The National Association of Counties (NACo) Rural Action Caucus (RAC) Steering Committee recently met to discuss legislative priorities for the upcoming year.   The group, which analyzes how federal legislation influences rural county programs and services, decided to focus its advocacy efforts on five key legislative issues for 2012:

• Relief from unfunded mandates
• Farm bill re-authorization
• Surface transportation and aviation re-authorization
• Rural healthcare and substance abuse
• The Secure Rural Schools Act and PILT funding

“Most rural counties will continue to face a difficult economic situation in 2012,” said Keith Langenhahn, board chair, Marathon County, Wis. and RAC chair “The federal government should ease our regulatory burden and find a balanced approach to deficit reduction that does not single out discretionary programs that are critical to rural counties.”

For more information on the outlined legislative priorities, click here.