New Report Compares the Property Tax Burden Among the States

In 2013, the median-value home in Bridgeport bore the highest tax burden when compared to such homes in the nation’s other urban areas, according to a latest annual report comparing property tax burdens across the nation. The report, which was prepared by the Minnesota Center For Fiscal Excellence and the Lincoln Land Institute, measured tax burdens by comparing the amount of taxes paid on a property against the property’s resale value.

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Applying this measure, the report found that the New England region, with its heavy reliance on the property tax to fund municipal services, had the highest residential property tax burden, followed closely by Midwestern urban areas and Mid-Atlantic rural areas. The burdens were lowest in the South and West.

So, should we all move to Georgia or Arizona? Not so fast. The property tax is just one component of a state’s overall tax system. Some states, for example, allow municipalities to levy sales, income, and other taxes besides property taxes. Consequently, “some locations have relatively high property tax levies because those local governments are more dependent on ‘own-source’ revenue (revenue they raise themselves) or have limited non-property tax options available to them,” the report stated. Other factors that mitigate residential property tax burdens include levying income and sales taxes to fund local government and policies that require some types of property, such as factories and shopping malls, to bear more of the burden than homes and apartments.

CT Ranks 5th in Percentage of Jobs that Require Bachelor’s Degrees

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Career Outlook, 21.7% of Connecticut’s jobs typically require a bachelor’s degree.  And only three other states, plus the District of Columbia, have larger concentrations of jobs for college degree holders: D.C. (32.2%), Massachusetts (22.7%), Virginia (22.3%), and Maryland (22%).  According to BLS, Connecticut has a particularly high concentration of actuaries, aerospace engineers, and marketing managers. 


Nationwide, 18% of jobs require a bachelor’s degree and the employees in those positions earn a $68,190 median annual wage.  The median annual wage for bachelor’s degree positions in Connecticut is $78,880.


Connecticut’s 2.9% of jobs that require doctoral or professional degrees (e.g., law or medical degrees) were also in the top 10 nationally, behind D.C. (8%), New York (3.5%), Massachusetts (3.5%), Vermont (3.2%), Rhode Island (3.2%), Maryland (3.1%), and Delaware (3%).  

Is the Stick Shift an Endangered Species?

Only about 10% of the motor vehicles built in North America have manual transmissions (stick shifts), down from about 35% in 1980, according to an Associated Press article. The article says that some of the country’s best-selling vehicles, such as the Toyota Camry and Ford Fusion, don’t even offer stick shift models.


Manual transmissions were all there was until 1939, when Oldsmobile premiered the automatic transmission. But manuals were still the transmission of choice for many drivers, who preferred their lower cost and the better gas mileage they provided. But improvements in automatic transmissions have closed these gaps, according to Jack Nerad, the senior editor of Kelley Blue Book, who is quoted in the article.  “The manual transmission has become kind of a dodo bird,” he says. 

Proposed Medicare ACO Rule Delays Penalties An Additional Three Years

According to a recent Kaiser Health News article, a new rule proposed by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) would give Medicare accountable care organizations (ACOs) an extra three years before they face penalties for poor performance.


ACOs are voluntary networks of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers that coordinate care for Medicare patients. They assume medical and financial responsibility for their Medicare patients’ care and are eligible for bonuses when they coordinate care, reduce Medicare spending, and meet certain benchmarks. Underperforming ACOs are subject to penalties, however most have a three-year grace period that allows them to earn bonuses while being excused from these penalties.

According to the article, the new proposed rule would extend this grace period to six years. However, those ACOs taking advantage of the grace period can only keep up to 40% of their Medicare savings, instead of the 50% they are allowed to keep during their first three years.

The proposed rule also establishes a new Medicare ACO program, “Track Three,” that would allow participating ACOs to keep up to 75% of their Medicare savings. Those that exceed Medicare spending benchmarks would be responsible for up to 15% of excess spending, instead of the current 10% maximum.  The new program is similar to the “Pioneer ACO Model” program, a high-risk Medicare ACO pilot program that ends in 2016.

The proposed rule is open for public comment until February 6, 2015.


For more information on Medicare ACOs, see OLR Report 2014-R-0238.

Marijuana Breath Test

Although Colorado and Washington allow recreational marijuana use, a driver in either state can be charged with driving under the influence (DUI) if he or she has five nanograms or more of THC (i.e., tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana) in his or her blood (COLO. REV. STAT. § 42-4-1301 and WASH. REV. CODE § 46.61.506).

According to a recent USA Today article, police in both states rely on blood tests to determine whether someone has been smoking marijuana or consuming it. Washington State University researchers are developing a marijuana breath test that police could use when deciding whether to arrest a suspected impaired driver.  Because the breath test will not be able to pinpoint the level of THC in the body, follow-up tests would still be needed for evidentiary purposes, as with drunken driving cases.


The Washington State University research team plans to finish testing a prototype marijuana breath test by the end of this year and begin human testing in 2015, per the article.


According to a previous USA Today article, the federal government has recently completed an experiment aimed at identifying the level of marijuana that impairs drivers.
  

New Report: Changes in the Mandated Reporter Law Since 2011

OLR Report 2014-R-0286 describes changes the legislature has made to the law on mandated reporters of child abuse since 2011.

The legislature has made several changes to the law since 2011, including making it a crime for (1) mandated reporters to fail to report suspected child abuse or neglect to the Department of Children and Families or (2) someone to intentionally and unreasonably interfere with or prevent a mandated reporter from reporting such suspected abuse or neglect. It also expanded the list of mandated reporters to include youth camp directors, youth athletic coaches, directors and trainers, all Department of Public Health employees, and certain employees of the Office of Early Childhood.


For more information, read the full report.   

Proposed Change to Federal Regulations Would Affect State Authority Over Special Education Modifications

According to the Federal Register, since 2007 federal regulations have allowed states to modify academic standards and develop alternative standardized tests for special education students, changes that were meant to give them the flexibility needed to assess these students when reporting their academic progress to the federal government (as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Law).

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) proposed eliminating states’ authority to modify  special education curriculum standards and testing requirements (78 Fed. Reg. 52467-71 (Aug. 23, 2013)).


DOE offers two reasons for these proposed changes. First, the new general assessments developed by state consortia since 2007 are more accessible to students with disabilities, and they will yield results that are more valid, reliable, and fair.  (Connecticut joined the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, which designed a new test aligned to the Common Core State Standards, in 2010.)  Second, research shows that more accessible general assessments can promote high expectations for students with disabilities when paired with appropriate support and instruction. Consequently, DOE anticipates that modified standards and tests will no longer be needed.


The notice and comment period for the proposed regulations has closed.  Final action is scheduled for January 2015.

Connecticut Manufacturing Innovation Fund is Now Accepting Applications for Matching Grant Voucher Program

This past session, the legislature passed a bill creating the Connecticut Manufacturing Innovation Fund (CMIF). CMIF was intended to provide Connecticut manufacturers with resources to meet demand for their products and strengthen the state’s manufacturing sector.

Governor Malloy recently announced the approval of a $3.5 million matching grant voucher program as a part of CMIF. The voucher program, funded by the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) and administered by the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT), provides financial assistance to eligible Connecticut manufacturers to help them undertake innovative projects that will improve productivity, efficiency, and competitiveness. The program will award grants in amounts from $5,000 to $50,000, and grant recipients must match awards dollar for dollar. Recipients may use grant funds for many different purposes, including accessing technical experts, training employees, developing prototypes, and improving processes.

CCAT is administering the program on a first-come, first-served basis, and those interested must submit an application on CCAT’s website to be placed in the queue for funding consideration. For more information on the program, including eligibility and application requirements, visit CCAT’s website.

Thousands Apply for State Veterans’ ID

More than 6,270 Connecticut veterans have applied to participate in the state’s veterans’ ID program, according to the New Haven Register. The program allows veterans to place an American Flag symbol on their state-issued driver’s license or identity card to indicate their veteran’s status. The symbol is intended to help businesses and service providers verify a veteran’s status for certain discounts, programs, and services.


The symbol is issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), but veterans must first apply to the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to have their veterans’ status verified. For information on how to apply for the veterans’ ID, see DMV’s website.

State Spending on Medicaid Compared with Other Expenditures

The Medicaid share of total state spending is expected to increase in FY 2014. This projection comes from the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), whose annual State Expenditure Report analyzes and compares state spending in the following seven categories:

1. elementary and secondary education,
2. higher education,
3. public assistance,
4. Medicaid,
5. corrections,
6. transportation, and
7. “all other.”

The report for FY 2014 estimates spending in the Medicaid category, which includes state and federal funds, will comprise the largest portion of total state expenditures at 25.8%. In comparison, the elementary and secondary education category will comprise 19.5% of the total. The proportions shift, however when only state funds (i.e., general funds and other state funds, excluding bonds) are counted: the Medicaid share drops to 15.3% while the elementary and secondary education share increases to 24.2%.


The report also describes fluctuations in federal funds to states over the past few years. The winding down of federal funds dispersed through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009) and the expansion of Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act (2010) have led to shifts in the distribution of funding sources for state expenditures. A summary of the report is available here.

New Report: Using Education Technology To Collect And Analyze Student Data

OLR Report 2014-R-0274 describes (1) the practice of data collection and analysis known as "data mining," as used by education technology companies; (2) debated issues surrounding the practice; and (3) state actions to strengthen student privacy protections.


Education technology companies that provide services to school administrators, teachers, and student users have the ability to mine student data. These companies that create electronic devices, programs, or apps could use the technologies to identify the characteristics and habits of individual users (i.e., metadata) for various purposes without the users' knowledge or permission.


Although various federal laws contain provisions protecting students' personally identifiable information collected in schools and online, they have not been updated to incorporated change in education technology such as data mining of metadata.


Click here to read the full report.

More International Students Studying at U.S. Colleges and Universities

According to a recent Stateline article, almost 900,000 foreign students studied at American colleges and universities in the 2013-2014 academic year, which is a record high and nearly double the total from 20 years ago. The article analyzes the causes of this growth and notes that it is driven in part by financial considerations, particularly for public institutions. Unlike out-of-state students, who often receive financial aid, international students often pay an institution’s “sticker price,” providing the institution with additional revenue.


The article also compares all 50 states based on the percentage of students who are from outside the U.S. The percentages range from a low of 1.6% in Maine and Mississippi to a high of 9.9% in Massachusetts. (Connecticut’s percentage is 5.2%.)

New Report Maps Freight Networks, Suggests Strategies for Transportation Infrastructure Investment

A new report from Brookings presents the findings of a study that analyzed 2010 goods trade data in order to provide policy makers with previously unavailable data that helps them understand trade networks within the United States and plan investments accordingly.


The study found that trade is highly concentrated — more than 80 percent of goods traded (valued at $16.2 trillion dollars) in the U.S. either start or end in one of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country. The report provides several interactive tools that demonstrate the connections between the cities. Looking, for example, at Hartford, it shows that the value of goods coming in and out the city is nearly $98 billion, and its largest trading partners are New York City, New Haven, Boston, and Springfield.
 
The analysis provided by this report is useful for many aspects of policymaking, but has specific implications for transportation planning and funding. According to the report’s press release, these findings may suggest that certain metropolitan areas and the surrounding infrastructure should get more federal money, as opposed to the even geographical distribution of federal funds that exists now. The press release also suggests that, at the local and regional level, leaders could consider planning regionally and focusing investment on certain hub in order to support the trade economy of the region as a whole.

Colorful Detergent Pods both Appealing and Toxic to Children

The AAPCC recently published a fact sheet on the dangers of pod exposure to children. The association encourages parents and caregivers who use the pods to keep them locked up in a location that’s out of children’s reach.

According to the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) at least 9,935 children age five and younger were exposed to the pods from January 1st to October 31st 2014.

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A study recently published in Pediatrics underscored the danger that single-use laundry detergent pods pose to young children. The study noted that “the colorful, candylike designs of the products may have contributed to a recent phenomenon involving young children…ingesting them or bursting them open, exposing their skin or eyes to the detergent chemicals.” Ingestion has led to symptoms ranging from lethargy or difficulty breathing to, in very rare cases, coma or death.

Public Health Officials Use Internet Activity to Predict Disease Outbreaks

Do you Google your health symptoms instead of visiting your doctor? According to a recent article in The Atlantic, roughly 72% of Americans searched the internet for health information during the past year and one-third self-diagnosed a health problem using information obtained online.


According to the article, public health officials use this online activity to monitor and map diseases. A recent study published in PLOS Computational Biology found that trends in Wikipedia page visits can be used to predict flu outbreaks up to one month in advance.


Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory created a predictive computer model by comparing internet traffic to 10 flu-related Wikipedia pages to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) flu reports. The researchers also applied the predictive model to dengue, tuberculosis, and HIV, but achieved varying levels of success. For example, the model predicted outbreaks up to one month in advance for dengue and one week for tuberculosis. It was unable to predict HIV outbreaks, most likely due to the virus’s (1) lack of “seasonality” (e.g., following seasonal patterns) and (2) ability to live inside a person for an extended period of time without causing symptoms.


While the article notes that using internet activity to predict disease outbreaks is not new, it suggests that using Wikipedia may offer scientists a way of overcoming existing obstacles in disease forecasting. For example, Twitter data is costly to obtain and some companies, such as Google, keep such data private, due to fears that computer hackers may manipulate it to create the appearance of a disease outbreak. Conversely, Wikipedia provides public access to hourly traffic data for its pages.


Additionally, using Wikipedia allows researchers to bypass the bureaucracy of large-scale disease tracking, as the CDC’s flu-surveillance report has a two-week lag time.

Crimes Against the Elderly

A new report from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) looks at crimes committed against elderly people (age 65 and older) over the period 2003 to 2013.


The report finds that during this period:

1. elderly had a lower nonfatal violent crime rate than other age groups (3.6 victimizations of sexual assault, robbery, or assault per 1,000 people);
2. elderly also had lower property crime rate; and
3. five percent of elderly people suffered identity theft crimes, a higher percentage than age groups other than the 25 to 49 age group (7.9%).

The report also finds that elderly homicide rates fell 44% from 1993 to 2011, with 2.1 homicides per 100,000 people age 65 and older in 2011.


Read more information and data in the full report, Crimes Against the Elderly, 2003-2013.

 

PURA Issues Draft Decision on CL&P’s Proposed Rate Increase

The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) recently issued its draft decision on Connecticut Light and Power’s (CL&P) proposed rate increase.  While CL&P had requested a rate increase to raise $231.6 million in additional revenue and a 10.2% return on equity (ROE), the draft decision decreases the additional revenue to $134.6 million and the return on equity to 9.17%.  The ROE gets further reduced to 9.02% for one year as a penalty for CL&P’s performance during the 2011 storms and power outages.
 
CL&P had also requested an increase in its flat monthly service charge from $16 to $25.50.  The draft decision instead allows the charge to increase to $19.50.  Overall, PURA estimates that the decision will lead to a $7.12 monthly increase for an average residential customer using 700 kWh of electricity per month.


Participants in the rate case can file written exceptions to the draft decision by December 8th. Oral arguments will be held December 12th, and a final decision will be issued on December 17th.

Informational Summit for Landlords on Ending Veteran Homelessness

The governor is encouraging private landlords and community stakeholders to attend an informational summit on December 9 to learn about state and federal programs aimed at ending veteran homelessness by this time next year.  State and Federal officials will specifically discuss programs offering incentives to private landlords who rent units to veterans. The incentives include guaranteed income, free advertising, and neutral case management.  The programs are part of a larger initiative that includes providing employment and training opportunities for veterans.


The event is free.  Registration begins at 9:30 am at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Middletown.  More information is available here.