Supervisors have approved the county’s federal agenda for this year, which will guide lobbying consultant The Ferguson Group as it represents Loudoun’s interests on Capitol Hill.

Among the county’s priorities: preventing further exemptions to Reagan National Airport’s perimeter rule, which is meant to send cross-country travelers from the D.C. metro to Dulles, but which has been eroded by several exemptions and caused the two airports in the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to compete with one another.

The county supports HR 3805 and S. 2555, the “dig-once” rule that would require fiber cable to be laid whenever a road is built, extending broadband internet to rural areas. It also asked Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA-10) to join the rural broadband caucus, which she has already done.

Along those same lines, the county has identified federal grant opportunities for expanding broadband access in the county, and will determine how county government can be a conduit for those grants.

The county supports a variety of tax incentives for fire/rescue volunteers.

The county continues to support the U.S. Department of Agriculture years-long feasibility study for an equine quarantine facility in Loudoun, in coordination with MWAA.

The Ferguson Group and the county will work with the Food and Drug Administration to make sure the Food Safety Modernization Act will be scalable to smaller producers, protecting small farms and farmer’s markets.

 

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