The U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch has just announced more than $107 million in grant funding through the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Cops Hiring Program (CHP) to nearly 200 law enforcement agencies nationwide. CHP provides funding directly to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to hire and rehire entry-level career law enforcement officers in an effort to create and preserve jobs and increase community policing capacity and crime prevention efforts. Lynch said the awards “will promote the ongoing efforts of the Department of Justice as we work to build the safe, secure, and supportive communities that every American deserves.” Click here for more information on the awards.
September 30, 2015
September 29, 2015
2015 Bill Tracking Report
Are you wondering what happened to a 2015 legislative bill that wasn't enacted? OLR Report 2015-R-0147 may provide you with the answer. The report lists the bills considered during the General Assembly's 2015 regular session and June Special Session whose provisions were enacted under another bill number.
The provisions of many bills that die in committee or on the calendar become law after the original committee incorporates them in another bill or when the concept is adopted as an amendment and incorporated in another bill. The report includes bill language that may have changed from its original committee bill or file when enacted, but represents the legislature's final action on the matter taken during the session.
During the session, the content or concept of 165 bills that started as separate legislation was later incorporated in other legislation that passed and became law. The report includes one table that lists the original bills in numeric order and shows the public act that included their provisions and one table that lists the bills by the committee of origin.
The provisions of many bills that die in committee or on the calendar become law after the original committee incorporates them in another bill or when the concept is adopted as an amendment and incorporated in another bill. The report includes bill language that may have changed from its original committee bill or file when enacted, but represents the legislature's final action on the matter taken during the session.
During the session, the content or concept of 165 bills that started as separate legislation was later incorporated in other legislation that passed and became law. The report includes one table that lists the original bills in numeric order and shows the public act that included their provisions and one table that lists the bills by the committee of origin.
September 28, 2015
States Competing for Military Retirees
During the last legislative session, Connecticut exempted all military pension income from the state income tax, joining 14 other states that do so. The new exemption takes effect on passage and applies to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2015. Connecticut expects to recoup the revenue loss from increases in business taxes that were also enacted during the session. Previously, Connecticut allowed its veterans to exempt only half of their retirement pensions from the state income tax.
According to a Stateline article by Elaine S. Povich, a few other states, including neighboring Rhode Island, introduced bills exempting all military pension income from the income tax, but none succeeded. Maryland, though, opted to increase its annual military pension income tax exemption from $5,000 to $10,000.
The article cites income tax rates among the factors military retirees consider when deciding where to live. Consequently, Connecticut is part of a “growing competition among the states wanting to attract and keep military retirees, who are some of the best-educated, best-trained and youngest retirees around," Povich stated.
Exempting military pension income is a “no-brainer,” Minnesota Representative Bob Dettmer told Povich. (Minnesota taxes this income.) Military retirees “are in their 40s. They are going to buy homes, they are going to buy vehicles and buy groceries. They bring economic value to your state. The skills they have learned through 20-plus years in the military can be transferred to civilian jobs,” he added.
Tax Analysts’ deputy publisher David Brunori acknowledged that exempting military pension income is good politics, but questions whether retirees need a tax cut. "Some veterans go on to make a lot of money in the private sector and end up pretty well off. There is no reason in the world to exempt their income from tax,” he told Povich.
Connecticut also enacted other laws benefiting the states’ veterans. For more information, see Acts Affecting Veterans and the Military (OLR 2015-R-0158).
According to a Stateline article by Elaine S. Povich, a few other states, including neighboring Rhode Island, introduced bills exempting all military pension income from the income tax, but none succeeded. Maryland, though, opted to increase its annual military pension income tax exemption from $5,000 to $10,000.
The article cites income tax rates among the factors military retirees consider when deciding where to live. Consequently, Connecticut is part of a “growing competition among the states wanting to attract and keep military retirees, who are some of the best-educated, best-trained and youngest retirees around," Povich stated.
Exempting military pension income is a “no-brainer,” Minnesota Representative Bob Dettmer told Povich. (Minnesota taxes this income.) Military retirees “are in their 40s. They are going to buy homes, they are going to buy vehicles and buy groceries. They bring economic value to your state. The skills they have learned through 20-plus years in the military can be transferred to civilian jobs,” he added.
Tax Analysts’ deputy publisher David Brunori acknowledged that exempting military pension income is good politics, but questions whether retirees need a tax cut. "Some veterans go on to make a lot of money in the private sector and end up pretty well off. There is no reason in the world to exempt their income from tax,” he told Povich.
Connecticut also enacted other laws benefiting the states’ veterans. For more information, see Acts Affecting Veterans and the Military (OLR 2015-R-0158).
September 25, 2015
Requiring Children to Choose Fruits or Vegetables at Lunch Doesn’t Mean They’ll Eat Them
A recent study of schoolchildren in two northeastern schools found that while they chose required fruits and vegetables at lunch, they didn’t necessarily eat them.
The U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA), trying to improve nutrition for schoolchildren, required in 2012 that kids participating in the federal lunch program choose either a fruit or vegetable with their meal. But the study, published in August by Public Health Reports, that while children took 29% more fruit and veggies than they did before the mandate, they actually ate 12% less of these items, and threw away 56% more of the fruits and vegetables than they had before. In many cases, the researchers wrote, “children did not even taste the [fruits and vegetables] they chose.”
The researchers are not giving up, however. They suggest school cafeterias consider making fruit and vegetables more appealing by “cutting up vegetables and serving them with dip,” or slicing apples and oranges rather than serving them whole.” The researchers also said their findings “support the importance of public health practitioners addressing the environmental, home, and personal factors that encourage children’s” consumption of fruits and vegetables.”
“Guidelines need to be supplemented with other strategies to enrich fruit and vegetable consumption,” one researcher told the Washington Post. “We can’t give up hope yet.”
The U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA), trying to improve nutrition for schoolchildren, required in 2012 that kids participating in the federal lunch program choose either a fruit or vegetable with their meal. But the study, published in August by Public Health Reports, that while children took 29% more fruit and veggies than they did before the mandate, they actually ate 12% less of these items, and threw away 56% more of the fruits and vegetables than they had before. In many cases, the researchers wrote, “children did not even taste the [fruits and vegetables] they chose.”
The researchers are not giving up, however. They suggest school cafeterias consider making fruit and vegetables more appealing by “cutting up vegetables and serving them with dip,” or slicing apples and oranges rather than serving them whole.” The researchers also said their findings “support the importance of public health practitioners addressing the environmental, home, and personal factors that encourage children’s” consumption of fruits and vegetables.”
“Guidelines need to be supplemented with other strategies to enrich fruit and vegetable consumption,” one researcher told the Washington Post. “We can’t give up hope yet.”
September 24, 2015
New England Governors Urge Stricter Opioid Labeling
As reported by the Associated Press, the governors of all six New England states recently sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration, requesting more detailed labeling requirements for immediate release opioid drugs.
The letter requests that the FDA require labels with information for patients and prescribers on “the serious risk of addiction, overdose, neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), and death associated with these widely used and abused” drugs. The letter notes that currently, the FDA requires the most restrictive labeling for extended release and long-acting opioids, but not for immediate release opioids.
As noted by the Associated Press, the governors’ letter “comes amid a spike in the number of heroin and opioid related deaths.” According to the CDC, prescriptions for painkillers have nearly quadrupled since 1999, and on average, 44 people throughout the country die every day from prescription painkiller overdoses.
The letter requests that the FDA require labels with information for patients and prescribers on “the serious risk of addiction, overdose, neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), and death associated with these widely used and abused” drugs. The letter notes that currently, the FDA requires the most restrictive labeling for extended release and long-acting opioids, but not for immediate release opioids.
As noted by the Associated Press, the governors’ letter “comes amid a spike in the number of heroin and opioid related deaths.” According to the CDC, prescriptions for painkillers have nearly quadrupled since 1999, and on average, 44 people throughout the country die every day from prescription painkiller overdoses.
September 23, 2015
Federal Department of Education Issues Final Regulation on Testing for Students with Disabilities
Last year, OLReporter highlighted a 2013 U.S. Department of Education (DOE) proposal to eliminate states’ authority to modify special education curriculum standards and testing requirements. According to The Washington Post, DOE recently announced a new rule (i.e., regulation) based on the proposal after receiving 156 comments during its notice and comment period.
Beginning in the 2016-17 school year, the rule bars all states from designing academic standards for special education students that differ from those of their mainstream peers. It also prohibits states from designing tests that align with these specialized standards. Nothing prohibits states, however, from administering alternative tests based on alternative standards to students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. This new rule overrides the former “2% rule,” which permitted states to develop such alternative standards and tests, yet count up to 2% of their scores as “proficient” for purposes of accountability reporting to the federal government.
Some teachers, parents, and state education agencies, however, are concerned that alternative assessments “were helpful in meeting the needs of students with disabilities.” A state educational agency representative commented that without access to alternative standards and tests, special education students would no longer be able to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
The Federal Register explains that the new rule is needed “to ensure that students with disabilities are held to the same high standards as their nondisabled peers, and that they benefit from high expectations, access to the general education curriculum based on a state’s academic content standards, and instruction that will prepare them for success in college and careers.”
The Post provides a sample of the comments received and the DOE’s responses following its report.
http://olreporter.blogspot.com/2014/12/propose-change-to-federal-regulations.html
Beginning in the 2016-17 school year, the rule bars all states from designing academic standards for special education students that differ from those of their mainstream peers. It also prohibits states from designing tests that align with these specialized standards. Nothing prohibits states, however, from administering alternative tests based on alternative standards to students with the most significant cognitive disabilities. This new rule overrides the former “2% rule,” which permitted states to develop such alternative standards and tests, yet count up to 2% of their scores as “proficient” for purposes of accountability reporting to the federal government.
Some teachers, parents, and state education agencies, however, are concerned that alternative assessments “were helpful in meeting the needs of students with disabilities.” A state educational agency representative commented that without access to alternative standards and tests, special education students would no longer be able to demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
The Federal Register explains that the new rule is needed “to ensure that students with disabilities are held to the same high standards as their nondisabled peers, and that they benefit from high expectations, access to the general education curriculum based on a state’s academic content standards, and instruction that will prepare them for success in college and careers.”
The Post provides a sample of the comments received and the DOE’s responses following its report.
http://olreporter.blogspot.com/2014/12/propose-change-to-federal-regulations.html
September 22, 2015
Acts Affecting Education
New laws affecting education enacted during the 2015 regular and special sessions are highlighted in OLR Report 2015-R-0154. These laws make changes to a wide range of education and higher education policies, including those affecting:
- student achievement and school performance;
- bilingual education and English language learners;
- charter school funding and governance;
- curriculum enhancements;
- early childhood education;
- school funding;
- student health and safety;
- interdistrict magnet school tuition, operations, and funding;
- school construction and library capital improvement funding;
- regional school district operations;
- school district policies and programs;
- 2015 Sheff v. O’Neill stipulation;
- special education policies and programs;
- state level policies and programs;
- teachers, administrators, and other school employees;
- technical high schools, ag-science centers, and vocational training; and
- higher education capital improvements, governance, and tuition.
Read the full report on these and other 2015 education related policy changes here: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2015/rpt/pdf/2015-R-0154.pdf
September 21, 2015
Thinking in New Tax Boxes
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For example, tax policy makers identify different types of business transactions and put each type in its own box subject to its own tax and rules for paying it. Buy a pencil and pay a sales tax, earn income repairing copiers and pay an income tax, make jet engines and pay a business tax, stay in a hotel and pay a lodgings tax, sell your house and pay a conveyance tax, etc.
So what should policy makers do when someone comes up with a new service or a new way to deliver an existing service, say using information technology to connect someone who needs a ride with a driver that wants to provide that service? Does tax apply to sale of the IT or the transaction it facilitates? Does either transaction fit into the current sales tax box or is it something entirely new, requiring new box? (And, to show that these transactions affect other policy areas as well, do the people who provide the rides work for the people who run the electronic platform that arranges the rides or are they independent contractors?)
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These are some of the examples of how information and communication technology are creating new businesses and jobs while challenging “existing tax and nontax rules designed with a different model in mind,” Annette Nellen identified in a recent State Tax Notes article (“The New Economy and Its Challenges,” July 27, 2015, available at the Legislative Library.) As she stated, “the new economy and its tax revenue potential and need for tax guidance cannot be ignored.”
September 18, 2015
State Services for the Blind
OLR Report 2015-R-0155 provides a summary of the services Connecticut provides to blind individuals and how to apply for the services.
The Department of Rehabilitation Services' Bureau of Education and Services for the Blind (BESB) provides a variety of services, including social and vocational services, orientation and mobility training, independency skills, and adaptive technology resources. Additionally, among other things, BESB consultants may provide children with instruction on how to read and understand Braille letters and configurations and conduct progress and development evaluation services.
Other services available include eligibility for parking passes, property tax exemptions, and reduced public transportation fares.
Read the full report for further details.
The Department of Rehabilitation Services' Bureau of Education and Services for the Blind (BESB) provides a variety of services, including social and vocational services, orientation and mobility training, independency skills, and adaptive technology resources. Additionally, among other things, BESB consultants may provide children with instruction on how to read and understand Braille letters and configurations and conduct progress and development evaluation services.
Other services available include eligibility for parking passes, property tax exemptions, and reduced public transportation fares.
Read the full report for further details.
September 17, 2015
Samsung Working on Transparent Trucks
Driving behind a tractor-trailer truck can be frustrating - and dangerous. Large trucks block your forward view, making passing a risky business.
Samsung is working on a solution.
The Korean electronics conglomerate has been testing a video system that essentially makes the tractor trailer disappear. A camera mounted on a semi’s hood displays the view of the road ahead on a four-screen video display mounted on the rear of the trailer. Drivers behind the truck see what the truck driver sees – oncoming traffic and other road conditions.
Samsung initially tested the system in Argentina. While the test truck is no longer operational, the company says that it has confirmed that the technology works “and that this idea can definitely save the lives of many people.” The company says it is now working to get necessary permits and approvals for the technology.
Information on the Samsung experiment, and a short video, can be found here.
Samsung is working on a solution.
The Korean electronics conglomerate has been testing a video system that essentially makes the tractor trailer disappear. A camera mounted on a semi’s hood displays the view of the road ahead on a four-screen video display mounted on the rear of the trailer. Drivers behind the truck see what the truck driver sees – oncoming traffic and other road conditions.
Samsung initially tested the system in Argentina. While the test truck is no longer operational, the company says that it has confirmed that the technology works “and that this idea can definitely save the lives of many people.” The company says it is now working to get necessary permits and approvals for the technology.
Information on the Samsung experiment, and a short video, can be found here.
September 16, 2015
Small Business Assistance Programs
OLR Report 2015-R-0184 summarizes state, federal, and Connecticut nonprofit programs providing grants, loans, and tax breaks to small businesses (business assistance programs), including programs targeting women-, veteran-, and minority-owned businesses. This report updates OLR Report 2014-R-0186.
Small business assistance agencies discussed in the report include:
Federal:
Small Business Administration, Department of Commerce (SBA)
State:
Connecticut Innovations, Inc. (CI)
Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD)
Department of Labor (DOL)
Connecticut Nonprofit:
Connecticut Community Economic Development Fund (CEDF)
Read the full report here.
Small business assistance agencies discussed in the report include:
Federal:
Small Business Administration, Department of Commerce (SBA)
State:
Connecticut Innovations, Inc. (CI)
Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD)
Department of Labor (DOL)
Connecticut Nonprofit:
Connecticut Community Economic Development Fund (CEDF)
Read the full report here.
September 15, 2015
States Beginning to Limit Police License Plate Readers
According to a recent Governing article, six states (Arkansas, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, Utah, and Vermont) have enacted laws that restrict or prohibit police from using license plate reader technology.
These automated license plate readers are mounted either on a police car or on a fixed position (e.g., bridge). The technology allows police to check tens of thousands of plates in an hour, which a 2010 study by the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy showed increased arrests for car theft and deterred people from stealing vehicles.
Under good conditions, the readers are accurate over 90% of the time, but under less than ideal conditions (e.g., bad weather) the percentage drops to below 80%. This can result in false matches.
But critics of the readers, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have raised privacy concerns, since the technology allows police to track any car. According to the Governing article, the ACLU is concerned with the lack of rules about reader use, as well as data retention periods, with police departments keeping data anywhere from 48 hours to five years.
These automated license plate readers are mounted either on a police car or on a fixed position (e.g., bridge). The technology allows police to check tens of thousands of plates in an hour, which a 2010 study by the Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy showed increased arrests for car theft and deterred people from stealing vehicles.
Under good conditions, the readers are accurate over 90% of the time, but under less than ideal conditions (e.g., bad weather) the percentage drops to below 80%. This can result in false matches.
But critics of the readers, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have raised privacy concerns, since the technology allows police to track any car. According to the Governing article, the ACLU is concerned with the lack of rules about reader use, as well as data retention periods, with police departments keeping data anywhere from 48 hours to five years.
September 14, 2015
Animal Importer Violations Cited
Connecticut’s Department of Agriculture (DoAg) reported it recently took part in a multi-state task force targeted at unlicensed animal importers bringing animals into the state illegally. The task force included state animal control officers from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, as well as local and state police officers and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials.
The USDA licenses and regulates the transport and sale of animals, and Connecticut requires animal importers to register with DoAg and file notices prior to hosting an adoption or sale event.
The task force operation resulted in the arrest of one importer from Tennessee and citations issued to three other importers, two from Tennessee and one from Ohio. The importers were cited for not being licensed in Connecticut, not having proper health certificates for the animals, and failing to provide an event notice.
DoAg reminds people that in Connecticut, interested people can verify that a seller or importer is licensed by going to the state’s licensing website, www.elicense.ct.gov. Under Connecticut law, any animal importer who plans to offer a dog or cat for sale, adoption, or transfer at a public venue (e.g., at a parking lot or shopping center) must provide notice to DoAg and the local zoning enforcement officer at least 10 days before the event. Violators are subject to a fine of up to $100 per animal (CGS § 22-344(e)).
September 11, 2015
“Get it right the first time, that’s the main thing...”
...sang Billy Joel. And what’s true for romance may also be true for policy analysis. Getting it right the first time is the central theme of former national security intelligence analyst Philip Mudd’s recent book, The Head Game: High Efficiency Analytic Decision-Making and the Art of Solving Complex Problems Quickly. And the key to getting it right the first time is to ask the right questions, which means beginning “with the question of what we need to know, or our customer needs to know to solve a problem,” Mudd states. And we need a book to tell us that, you ask? Evidently.
Mudd writes from experience. One day, he briefed President Bush in the Oval Office about a terrorist threat, succinctly laying out the facts. When he finished, the president asked, “What do I do about this?” This was Mudd’s a-ha moment:
That day, the president’s problem wasn’t in understanding the details of that particular threat stream. It was determining what to do in response to the threat.... The difference between the two questions—whether to start with details of the threat reporting or with how to add context for the president, so he could figure out how to respond—might sound subtle, but it’s not. It is at the center of good analysis.
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Mudd goes on to detail how framing the question sets the stage for high quality analysis. Framing the question helps the analyst pick out the data needed to answer the question, develop metrics needed to see how the underlying problem is changing, and determine what’s missing. “Good questions, though, are hard to come up with, and we typically overinvest our time in analyzing problems by jumping right to the data and the conclusions, while underinvesting in thinking about exactly what it is we want to know,” Mudd explains.
Mudd’s method could help economic development policy analysts address the problem we posed in an earlier blog, namely how to hear the economic signals amid the economic noise.
Here’s what the Wall Street Journal had to say about The Head Game: http://www.wsj.com/articles/do-the-right-thing-1432682522
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