Capitol Comments

Family Caregiving, State programs

Wednesday, August 22, 2018 at 09:36 AM

The cost of nursing home/assisted living care has continued to rise. The average daily cost of nursing home care in the United States is $235, with a high of $800 per day in Alaska, and a low of $147 in Oklahoma. The increasing cost of care for loved ones has placed burden on the federal and state governments, as well as the American people searching for cheaper alternatives.

Career and Technical Education Act Presents New Opportunities for States

Jay Phillips

Monday, August 20, 2018 at 09:23 AM

HR 2353, or the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, was reauthorized by President Donald Trump through fiscal year 2023, under the new title Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21^st Century Act (Perkins V). The act was first established in 1984, then reauthorized in 1998, 2006 and now 2018 to increase the quality of career and technical education (CTE). This act adds $100 million over six years—an 11 percent increase over the fiscal year 2018 funding levels—aimed to expand the reach of CTE programs.

State Strategies to Address Opioid Abuse

Matt Oster

Friday, August 17, 2018 at 11:12 AM

The opioid crisis has devastated families and communities across the nation. As a result, the federal government has begun drafting potential policy solutions that could help mitigate the effects of widespread opioid use. While Congress debates their options, they would do well to look to the states for guidance on the matter.

Several states have adopted innovative strategies that have allowed them to expand access to medication-assisted treatment, or MAT. MAT combines Food and Drug Administration-approved medication—...

California's Ambitious Cap-and-Trade Program

Devashree Saha

Friday, August 17, 2018 at 09:35 AM

California’s cap-and-trade program, launched in 2013, has been described as one of the most ambitious and aggressive in the world. It is one of a suite of major policies the state is using to lower its greenhouse gas, or GHG, emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. California’s program is the fourth largest in the world, after the cap-and-trade programs of the European Union, the Republic of Korea and the Chinese province of Guangdong.

Economic experts: In trade wars, the closer the relationship, the bigger the consequences

Ilene Grossman

Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 12:53 PM

When countries enter a trade war, its effects depend in part on how close the nations are, in terms of geography and their existing economic relationship, Dan Ciuriak, a former Canadian government economist who now runs a consulting firm, told a committee of state and provincial legislators in July.

Few, if any, two nations in the world are more closely knit than Canada and the United States — a fact that would seem to point to major economic consequences if the two countries’ use of tariffs and retaliatory tariffs continues to escalate.

Higher bar for changing Constitution in South Dakota voters’ hands

Tim Anderson

Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 12:31 PM

Later this year, South Dakotans will vote on whether the state should have a higher bar for changing the Constitution. Under the proposal, placed on the ballot this year by the Legislature, constitutional amendments would require approval of 55 percent of the votes cast.

Illinois changes how it handles complaints of legislative wrongdoing

Tim Anderson

Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 12:28 PM

Illinois lawmakers have changed the process for investigating claims of inappropriate behavior in the legislative branch, a move that proponents say will give individuals more confidence to report inappropriate behavior.
HB 138 was signed into law in June. With the statutory change, the Legislative Inspector General can conduct independent investigations into sexual harassment allegations without obtaining consent from the Legislative Ethics Commission — a bipartisan group of Illinois representatives and senators.

Ohio takes next steps in efforts to protect Lake Erie

Tim Anderson

Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 12:24 PM

Last fall, nine Lake Erie experts identified specific strategies that they viewed as most important to reducing phosphorus runoff and preventing harmful algal blooms in the lake’s western basin. As of early June, Ohio legislators were moving toward passage of a bill backing those scientists’ findings with state dollars.

“That was the blueprint — use those evidence-based strategies and then target the funds to critical areas in the sub-watersheds [of the western basin],” says Rep. Steven Arndt. Ohio admittedly has a long way to go to reach its target — a 40 percent reduction in phosphorus loads by 2025. That is the amount specified in binational agreements between the United States and Canada and among the governments of Michigan, Ohio and Ontario.

Michigan will require lead service lines to be replaced starting in 2021

Tim Anderson

Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 12:21 PM

As part of what state officials say is the strictest set of lead and copper standards in the nation, Michigan will require all of the state’s public water systems to replace their lead service lines. Starting in 2021, the Detroit Free Press reports, each public water system must replace, on average, 5 percent of its lead service pipes per year over a 20-year period, with water customers paying for most of the estimated $2.5 billion price tag.

Led by South Dakota, states worked together for new sales-tax authority

Tim Anderson

Wednesday, August 15, 2018 at 11:59 AM

For the fiscal year that began in July, Illinois assumed a revenue boost that it and most states have long been waiting to get on the books — tax collections from remote sales. The state’s assumption is $150 million, based on the nine months that those collections can begin after Illinois’ “economic nexus” law takes effect this fall. (Spread over the course of a full fiscal year, the estimate rises to $200 million.)

In the years ahead, this revenue source is expected to be part of budget estimates and collections in every Midwestern state, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 21 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair(unlike Illinois, most states did not include an increase from online sales tax collections in their FY 2019 estimates).

By a vote of 5-4, the justices overturned a 1992 ruling, Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, that had barred states and local governments from requiring vendors with no physical presence in the state to collect sales taxes. In the years since Quill, online transactions skyrocketed, calls among brick-and-mortar businesses for sales-tax fairness intensified, and multiple attempts at congressional action (always an alternative to a new court decision) failed.

“Hooray for South Dakota,” John Hicks, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, said, noting the state’s passage of legislation in 2016 that became the basis for challenging, and eventually overturning, Quill.

Capitol Comments

Few, if any, two nations in the world are more closely knit than Canada and the United States — a fact that would seem to point to major economic consequences if the two countries’ use of tariffs and retaliatory tariffs continues to escalate.

Later this year, South Dakotans will vote on whether the state should have a higher bar for changing the Constitution. Under the proposal, placed on the ballot this year by the Legislature, constitutional amendments would require approval of 55 percent of the votes cast.

“Hooray for South Dakota,” John Hicks, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, said, noting the state’s passage of legislation in 2016 that became the basis for challenging, and eventually overturning, Quill.

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