in Rothgery v. Gillespie County and discuss any impact it may have on the appointment-of-counsel process for indigent defendants.

Speakers:

Jim Bethke, Director, Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense

Jim Allison, General Counsel, County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas

Andrea Marsh, Executive Director, Texas Fair Defense Project

Succession Planning – Speaker: Rollie Waters, The Waters Consulting Group

Concurrent Sessions

2:30pm-3:45pm

Reestablish the Partnership: Building Coalitions

Successful legislative initiatives often result from carefully crafted coalitions.  Even highly disparate groups can identify common interests and benefit from combining strengths.  This session will discuss appropriate use of coalition building and explain the process of identifying stakeholders and developing joint strategies.

Speaker & Moderator: Bruce Elfant, Travis County Constable

Speakers: Carter Casteel, Former Representative, Casteel & Roberts;

Cooperative Purchasing

During these difficult economic times, counties will learn the many advantages to cooperative purchasing. Confirmed Speakers: Steve Fisher, Manager, Buy Board; Lisa Cole, Director, NACo Financial Services Corporation. 

Speakers: Steve Fisher, Manager, Buy Board

Lisa Cole, Director, NACo Financial Services Corporation

Just in Time Training for Marriage Education Certificate Verification –A demonstration on how to use the Twogether in Texas web portal to verify the validity of HHSC marriage education certificates. These certificates will be presented by couples that have completed an eight hour marriage education course. The couple will be presenting these certificates to the county clerks to reduce the marriage license fee in your county. 

Speaker: Gordon Leeks, Project Manager; Healthy Marriage Program, HHSC.

Jail Population Crisis: What Can Be Done?

Local and state criminal justice systems are constantly under pressure to plan more efficiently and effectively without diminishing the quality of their services. Problems associated with backlogged dockets, crowded jails, and recidivism is becoming commonplace.  For example, changes in a county’s jail population, especially in counties experiencing growth, can affect the demand for jail space.  Collaborative efforts to address various criminal justice related issues through criminal justice coordinating committees are becoming more important for mounting an efficient and effective response to these problems.

Speaker: Les Smith, Criminal Justice Manager, Tarrant County Administrator's Office

Appraisal and Revenue Caps Training

TAC Legislative Staff will cover what you need to know about the caps debate; the emphasis will be on revenue caps but appraisal caps will also be discussed.  We'll start by going over our updated "Tax Education Package" which is the group of materials we use to educate legislators, their staffs, and other interested parties on the caps issues.  This will be the time to ask any questions you have about caps.

Speakers: TAC Legislative Staff

Concurrent Sessions

4:00pm-5:00pm

Retirement and Retention: Investment Strategies and Portfolio Management  

 Counties have a great retirement package. Learn how to use this benefit to recruit and retain excellent people in your county. This program will also address the issue of diversifying your own holdings in order to maximize your retirement.

Speakers:

William Sawyers, Program Director/South Texas

Ginger Chavez, Senior Retirement Specialist, Nationwide Retirement Solutions and TCDRS

Eminent Domain

minent domain reform came to the limelight with the release of the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion Kelo v. New London Connecticut.  Texas law was promptly amended in 2005 to prohibit the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes.  But the push for reform didn't stop there.  The 2007 legislative session saw legislation that would have made drastic changes to the condemnation process.  Most of the legislation failed to become law, but will certainly be back in 2009.  This session will focus on the background and possible effects of such changes.

Speakers:

Scott Houston, Director of Legal Services, TML

Robert Soard, Division Chief-Real Property, Harris County

Indigent Health Care/Involving SB 10

Over the past few interims there have been many committees that have reviewed the Indigent Health Care and Treatment Act.  This interim is no different. The House Committee on Public Health and the HB 3154 Regional Health Care System Review Committee are reviewing the county role in providing health care at the local and regional level.  The committee's legislators serving on both committees will discuss activities and possible recommendations.

Speakers: 

Representative Jodie Laubenberg

Representative Jim Jackson

Court Cost, Fines & Fees

his session will cover the collection, disbursement, and distribution of court costs, fines, and fees. Confirmed Speaker: Becky Groneman, Oldham County/District Clerk.

Conference Breakfast

Plan an early start Firday morning and join all attendees for the confrence breakfast.  Food will be served at 7:30am followed at 8 by the presentaion of the Annual City-County Cooperation Awards with the Rockport Mayor Todd Pearson, President of the Texas Municiple League.  Additionally, TAC is honored that Don Stapley, Supervisor, Maricopa County Arizona and President of the National Association of Counites will be in attendance to offcer his insight on federal issues of concern to county governments. 

Classical guitar entertainment with Ryan Volstad

City-County Cooperation Awards:

Todd Pearson, President TML

Federal Update :

Don Stapley, President of NACo

Break

Closing General Session

9:00am-10:30am

Property Taxes and the Outlook for the 81st Legislature

During this interim, both the Texas Senate and House created legislative committees to study local property tax policy and practice.  Legislators active in these and other property tax studies will discuss the policies and politics of property taxes and how the next legislature might address property tax issues.

Speakers:

Representative John Otto

Representative Jim Keffer

Closing Keynote Address: Leadership in County Government 

Speaker: Ty McDonald, Ruach Communications

10:30am-11:15am