The ARIZONA Supreme Court rules that a PHOENIX ordinance that protects lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination cannot be used to force artists to create custom wedding invitations for same-sex couples. The city said the ruling doesn’t strike down the law, just allows that “one company” to refuse to make “one type of product” for LGBTQ couples (ARIZONA REPUBLIC [PHOENIX]).
-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
The NEW HAMPSHIRE House sustains the veto by Gov. Chris Sununu (R) of HB 109, a bill that would have required a criminal background check for commercial firearms sales (NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO).
VIRGINIA Attorney General Mark Herring (D) issues a memo informing county clerks that while they are required by state law to ask couples to list their race on a wedding license application, those couples are not required to do so in order to obtain that license. The ruling does not end a federal lawsuit filed by three Old Dominion couples over the state law that requires clerks to ask the question (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH).
The UTAH Legislature unanimously endorses SB 1002, which would scrap a proposed state-centralized system for delivering cannabis to patients in favor of leaving distribution in the hands of private businesses. It goes to Gov. Gary Herbert (R), who has indicated he will sign it into law (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE).
The Trump administration announces plans to revoke a longstanding federal rule that allows CALIFORNIA to establish stricter emissions standards than required by federal law. State officials said they will file suit to block the move (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
A federal judge blocks newly-adopted laws in SOUTH DAKOTA that make it a felony to encourage participation in a riot or violent protest. U.S. District Judge Lawrence L. Piersol said the laws, aimed at barring protests against the Keystone Pipeline, are too broad and could compromise constitutionally-guaranteed free speech. State officials are weighing an appeal (LAW 360).
The NEW HAMPSHIRE House fails to override Gov. Chris Sununu’s (R) veto of HB 365, which would have raised from 1 megawatt to 5 the limit on how much solar and hydropower towns and businesses can generate and sell back to the regional electric grid (NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO).
Also in NEW HAMPSHIRE, the House upholds the governor’s veto of HB 183, which would have required utilities to charge ratepayers extra to subsidize six wood-fired power plants (NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO).
Calling it “landmark legislation for our workers and our economy,” CALIFORNIA Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signs AB 5, which codifies the process for determining if a worker is an employee or an independent contractor. The measure, which is intended to prevent companies from misclassifying workers, goes into effect on Jan. 1 2020. Rideshare companies Uber and Lyft have vowed to fund a ballot measure to overturn the law (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The NEW HAMPSHIRE House sustains the veto by Gov. Chris Sununu (R) of HB 211, which would have barred employers from asking job applicants about their previous salary history (NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO).
The NEW HAMPSHIRE Legislature upheld all but one of the 55 vetoes issued by Gov. Chris Sununu (R), including measures on gun control, renewable energy and paid family leave. The one successful veto override came on SB 88, a measure that removes a three-month waiting period before a patient can get prescribed medical marijuana from a provider. (NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO)
VIRGINIA Gov. Ralph Northam (D) issues Executive Order Number 43, which directs the state to obtain 30 percent of its energy from renewable sources like wind and solar by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050. The order also directs state agencies and public institutions to reduce electricity consumption by 10 percent by 2022, using 2006 as the baseline. (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH)
Saying “we know we have a serious problem with violent crime that must be addressed,” MISSOURI Gov. Mike Parson (R) pledged state resources, including more law enforcement personnel, to help quell a wave of violent crime in the St. Louis area. At least two dozen children have been shot and killed in and around the city this year. (NBC NEWS)
Saying “There does not appear to be support to ensure passage of a bill,” OREGON Gov. Kate Brown (D) said she would not call a special session to address the effects of Senate Bill 1013, which narrowed the state’s capital punishment laws. Brown signed the bill, which removes the potential for future dangerousness as a factor for juries to determine when deciding on a sentence of death, earlier this month. Brown had said she would only call the one-day session if there was certainty that lawmakers would pass legislation. (OREGON PUBLIC RADIO)
WISCONSIN Gov. Tony Evers (D) and Democratic lawmakers have proposed a “red flag” bill that would allow judges to take guns away from someone deemed to be a threat. Republican leaders in the Legislature immediately rejected the proposal, calling it an infringement on Second Amendment rights. (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL-SENTINEL, GREEN BAY PRESS GAZETTE)
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) unveiled “an absolute game changer” plan to make all colleges and universities tuition-free for all in-state students, regardless of family income. The proposal, which will require legislative approval to become reality, would apply to all 29 of the state’s two- and four-year colleges and impact about 55,000 students.
The program would work in concert with the New Mexico Lottery Scholarship and existing federal grants to cover students’ tuition. The cost to cover what those programs do not is estimated to be between $25 and $35 million annually.
Many states have implemented similar plans in recent years, mostly restricted to two-year institutions. Lujan’s proposal is the only one that would apply to any student – even returning adults – at any state institution and no matter their current income status. The governor said a spike in oil revenue has put the state in a good position to pay for the plan. (NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, NEW YORK TIMES, CNN)
Amid a growing number of vaping-related deaths and serious illnesses, Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gavin Newsom of California, both Democrats, launched efforts last week to ban the products.
The actions come days after the Trump administration announced plans to impose a federal ban on the products. They also follow the lead of Michigan, where earlier this month, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) issued an executive order making the Wolverine State the first to ban flavored e-cigarettes.
“It is undeniable that vaping companies are deliberately using flavors like bubblegum, Captain Crunch and cotton candy to get young people hooked on e-cigarettes - it’s a public health crisis and it ends today,” Cuomo said in a statement.
At his request, the New York Public Health and Planning Council developed emergency rules last Tuesday that immediately ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine e-liquids in the Empire State. Cuomo also ordered the State Police and Department of Health to increase enforcement against retailers who sell to underage youth. He said he will also propose legislation to ban deceptive marketing of e-cigarettes to teens and children.
The announcement came a day after Newsom issued Executive Order N-18-19, a three-pronged effort that includes a $20 million ad campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of vaping. Newsom’s order also calls for a crackdown on illegal and counterfeit vaping products and a directive to state health officials to develop signs warning about the dangers of vaping to be placed at retailers and on advertising for e-cigarettes and accessories.
Newsom also signed SB 39, a bill that imposes stricter age verification requirements for tobacco products sold online or by mail.
E-cigarette use has grown exponentially in popularity in recent years, with worldwide sales of sales of vaping products topping $11 billion in 2018. But over the last year, the number of cases of illness and death associated with that use has also risen dramatically. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from early September showed almost 400 cases of vaping-related illnesses and six deaths over 36 states this year, with at least one more death since then also being attributed to vaping. (NEW YORK TIMES, NEW YORK GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, LOS ANGELES TIMES, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION)
FLORIDA billionaire Mike Fernandez, who left the Republican Party because of his opposition to President Trump, is spending millions of dollars to place a measure before voters in 2020 that would shift the state to a “jungle primary” system, in which candidates of all parties are listed on the same ballot and the top two vote getters for each office, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election. CALIFORNIA and WASHINGTON already employ such a primary system. (POLITICO, BALLOTPEDIA)
Last week the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing - the first since 1993 - to consider legislation (HR 51) that would make Washington, D.C. the 51st state. Democrats are far more united in their support for D.C. statehood than they were 25 years ago, but Republicans, who control the U.S. Senate, generally consider it a partisan ploy to get more Democrats into Congress, given the district is a Democratic stronghold. (VOX, WASHINGTON CITY PAPER)
A pair of bills in WYOMING that would have eliminated crossover voting in primary elections and required photo identification at the polls suffered committee defeats in the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature, despite their being priorities for conservatives. There were reportedly concerns that the measures would infringe on voters’ constitutional right to affiliate with the party of their choosing and would simply make it harder for people to vote, among other things. (CASPER STAR-TRIBUNE)
COLORADO is halting its use of QR codes on election ballots over concerns they could make it easier to manipulate voting data. The state is the first in the nation to take such action. (COLORADO POLITICS)
A bill that would have prohibited TEXAS cities and counties from contracting outside lobbyists died in the state’s House days before the end of the legislative session. But the proposal is likely to be reintroduced in 2021, with tensions growing between conservatives who control the state’s Legislature and liberal city officials. (STATELINE)
FLORIDA’s Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill (SJR 142) that would do away with the state’s Constitution Revision Commission, which convenes every 20 years to propose constitutional amendments that go directly to voters. The legislation comes after last year’s commission combined unrelated issues into single amendments in order to obtain voter support for proposals favored by the commission’s 37 members. (MIAMI HERALD)
-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK
For decades, California has been able to adopt auto emission regulations that are tougher than those approved by the federal government, thanks to a federal waiver allowing the state to set its own auto emission standards and other states to follow those regulations instead of those set by the Environmental Protection Agency, which 13 states opted to do. But that arrangement could end under a new regulation announced by the Trump administration last week affirming that the National Highway Transportation Safety Board and EPA have the authority to set a single fuel economy standard for the nation.
Federal officials acknowledged that the “One National Program Rule” would increase fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. But they argued that California had used its waiver to effectively set national policy on auto emissions, making newer, safer cars unaffordable for many people.
“We will not let political agendas in a single state be forced upon the other 49, and we will always put safety first,” said Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.
President Trump tweeted that the rule change would also be good for the economy.
“Many more cars will be produced under the new and uniform standard, meaning significantly more JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!” he wrote.
The administration’s action is consistent with its ongoing effort to relax fuel efficiency standards put in place during the Obama administration, requiring new vehicles to average 50 miles per gallon by 2025. The Trump administration wants to freeze the fuel efficiency target at 37 miles per gallon after 2020.
But the new rule also comes two months after California spurned the administration’s fuel efficiency plan by reaching a voluntary agreement with Ford, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen to follow the state’s standards even if looser federal standards are adopted. That deal has also prompted an antitrust investigation by the Justice Department.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) accused President Trump of having a “political vendetta” against the state and vowed to fight the rule change.
“It’s a move that could have devastating consequences for our kids’ health and the air we breathe if California were to roll over,” he said in a statement. “But we will not - we will fight this latest attempt and defend our clean car standards.”
The Auto Alliance, a trade group representing automakers that build 70 percent of the cars and light trucks sold in the United States, issued a statement after the announcement of the rule change saying it supported “one national program as the best path to preserve good auto jobs, keep new vehicles affordable for more Americans and avoid a marketplace with different standards.”
But U.S. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said that based on “numerous meetings and conversations” he’d had with automakers, he didn’t think any of them wanted the outcome of a protracted legal fight over the issue.
“In fact, it’s the exact outcome they sought to avoid,” he said. (NBC NEWS, ABC NEWS)
TENNESSEE unveiled a plan last week that would fund its Medicaid program through a federal block grant, limiting how much is spent on the program instead of paying for whomever enrolls, which is the way the program has operated ever since it was created in 1965. Gov. Bill Lee (R) said the change would reduce the cost of Medicaid services without lowering their quality, while opponents say it will lead to more eligibility restrictions or service cuts. (STATELINE)
With concern rising about the safety of vaping, ARKANSAS Senate President Jim Hendren (R) released draft legislation last week that would subject e-cigarette products to the same taxes and regulations as currently exist in the state for tobacco products and urged Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) to call a special session to consider the proposal. Hendren proposed an e-cigarette tax measure (SB 571) in March that died after being amended in the House. (ASSOCIATED PRESS, ARKANSAS TIMES [LITTLE ROCK], LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)
COLORADO’s new reinsurance program - one of the signature achievements of Gov. Jared Polis (D) and the state’s Democrat-led General Assembly this year, expected to significantly reduce health insurance premiums for many residents next year - could cost up to $50 million, or 20 percent, more than estimated, according to early projections from insurers. Although insurers and not the state would have to pay for any cost overrun, that additional expense would likely be passed on to consumers in the form of rate increases. (COLORADO SUN [DENVER])
Brown County, Wisconsin is one of at least 23 counties in the state that charge jail inmates room and board for the time that they’re incarcerated. But Wisconsin isn’t alone. At least 40 states charge such “pay-to-stay” fees, although the practice varies from state to state, with some charging all inmates and others charging only jail inmates, prison inmates or inmates who work.
Brown County’s pay-to-stay fees were upheld in 2013 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
“There is no evidence that Brown County was motivated by a desire to punish pretrial detainees when it collected lock-up fees from them,” wrote Judge Lynn Adelman. “The policy appeared to be rationally related to the county’s legitimate interest in ‘effective management of the detention facility.’”
However, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled last year that such fees could be so high that they violated the protection against excessive fines granted by the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment.
As Alexes Harris, a professor of sociology at the University of Washington, put it, “If I could create a perfect system to maintain inequality, create inequality and sustain it over time, this is the system.”
“The process perfectly labels, stigmatizes, financially burdens and imposes further legal consequences to poor people.... Somebody who is poor has that debt for life, and it tracks them for life. It’s a long-term duration of punishment for poor people.” (WISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO)
A special committee in Kansas is looking into ways to control the rising cost of healthcare in the state. This month the members of the House and Senate Special Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance got a crash course on healthcare cost control measures other states have taken from Colleen Becker, a health policy specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Among the things Becker told the committee:
- Louisiana, Maine and Minnesota recently prohibited prescription copays that were higher than the cost of the drugs associated with them
- Utah has begun offering incentives to state workers for traveling to Mexico to purchase cheaper medications
- Nevada imposed a limit on the price of diabetes drugs
- Oklahoma linked performance standards to a group of drugs that could decrease hospitalizations.
“NCSL regularly tracks prescription drugs,” said Becker. “In 2019 alone, we had over 890 bills filed across all 50 states and D.C. With those kinds of numbers, it’s easy to see that the momentum is growing around states related to prescription drug pricing.”
One of the Kansas committee members, Rep. Elizabeth Bishop (D), said the state should require more transparency on the part of pharmacy benefits managers who negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.
“It is difficult to tell what is affecting price if you can’t see what the middleman is taking,” she said.
Another committee member, Sen. Rick Billinger (R), suggested the state needed to do something about health providers’ malpractice insurance premiums. The state’s Supreme Court struck down a cap on damages for noneconomic injuries in personal lawsuits in June.
“We have to look at everything when we look at price,” he said.
Robert St. Peter, president of the Kansas Health Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Topeka, told the committee that the state’s growing healthcare costs were due to a combination of factors, including the state’s aging population, rising drug prices, the prevalence of chronic diseases like obesity and concentration of the insurance industry, with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas covering 41 percent of insured residents statewide and three quarters of the market in Topeka and Manhattan.
“Look at Manhattan – 74 percent of the market by a single carrier. The next highest carrier is at 9 percent,” said St. Peter. “That gives you some idea of what the concentration of insurance market looks like in Kansas. That’s very important.”
St. Peter said the state could obtain more control over healthcare costs by expanding telemedicine, reducing unnecessary emergency room visits and implementing “reference pricing” -setting maximum amounts for drugs, tests and procedures - for the State Employee Health Plan.
He also cautioned legislators against shifting the burden of healthcare costs without lowering them.
“You’re pretty good at doing things that sometimes just shift who’s paying for something, but it doesn’t really change what’s being paid overall,” he said. “And that’s the hard conversation to have. Slowing that overall rate of spending is more difficult.” (TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL)
Wyoming has the largest estimated fiscal year 2019 rainy-day fund balance as a percentage of total state expenditures, at 109 percent, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers’ Spring 2019 Fiscal Survey of States. California has the largest FY 2019 rainy-day fund balance in terms of total dollars, at $17.8 billion, which is expected to make up about 12.4 percent of the state’s total expenditures for the year. However, three states - Illinois, Kansas and New Jersey - have no rainy-day funds at all.
Many states have learned lessons from the Great Recession of 2007-09 and are better prepared for the next economic downturn, according to findings by the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO) and other analysts.
“Rainy day funds are growing as a share of state budgets,” said Kathryn Vesey White, director of budget processes for NASBO. “We see that as a positive sign.”
With the longest economic expansion in U.S. history in its eleventh year, concerns about a prospective downturn have increased. An August survey by the National Association of Business Economics found that 38 percent of economists expect a recession in 2020.
The economy has been growing since the Great Recession ended in June 2009. But states and cities were so hard hit that some of them have not yet fully recovered, according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Total employment by state and local governments was 19.8 million before the Great Recession. Today it’s slightly less. Economist Sarah Crane of Moody’s Analytics sees this as a sign that some governments have moved cautiously on hiring despite a job surge in the private sector.
The biggest change in state behavior has been a hefty increase in rainy day funds. The median rainy day fund balance as a percentage of general fund spending has risen to 7.5 percent, White said. Before the Great Recession, it was 4.8 percent.
There are huge differences among the states, however. California has set aside reserves of $19 billion, most of it in a rainy day fund. Illinois, Kansas and New Jersey have no rainy day funds at all.
According to NASBO, several states have over time made policy changes that automatically set aside some revenues. For example, North Carolina in 2017 adopted legislation that puts a share of forecasted general fund revenue into its rainy day fund. The same year North Dakota passed a law to deposit into its rainy day fund severance tax revenue above a certain threshold.
California, Maryland, Massachusetts and Minnesota have also made changes to divert above-average or unanticipated state revenues into their rainy day funds.
The changes have helped. Moody Analytics in 2018 found that 23 states had the funds needed to get them through a moderate recession and that another 10 states were within striking distance of this goal. That figure could improve when a follow-up report is issued later this year, as many states are pouring money into rainy day funds or other reserves during 2019.
“States have learned lessons of the past and are taking seriously the prospect of an eventual recession,” said Crane, a co-author of the Moody Analytics report.
Rainy day funds are not the sole measure of preparedness. Despite dramatic improvement in its financial position under former Gov. Jerry Brown (D), California could be vulnerable in a severe recession because the Golden State depends on high-end income taxes for much of its revenue. These revenues nosedived in the Great Recession.
The economic profiles of states also matter. As an example cited in the Moody Analytics report, Pennsylvania, which has a flat income tax, and Florida, which has no personal income tax, both have relatively stable tax structures.
“However, the level of potential fiscal shock in Florida is much larger than in Pennsylvania because of [Florida’s] high reliance on tourism and housing versus Pennsylvania’s reliance on the more noncyclical industries of health care and education,” the report said.
States and cities suffer in recessions because revenues from sales and income taxes decline while demand for services, especially in health care, increase. Unlike the federal government, which engages massively in deficit financing, all states except Vermont are required to balance their budgets.
During the Great Recession, joblessness and the accompanying loss of health benefits drove millions of people onto Medicaid, the joint federal-state program that provides health care for the poor and disabled. This proved an immense fiscal burden for the states.
The situation may be different in the next downturn because of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which passed in 2010 on a party-line vote, becoming operative in 2014. Thirty-two states have expanded Medicaid under the ACA, often called Obamacare. As a result, many of those who would seek Medicaid during a recession are in the expansion states already on the rolls.
The view that an economic downturn is just around the corner spiked in August, spurred by the U.S.-China trade war, slowing global growth and an investment situation in which short-term bonds paid more interest than long-term bonds. This is known as an inverted yield curve, a predictor of the last four U.S. recessions.
Since then, the yield curve has returned to nearly normal and U.S.-China trade tensions have eased. The European Central Bank has taken steps intended to prod global growth. Many economists have become more optimistic that the United States can evade or at least postpone a downturn.
“The household sector remains nearly three-quarters of the U.S. economy and displays a healthy mix of low unemployment and rising wages,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office. “As long as that continues, we will avoid a recession.”
No one knows how long this “healthy mix” will last. The recent oil price spurt after a major Saudi Arabia oil facility was damaged in a drone attack dramatically demonstrated how an unpredictable event can affect the economy.
Most economists believe recessions are inescapable, but Australia hasn’t had one in 27 years. Writer-investor Zackary Karabell, author of The Leading Indicators, believes that most recession models do not adequately account for the impact on the economy of high tech, which he says is powering growth at lower cost.
Nor does anyone know if the next downturn will be mild or severe. CNBC senior market analyst Michael Santoli points out there’s a lot of room between the present 2 percent-plus growth rate and a recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
Adding to the uncertainty, recessions arrive at different times in the states. The Economist recently observed that four states in the U.S. heartland — Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan — are among a “modest but growing number of states experiencing falling employment.” Donald Trump carried these states in 2016 and with them won the presidency.
States were surprised by the Great Recession. Unaware of the deepening crisis, many states increased budgets and hired new workers in the summer of 2008, more than half a year after the recession began.
Not until the investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed on Sept. 15, followed ten days later by government seizure of Washington Mutual, a giant savings and loan association, did the full extent of the crisis become apparent. State budgets were hit hard in 2009 and in many states for several years afterward.
Today, it’s encouraging that so many states are putting money away to see them through the next fiscal crisis. Unprepared states should get the message.
While we can’t say with any certainty when the next downturn will arrive, we know that no economic expansion lasts forever. The lagging states should start saving for the inevitable rainy day.
How confident are you that a supplier you vetted two years ago hasn’t seen a change in financial stability that might lead to supply chain disruption? Or that a reseller isn’t putting you in danger of an FCPA violation? Or that a disgruntled customer’s online tweet hasn’t been picked up by mainstream media and turned into a reputational nightmare?
The days when a company could protect against financial, regulatory, strategic and reputational risk with a one-and-done process are long over. The global nature of business, the speed of communication and reliance on extensive third-party networks means that companies need a more proactive approach to risk management—and for many, ongoing risk monitoring is the answer.
What’s Third-Party Monitoring Got to Do with It?
Recently, we partnered with RIMS to talk about how a risk management workflow can be enhanced by continuous monitoring. It starts with understanding the influence that third parties have on your organization. We’re not talking about employees—the people inside the four walls of a business. Yes, they can expose an organization to risk, but most companies set clear ethical and compliance standards to manage internal workforces. Instead, we’re using the ISO definition of third parties which classifies them as persons or entities that are independent of the organization.
So, what are the three reasons you need ongoing monitoring of third parties?
Regulatory landscape is broad and complex.
Some industries are more alert to the potential risks posed by third parties. Banks and other financial services organizations, for example, must address Know Your Customer requirements to meet anti-money laundering and terrorist financing laws. Likewise, companies in the extractives industry are well-acquainted with the need for the third parties they rely on to adhere to a variety of regulations—from sanctions or anti-bribery and corruption compliance to environmental standards.
However, you need only look at recent FCPA enforcement actions to see that regulatory risk has become more prevalent across many industries and companies of varying sizes. And the same holds true for other types of risk. No business is immune in the digital age, where bad news can spread like wildfire.
The world has gotten smaller.
Another factor that should be considered is location—whether it's the location of the third party or where the location where a transaction will occur. High-speed travel and communications have empowered companies to expand into emerging markets and build out global supply chains. But operating across borders means companies need to stay alert to a variety of Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental considerations.
The more you depend on third parties, the bigger your exposure.
Think about the money a company may spend with a third party. If an organization is highly-dependent on a third party—doing a large volume of purchasing from a vendor, for example—then the risk exposure is higher because the potential for disruption if the third party fails to deliver as promised due to financial instability or violates regulations while conducting business on your behalf.
Ready to learn even more about third-party risk? Check out the on-demand recording of the RIMS webinar for an informative look at the current risk landscape and how LexisNexis Entity Insight makes it easy to continuously monitor for threats that could impact your business.
In some ways, academics’ methods of teaching and research have hardly changed since Plato and Aristotle were discussing philosophy and mathematics in the Academy in Ancient Greece. Students still learn from a tutor in small discussion groups and lectures, and many scholars still study physical manuscripts in libraries. But in this blog, we will explore a recent change that has revolutionized academia: big data analytics
AI-powered research
The application of big data analytics has generated new and innovative partnerships between universities and companies on research projects. Companies have access to a lot of data on their customers, and universities have data science experts who can interpret and analyze that data. The result is mutually beneficial—companies get better insights about their customers and products, and universities get new research ideas and much-needed funding from partner firms. For example, earlier this year the pharmaceutical firm Novartis announced a partnership with the University of Oxford’s Big Data Institute. The Oxford experts are using machine learning to analyze data from Novartis’ clinical trials to identify patterns in how patients respond to different medicines.
Academics in virtually every academic discipline are exploring how AI and big data analytics could change the way they do their research. A study in the journal Nature found that ‘big data’ and AI were the third and fourth most-searched terms on a scholarly database in 2018. LexisNexis attended Dubai’s Global Education and Skills Forum earlier this year and found many examples of academics who were using AI to do research that would otherwise be have been impossible. Milo Comerford, a senior analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said that AI and machine learning have “changed the game” for academic research. He gave the example of his own research which uses AI to trawl through thousands of extremist propaganda documents and come up with new insights. “I wouldn’t have been able to do [this] manually and through my own study,” he said.
Personalized teaching
Universities’ core purposes to research and to teach, and big data analytics are changing the latter as well as the former. Teachers and lecturers in universities are using big data to gather data on their students and then customize their lesson plans. Lecturers no longer have to wonder whether their lectures are going over students’ heads—now they can use data from e-learning software to work out which parts of the course students struggle with, and give extra support to those who find a particular area difficult. Back in 2015, in a paper in the journal Procedia Economics and Finance, Logica and Magdalena argued that big data offers teachers “a chance to refine the educational process”. “If [teachers] want relevant insights on their real efficiency and the progress of their students, they need to integrate this kind of solutions,” they wrote. In the four years since this paper was published, more and more educators have followed this advice.
The next step could be for some of these lecturers to be replaced by AI—indeed, some universities are already employing AI in their teaching process. In 2016, students on Georgia Tech University’s online master’s in computer science who asked questions on the course’s online forum were often answered by Jill Watson, who was apparently a teaching assistant at the university. When the course finished, it was revealed to them that Jill was in fact an AI bot based on IBM’s Watson platform. Most students had had no idea. AI and big data offers universities a way to save money on teaching, and reach a greater number of students.
Automated admissions
Universities are even using big data to help them decide which students to admit every autumn. Traditionally, universities have employed a large team of admissions officers who weigh up thousands of applications before deciding who to admit, but big data analytics allows them to automatically sort candidates by test scores and other admissions criteria. Universities rely on attracting large numbers of eligible students to enroll, and data analytics expert Eric Spear says big data analytics “holds the key to solving the problem of declining enrolment numbers”. Analytics allow an institution to track which courses are more popular with students from different demographics, and which courses have a problem with drop-outs. Removing the element of human judgement in the admissions process could also benefit universities’ reputations—earlier this year, top U.S. colleges were alleged to have accepted donations from wealthy Americans in exchange for university places. An AI-driven process would likely have prevented that from happening.
What should you do?
Big data analytics can make your life easier, whether you’re an academic, a university president or a corporation considering a research partnership with data scientists. But the insights available from this analysis are only as good as the data being fed into them. LexisNexis’ Data as a Service provider helps universities by integrating data with flexible APIs that deliver normalized big data in a semi-structured XML format. This enables universities to add bespoke tags and other enrichments to meet the unique requirements of the research being undertaken. Additionally, when retrieving data, researchers can take advantage of our own robust topical classifications to identify and retrieve highly-relevant result datasets, ensuring a faster time to insight.
Next Steps:
No state has a car culture quite like California, where the mythology of the hot rod still reigns supreme. Which may be why Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation last week that overturns a law which allowed police to issue a ticket carrying a hefty fine to motorists with loud exhaust systems. Now, rather than an automatic $197 levy, drivers will be issued a “fix-it” ticket that allows them to bring the car’s noise level down to legal levels and pay only a $25 fee. Which leaves car enthusiasts at least enough money to fill the tank once or twice. But just barely.
-- By RICH EHISEN
As noted elsewhere in this issue, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill last week that allows college athletes to profit from the use of their “name, image or likeness.” But someone glancing at the following headline from Reuters – California to Let College Athletes be Paid in Blow to NCAA Rules - might reasonably conclude there needs to be a clarification of “profit.” And then perhaps someone taking a closer look at headlines before they go live. Just sayin’...
A federal court may have struck down a Colorado city’s ordinance banning women from going topless, but ladies ought not to think they can get all half-nekkid in Oklahoma. As the Oklahoman reports, Attorney General Mike Hunter announced last week that while the 10th Circuit’s rulings generally cover the Sooner State, the ruling on toplessness was specific to the town of Fort Collins so ladies in Oklahoma had better keep things covered up or face public indecency charges. That sound you heard was thousands of teenage boys crying out in anguish. Alas, as the Tulsa World reports, the ruling also sparked a shirtless protest in that town that saw dozens of men and women rollerskating through town sans tops. Law enforcement was on hand, but no arrests were made. We won’t ask why.
Former California Congressman Darrell Issa announced last week he would seek to return to Congress by challenging embattled fellow Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter – who is facing a lonnnng list of ethics and legal challenges – to represent the state’s 50th Congressional District. Being an old hand at such things, Issa did everything one might expect in this situation: he leaked his intentions in time to scare off other challengers and made the official announcement via a big splashy press conference. Alas, as Voice of San Diego reports, he held said splashy presser at a spot located solidly...in the 53rd District. Not to be outdone, fellow candidate Car DeMaio held his own presser just a few feet away...also not in the 50th District. In fact, neither Issa nor DeMaio even live in the district they want to rep, prompting yet another Reep candidate to offer to take them on a tour.
The LOS ANGELES County Board of Supervisors unanimously approves legislation to end the sale of all flavored tobacco products – including flavored e-cigarettes and menthol cigarettes – in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. The ordinance takes effect 30 days from last Tuesday’s vote (LOS ANGELES TIMES).
A district judge in GEORGIA issues a temporary order blocking a Peach State law that would ban most abortions once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity. The ruling by District Judge Steve C. Jones’ blocks HB 481 from taking effect in January pending resolution of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the law (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION).
CALIFORNIA Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signs AB 378, a bill that gives child care workers in the Golden State the power to join a union and collectively bargain with the state (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
Also in CALIFORNIA, Gov. Newsom vetoes SB 64, which would have barred a public animal control agency, shelter or rescue group from releasing a dog or cat to an owner seeking to reclaim it, or adopting the animal out to a new owner, unless the animal is microchipped with current information on the owner or new owner (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
The MISSOURI Department of Social Services announces that people participating in the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program who hold a doctor-issued medical cannabis card allowing them to legally purchase pot would not lose their benefits if they test positive for marijuana (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH).
A federal judge rules that a planned PENNSYLVANIA “safe consumption site” that allows people to use pre-acquired drugs under medical watch without facing arrest does not violate federal drug laws. The U.S. Department of Justice said it would appeal the ruling (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER).
UTAH health officials impose new rules that allow only tobacco specialty shops to sell flavored e-cigarettes. Those shops will be required to post notices on the dangers of vaping unregulated THC products (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE).