One-third of Adults Do Not See Doctor Within 30 Days of Hospital Discharge

According to a recent national study, one third of adult patients (21 and over) do not visit a doctor within 30 days of being discharged from a hospital. Over 17% had not seen a doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant within 90 days after discharge. The Center for Studying Health System Change conducted the study for the National Institute for Health Care Reform.
The study found that over 8% of adults discharged from a hospital to the community were readmitted within 30 days, and over 32% were rehospitalized within one year.

Among the study’s other findings:

• gaps in post-discharge care are common for adults covered by all types of insurance;
• among people aged 21 to 64, readmission rates were highest for people with public coverage, especially Medicare or Medicaid (partly reflecting the relatively poor health of people in that age group who qualify for Medicare or Medicaid based on disability)
• 90% of people admitted to a hospital reported having a usual source of care, but that did not guarantee easy access to their provider (e.g., only about one third with a usual source of care reported that after-hours care was available).

How Fair Is New York’s “Fair Tax Plan?”

On December 7, New York enacted new personal income tax rates that take effect January 1, 2012. According to the Connecticut Mirror, some consider New York's “Fair Tax Plan” a model for Connecticut because it raises taxes on high earners while reducing tax rates for the middle class. On the other hand, ProPublica reports that the new law cuts tax rates for a high-income couple earning between $500,000 and $2 million by 2.12% while a middle class couple earning between $40,000 and $150,000 gets a cut of only 0.4%. (Rates for couples earning under $40,000 are unchanged.)
So, is New York's new plan a tax increase or a tax cut for the wealthy? Both, actually.

In 2009, facing a large projected budget deficit, New York imposed temporary surcharge on high earners. The surcharge expires after the 2011 tax year and, under the prior law, marginal rates in 2012 would have automatically reverted to 2008 levels. The Fair Tax Plan instead establishes top rates higher than they otherwise would have been, but also lower than they currently are (see below).

MARRIED FILING JOINTLY
New York Taxable Income		Tax Rate
Over	But Not Over	2011	2012 (Prior Law)	2012-14 (New Law)
$40,000	$150,000	6.85%	6.85%	6.45%
150,000	300,000	6.85%	6.85%	6.65%
300,000	500,000	7.85%	6.85%	6.85%
500,000	2,000,000	8.97%	6.85%	6.85%
Over $2,000,000		8.97%	6.85%	8.82%

Like the 2009-11 surcharge, the new plan is temporary and expires after 2014. In 2015, tax rates are once more scheduled to revert to 2008 levels and all married couples with New York taxable incomes over $40,000 will again pay a top marginal rate of 6.85%.

Race for Better Rate of Return

In the last three years, the vast majority of states have either cut new worker’s pension benefits or required a longer term of service to reach the same benefit level all in an effort to reduce the money states will owe employees when they retire.

According to a Stateline.org article, some states and local governments are attempting to boost their pension outlook by trying to boost the investment return of their holdings by changing the management structure of public pension plans.

The article explains that 60% of public retirement trust funds comes from investment earnings so increasing earnings can increase a fund’s stability.

New York City is attempting to institute a new pension management plan, which needs approval by the state legislature before being put into action.

Deadline Approaching for Regional Performance Incentive Grant Program

Towns and regional entities have until December 31, 2011 to apply for state grants to jointly perform a service they have been performing separately. The grants, known as Regional Performance Incentive Grants, are funded by a portion of the state hotel tax and rental car surcharge.

In order to qualify for a grant, applicants must show that their proposed projects (1) are new (on a regional basis), (2) demonstrate cost savings, (3) would not result in any loss of services, and (4) are sustainable on a regional basis once established. The program is open to two or more towns, regional planning organizations, regional economic development districts, and any combination of these eligible entities.

As the Harford Courant recently reported, five towns are considering applying for a grant to conduct a detailed feasibility study for a regional 911 dispatch center. The proposed center would serve Berlin, Cromwell, Newington, Rocky Hill, and Wethersfield and could result in savings for each town.

Hot Report: Education Mandates on Local Schools

OLR Report 2011-R-0457 lists the mandates that apply to all local and regional school districts. It excludes obsolete and expired mandates as well as those that apply:

1. only to certain school types of districts, such as priority or low-achieving school districts;
2. as a condition of receiving a state grant other than an Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant; or
3. to all public agencies, such as the Freedom of Information Act requirements.

To see the list of mandates as well as the applicable statutes, read the full report.

Connecticut Hurricane Deductible Rules Change

On December 9, 2011, the Connecticut Insurance Department announced revised underwriting guidelines for homeowners insurance policies. The revised guidelines change when a hurricane deductible will apply. Now, the higher hurricane deductible will only be imposed when the National Weather Service reports that sustained hurricane-force winds – at least 74 mile per hour – have occurred anywhere in the state. Previously, the deductible could apply when a hurricane warning was issued, even if hurricane-force winds never materialized. Insurers have until March 1, 2012 to resubmit their policy forms to comply with the revised guidelines.

For more information, see this Hartford Courant article.

CIGNA Agrees to Review State Chiropractic Claims

Attorney General George Jepsen announced in September that Cigna and its agent, American Specialty Health Networks, Inc., have agreed to review and reprocess their denial of chiropractic benefit claims dating back to April 1, 2010.

The insurer agreed to reconsider the claims after the attorney general’s office receive complaints from chiropractors that Cigna was not covering all the chiropractic services Connecticut law allows. State law requires health insurance plans to cover chiropractic care “to the same extent” the insurer covers services provided by physicians.

“Cigna promptly and fairly addressed the issue,” said Deputy Attorney General Nora Dannehy. As a result, she said, “providers will be paid for covered services and Cigna’s enrollees will continue to receive the care to which they are entitled.”

Cigna is the second insurance company to reconsider its claims process for chiropractic services. Aetna agreed in July to make sure its guidelines complied with state law.

Hot Report: Backgrounder: Implications of Climate Change for the Insurance Industry

OLR Report 2011-R-0427 summarizes what climate change will mean for the insurance industry.

According to America's Climate Choices, a 2011 report by the National Academies of Science (NAS):

Climate change is occurring, is very likely caused primarily by the emission of greenhouse gases [GHG] from human activities, and poses significant risks for a range of human and natural systems. Emissions continue to increase, which will result in further change and greater risks.

Climate change confronts the insurance industry with risks, uncertainties, and opportunities. Among the risks of climate change are those associated with continued warming and sea level rises, more frequent extreme precipitation events (e.g., downpours and blizzards), and ecosystems changes, including those that may affect human health. At the same time, the industry will deal with substantial uncertainties, such as the relationship between climate change and tropical storms and how governments, businesses, and individuals will respond to climate change. Climate change presents the insurance industry with opportunities for new markets for a variety of products and related services, some of which are currently being offered. However, the bulk of market activity is in Europe, primarily from property and casualty insurers. And even among these firms, the offerings and overall market penetration are limited.

The Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL) has a website on the implications of climate change for the insurance industry, http://insurance.lbl.gov/, which is the source of much of the information in this report. The Insurance Information Institute also has a website on climate-related issues for the industry.

For more information, including a review of a number of industry and government reports and studies, read the full OLR Report.

Vietnam’s Javan Rhinoceros Now Extinct

According to BBC News, the last remaining Javan rhino in Vietman as well as all of mainland Asia was recently killed, likely by poachers. It was also the last of a particular subspecies of Javan rhinos. Less than 50 Javan rhinos remain in the wild, all in Indonesia.
Rhino poaching and the illegal trade in rhino horns are an increasing problem because of growing demand from Asian medicinal markets. Earlier this year, BBC News reported that more than 800 African rhinos have been killed for their horns in the past three years. On the black market, rhino horn can bring over $35,000 per pound. There is concern that continued poaching will undercut efforts taken to protect and stabilize the African black and white rhino populations. To combat the problem, conservationists seek increased cooperation between parties that protect rhinos, including law enforcement.

What Can We Learn from Soviet Economic Development?

The things we can learn from Soviet economic development are how not to think and act. In his latest book, Why Success Always Starts with Failure, underground economist Tim Hartford tells the story of Peter Palchinsky, an engineer who couldn’t help but tell the truth. In the 1920s, Stalin wanted to demonstrate the triumph of Soviet Communism by building the world’s biggest dam—The Lenin Dam on the Dnieper River in the Ukraine—and a new city—Magnitogorsk—in a remote area of Russia.
The Soviets assigned Palchinsky to advise them on these projects. Well, he couldn’t help himself. First he warned that the Dnieper was too slow and that the proposed reservoir would swamp thousands of homes and much prime farmland. Palchinsky didn’t get any points when he pointed out that the reservoir would be so large that “simply growing hay on the land it had covered and burning it in a power plant would have generated as much energy as the dam did.”

Palchinsky also cautioned his Soviet masters about Magnitogorsk, where they planned to build huge steel plants near vast iron-ore deposits. He was worried about the living conditions for the workers and whether enough coal was available to fire the plants. Palchinsky’s reward for doing his job? He disappeared from his Leningrad apartment in 1928.

The Soviets could have learned much from Palchinsky, and perhaps so can we. Here are Palchinsky’s principles:

1. seek out new ideas and try new things;

2. when trying something new, do it on a scale where failure is survivable;

3. seek feedback and learn from your mistakes as you go along.

As Hartford points out, these principles rested on Palchinsky’s belief that the real-world problems are far more complicated than we think. These problems “have a human dimension, a local dimension, and are likely to change as circumstances change.”

Palchinsky’s principles also challenged Soviet thinking. According to Hartford,

The Soviet failure revealed itself much more gradually: it was a pathological inability to experiment. The building blocks of an evolutionary process, remember, are repeated variation and selection. The Soviets failed at both: they found it impossible to tolerate a real variety of approaches to any problem; and they found it hard to decide what was working and what was not.

Solar Industry Shining

According to this month’s edition of State Legislatures, despite the high-profile bankruptcies of a few U.S. solar companies this year, by most measures the solar market is healthy and growing. Utilities across the nation—in response to government incentives, mandates, their own goals and customer interest—are increasing the amount of solar electricity in their portfolios. The solar industry’s sales increased 67%, from $3.6 billion in 2009 to $6 billion in 2010, and the rapid growth continued through the first two quarters of 2011. Although solar contributes less than 1% of the nation’s electricity needs, nearly 9% of all new electrical generation capacity installed this year is expected to be solar.

Electricity costs from new utility-scale solar projects built in 2011—including the federal government subsidy—were about 11 to 12 cents a kilowatt hour and are expected to fall to about 8 cents by the end of 2012, which will make them cost competitive with natural gas in some regions. (Without federal subsidies, utility scale solar would cost about 15 to 17 cents a kilowatt hour.) In comparison, electricity from new coal and gas plants is 7 to 12 cents, and 7 to 10 cents respectively. Wind is 4 to 8 cents a kilowatt hour. Rooftop-mounted solar costs about 13 to 19 cents a kilowatt hour.

The article also discusses federal and state policies on solar and the recent bankruptcy of Solyndra, a solar panel maker in California.

Connecticut’s Technical High School System

The State Department of Education’s latest biennial report on the state’s Connecticut Technical High School System (CTHSS) provides a wealth of information about the system’s programs, students, and graduates. The report covers 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years. Highlights include:

 

• Of the CTHSS’s 10,573 students, nearly 64% are male, 56.3% are white, 27.5% are black, and 14.5% are Hispanic.
• Five schools operated at more than 100% capacity: Bullard-Havens (Bridgeport), Norwich Tech, Platt (Milford), Kaynor (Waterbury), and Wilcox (Meriden).
• Bullard-Havens, with a capacity of 825 students and an enrollment of 884, is the most crowded of the 17 schools at 107.2% of capacity.
• The trades with the highest system-wide enrollment were: culinary arts (10.7% of all students), automotive technology (9.6%), electrical (9.5%), hairdressing/barbering (8.8%), and carpentry (8%).
• In 2010, 48.5% of CTHSS students got full-time jobs or went into the military immediately after graduation and 44.5% pursued postsecondary education. For the same year the statewide averages for all high school graduates were 84.5% and 10.4%, respectively.
• The highest percentages of CTHSS graduates finding full-time work in fields related to their training upon graduation were: Bioscience Environmental Technology (100%), Welding (100%) Manufacturing Technology (80%) and Hotel/Hospitality Technology (72.7%). 

 The complete report is available in the Legislative Library.

Consumer Protection Holiday Shopping Tips

With the holiday season upon us, the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) has some holiday shopping tips. These include shopping around and checking online prices first. Additionally, DCP recommends consumers read the sale flyers carefully and ask for sale adjustments and the return policy.

Home Care Less Expensive Than Nursing Home Care

The Connecticut Institute for the 21st Century (Institute) reports that the AARP ranked Connecticut 8th among states for overall long-term care affordability and accessibility. But the state ranked 48th in affordability of nursing home care, compared to 12th in home care affordability.

A recent Institute report cites long-term care rebalancing as the key to addressing the state’s long-term care system. Rebalancing involves reducing the number of people in nursing homes and increasing the number served by home- and community-based services (HCBS). Currently, the state’s long-term care system balance is 53% HCBS and 47% institutional care.

For more information on long-term care rebalancing, see OLR Report 2009-R-0042.

NLRB vs. House of Reps. Over Expedited Union Elections

According to the New York Times, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently approved new rules aimed at simplifying election procedures and shortening deadlines in unionization elections. At the same time, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would delay the same elections for at least 35 days. The bill is unlikely to pass the Senate. Proponents of the new rules maintain that they limit unnecessary delays and help union organizing efforts fight employer stalling tactics. Opponents argue that the rules limit employers’ free speech and make it more difficult for them to oppose union organization. The board hopes to issue its final approval by the end of the year, before it might lose its three-member quorum (the five-member board currently has two open seats and another member’s term expires at the end of the year).

Hot Report: Connecticut's Children Immunization Program

OLR Report 2011-R-0439 summarizes information about Connecticut's childhood immunization program.
The Department of Public Health (DPH) operates a federal “Vaccine for Children” (VFC) entitlement program and its own state immunization program funded by an assessment on the state's life and health insurers. The VFC program provides all 16 routine childhood vaccinations recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) free of charge to children who are Medicaid-eligible, uninsured, underinsured, Native Alaskan, or American Indian.

By law, DPH must also administer a state childhood vaccination program that provides certain vaccines, including combination vaccines, at no cost to healthcare providers within available appropriations. Vaccines must be made available to all children who are ineligible for the VFC program regardless of insurance status. Connecticut's program is a “universal-select” vaccine purchase program, meaning that it provides most (11) but not all of the 16 CDC-recommended vaccines to children through age 18. Vaccines not supplied by the program include pneumococcal, rotavirus, influenza, hepatitis A, and human papillomavirus (HPV).

According to DPH, in FY 11 the state program cost $8,829,534. The department estimates that it would cost approximately $24,462,012 to expand to a “universal” vaccine program that provides all 16 CDC-recommended vaccines.

The VFC program pays for vaccine brands recommended by the CDC. From these, DPH chooses the brand for all vaccines provided by both the VFC and state programs, but it is considering transitioning to a “full-choice” VFC program, allowing participating providers to choose the brand. DPH is conducting a feasibility study of such a transition and a vaccine choice pilot program with one VFC provider in Hartford, Charter Oak Health Center, Inc. that began on November 1, 2011. The department must report to the Public Health Committee by June 1, 2012 on the pilot results and any recommendations for future program expansion. If the pilot program does not (1) show a significant reduction in child immunization rates or (2) an increased risk to children's health and safety, it will expand to any VFC provider starting July 1, 2012.

For more detail, read the full report.

Vermont’s Quick Response to Hurricane Irene Damage

After massive damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene, Vermont acted swiftly to get roads and infrastructure repaired to allow, among other things, tourism dollars to continue to roll in at a critical time of year, according to a December 5, 2011 New York Times article. According to the article, “Within days after the storm hit on Aug. 28, the state had moved to emergency footing, drawing together agencies to coordinate the construction plans and permits instead of letting communications falter.”

Within three months of the storm, “the state repaired and reopened some 500 miles of damaged road, replaced a dozen bridges with temporary structures and repaired about 200 altogether,” according to the article.

The article said that “state roads, which are the routes used most by tourists, are ready for the economically crucial winter skiing season. But Vermont had many of those roads open in time for many of the fall foliage visitors, who pump $332 million into the state’s economy each year, largely through small businesses like bed and breakfasts, gift shops and syrup stands.”

Do You Want to Create Jobs, Stimulate Private Investment, and Boost Productivity? Repave Your Roads...

…among other things. That’s the loud and clear message Haas School of Business professor Laura D’Andrea Tyson heard in two recent reports on the state of the nation’s infrastructure. But the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and the New American Foundation provide “sobering evidence of the growing deficiencies of infrastructure in the United States, which millions of Americans experience every day in traffic and airport delays, crumbling and structurally unsafe schools and unreliable train and public transit systems.”

All these deficiencies cost money—freight train bottlenecks costs about $200 billion a year and air traffic delays, about $33 billion per year. And this picture isn’t likely to change soon. The American Society of Civil Engineers documents a five-year gap of more than $1.1 trillion between the amount needed for maintenance and improvements of the nation’s infrastructure and the amount of public funds available for that purpose.

Pouring money into infrastructure improvements is a cost-effective way to create jobs according to the Congressional Budget Office ($1 billion spent on infrastructure creates between 4,000 and 18,000 jobs). But it takes time to plan, approve, and complete infrastructure projects.

But the problem is more basic than that. For example, state and local governments would rather spend money building new roads and bridges than fix existing ones “despite compelling evidence that repairs are more cost effective.” Roads, for example, tend to deteriorate slowly at first, but then their deterioration rate picks up over time. Consequently, it’s cheaper to repair roads early when they’re still in good condition than when they fall into serious disrepair.

Tyson isn’t the only one weighing in on infrastructure. Michael Mandel agrees our infrastructure’s in bad shape, but frames the issue this way: Should we spend scarce resources on improving road links to a regional shopping mall or should we place top priority on infrastructure improvements that might entice foreign firms to locate manufacturing facilities in the U.S.?

New York City Parking Meters’ Days Are Numbered

A recent New York Times article reports that after 60 years of service, New York City is removing its traditional single space parking meter from sidewalks and replacing them with solar-powered box meters. These new box meters can handle eight parking spaces at once and can shut themselves down on free parking days. A Wi-Fi connection in the meters enables the city to remotely set special parking rates and times. The meters also read credit cards, speak seven languages, and require less maintenance.

The new meters will cost the city $34 million but they afford the city the opportunity to get more revenue than it did from traditional coin meters. These include a button for drivers to automatically pay for the maximum allowable time. In addition, drivers will not be able to use left-over paid meter time from a previously parked car. The meters also are less susceptible to thievery.

And are you looking for a unique living room decoration? The Times reports that the city intends to publicly auction off its old meters next year.

Do You Spend 1/3 of Your Paycheck on Food?

That’s the assumption that has formed the basis for the official poverty measure ever since 1964 when Social Security analyst Mollie Orshansky developed it. She started with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 1955 “thrifty food plan,” which was designed for “temporary or emergency use when funds are low.” Estimating that households of three or more spent about 1/3 of their after-tax income on food, Orshansky tripled the thrifty food plan’s cost; people with incomes below that threshold were classified as poor.

Poverty experts have been pushing for years for a more realistic measure. This past November, the Census Bureau released a supplemental poverty measure. That formula takes into account the cost of food, clothing, and shelter as well as how family budgets are affected by tax policies, noncash benefits, child care assistance, medical costs, and geographical region. The new measure will not affect benefit eligibility; that will still be based on the current poverty formula.

When the supplemental formula is applied, the number of people in poverty increases from 46.6 million (a 15.1% poverty rate) to 49.1 million (16.0%). Poverty rates fall among children but rise among seniors, primarily due to high out-of-pocket medical costs. At the same time, the new measure shows 44 million people with incomes between 100 and 150% of poverty – an increase of 50% over the existing measure. Poverty advocates point out that cuts in public assistance programs may push these families back into poverty.

Hot Report: Small Business Assistance Programs

OLR Report 2011-R-0452 lists and summarizes the state and federal programs providing financing and tax incentives to a broad range of businesses for various purposes, including constructing facilities and purchasing new machines.

New Haven Gun “Buy-Back” Nets 60

According to a December 3rd New Haven Independent article, the New Haven Police Department recently held a gun buy-back program. The program’s goal was to remove guns from homes so they would not be stolen and end up on the street.

The program offered $50 and $100 gift cards to Stop & Shop or Walmart for each pistol and rifle returned, respectively. Police issued a total of over $2,400 in gift cards in exchange for 34 handguns and 26 rifles, including three sawed-off shotguns, two fully automatic rifles, and an Uzi.

The guns will be test-fired to see if they are connected with any open investigations and then destroyed.

Seven Percent of Households Victimized By Identity Theft

In 2010, 7.0% of U.S. households had at least one member (age 12 or older) who was victimized by identity theft. This is according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. The victimization rate was 7.3% in 2009, and 5.5% in 2005. According to the report, the increase from 2005 to 2010 was largely due to a rise in identity theft related to existing credit card accounts.
Among households that were victimized by identity theft, a lower percentage experienced a direct financial loss due to the event in 2010 compared to 2005. In 2010, among households with losses of $1 or more, the median loss was $300 and the mean loss was $2,190.

Among other findings in the report (which apply to both 2005 and 2010):

• households headed by someone age 65 or older had lower identity theft victimization rates than other households;
• victimization rates were higher in households with a married head of household compared to other households; and
• victimization rates were higher in households with $75,000 or more household income compared to households with lower or unknown income.

Hot Topic: Witt Associates Report on Utility Outage Restoration

OLR Report 2011-R-0458 summarizes the “Connecticut October 2011 Snowstorm Restoration Report” prepared by Witt Associates.

The Witt Associates report assesses the preparedness, response, and restoration efforts of the electric companies, primarily Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P), in connection with the October 2011 snowstorm. It provides a brief summary of the snowstorm, describes how Witt Associates developed the report, and presents findings and recommendations for improving power restoration response. The report states that it is intended to provide a basis for further examination of key issues and improvement planning by the state, municipalities, and utilities.

Among the report's key findings are:

1. the level of preparedness, including planning, training, and exercises, for a widespread power outage or events that damage infrastructure is inadequate across all sectors;
2. in particular, CL&P was not prepared for an outage of this size;
3. the company's public commitments to restore power by specific times, which had not been verified internally, unnecessarily contributed to customer frustration and challenges for municipalities;
4. CL&P's Town Liaison Program, while a good concept, had not been fully developed at the time of the snowstorm and was not consistently effective; and
5. the use of external mutual assistance and contract crews, while needed to restore power, presented communication, reporting, and tracking challenges because they often did not have the same communications or field reporting technology as local crews.

 On the other hand, the restoration effort was accomplished without any deaths or serious injuries.

 

The report makes 27 recommendations. In general terms, it recommends that CL&P:

1. improve its planning, procedures, training, and pre-staging practices to adequately prepare its crews and resources for the scale of incidents it and its customers potentially face by significantly increasing the scale of planning scenarios;
2. develop an ability to manage large-scale incidents by implementing an Incident Command System (ICS) structure that expands with the requirements of the incident;
3. improve its processes for (a) information management, including message verification and communication; (b) coordination with local governments; and (c) dissemination of public information to its customers, external partners, stakeholders, and the media; and
4. more closely coordinate and integrate preparedness activities with state and local governments to include ongoing planning, training, and exercise for utility disruption.

Similarly, the report also recommends that state and local government planning and preparedness address major power disruption more comprehensively and inclusively, including coordinating with utilities and developing procedures for damage assessment teams.

For more information, read the full OLR Report.

Public Adjusters Offer Alternative on Insurance Claims

The November 28th edition of HartfordBusiness.com discusses how consumers can use public adjusters to deal with their insurance claims. It compares these adjusters, who typically require no retainer for their services and do not collect any fees unless the policy holder receives payment on a claim. It compares the role of public adjusters to staff adjusters who work directly for insurance companies; independent adjusters who work for insurers through a third-party. It notes that public adjusters primarily handle claims of more than $25,000, which brings them into play in the case of larger-scale damages many have recently experienced.

“The Times They Are A Changing” for Homebuilders

But are they changing with the times? No, wrote Allison Arieff in the October 2, 2011 New York Times, and she didn’t pull any punches about saying so. So, why are homebuilders behind the times? The reasons are complicated, but basically come down to this—homebuilders don’t like risk.

Consequently, homebuilders “don’t look to innovating but rather to an easier fallback strategy: a new marketing plan.” They, and us, won’t turn the corner “until we stop thinking about the home as a decorative object and begin considering it as part of a larger whole.”

To address these challenges, “all aspects of the industry, from designers to lenders to planners to consumers, should meet it. In this era of anti-government fervor, subsidizing the American Dream isn’t an option; transforming it is the only one we’ve got.”

Are the homebuilders in denial? Harvard Business School Professor Richard S. Tedlow might know. His 2010 book, Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face—and What to do About it tells the story about businesses in denial, which he defined as an “unwillingness to see or admit a truth that ought to be apparent and is in fact apparent to many others.” Denial kicks in to block information that challenges our basic assumptions. Some powerful companies suffered because of denial. They include the Ford Motor Company, Coca Cola, and IBM. But Tedlow’s story isn’t all doom and gloom. Some companies, like DuPont, Intel, and Johnson & Johnson faced hard challenges and thrived.

State’s Presidential Preference Primary Calendar Set

The Secretary of the State’s Office recently published a calendar of the deadlines associated with the state’s presidential preference primary. This year the legislature moved the primary back from the first Tuesday in February to the last Tuesday in April, which in 2012 is April 24. New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware will also hold their primaries that day.

Among the key deadlines are the following:

1. On February 10, the secretary places on the primary ballot candidates who are “generally and seriously advocated or recognized according to reports in the national or state news media.” Such candidates may withdraw from the ballot by submitting a signed letter to the secretary by March 19.
2. Candidates who seek to petition onto the ballot must file petition pages by March 2.
3. Enrolled party members who wish to switch parties and vote in their new party’s primary must do so by January 24.
4. New or unaffiliated voters who wish to enroll in a party and vote in its primary must do so by April 19.

 

Connecticut Court To Consider Teeth Whitening Restrictions

A Virginia-based law firm filed a federal lawsuit in Connecticut in response to a recent Connecticut State Dental Commission ruling restricting who can perform teeth whitening services. In June, the commission ruled that teeth whitening is licensed dentistry, making non-dentists who perform it under certain conditions subject to fines and imprisonment.

The suit was filed by the Institution for Justice, a libertarian, public interest law firm, on behalf of two local teeth whitening businesses the state closed. These businesses argue that the commission’s ruling was unconstitutional because it interfered with their right to compete for business. Many small businesses nationwide now offer teeth whitening services in malls, spas, and salons.

The dental commission stated its ruling was based on public safety concerns, citing the inherent risk to patients from tooth whitening products and office bleaching procedures, including tooth sensitivity and tissue burns.

The lawsuit was filed against the Connecticut public health commissioner and the state dental commission members.

Hot Topic: Federal Money for Connecticut's Subsidized Guardianship Program

OLR Report 2011-R-0371 looks at whether the state is taking full advantage of funding available under the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, specifically as the act permits states to use federal funds in their subsidized guardianship programs.

The state has just recently received federal approval to use Title IV-E (foster care and adoption services) money for its relative guardianship program. While it has run this program since 1997, it could not use IV-E funds until the federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 authorized it. The legislature amended its guardianship law to comport with the 2008 act.


The 2008 act also requires states to notify adult relatives when children are removed from their homes due to suspected abuse or neglect; Connecticut law satisfies this requirement as well.
 
For more infomation, read the whole report.

Feds Recommend National Ban on Phoning/Texting while Driving

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is, for the first time, calling for a nationwide ban on drivers using personal electronic devices (PEDs), including cell phones.

The NTSB recommended that all 50 states and the District of Columbia ban the non-emergency use of all PEDs while driving after discussing a 2010 Missouri multi-vehicle accident in which two people were killed and 38 injured. The NTSB investigation revealed that the driver of the pick-up truck that started the chain-reaction crash had sent and received 11 text messages in the 11 minutes preceding the crash.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 3,000 people were killed in 2010 in crashes related to distracted driving.

The New York Times reports that the NTSB is recommending that states even ban drivers from using hands-free devices such as headsets. According to the Times, no state currently bans the use of these devices.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) 10 states, including Connecticut, now ban talking on a hand-held cell phone while driving. IIHS says that 35 states, including Connecticut, ban text messaging while driving.