E. - 12

POLICY FORMATION MECHANISMS

In order that formulation of a meaningful National Community Development Policy may be undertaken, the procedures of the Domestic Council should provide formal means for bringing the President, the Governors and local elected chief executives together on a regular basis to secure an exchange of views and information on national domestic policy and priorities. Further, the Council should give due consideration to the inclusion of the Governors and chief local elected officials in the regular meetings of the Council.

Representation of state and local interests among the staff must be

assured.

The President should transmit to Congress his annual report and such supplementary reports as he deems necessary to advise as to progress in formulating a National Community Development Policy and suggested implementing actions.

In addition, a joint congressional committee on National Community Development Policy should be instituted. It should make a continuing study of the annual report on National Community Development and its supplements, and study ways of coordinating programs in order to further the National Policy. The legislation should require the committee to file a report annually containing the committee's findings and recommendations. The committee may make such other reports when it deems advisable. To maximize citizen participation, the committee should be encouraged to hold extensive hearings.

E. - 13

GRANTS FOR COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING AND COORDINATION

Assistance should be provided to plan comprehensively at the interstate, regional, metropolitan and local levels, to encourage local governments to cooperate in solving area-wide problems through comprehensive planning, review, and coordination; to foster intergovernmental attacks on problems of national, urban and rural development; and to establish a method for the exchange of development information among local, state and federal governments.

Federal planning funds should be in the form of block grants to state governments for distribution to cities, metropolitan areas, sub-state regions and counties. Such funds should be adequate for long-range financing of planning and management activities, with authority in the use of such funds sufficiently flexible to allow for the planning and management work necessary to achieve state and area priorities.

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Talented and capable human resources, reared and educated in rural areas must have more attractive opportunities to remain in rural areas. The quality of life in rural areas deteriorates and exonomic opportunities decline when the investment in human resources is not maintained.

Rural people have traditionally been educationally disadvantaged. Better educational opportunities must be provided to make rural areas a more attractive place to live and work. Providing a better quality education, including general and vocational education, is an essential element of rural area development. Special federal grants should be made to the States for improving the quality and quantity of rural education. Consideration should be given for basing it on the level of per capita income and the migration rate within a designated geographic area.

Economic delivery of health services is a national problem. It is much more severe in rural than in urban areas due to the sparsity of population, low incomes, and current structure of medical facilities which characterize rural areas. The increasing share of the Nation's gross national product devoted to health services accentuates the importance of improving health service facilities as a means of making rural areas more productive places to live and work and to stimulate economic development. It is essential that federal support for comprehensive health planning, both at the state and substate planning region level, be increased.

A necessary condition for a viable rural development program is a coordinated program of research and education. Rural development research must include the derivation of principles, facts, and relationships considering human, natural, and institutional resources. Results of such research need to be interpreted in terms of local conditions and dispensed to state and local leadership. Further, there is a need for the establishment of a limited number

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of centers to educate individuals to staff state and local development programs. These same centers could provide short courses to update and supplement the educational base of university graduates who wish to prepare themselves to serve development agencies.

A major share of the research relevant to rural development which is currently underway is being carried out in the various Land Grant Universities. For this reason, given appropriate financial support through federal grants, these institutions, through their Agricultural Experimental Stations and Resident and Extension teaching programs, have the capacity to develop both research and educational programs in support of rural development efforts. Special grants should be given these institutions to permit them to develop appropriate research and education efforts in rural development.

E. 17

STATE-FEDERAL PARTNERSHIPS

While it is clear that there is a need for States to come to grips with a vast variety of problems which are regional in nature and interstate in scope, there is likewise a need for a thorough review of existing regional partnerships. Such a review should be undertaken by the National Governors' Conference and future interstate and intergovernmental policies should be designed to: ensure federal fiscal support, earmarked for interstate and intergovernmental regional action and planning programs; make federal participation the responsibility of the President and state participation the responsibility of the Governor; and provide adequate funds for initial planning and policy development, with adequate authorization for future appropriations after the priorities of each commission have been determined.

While such a policy review and development process is underway, the existing regional partnerships should be maintained largely as they are presently constituted for one year (until June 30, 1974), lest their experiences and expertise be lost during a transition period.

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F. 1

THE STATE ROLE IN BALANCED TRANSPORTATION PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

The Governors of the States pledge their continued action to deal with the expanding and changing transportation needs in the decade of the Seventies. A. We commend the U. S. Department of Transportation for relying on the States in the development of the National Transportation Needs Study. We urge the federal government to continue this cooperation by consulting fully with the States in development of a National Transportation Policy. We recommend full use of data contained in the Needs Study as a basis for setting continuing priorities in the National Transportation Policy.

B.

C.

Ꭰ.

E.

We express appreciation to the Department of Transportation for its
generally excellent communication with States. We urge that any
consolidation of federal departments which would place the DOT in
a larger agency should preserve the working integrity of existing
federal transportation activities. We endorse the view that the
transportation system is a primary factor in the development of our
social, economic, and environmental conditions. For this reason,
we support the concept that federal transportation programs be fully
coordinated with these other concerns. However, we believe the
existing functional agencies within the DOT should remain in one
department.

We call upon all States to develop administrative and legal struc-
tures equal to the challenge of balanced, integrated transportation
systems required by the citizens of our States. Many States res-
ponding to the need for a central agency have created departments
of transportation to coordinate all modal programs.

We endorse in principle a program of transportation revenue sharing.
Specifically, we believe the following provisions are vital: that
each State is guaranteed its share of funds from each trust fund will
not be reduced, either by a diminished allocation to any State or by
an automatic pass-through to local government which is greater than
the existing amount now passed through by the State; that the
federal government not be permitted to withhold trust funds or divert
them from transportation purposes; that each trust fund which is
part of transportation revenue sharing continue to be identified;
that the interstate highway fund be made a part of transportation
revenue sharing upon completion of the interstate system.

The Governor, as elected chief executive, is best able to determine
the transportation needs and priorities of his State. Under revenue
sharing or any other program which permits flexibility in expending
federal transportation revenue, the Governor is the key decision-
maker. He should have the ability to transfer funds among various
programs to meet his own State's priority transportation needs.

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Therefore, in addition to transportation revenue sharing, we call for
the creation of a single unified Transportation Trust Fund incorporating
existing transportation revenues earmarked for use within a specific mode
of transportation or by beginning a phased program of percentage transfers
from the highway and aviation trust funds and other funds made available
for transportation into the proposed unified National Transportation Trust
Fund. Also, with the Governor being best able to determine the transportation
needs and priorities of his State, the distribution of the National Trans-
portation Trust Fund should be allocated through the Governor.

F. - 2

TRANSPORTATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT

The Governors pledge full cooperation in providing environmental impact
statements on transportation construction. We strongly endorse efforts to
strengthen the A-95 program to provide the Governors with a stronger role
in the evaluation, analysis, and implementation of all transportation projects,
so as to avoid duplication and waste, as well as environmental damage.

The Governors pledge a continued fight against the pollution of our environment by the wastes and by-oriducts of our growing transportation system.

The Governors believe the following problems should be the subject of a sustained anti-pollution effort by the States and the federal government.

A.

B.

C.

Air pollution caused by gasoline powered automobiles, diesel trucks,
locomotives and ships, and aircraft fueled with kerosene and gasoline;

Water pollution caused by the spillage from vessels of untreated
sewage, oil from machinery and bilges, and crude petroleum spills
from tankers;

Land pollution caused by sewage discharge from railroad trains, by
abandoned automobiles, by litter, and the scarring of landscape from
removal of coal and other fuel sources;

Ꭰ . Noise pollution and nuisance caused by aircraft, autos, trucks,
railroad trains, and ships, and by heavy construction associated
with transportation. Particular emphasis should be given to abating
jet aircraft noise.

Perhaps in no other aspect of transportation is there a greater need for States to be free from restrictive federal preemption. The Governors call upon the federal government to provide effective minimum standards to protect the basic health and safety of every citizen, while leaving state governments free

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