Hot Report: OLR Backgrounder: Connecticut Anti-Texting Initiatives

OLR Report 2013-R-0096 summarizes Connecticut's anti-texting measures. The state Department of Transportation (DOT) has received a $275,000 federal grant to conduct a high-visibility anti-texting campaign in the Danbury area that builds on the findings of an earlier Hartford-area project targeting illegal cell phone use. The report summarizes DOT's grant proposal and the results of the 2010-2011 Hartford area project, during which the percentage of drivers observed texting decreased 72%.

Among the lessons learned from the Hartford project, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said, were that:

● Targeted enforcement using stationary patrols, spotters, and roving patrols can result in high levels of observed violations. The Hartford patrols moved between locations to take advantage of traffic patterns and known high-risk areas during morning and afternoon rush hours.

● Drivers who text frequently commit other traffic violations, such as drifting from one lane to another, driving too slowly, or weaving between lanes. These behaviors can tip police off to drivers who may be violating the texting law.

● Extensive community outreach and public education between enforcement waves creates and reinforces the idea that using cell phones or texting is unacceptable. Public awareness can be raised in this way in a short time.

However, the report made one disturbing finding: motorists continue to call and text while at the same time agreeing that police should vigorously enforce cell phone and texting laws. “Changing drivers' assessment of the risk associated with their own behavior presents a challenge,” NHTSA said.

For more information, read the full report.

Virtues Necessary for Success in Post-Disaster World

An article on the American Planning Association’s blog talks about the four virtues that leaders should have to help achieve success in disaster recovery and rebuilding a city.

Virtue	Possible positive benefits authors from the virtue
Patience	looking beyond frustrations will come when dealing with multiple levels of government but progress will be made
Cooperation	new partnerships will be formed and these will strengthen a city in the long run
Optimism	There is new hope for rebuilding stronger, more sustainable communities
Community/Unity	Post-disaster is a good time to break down literal and figurative community barriers

 The article’s authors describe why each is important to the long-term success of the rebuilding process. They suggest that the example of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, rebuilding after the city was flooded in 2008, serve as an example for other rebuilding efforts, including those in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Climate change also means “we need to think differently about how we design and revitalize urban environments,” they say.

State Trend: Raising Taxes on the Elderly

Governing has a new article describing how some states are, or are studying, the feasibility of increasing state and local tax burdens on the elderly. Aside from reducing or eliminating local property tax exemptions, the most controversial part of their plans are proposals to make some or all of retirees' pension and Social Security benefits taxable. 

Kentucky is one state apparently taking the lead, estimating that its generous tax exemptions currently cost it more than $1.3 billion per year.  In that state, individuals can exempt about $41,000 in pension income (double that amount for married couples), all of their Social Security benefits, and $41,000 of the assessed value of their homes.  It is considering a proposal that would exempt a senior's pension only if it pays out no more than $30,000 annually and is the pensioner's sole source of income other than Social Security.

Colorado, Georgia, and Hawaii are also looking to make similar cutbacks.  And Michigan has taken an incremental approach, keeping exemptions in place for those born before 1946.  The deepest cuts affect taxpayers born after 1952. 

Those favoring tax reform maintain that many seniors don't need the extra money.  Fifty years ago, the favorable tax treatment was necessary because poverty rates were far higher for seniors than for any other age group.  Today's rates are considerably higher for children and working-age adults.

Not surprisingly, the AARP has taken a strong stance against such changes.  It points out that many seniors had their savings wiped out in the recent recession, just as they were hitting retirement age.  Others who argue for the status quo assert that (1) Social Security should not be taxed because workers have already paid payroll tax to support its payout and (2) states should try to attract seniors because they contribute more than their share to the economy.

Hot Report: Mental Health Parity

OLR Report 2013-R-0086 answers a number of questions regarding related to health insurance coverage for mental health services payable on the same basis as coverage for other medical conditions, commonly referred to as “mental health parity.”

The questions include:

• Does Connecticut have a mental health parity law?
• Is there a federal mental health parity law?
• What are the main differences between the state and federal parity laws?
• Does the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act affect mental health parity?
• Does state or federal law specify cost-sharing requirements for mental health services?
• Aside from insurance coverage, what are other barriers to accessing mental health services?

For the answers to these questions, read the full report.

Hybrid Technology Hits the Rails

German engineers are putting hybrid technology to use in trains. An article on Co.Exist explains how locomotives using a braking system to capture and store in batteries kinetic energy that is usually lost. MTU Friedrichshafen, the German company developing this system, claims that it will reduce the locomotive’s carbon emissions by 25%. The locomotive is also quieter than one that is powered only by diesel.

According to company spokesperson Mirko Gutemann, "it’s a parallel hybrid, which means you can use either the diesel engine, a combination of the diesel and the batteries, or just the batteries." That means the locomotive could operate on just the batteries while it was in the station and turn the diesel engine on after leaving.

The system still needs approval from German authorities before it goes into full-time use.

Hot Report: Smart Guns

OLR Report 2013-R-0036 provides information about "smart guns."  It specifically examines the extent to which they are commercially available, their cost, safety, and relevant legislation.

Smart guns use a variety of technologies, including biometrics and radio-frequency identification (RFID), to allow a gun to be fired only by its owner or other authorized user. Smart gun technologies have been studied and promoted for two decades but remain in the prototype phase. Smart guns are not commercially available at this time and we have found limited information on their safety and no information on how much they would cost in commercial production.

According to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a group that advocates for smart guns, Maryland and New Jersey are the only states that have laws addressing smart gun technology. Maryland requires an annual report on the status of smart gun technologies. New Jersey requires on-going monitoring of the commercial availability of smart guns. Once they become commercially available, the law would bar the sale of handguns that do not have their safety features.

In 2000, the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins University published a model handgun safety standard act that is similar to New Jersey's law. Legislation similar to New Jersey's law was introduced but not acted upon in California in 1997 (SB 697) and 2001 (AB 1219) and in Pennsylvania in 2011 (SB 931).

For more information, read the full report.

Connecticut Gun Sales Increasing Annually

According to statistics the Connecticut Mirror acquired from the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, Connecticut has approved the purchase of more than 613,018 handguns, shotguns, and rifles in the last six years. 

The number of gun sales has increased annually for the last six years, with almost a 24% increase from 2011-2012. 

The data also shows that the number of handguns have exceeded the number of long guns.  Last year, 61% were for handguns and 39% for long guns.

The Connecticut Mirror also provides several graphs on this gun data, including approvals and denials for the last six years.

Hot Report: Summary of President Obama's Gun Control Proposals

OLR Report 2013-R-0052 summarizes of President Obama's gun control proposals.

President Obama's plan includes both legislative proposals and executive directives that can be implemented without Congressional approval. It includes requiring a background check for all gun sales and bans (1) assault weapons, (2) magazines that hold 10 or more rounds, and (3) armor-piercing bullet possession. The plan also includes proposals to make schools safer and improve mental health services. (For a chart on whether a proposal needs legislative or executive action, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/obama-gun-proposals/index.html.)

In addition to the $4 billion proposal to keep 15,000 police officers on the street, the president's plan asks Congress for over $400 million for initiatives such as additional gun research, grants for hiring and training personnel, and incentives for certain objectives. President Obama is also directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) to invest $70 million in the next two years to give states a stronger incentive to share data for background checks. (For President Obama's complete proposal, see http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/wh_now_is_the_time_full.pdf.)

Some of the proposals do not include specific plans for implementation. All of the president's proposals deal with federal law. Federal gun laws serve as the minimum standard and states may choose to regulate guns more strictly.

After the Newtown tragedy, President Obama appointed Vice President Biden to lead a gun violence task force to provide proposals that would curb gun violence. The task force met with 229 groups, including law enforcement agencies, public health officials, gun advocacy groups, sportsmen and hunters, and religious leaders. The task force submitted its recommendations to President Obama on January 15, 2013. The gun initiatives he presented the next day were based on these proposals.
For more information, read the full report.

Hot Report: Speed Limits Increases and Accident Rates

OLR Report 2013-R-0074 examines whether raising speed limits results in an increase in the number or rate of motor vehicle accidents. Much of the information in this report is from a 2006 National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) report. NCHRP researches problems affecting highways.

Numerous studies of the relationship between increased speed limits and accident rates have been conducted since 1987, when states were allowed to increase maximum speed limits from 55 miles per hour (mph) to 65 mph. According to the NCHRP, the studies did not identify a clear relationship.

Consequently, NCHRP conducted its own study to help guide state highway officials and policy makers in setting speed limits. It examined these earlier studies, surveyed state transportation and police departments, and collected and analyzed relevant data.

The NCHRP study found that higher speed limits were associated with an increased likelihood of deaths and incapacitating injuries. It found that increasing a speed limit from 55 to 65 mph on an "average" section of high speed road resulted in about a 3% increase in the total number of crashes and a 24% increase in the likelihood that a vehicle occupant would be fatally injured. This increased crash rate would yield a 28% increase in the number of fatalities following the speed limit increase.

The study also found a similar, but lesser, impact when speed limits were raised from 65 to 75 mph. In those cases, the total number of crashes increased by 0.64%, increasing the probability of a fatality by 12%, with an overall increase of 13% in total fatalities. Although the analysis did not explain why a smaller increase occurred at the higher speeds, the study suggested that people may drive more cautiously when driving faster, or that roads deemed appropriate for a 75 mph limit are safer.

A subsequent study published in the American Journal of Public Health found about a 3.2% increase in road fatalities attributable to the raised speed limit on all roads in the U.S. The highest increases were on rural and urban interstates. The researchers attributed 12,545 deaths and 36,583 injuries in fatal crashes over a 10-year period to increased speed limits nationwide.

For more information, read the full report.

Living in a Box

Some organizations are converting retired freight shipping containers into affordable housing units used around the world.  Outfitted with electricity, plumbing, insulation, and large windows, these containers can be used as both permanent affordable housing and temporary disaster relief housing units. 

For example, a Mexican nonrpofit organization, PFNC, replaces slum dwellings with low-cost container units that house up to six people. In Vancouver, work recently started on a twelve unit project that will provide housing for low-income women currently living in shelters and low-rent hotels.  Many Dutch students seeking affordable housing live in Amsterdam's enormous container city, which contains 1,000 units.  Closer to home, fully stocked units are being pursued for disaster relief housing in New York City. 

Though living in a 40 foot container might sound claustrophobic, residents enjoy its bright, organized interior.  In fact, these containers are more spacious than micro-apartments popping up on prime real estate in San Francisco, New York, Paris, and Tokyo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Geographic has more photographs of the units.

Bristol First City to Use Crowdsourced Redevelopment Plans

Crowdsourcing takes advantage of the public's collective knowledge and insight by letting an undefined "crowd" collaboratively problem-solve.  It has the advantage of reducing advertising and market research costs, as well as incorporating diverse perspectives.

Bristol is the first city in the nation to use crowdsourcing to redevelop its downtown.  On the social media site BristolRising.com, residents post business ideas, vote on proposed projects, and work together to find entrepreneurs willing to invest in the city.  Though the bulk of Bristol's redevelopment will begin later in 2013, several businesses have already opened as a result of the crowdsourcing project, including a brew pub, billiards hall, and art gallery with a café.  Currently, residents are lobbying for an outdoor beer garden, an art supply store, solar powered trash cans, and rooftop gardens. 

Judicial Branch Releases Biennial Report

The Judicial Branch recently released its 2010-2012 biennial report. The report contains case statistics, brief summaries of notable cases, information about court administration, and information on new developments and initiatives, among other things.

Among the noteworthy statistics:

• Over 1 million cases were filed in Connecticut Superior Courts during the biennium.
• Among those 1 million cases, the most common category was motor vehicle (387,759), followed by:
• criminal (222,675);
• civil (134,537);
• small claims, including both housing and non-housing (111,290);
• family (68,987);
• juvenile (46,958); and
• housing session (33,159).  
• During calendar year 2011, the Court Service Centers and Public Information Desks provided assistance and services to more than 264,000 self-represented parties.
• The Judicial Branch External Affairs Division established a Twitter Account in late 2011 which currently has more than 1,100 followers.

New Ice Cube Can Track Alcohol Consumption

According to a recent ABC news article, an MIT graduate student invented an LED ice cube that tracks a person's alcohol intake by changing colors in response to the amount of alcohol consumed.  An accelerometer tracks how many times the glass is raised to a person's lips and a timer estimates the person's intoxication level.

The LED light inside the waterproof ice cube has three different colors: green, yellow, and red.  Green signals a first drink, yellow is a warning that your alcohol level is getting high, and red means to stop drinking. The ice cube can even send a text message to friends if the person drinking needs help by using a custom removable infrared receiver fitted to a smartphone's audio jack.

Hot Report: Merchant Fees for Credit Card and Debit Card Transactions

OLR Report 2013-R-0015 summarizes what fees a Connecticut merchant is charged when a customer pays for a purchase with a debit card or credit card.

In order to process credit cards and debit cards, a merchant must negotiate a “merchant discount fee” either with his or her financial institution or, for Discover and American Express, with the credit card company directly. The negotiated fee is then subtracted from each customer transaction with a credit or debit card. The “interchange transaction fee,” which is paid to the credit or debit card issuer, makes up the largest percentage of the merchant discount fee and is the focus of this report.

In 2011, the Federal Reserve adopted Regulation II, which limits the amount of interchange fees that debit card issuers can charge for transactions. The rule limits the interchange fee to a maximum of 21 cents plus .05% of the transaction value. The rule exempts financial institutions with less than $10 billion in assets. To date, there are no such laws or regulations limiting the interchange transaction fees an issuer may charge for credit card purchases. Since credit card interchange fees vary significantly from one card to another and from one merchant to another, some merchants may pay higher fees for credit card transactions while others pay higher fees for debit card transactions.

For more information, read the full report.

State's 2012 HUSKY Performance Bonus Falls Short Of Prior Year's

Connecticut is one of 23 states awarded performance bonuses for streamlining enrollment and renewal procedures in their Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance (S-CHIP) programs in FFY 12.  The state received nearly $2 million for increasing enrollment during that period, down sharply from the approximately $5 million it received in FFY 11.

The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (CHIPRA) created performance bonuses to encourage states to enroll more children in Medicaid and S-CHIP (HUSKY B in Connecticut) and reduce the number of eligible children who drop out.  In order to qualify, state programs must have at least five of the following features:

1. use of the same application and renewal forms for Medicaid and S-CHIP;
2. few or no asset verification requirements;
3. procedures allowing applicants to enroll without in-person interviews;
4. presumptive eligibility rules, allowing health care providers to conditionally enroll and treat children while official eligibility determinations are pending;
5. "express lane" eligibility rules, allowing applicants to enroll if they are participating in other public assistance programs with similar eligibility rules;
6. subsidized premiums for S-CHIP enrollees whose incomes or assets are slightly above Medicaid program limits;
7. 12 month, continuous eligibility rules, allowing children to remain enrolled for a full year regardless of changes in circumstances that would otherwise make them ineligible earlier; and
8. streamlined, automatic or administrative renewal procedures.

Connecticut's programs include items 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 above.

 

Penalties for Being Uninsured in 2014 and Beyond

Beginning in 2014, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires most legal residents of the United States to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty.  The penalty will be the greater of a flat dollar amount or a percentage of family income as follows:

• In 2014, the penalty is the greater of $95 per adult and $47.50 per child (up to $285 per family) or 1.0% of family income;
• In 2015, the penalty increases to the greater of $325 per adult and $162.50 per child (up to $975 for a family) or 2.0% of family income;
• In 2016, the penalty increases to the greater of $695 per adult and $347.50 per child (up to $2,085 for a family) or 2.5% of family income; and
• After 2016, penalty amounts increase annually by the cost of living.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimate that about 30 million nonelderly U.S. residents will be uninsured in 2016, but the majority of them will not be subject to the penalty.  Unauthorized immigrants are exempt from the mandate to obtain health insurance.  Others are subject to the mandate but exempt from the penalty (e.g., their income is too low, they are members of an Indian tribe, or the premium they would have to pay exceeds a specified share of their income).  CBO and JCT estimate that about six million people will pay a penalty because they are uninsured in 2016.

 

Incidence of New HIV Infections Remains Steady Overall

A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the estimated number of new HIV infections has remained stable in recent years.  There were approximately 47,500 people in the U.S. diagnosed with HIV in both 2008 and 2010.  The rate of new infections in 2010 was 18.8 per 100,000 people.

Other findings include:

• The number of new HIV infections remained relatively stable across all age groups, and the highest number of new infections was among people ages 25-34;
• The black/ African American population remains disproportionately affected by HIV.  In 2010, that population accounted for 44% of new HIV infections, followed by whites (31%) and Hispanics/Latinos (21%);
• The number of new infections decreased among females, and the number of new infections among males continues to be much higher than among females (4.2 times higher); and
• Gay men continue to have the highest HIV infection rates; 63% of new HIV infections overall, and 78% of new infections among men, were attributed to male-to-male sexual contact.

CT Supreme Court Acknowledges Fallibility of Eyewitness IDs

Last fall, the Connecticut Supreme Court, sitting en banc (i.e., with all justices participating), unanimously approved a new evidentiary rule allowing defendants to present expert testimony on the fallibility of eyewitness identifications.  In doing so, the Court overruled two decisions precluding the introduction of such testimony.  It had reasoned in the earlier cases that expert testimony was unnecessary because the (1) average juror knows about the factors affecting the reliability of eyewitness identifications and (2) expert testimony on this issue is disfavored because it invades the jury's province to determine what weight to give eyewitness testimony. 

The Court based the new rule on the fact that courts across the country have accepted that:

1. there is at best a weak correlation between a witness’ confidence in his or her identification and its accuracy;
2. the reliability of an identification can be diminished by a witness’ focus on a weapon;
3. high stress at the time of observation may render a witness less able to retain an accurate perception and memory of the observed events;
4. cross-racial identifications are considerably less accurate than same-race identifications;
5. a person’s memory diminishes rapidly over a period of hours rather than days or weeks;
6. identifications are likely to be less reliable in the absence of a double-blind, sequential identification procedure;
7. witnesses are prone to develop unwarranted confidence in their identifications if they are privy to post-event or post-identification information about the event or their identification; and
8. the accuracy of an eyewitness identification may be undermined by unconscious transference, which occurs when a person seen in one context is confused with a person seen in another.

The case announcing the new rule is Connecticut v. Guilbert, --A3d--, 2012 WL 3629569 (NO. 17948).  The cases it overrules are State v. Kemp, 199 Conn 473, 477 (1986) and State v. McClendon, 248 Conn. 572, 586 (1999).

Art Insurers Take Hit from Sandy

The Insurance Journal reports that fine art insurers may face claims of up to $500 million to compensate owners of artwork destroyed when last October's Storm Sandy flooded New York galleries.  This will be the art insurers' largest payout ever and could wipe out a year's worth of revenues, causing prices to increase.  Storm Sandy is expected to cost the insurance industry a total of $25 billion, making it the second costliest storm after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor”

…sang Paul Simon. So, it follows that one person’s misfortune is potentially another person’s good fortune. That appears to be the case for families who lost their homes during the subprime mortgage debacle and the investors who bought them at a bargain. But, investors’ good fortune won’t last long if they can’t sell or rent the foreclosed homes. And that’s where the federal Section 8 rent voucher program comes in. 

The program, which dates back to the 1970s, subsidizes rents in privately-owned housing that, until recently, was concentrated in densely populated areas.  Today, the program offers investors who can’t find buyers a way to recoup their investment and maintain the property. In doing so, it opens up “fresh swaths of suburbia…to the very people it has so often excluded,” the Washington Post reported in 2011.

About two million American families have Section 8 vouchers, a fraction of those who need them. “But they are a lucky fraction. In the recession-era economy, the voucher is becoming a golden ticket to almost anywhere, a point hardly lost on Liza Jackson,” a Section 8 recipient who peruses rentals on Section 8 web sites “that offer everything from chic new condominiums in Miami to four-bedrooms in Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Atlanta.”

Shopping's Done. Where'd I Leave the Car?

A recent Dutch study found that men and women tend to use different methods to locate their cars in shopping mall parking lots.

Dutch researchers found that men often rely on distance to find their way back to their cars while women tend to rely on landmarks. The study found that 38% of women referred to landmarks compared to 15% of men. About one-quarter of men found their cars based on distance, while only 1% of women did.

Most men and women surveyed said they often used two different ways to remember where they left their cars. Besides estimating distance and looking for landmarks, these methods include parking close to the mall entrance, retracing their path through the lot, or parking in a favorite spot.

Too Much Salt Is Bad For Us, Right?

A recent Health Affairs article explores the research and controversy about salt regulation as an example of the challenges of evidence-based policymaking.  The article notes that most public health leaders have long advocated for reduced salt consumption as a way to reduce the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease.  However, the evidence for salt's impact on these diseases is not universal.  While many studies support a reduction in salt intake, others do not, and some recent meta-analyses suggest that the evidence of salt's impact is minor or uncertain.

The authors note that "advocates of salt reduction believe that the lives of hundreds of thousands of people hang in the balance;" but for "those who insist that the evidence for universal salt reduction is weak, the credibility of the scientific enterprise itself is at stake."

The authors argue that policymakers must act even when there is scientific disagreement or uncertainty.  Yet, policymakers also should not conceal such uncertainty, because to do so "serves neither the ends of science nor good policy. Simplistic pictures of translation from evidence to action distort our ability to understand how policy is, in fact, made and how it should be made."

The authors also emphasize that judgments and values must play a role in evidence-based policymaking.  Certain questions cannot be answered on evidence alone, such as whether the burdens of a public health intervention would be too severe, or the benefits sufficient given the costs.

What do health care reform and gun ownership have in common?

The 2010 federal health care reform law (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Educational Reconciliation Act) contains second amendment gun rights provisions. Specifically, it limits what gun ownership information can be collected from individuals who obtain health insurance under the Act.

For example, it prohibits a wellness and health promotion activity implemented under the Act to require the disclosure or collection of any information relating to either the (1) presence or storage of a lawfully possessed firearm or ammunition in someone’s home or on his or her property or (2) the individual’s lawful use, possession, or storage of the firearm or ammunition.

It also prohibits (1) increasing a premium rate; (2) denying health insurance coverage; or (3) reducing or withholding a discount, rebate, or reward offered for participating in a wellness program under any health plan issued pursuant to the Act based on the individual’s lawful firearm or ammunition ownership or use.

It also protects individuals from being required to disclose such information under any data collection activity authorized by the Act.

Superstorm Sandy Tops 2012 Insurance Claims

According to a recent Associated Press article, natural disasters cost insurers $65 billion last year, with the United States accounting for nine-tenths of the bill. The reinsurer Munich Re estimates that Superstorm Sandy was the most costly disaster, with insured losses of $25 billion and total losses of $50 billion, though it cautioned that the figures are "still subject to considerable uncertainty."
The lengthy drought that seared much of the nation last summer produced 2012's second largest insurance bill. Munich Re said the insured losses, which are covered by a public-private crop insurance program, totaled between $15 billion and $17 billion — most of the $20 billion worth of overall crop losses.

Still, world-wide total economic costs from natural disasters, including uninsured losses, were $160 billion in 2012, compared with the previous year's $400 billion.

College Savings Plan Participation Lags

The cost of going to college continues to increase, but a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that relatively few families take advantage of state-sponsored college savings plans (known as 529 plans) or Coverdell Savings plans. According to a 2010 survey cited in the report, fewer than 3% of U.S. families had a 529 or Coverdell plan. Earnings from such plans are tax-exempt so long as they are used to pay qualified educational expenses.

The report also found that the savings plans are more likely to be used by wealthier families. It estimated that the median financial asset value for families with the plans was about $413,500, compared with a median value of $15,400 for families without the plans. Similarly, families with the plans had a higher median income than those without them, $142,400 compared with $45,100

Why Can’t HOME Deliver the Affordable Housing Goods?

In the late 1980s, a Connecticut legislator asked a deputy housing commissioner why his agency wasn’t building enough multifamily housing despite the bonds the legislature authorized for that purpose. The commissioner responded that the Housing Department (now, the Economic and Community Development Department) didn’t actually build housing, but channeled the funds to other organizations—mostly nonprofit organizations and public housing authorities. The ability of these intermediaries to build multifamily housing depended on several factors, including knowledge, expertise, and experience building such housing.

A recent Washington Post article hints there are similar issues with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOME program. It describes how HOME dollars allocated for specific affordable housing projects either weren’t spent or failed to deliver the promised number of units.  The fallout: “Congress last month cut the HOME program’s budget by $600 million—nearly 38 percent—citing mismanagement.” Housing advocates countered that this was a bad move, “estimating that the program will produce 31,000 fewer homes this fiscal year.”

Was Congress wrong to cut a program that apparently isn’t delivering the goods?  Charlotte, North Carolina’s housing director Pamela Wideman thinks so, citing several successfully completed HOME-funded projects. But, she also provided a clue as to why other HOME-funded projects couldn’t put numbers on the housing boards. “In the past…local housing officials sometimes partnered with smaller nonprofit developers, a HUD requirement, and cut checks before construction started.” She even described a proposed 25-unit project that received $160,000 in HOME money in 2001 that today is an empty lot.

Wideman’s solution: more-aggressive HUD involvement in the projects. “In my mind,” she said, “it’s been reactive from HUD when pressure is coming. It should not be in this reactive or crisis mode.”

 

 

 

Protect Yourself Against Hackers

You would think that a tech reporter for the hi-tech magazine Wired would know how to best protect himself against hackers. But someone managed to gain access to, and destroy, much of Wired reporter Mat Honan's on-line information - and it all began with a simple call to Apple's customer service line.

The Connecticut New Junkie reports on the hi-tech attack, and suggests ways to help prevent it from happening to you.

 

Engineered Salmon Could be Coming to Your Dinner Plate

The New York Times reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has concluded that a genetically engineered, fast growing salmon is safe to eat and would have no significant impact on the environment.  The FDA's environmental assessment will be open to public comment for 60 days, but it appears likely that the agency will allow the salmon to enter the U.S. food supply.  AquaBounty Technologies, the company that developed the salmon, says the engineered fish grows to market weight in 18 months, rather than three years. 

Hot Report: Generators at Gas Stations

OLR Report 2012-R-0539 summarizes the legislative proposals in Connecticut and other states to require gas stations to have electric generators and (2) how the recent Connecticut legislation regarding microgrids and critical facilities relates to this issue.

A Connecticut legislator raised the idea of requiring generators at gas stations in 2011, but did not propose a bill.

Florida and Louisiana appear to be the only states that require motor fuel facilities, including certain gas stations, to be able to switch to an alternative energy source during a power outage. They do not actually require the stations to have generators on-site.

In New Jersey, one pending bill would require that generators be installed at gas stations, while another would impose requirements similar to the Florida and Louisiana laws. In New York, a bill similar to these laws has been recently proposed; it would also provide financial incentives for stations that voluntarily install generators. A 2011 California bill would have provided financial incentives for stations that installed generators, but it was not adopted.

PA 12-148 establishes a program to fund micro-grids to support onsite electricity generation for critical facilities. Gas stations are not specifically included in the list of critical facilities, but might qualify. The program does not fund generators themselves, but could be used to pay for engineering and related costs in connection with them.

For more information, read the full report.

How is Violence Like the Common Cold?

It turns out that both are contagious, or at least that was the theme explored at a recent workshop hosted by the National Academies of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. Presenters noted that, as in the case of infectious diseases, violent acts have a tendency to cluster; spread from place-to-place; and mutate.  And like those who contract infectious diseases, people exposed to violence have varying levels of resilience and susceptibility, with environmental influences playing a major role in symptomatology and transmission.

One expert carried the analogy farther, contending that strategies proven effective in managing contagious diseases also work in reducing violence.  These include:

• detecting and interrupting ongoing and potentially new infectious events;

• identifying those in the protected population who are most likely to cause further infections and then reducing their likelihood of developing or transmitting the disease; and

• changing the underlying social and behavioral norms or environmental conditions that directly relate to the spread of the infection.

Reboot Civilization and Spur Innovation

Marcin Jakubowski told Bloomberg Businessweek he's "conducting a civilization reboot experiment" on his 30-acre compound near Maysville, Missouri, which he calls, Factor e Farm. He wants the farm to produce its own food, energy, and tools and raw materials for making those tools, a quest he started in 2007 when he "began working on a minimum set of machines to necessary to sustain modern civilization." In doing so, he wants to prove that people can live without corporations.

Okay, but when did this economic development-related entry morph into something from a survivalist blog? Oh, this posting's about economic development. Jakubowski expects people around the world to "use his tools, spurring an explosion of innovation as people take his tractors and drills and build even better ones." And will they know about his tools? They'll know about them thanks to Internet, which Jakubowski is using to "open-sourcing" his entire production system for all to see, copy, and improve.

Sounds crazy? Well Jakubowski's picked up a global following after 1 million people viewed his TED talk on YouTube. South African billionaire Mark Shuttleworth's foundation contributed $360,000 to farm and about 500 people who donate $10 a month to "subscribe" to the Jakubowski's farm.  The Businessweek article describes the farm's successes and failures, including a greenhouse that grows nothing but weeds and the farm's continued reliance on Wal-Mart for food.

But consider Jabukowski's method for spurring innovation: "open sourcing." The farm is "just one node in the network he envisions. The answers will not come from him or the farm. Other people will improve the designs, and, in time, "a distributed enterprise will arise--a society in which the people will have taken back control of technology and lowered the basic cost of existence by several orders of magnitude."  

Hot Report: Bans on Smoking in Vehicles Carrying Children

OLR Report 2012-R-0541 describes laws in other states banning smoking in vehicles when children are present and summarizes any data on the effects of such laws.

Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Maine, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have each enacted such legislation. The maximum age of children covered varies from 13 to 18. Fines range from $25 in Arkansas to a maximum of $250 in Puerto Rico (for a first offender).

According to the advocacy group Global Advisors for Smokefree Policy, legislation banning smoking in cars with children has been proposed in 21 states, including Connecticut. In addition, the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (national center), a division of the national Centers for Disease Control (CDC), reports that six states and the District of Columbia restrict smoking in vehicles carrying children in the care of childcare facilities. We have attached the center's list of state restrictions on smoking in motor vehicles in effect as of June 30, 2012.

We were unable to find any studies that specifically address the effectiveness of banning smoking in vehicles. However, the Community Preventive Services Task Force, an independent board of experts appointed by the CDC director, strongly recommends smoking bans and restrictions “on the basis of strong scientific evidence that they reduce exposure” to second-hand smoke (http://www.thecommunityguide.org/tobacco/Tobacco.pdf). In addition, a number of studies have noted the dangers of second-hand smoke in general, and of second-hand smoke in vehicles in particular.

“Second-hand smoke exposure is associated with acute respiratory infections, middle ear disease, delayed lung growth, and more severe asthma,” a 2012 study noted. “Nonsmoking youth are…particularly vulnerable to second-hand smoke due to their limited ability to avoid smoke-permitted environments, higher breathing rates, and the developing nature of their respiratory, immune, and nervous systems.”

Researchers say that second-hand smoke can be particularly hazardous in the relatively confined space of a car. Opening car windows or vents can reduce, but not eliminate, the danger. A 2011 research paper that monitored car trips involving smokers found that the concentration of fine particulate matter in cars where smoking occurred greatly exceeded international indoor air quality standards and posed a health threat to children. Similarly, the national center states that smoking just one cigarette in a vehicle with the windows closed can generate more than 100 times the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 24-hour recommended exposure limit to fine particles. These particles, about 1/30th the width of an average human hair, contain cancer-causing chemicals, and can lodge deep in a person's lungs, irritating the respiratory system.

A Pediatrics study whose results were published online in February 2012, found that “despite a significant decrease in second-hand smoke exposure in cars among non-smoking U.S. middle and high school students between the years of 2000 and 2009, that in 2009, more than one-fifth of these students were still exposed to second-hand smoke in a car in the previous seven days.” http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0334.pdf.
For more information, read the full report.