NAEFO Joins Stakeholders Urging Action on the Special District Grant Accessibility Act
In a December 2 letter to Senate Leadership, special district stakeholders from across the country underscored their support for landmark legislation to federally define “special district” and urged Lame Duck action on the bill.
The National Association of Emergency and Fire Officials (NAEFO) is among 36 special districts and their national, regional, and local supporting organizations co-signed the letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., underscoring the importance of the Special District Grant Accessibility Act as the simple bipartisan solution to a complex issue facing the nation’s most common form of local government.
The House version of the bill, H.R. 7525 (Fallon), is currently pending before the Senate, and would formally establish a definition of what a special district is to drive consistency in how federal agencies view local special district governments in development and implementation of rules and regulations.
How the bill would work: The Special District Grant Accessibility Act would require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – which is the clearing house for rules, regulations, and actions of federal programming – to issue guidance based on the formalized definition to clarify how all federal agencies should consider special districts as units of local government. Doing so would emphasize that special districts are, indeed, local governments eligible to access federal programs – thus, placing special districts on a more level playing field to access federally-funded grant and finance opportunities.
If signed into law, the formal definition would be the catalyst for further work with federal agencies to ensure special districts are accurately recognized in the same fashion as other units of local government such as towns, cities, and counties.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., has shepherded bipartisan efforts in the Senate alongside Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas. The duo are the leads for the bill’s Senate companion, S. 4673 (Sinema).
H.R. 7525 passed the House of Representatives, 352-27, in May. Leveraging the momentum of the Senate’s companion legislation, H.R. 7525 was favorably reported out of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, 10-1, in July. Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., was the lone dissenting vote.
Special districts are the most common unit of local government across the country. More than 35,000 special districts altogether provide a range of critical infrastructure and essential services to millions of Americans on a daily basis. Among them are nearly 7,000 special districts providing fire protection, ambulance, emergency communications, and rescue services.
For questions, contact Cole Arreola-Karr, NAEFO Executive Director, at cole@naefo.org.