Clearing away the debris from the 19,000 homes and businesses destroyed by last month’s wildfires could cost CALIFORNIA at least $3 billion, according to state and federal authorities. That sum is more than double the state’s record wildfire cleanup expense last year of $1.3 billion. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
RHODE ISLAND is suing Alphabet, the parent company of Google, for failing to disclose a security breach affecting 52.5 million Google users, which was made public by whistleblowers in October. “Google executives decided to hide the breaches from its users and continued to mislead investors and federal regulators. This is an unconscionable violation of public trust by Google,” state General Treasurer Seth Magaziner said in a press release. (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL)
MARYLAND Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has proposed using $1.9 billion in casino gambling revenue over the next five years for school construction. The state’s voters authorized that action with the approval of a ballot measure (Question 1) on Nov. 6. (WASHINGTON POST)
The cost of IOWA’s HAWK-I program, which provides health insurance to 70,000 children from moderate-income families, will balloon from $7 million to $37 million over the next two years. The impending increase is due to a phase-out of additional federal funding for such programs. (DES MOINES REGISTER)
The MONTANA Supreme Court struck down a program that provides tax credits to those who donate to private-school scholarships. The justices ruled 5-2 that those contributions amount to state aid to religious institutions, which is prohibited by the state’s Constitution. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
MISSISSIPPI counties pay about $100 million a year to jail those who haven’t been convicted of crimes but are instead awaiting trial, nearly half of whom have been incarcerated for over 90 days, according to a database compiled by the MacArthur Justice Center. That sum is more than the $98 million the state spends annually on child protective services. (CLARION LEDGER [JACKSON])
-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK
At least 18 states have introduced bills this year mentioning the word “algorithm.” They include measures dealing with the use of algorithms to censure offensive, political or religious speech on social media (Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Virginia); automate government decision making (Washington); apportion electoral districts (New Hampshire and Virginia); calculate insurance scores (Michigan, Missouri, Oregon and Virginia); determine nurse staffing levels (New Mexico); and gauge the risk of coronary heart disease (South Carolina). Algorithm bills haven’t been passed by any state so far this year, but they’ve failed in Mississippi and Virginia.
The regulatory environment that you operate in is more complex than ever—and as some of our past FCPA-focused blog posts show, organizations that fail to put due-diligence and third-party monitoring programs in place face enormous financial and reputational risks.
That’s why we’re offering a complimentary Webinar on Wednesday, October 7th at 1 P.M. ET. During the Webinar, supply management specialist Karen Gray will demonstrate how a tool like Lexis Diligence® can help you:
Mark your calendar and register for the Webinar today.
The OREGON Emergency Board rejected a plea by state correction officials for $3.8 million to help re-open the Oregon State Penitentiary Minimum in Salem to augment the state’s only current women’s prison. Gov. Kate Brown (D) has also asked lawmakers for $17.5 million to operate the prison, which is intended to combat overcrowding at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. The state wants to shift 176 inmates from there to the re-opened facility by next June. The Emergency Board said they want to see if efforts to reduce the female prison population can alleviate the need for the new facility before committing funds to it. (BEND BULLETIN, WALLOWA COUNTY CHIEFTAIN)
NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) signed a bill last week that will require the Garden State to begin making quarterly payments to its beleaguered pension system. The new law – a version of a bill Christie has vetoed twice before - will require pension payments to be made on Sept. 30, Dec. 31, March 31 and June 30 of each year, instead of at the end of the fiscal year in June. In exchange, the pension fund will reimburse the state treasury for any losses incurred if the state has to borrow money to make a payment. (NJ.COM, BRISTOL HERALD COURIER)
A state judge threw out an executive order issued by LOUISIANA Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) that prohibited discrimination in government and state contracts based on sexual orientation and gender identity. State District Judge Todd Hernandez said the governor exceeded his authority because the order seeks to expand or create state law. Edwards said he would appeal the ruling. (ABCNEWS, TIMES-PICAYUNE [NEW ORLEANS])
-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
The attorneys general of 16 states have filed a federal lawsuit to block the Trump administration from using a national emergency declaration to appropriate about $6.6 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. All 16 of the AGs are Democrats, and all but four of the plaintiff states also have Democratic governors and Democrat-led legislatures. Maryland has a Republican governor, while Michigan and Virginia have GOP-controlled legislatures, and Minnesota has a Republican-led Senate.
Voters in three states approved measures on Election Night to expand Medicaid, bringing to 36 [plus the District of Columbia] that have agreed to broaden eligibility to include those earning 138 percent of the federal poverty rate. One of those, Maine, approved expansion in 2017 but the process has been repeatedly blocked by Gov. Paul LePage (R). That is expected to change in January when Gov.-elect Janet Mills (D) takes office. Conversely, Montana voters in November rejected a ballot measure that would have extended the Treasure State’s expansion beyond June 30, 2019. That plan will sunset on that date unless lawmakers act to extend it.
As the partial closure of the federal government continues to drag on, states across the country are stepping up to assist the tens of thousands of their residents impacted by the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history.
Brand new Govs. Gavin Newsom in California, Michelle Lujan Grisham in New Mexico, and Tony Evers in Wisconsin, all Democrats, have each assured furloughed workers they will receive unemployment benefits. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) called for his state’s Banking Department to direct banks to restructure loans or extend payment deadlines for federal workers unable to make their mortgage payments during the shutdown. And Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) has proposed a public-private partnership with a local bank to provide furloughed workers interest-free loans that would be guaranteed by the state.
But some expressed concern about the potential impact of such actions on state budgets with no end in sight to the shutdown.
“If this goes on another few weeks, it will be very significant for some state budgets,” said Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Governors Association. “There’s not extra money. So if they move funds into something the federal government isn’t covering, then something else is cut at the state level or they’re actually dipping into rainy day funds.” (HILL)
When Election Day ended two weeks ago the “blue wave” many had predicted for the first midterm of the Trump presidency seemed relatively modest in size. But since the election that wave has continued to roll in, bringing more Democratic gains.
As of Nov. 6 Democrats had gained 26 seats in the U.S. House, enough to give them control of that chamber, but less than half of the 63 House seats Republicans picked up in 2010. By last week, however, the number of Democratic pickups had grown to 33 and appeared likely to reach between 35 and 40 when all the votes were tallied. That would be the biggest Democratic gain since 1974, when Democrats picked up 48 seats in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal and resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon.
The Democrats’ losses in the U.S. Senate also don’t look as bad as they did the night of the election. With the declaration of Kyrsten Sinema’s win in Arizona last week, Democrats will likely see a net loss of one or two seats in the chamber, instead of the three or four that had initially seemed probable.
David Winston, a GOP pollster and advisor, cautioned his party not to let its overall victory in the Senate keep it from acknowledging its losses among women, young, Latino and independent voters, as well as Democrats’ gains among suburban and senior voters.
“We didn’t lose the Senate, but losing by the margins that we did with a lot of these groups is unsustainable,” he said.
Democratic gains in the state legislatures haven’t changed since the election. And the seven chambers the party took outright control of is nothing like the two dozen Republicans claimed in 2010. But the fact that those GOP pickups came ahead of the last decennial redistricting process is one reason why Democrats’ gains in the state legislatures were so modest.
“Part of the reason Democrats did not do better on Tuesday was because Republicans mostly drew the lines of the districts they’re still running in,” said Tim Storey of the National Conference of State Legislatures. “That has haunted Democrats the entire decade, getting wiped out in 2010.”
The Democrats’ gains in the legislatures, as well as in the governors’ offices of seven states, could help them chip away some of the GOP’s cartographic advantage in the next round of redistricting after the 2020 Census.
But Republicans still dominate state politics, controlling 30 state legislatures, compared to 18 under Democratic control, and 21 entire state governments, versus 14 for Democrats, pending final results in gubernatorial races in Florida and Georgia. (NEW YORK TIMES, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO, NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF STATE LEGISLATURES)
Saying we need “a society where young people who make mistakes don’t pay a price forever,” CONNECTICUT Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (D) proposed creating a new category of “young adult” offenders for those aged 18 to 21 who are charged with non-violent crimes such as possession of alcohol or shoplifting. If adopted by lawmakers, Malloy’s proposal would be phased in over a three-year period, beginning with adjusting the age of the juvenile justice system’s jurisdiction through age 18 on July 1, 2018; through age 19 on July 1, 2019; and through age 20 on July 1, 2020. (HARTFORD COURANT, CONNECTICUT MIRROR)
The ALABAMA House Judiciary Committee last week unanimously approved a motion allowing an investigation into Gov. Robert Bentley’s (R) potential impeachment to resume. Bentley has been accused of corruption related to his involvement in an extramarital affair with one of his advisors. The investigation had been on hold while former Attorney General Luther Strange was looking into another matter. Bentley in February named Strange to replace then Sen. Jeff Sessions, now the U.S. Attorney General. The man who replaced Strange, Steve Marshall, has recused himself from the Bentley investigation. The Committee’s decision allows Committee Special Counsel Jack Sharman to resume his investigation, while former Montgomery County District Attorney Ellen Brooks will oversee the AG office’s inquiry. (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, AL.COM)
NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) surprised lawmakers last week with an announcement he had authorized new regulations to ease restrictions on Garden State citizens seeking gun carry permits. Lawmakers in the Democrat-controlled Legislature said they believed they had blocked such changes last year. Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D) said they plan to take the matter to court. (BERGEN RECORD)
Sustainable, or ESG, investing – choosing investments based on environmental, social and governance considerations – has been around for decades. But such investing has really taken off in recent years. According to global investment research and management firm Morningstar, assets in sustainable investments grew more than 500 percent between 2006 and 2016, from 3.78 trillion to 22.89 trillion.
Public pension funds have helped fuel that growth, as state and local governments have sought to attract ESG-inclined millennial investors, as well as respond to calls for ESG investments or divestments from some investors. For instance, after the American Federation of Teachers urged teacher pension funds earlier this year to divest from companies that supported private prisons used to house migrants separated from their children at the U.S.-Mexico border, Chicago’s teachers fund did so. Some funds have also faced growing pressure to sell off investments in gun retailers and fossil fuel companies.
Critics argue that sustainable investing places political and emotional considerations ahead of the fiduciary duty to provide the best return for investors. That very argument was used to oust the president of the California Public Employee Retirement System’s board of directors, Priya Mathur, an internationally recognized leader in the sustainable investment community, in October.
Recent research by the Boston College Center for Retirement Research found that ESG funds haven’t performed as well as unrestricted funds, although the center noted that the underperformance was due at least in part to the much higher management fees charged by ESG funds rather than to the performance of the investments themselves.
But Ohio State University law professor Paul Rose makes the case that fiduciary responsibility for public funds extends beyond return on investment. He says such funds also have to consider the fiscal impact of investments on taxpayers, such as whether they will raise government costs for health care or water quality.
“You could create a colorful argument that [certain types of] ESG investing does help taxpayers over the long term,” he said.
Ohio University’s Rose notes that regardless of the type of investments you’re advocating for or against, “You need to be able to demonstrate that you’ve run the numbers.” (GOVERNING, MORNINGSTAR)
A federal judge issued a ruling last week blocking the U.S. Commerce Department from adding a question about citizenship to the 2020 census.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross Jr. had ordered the addition of the citizenship question nearly a year ago. But Judge Jesse M. Furman of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan said Ross had broken “a veritable smorgasbord” of federal rules in doing so.
The ruling was a victory for the multiple cities and states that sued the Trump administration over the plan, which they say would result in undercounts of noncitizens and legal immigrants. But the decision is just the first shot in a court battle that seems likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court before census forms are printed this summer.
The lawsuit, however, isn’t the only action states and cities are taking in response to the Trump administration’s plan. They’re also putting a lot of effort into community outreach.
Cities including Seattle, Baltimore and New York have already formed what they call Complete Count Committees, bringing together stakeholders from communities that have traditionally been hard to reach. Governors in 11 states and legislatures in six have created similar groups.
“We’re mobilizing earlier, getting coordinated earlier and providing more resources than we ever have in the past,” said California Assemblyman Marc Berman (D), who chairs a special Select Committee on the Census.
California has already made $100 million in Census-related appropriations - four times more than it spent before the 2000 Census, and 50 times more than it spent in 2010, during the Great Recession.
Assemblyman Berman said spending that much makes perfect sense, given what’s at stake. The decennial Census determines how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding and all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are divvied up among the states. California’s share of each right now is $78 billion and 53 seats, respectively.
With a single uncounted resident potentially costing a state as much as $19,000 in federal funds, according to Andrew Reamer, a research professor at George Washington University’s Institute of Public Policy, California “could lose billions of dollars if there’s a significant undercount,” according to Berman.
He said the state could also see its Congressional delegation shrink for the first time in its history.
“This is an opportunity for one-time spending that has a massive return on investment,” he said. (NEW YORK TIMES, HILL)
States enacted budgets for fiscal 2016 that will increase general fund spending by an average of 4.1 percent, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. The biggest spending bump, New York’s 14.7 percent increase, is largely the result of a one-time transfer of $4.6 billion from the state’s General Fund to its Dedicated Infrastructure Investment Fund. Only four states that have passed budgets for next year (budgets are still pending in Illinois and Pennsylvania) are cutting spending, led by Alaska, at -13.9 percent. Wyoming is holding spending at 2015 levels.
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers
Legend:
Biggest enacted spending increase for fiscal 2016: Washington, Utah, Texas, Ohio, New York, New Hampshire, Montana
Smallest increase/biggest decrease for fiscal 2016: Alaska, Arizona, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Wyoming, New Mexico, Minnesota
And speaking of common sense...maybe someone in the Alabama House ought to give it a try sometime. As the Birmingham News reports, the House just passed a bill that would cut off state funds to colleges or universities that adopt so-called “sanctuary” policies, which defy state and federal immigration laws. Fair enough. Except for the fact there are no sanctuary colleges in the Heart of Dixie. Nor, as bill author Rep. Phil Williams readily admits, are there any schools planning to adopt such policies. But hey, he says, young people may soon be swayed by outside influences like... wait for it...the media! Yes, the same media that totally swayed the November elections to Hillary and all the Dems! Oh, wait. Proving that the only thing folks like Williams are more afraid of than reporters is basic logic.
CONNECTICUT’s Democrat-led General Assembly overwhelmingly approved and Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation providing state-backed, zero-interest loans for federal workers who aren’t getting paid because of the partial government shutdown. About 1,200 residents will be eligible for the loans of up to $5,000 per month for three months. (HARTFORD COURANT, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)
The VIRGINIA Senate has passed a bill (SB 1255) that would provide incentive payments to Amazon for creating tens of thousands of high-paying jobs in Arlington County. Meanwhile, the state’s House Appropriations Committee has unanimously approved legislation (HB 2180) that would provide $70 million in incentives to Micron Technologies for undertaking a $3 billion expansion of its semiconductor plant in Manassas. (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET)
OREGON residents returned more cans, bottles and other containers for redemption under the state’s bottle deposit program than ever, managing a return rate of about 90 percent. That achievement came in an otherwise challenging year for recycling, with China having announced it would no longer accept many of the recyclables it had been importing from Oregon and other states. (BEND BULLETIN)
Clark County, NEVADA has approved the use of up to $12 million in marijuana fees each year for homelessness programs, including housing and case management services. Recreational marijuana sales began in the state about a year and a half ago, and the county collected $9.3 million in marijuana business license fees in fiscal year 2018 and expects to approach $11 million in such fees this fiscal year. (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL)
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced last week that she would be introducing emergency legislation to allow federal employees who live in the district and are working without pay due to the partial government shutdown to file for unemployment benefits. That action could set up a legal showdown with the U.S. Labor Department, which has said only furloughed federal workers are eligible for such benefits. (WTOP)
Nine states have received federal approval for waivers allowing them to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients. A federal judge has struck down the requirements in two of those states, Arkansas and Kentucky. But waivers are pending in another six states.
A spokesperson for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said the governor will unveil a proposal early next year to legalize recreational marijuana use in the Empire State. It would presumably come after a new Democratic majority is sworn in to both legislative chambers.
The proposal would mark a significant change of heart for Cuomo, who has previously opposed efforts to legalize recreational weed use, calling it “a gateway drug.” Cuomo spokesman Tyrone Stevens noted the governor’s new position came about after a series of 17 “listening sessions” in cities around the state.
“Now that the listening sessions have concluded, the working group has begun accessing and reviewing the feedback we received and we expect to introduce a formal comprehensive proposal early in the 2019 legislative session,” he said.
There is also the fact that recreational marijuana use became legal in neighboring Massachusetts this year, and New Jersey is close to following suit. A report by New York Comptroller Scott Stringer earlier this year posited that legalizing weed would create a $3.1 billion-a-year market in New York. (NEW YORK POST, NBC NEWS, HILL)
Twenty-one states have passed laws governing public access to police body camera footage, according to CNN and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. A few of those measures, including North Carolina HB 972, were signed into law in the last few months. Legislation concerning access to body camera footage is also pending in another 13 states.
Source: CNN, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
In June the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that unions could no longer require public workers who choose not to join a union to pay union fees even if they benefit from union efforts.
That ruling has adversely impacted union finances. For example, in Pennsylvania, unions had to refund about 15 percent of the $42.5 million in union fees they collected from nonmembers and executive branch members last year.
But the Janus ruling hasn’t led to the mass defections some had predicted. And in some unions, membership has actually increased since the verdict.
At the time of the ruling, 50,072 state executive branch employees in Pennsylvania were union members. Now 51,127 are members. New union memberships have outnumbered defections in Oregon’s Local 503 chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) by a margin of three to two. And membership in the Chicago chapter of SEIU has increased from 23,800 members to 26,000 since August 2017.
“I think the right wing thought this would decimate public-sector unions, and they were clearly wrong,” said Kim Cook of the Cornell University Worker Institute, which supports union and worker rights.
One reason union membership hasn’t dropped is because unions stepped up their efforts to attract new members even before the Janus decision. Democratically controlled states have also recently taken actions to bolster union membership. For instance, New Jersey, limited the period of time during which public workers can leave their union. And New Jersey, California and Washington have prohibited public employers from discouraging union membership.
But Ken Girardin, an analyst for the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy in New York, said significant membership declines will be coming in the next few years.
“Based on what we’ve observed, you will likely see a multi-year drop in membership, driven chiefly by the fact that people aren’t going to join in the first place,” he said. “The next cohorts of employees won’t join at the same rate as the retirees they are replacing.” (GOVERNING)
Saying it was “inevitable” that her state would soon be surrounded by states that have legalized recreational cannabis use, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) joined a growing number of her Democratic colleagues in proposing to follow suit.
Raimondo was hardly enthusiastic about the prospect.
“I will say, I do this with reluctance,” she told the Providence Journal. “I have resisted this for the four years I’ve been governor...Now, however, things have changed, mainly because all of our neighbors are moving forward” with legalization.
In recent years, Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts have all endorsed recreational weed use. They may soon be joined by New York and New Jersey, where Govs. Phil Murphy (D) and Andrew Cuomo (D) have both called for legalization.
In his State of the State address to lawmakers last week, Murphy dubbed cannabis legalization one of his top two legislative priorities in 2019, along with raising the Garden State minimum wage to $15. He made a similar push on weed last year but could not reach an agreement with the Democrat-controlled Legislature. Lawmakers generally support legalization but have been unable to develop a plan on taxation and regulation that all parties can agree on.
In New York, meanwhile, Cuomo unveiled his long-awaited legalization proposal last week. It included three separate taxes at the wholesale and cultivation level, with no additional levies on retail sales. It would also create a state office to oversee the industry, craft a licensing system for growers, distributors and retailers, and give cities and counties the power to reject legalization in their jurisdictions.
Raimondo’s proposal also called for what her office said would be the “strongest regulatory framework for adult-use marijuana in the nation.” Raimondo said the state estimates it would garner approximately $6.5 million in new revenues in the first year of legalization. But her Deputy Chief of Staff Kevin Gallagher said money was not the motivation.
We’re not doing this for the revenue,” Gallagher told the Providence Journal. “We’re going to be surrounded by [marijuana], and the only way we will be able to control the public health, to make sure we have safe products, control distribution, ensure proper enforcement, is if we take control of our own destiny and establish a framework here that has those significant protections.”
Several other Democratic governors have or plan to propose legalization this year, including Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, both newly sworn in. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf have also noted their interest, though it is unclear if either will make a proposal this session (NEW YORK TIMES, ALBANY TIMES-UNION, NJ.COM, YORK DAILY RECORD, MARIJUANA MOMENT, BLOOMBERG, PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE [ROCHESTER])
OHIO has run out of money for major road projects. A coalition of local governments, chambers of commerce, contractors, engineers and truck drivers called Fix Our Roads Ohio has formed to push for solutions to that problem, including increasing the state’s 28-cents-per-gallon gas tax. (COLUMBUS DISPATCH)
Tens of thousands of teachers walked off the job in Los Angeles last week in an effort to reduce class sizes, expand school support staff and boost their pay. With about two thirds of the L.A. Unified School District’s 485,000 students opting not to attend school since the strike began, district officials estimate they are losing $10 million to $15 million a day in state funding, which is based on student attendance. (LOS ANGELES TIMES)
GOP leaders in the TEXAS House and Senate have both unveiled budget proposals that would significantly increase funding for K-12 public education while capping property tax revenues. But among other things the lawmakers will have to resolve the disparity between the House’s 17.2-percent proposed funding increase and the 10.3 percent increase the Senate plan calls for. (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
The tiny Northern CALIFORNIA town of Nevada City, with a population of 3,100 and an annual budget of $4 million, has launched a crowdfunding campaign to reduce the threat of wildfires with goats. The city hopes to raise $30,000 from its “Goat Fund Me” campaign for a grazing project on city-owned land. The coastal town of Laguna Beach has used goats to reduce the threat of brush fires there for decades. (LOS ANGELES TIMES)
An executive order signed last month by President Donald Trump threatens to cut off over $2B in federal funding for the nation’s largest sanctuary cities, according to analysis by Reuters. Those cities range from Denver, with $20.4 million in federal funding at risk, to New York, with $704.6 million of at-risk funding.
Source: Reuters
The KENTUCKY Senate approves SB 17, which would codify the right for students to express religious viewpoints in school, including in their homework and clothing. It moves to the House (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER).
The VIRGINIA Senate approves HB 1578, which would allow home-schooled student athletes to play high school sports. The measure moves to Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) for consideration (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH).
The ALABAMA House approves HB 100, which would cut off state funds to Heart of Dixie colleges and universities that adopt so-called “sanctuary” policies that defy state or federal immigration laws. The measure moves to the Senate (BIRMINGHAM NEWS).
During the 2013-14 legislative year, 14 states enacted bills related to Mental Health First Aid - CPR-like training to help emergency personnel, teachers and others recognize and respond to mental health disorders - according to the National Council for Behavioral Health. The enactments in 11 of those states appropriated funding for the training. MHFA-related legislation was also considered but failed in seven states.
Source: National Council for Behavioral Health
Passed legislation related to MHFA in 2013-14 session: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Washington
MHFA-related legislation failed: Alaska, Florida, Mississippi, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Tennessee, Wisconsin
Bypassing seven years of congressional inaction and accelerating a national trend, state legislatures in California and New York have passed laws that will gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. In separate legislation these states have also extended family leave for workers who take time off to care for their newborn.
Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia now have wage floors above the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (see Bird’s eye view). The federal minimum has been stuck at this level since 2009 and there are no prospects for raising it during this presidential election year.
Taken together, California and New York are home to more than 57 million people, about a sixth of all Americans. The minimum wage bill signed into law by Democratic governors in these two states have similar goals but also differences produced by legislative compromise. Such compromises have eluded Congress, where Democrats favor and Republicans oppose increasing the federal minimum.
Away from the nation’s capital, the minimum wage is a somewhat less partisan issue. In 2014, voters in four Republican-leaning states – Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota – approved minimum wage hikes by substantial margins. Legislatures in 10 states also approved minimum wage increases in 2014; Rhode Island joined the list in 2015.
There is considerable variety in the wage floors of the states, depending in large part on economic conditions. Some states have been creative in the standards they have adopted. Nevada, for instance, has an $8.25 minimum for businesses that do not provide health care for their workers and a $7.25 minimum for those that do.
Economists differ on the impact of increasing the minimum wage, a centerpiece of the liberal agenda favored by Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has wavered on the issue, first opposing a minimum wage increase and lately hinting that he might favor it. Proponents of increases say present minimums are well below a living wage. Opponents assert that boosting the minimum will force businesses to reduce jobs and in doing so hurt people that the wage increases are meant to help.
When Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed the California minimum wage increase into law, he called it a matter of “economic justice” but acknowledged the possibility of hardships for some at the bottom end of the economic scale. On balance, he said, the benefits outweighed the drawbacks. Brown brokered the compromise under which California avoided an expensive ballot initiative campaign. The law raises minimum wages in six stages to $15 an hour by the end of 2022.
The New York law will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2018 – but only in New York City. Unlike California’s one-size-fits-all measure, the New York measure sets varying rates and timetables in different parts of the Empire State. Long Island and Westchester County will not reach the $15 minimum until 2021; areas north of Westchester will then have a minimum wage of $12.50 an hour.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) had wanted a uniform minimum throughout the state, but the state senate, narrowly controlled by Republicans, insisted on variable wage floors. Did the senate save Cuomo from himself? Some conservatives think so; they say less affluent areas cannot afford the same minimum as New York City.
Such an argument could be made with even greater force in California, the nation’s most populous state and third largest in size. A New York Times analysis of the new California law suggests it could be beneficial in places such as San Francisco and San Jose, where the minimum wage is half or less of the median wage, but not in Fresno or Merced, in California’s central valley, where the new minimum will be three-fourths of the median wage. “Many economists are concerned that the measure may lead to job losses in places where the minimum wage will be relatively close to what the typical worker is expected to earn,” the Times said.
The Golden State is a study in contrasts. Economic growth is surging, and the jobless rate, although still higher than the national average, has dropped to 6.3 percent. But California has the nation’s highest poverty rate at 23.6 percent. The county with the state’s worst poverty rate is Fresno, at 28.6 percent.
California also has vast disparities in wage growth. According to a Los Angeles Times study, the 482,000 Californians employed in technology, entertainment, publishing and other information businesses have seen their average weekly wage rise 44 percent since 2010 while the 5.2 million people in education, health and hospitality jobs have seen small increases and in some cases taken pay cuts. The gap between high-income and low-income Californians is twice as large as it was in 1980, the Public Policy Institute of California reported last week.
California’s legislature, solidly controlled by Democrats, has embarked on a series of efforts aimed at helping lower-paid workers and young parents who leave work to care for their families. Last month the legislature approved an expanded family leave program that, beginning in 2018, will provide most workers with 60 percent of their wages for up to six weeks, capped at about $1,l00 a week. Those making $20,000 or less annually will receive 70 percent of their regular pay. While the law makes no gender distinction, its principal beneficiaries will be working mothers.
In signing the bill Gov. Brown said he was trying to compensate for the “gross inequality” that has become a central political issue in the United States and several other countries.
The measure, costing an estimated $587 million annually when fully implemented, will be financed by an increase in payroll deductions through the state’s disability insurance system. Some Republicans fear this could prove a drag on the economy, but there was little organized opposition. The California Chamber of Commerce, a major lobbying force in Sacramento, did not take a position on the bill.
Government-subsidized family leave is commonplace in industrialized countries in Europe and Asia but rare in the United States. This was noted by President Obama in a statement praising the new California law. “Congress needs to catch up to California—and to countries all over the world—by acting to guarantee paid family leave to all Americans,” Obama said.
Three other U.S. states provide modest amounts of family leave. New York in March extended partial pay from six weeks to 12 weeks. New Jersey and Rhode Island provide partial pay for up to six weeks.
State experiments in providing family leave and higher wage floors demonstrate a valuable feature of the U.S. federal system. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis long ago suggested that states can serve as laboratories of democracy, trying out “novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.”
In 1932 when Brandeis wrote this oft-quoted dissenting opinion, the federal government was not the behemoth it is today. Too often, however, Washington resembles a hapless giant, divided by partisanship and deadlocked by the politics of maneuver.
Now, more than ever, leadership and experimentation are needed from the states. The nation can learn from what’s happening in California and New York.
Machine learning has become a buzzword in recent years, but the term dates to 1959 when AI-pioneer Arthur Samuel described machine learning as giving “computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed.” Decades later, having witnessed the exponential growth of computing power and its transformational potential, information security expert and author, Daniel Miessler called machine learning the new statistics. “It’s nothing less than a foundational upgrade to our ability to learn about the world, which applies to nearly everything else we care about,” he wrote.
With advances in computer science and data digitization, the variety of machine learning applications—as well as the potential value—have grown exponentially. But what exactly does machine learning encompass and how can companies put big data to work to train machine learning algorithms?
A subfield of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning enables computer systems to automatically learn and improve from experience. It falls into four classifications:
Regardless of the type, machine learning algorithms offer a distinct advantage given the volume and velocity of big data growth. They enable users to process high volumes of data more quickly than humans to recognize patterns, classify data and make correlations automatically.
The problem-solving potential of machine learning—and deep learning which uses even larger datasets—makes it an attractive undertaking for organizations across numerous industries. “We found that much AI investment is currently dominated by large tech companies like Google, Amazon, Baidu and Microsoft,” writes Priceonomics, noting that 10 to 30 percent of non-tech companies are also exploring the potential of AI.Machine learning is the big winner in the investment scene. According to research by McKinsey, machine learning accounts for 62 percent of AI investment, twice that of the next closest category. Where are machine learning algorithms proving their value already?
One industry that has embraced machine learning is Finance. Fortune notes, “Firms reported to be using A.I. for investment research include BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, Schroders, and T. Rowe Price.” The article further cites a rush to hire alternative data analysts in the past five years, quadrupling their numbers. Machine learning empowers financial services organizations in numerous ways:
German lender Commerzbank, for example, reportedly plans to automate up to 80 percent of compliance checks by next year. Has your organization started down the path of machine learning?