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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release July 14, 1999

PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES RONALD MORRISS AS A MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL

DROUGHT POLICY COMMISSION

The President today announced his intent to appoint Ronald Morriss as a Member of the National Drought Policy Commission.

Mr. Ronald Morriss, of Arizona, presently serves as the Chairman of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, and has held a position on the Board since 1984. Since July of 1998, Mr. Morriss has been Chairman of the National Association of Counties (NACO) Intergovernmental Relations Committee and has served on the NACO Board of Directors since 1993. Supervisor Morriss is presently on the Arizona County Supervisor's Association Board of Directors. Currently, he is a member and chair of the Arizona Department of Water Resources' Active Management Area in Santa Cruz County, where he was first appointed by Governor Rose Mofford and then by Governor J. Fife Symington. From 1982 to 1983, Mr. Morriss served as Mayor and Council Member for the town of Patagonia, Arizona. Additionally, encompassing a period from 1988 to the present, Mr. Morriss has served on a number of Joint State Legislative Committees and task forces, including County Issues, Joint Legislative Committee on Welfare Reform and the Governor's Homeless Trust Fund Oversight Committee. Mr. Morriss holds a Federal Communications Commission General Class Radiotelephone Operators License.

The National Drought Policy Act of 1998 establishes the National Drought Policy Commission (NDPC) to provide advice and recommendations on the creation of an integrated, coordinated Federal policy designed to prepare and respond to serious drought emergencies. The NDPC is also to conduct a thorough study and submit a report to the President and Congress on national drought policy.

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