Not all issues involve dramatic triggering events: disability rights
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Do They Read The Bills? No.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Best (Stinky) Practice
This story is not from The Onion. It is a real story from WTOG in Tampa:
Believe in the power of poop. It’s an initiative being pushed by one South Florida energy company, which is now on the edge of being approved in Fort Lauderdale to help generate home electricity.
Power Green Energy, a Pompano Beach start-up hoping to turn sludge from waste-water treatment plants into renewable electricity for the state, is awaiting word today from the Fort Lauderdale City Commission to approve a rezoning request that would implement the system by the middle of next year. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that the company has received the City Commission’s tentative approval to initiate operations that would feed into Florida Power & Light Co.’s power-lines by mid-2012.
Monday, September 26, 2011
The Electric Car: An Example of the Issue-Attention Cycle
This great film documents the changes that occurred in the auto industry and when people stop caring about finding alternative energy for cars and lawmakers' focus shifted.
Putting Agendas on the Agenda
The Issue-Attention Cycle
1. The pre-problem stage
2. Alarmed discovery and euphoric enthusiasm
3. Realizing the cost of significant progress
4. Gradual decline of intense public interest
5. The post-problem stage
5. The post-problem stage
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Best Practices in Our Backyard
The Los Angeles Daily News reports:
Dialing a phone to report a pothole is so 2005.
These days, tech-savvy cities offer residents smartphone apps to document quality-of-life troubles.
If you live in San Jose, Glendale or certain parts of Los Angeles, you can point your camera phone at your neighborhood problem, snap a picture, type a description and hit send. The app forwards your GPS coordinates, along with the picture and description, to a city official who can arrange a fix.
It's faster, easier and -- ideally -- cheaper than dialing.
Los Angeles as a whole is a little slow in embracing service via smartphone apps. The city encourages residents to call its 311 request system to report problems, but budget cuts have slashed 311 line staffing. It's gone from 24/7 operation to one that operates only from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. weekdays - making it harder for residents to file complaints at their own convenience.
That makes the smartphone app all the more useful.
So far, two councilmen -- Paul Krekorian and Eric Garcetti* -- have embraced service-by-app options. Constituents in those East Valley and Hollywood area districts can upload photos directly to the council staff, who then refer the service requests to the right departments.
The Reseda Neighborhood Council is also experimenting with an app called CitySourced, which is used by Garcetti's office and the cities of San Jose and Glendale.
*Garcetti's communications director is CMC alum and Harvard MPP Julie Wong.
Federalism and Unanticipated Consequences
Phil Galewitz writes at Kaiser Health News:
Autism treatment advocates have won one legislative battle after another since 2007, most recently in California, which sent a bill to the governor this month mandating that insurers cover the disorder. Now more than half the states have such requirements, but that success could be in jeopardy as federal officials set new national standards for health coverage.
Insurers and employers argue that the laws increase health costs because treatment is often expensive and lasts years. But the advocates have prevailed by using federal data showing a growing number of children with the disorder, compelling stories about middle-class families struggling to afford treatment and testimony from celebrity parents of children with autism, including former pro football stars Dan Marino and Doug Flutie.
However, a provision in the 2010 health overhaul law gives the federal government authority to define "benefits" that will be offered on the health insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, to individuals and small businesses starting in 2014. If states mandate a benefit, but it isn’t on the federal list, the states would be responsible for the cost of the coverage.
As a result, autism benefits and dozens of other state-required benefits, covering services and conditions such as infertility, acupuncture and chiropractic care, could be at risk. By the end of September, the Institute of Medicine is scheduled to recommend criteria the Department of Health and Human Services should use in determining the essential benefits package. HHS is expected to announce its decision by the end of the year.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
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