The Ferguson Group Blog

Wednesday News Roundup

Every Wednesday, the TFG Blog posts a series of articles published over the previous week that discusses topics of interest to local governments. Learn about emerging trends and keep up on key policy issues by browsing the TFG Wednesday News Roundup!

 DC Water Considers First-Ever Century Bond by a Public Utility

The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority is contemplating being the nation's first public utility to issue a bond that's paid off over 100 years. D.C.’s though process? If the next three generations will benefit from the upgrades, then why make just one generation pay for it? Read More…

With Small Limits, Supreme Court backs EPA Authority over Carbon Emissions

In a split decision on Tuesday, the Supreme Court put limits on the way the Environmental Protection Agency defines “stationary” polluter, but upheld the government agency’s right to control greenhouse gases overall. The decision is seen as a go-ahead for new carbon emission standards proposed earlier this month by the Obama Administration. Read More…

Here’s the Strangest Named Piece of Legislation in Congress – It Actually Contains a Pretty Intriguing Idea

As we know, acronyms are very popular in Congress. The National Journal has deemed the Vegetables Are Really Important Eating Tools for You (VAREITY) Act the most oddly named piece of legislation in Congress. But there's actually a pretty interesting policy idea behind the quirky name.  For every dollar in SNAP benefits that an enrollee spends on fruits or vegetables, he or she would get 30 cents back. Read More…

Tacoma’s Strategy to Reduce Stormwater Pollutants

Tacoma, Washington determined storm water is the source of water pollution threatening the safety of the Puget Sound. As a result, the city is using extensive data points to map out the natural flow of water and trace back pollutants to their specific source, allowing officials to take action.  Read More…

Cities Growing Faster than Suburbs

Since 2011, many of the largest U.S. metro areas grew faster than their suburbs, a reversal of the decades-long trend of suburb-dominated regional growth patterns. “The era of rapid suburbanization at the expense of city vitality may, at long last, have come to a close,” Richard Florida, senior editor for The Atlantic, writes. Read More…

FEMA Expands Funding Eligibility for Flood Risk Reduction Projects

Following a review of relevant legislation, regulations and policy, FEMA has revised the Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) Program’s guidance concerning the types of physical flood risk reduction projects it will consider funding. FEMA’s HMA Programs include Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP), the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program (PDM) and the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) program. The programs aim to support mitigation against flooding and other natural disasters.

Prior to review, the 2013 HMA Unified Guidance stated that only “minor localized flood reduction projects” were eligible for funding. This definition did not include “major flood control projects” related to the construction, demolition, or repair of dams, dikes, levees, floodwalls, seawalls, groins, jetties, breakwaters and erosion projects related to beach nourishment or re-nourishment.

 

Publishing new policy on June 18, 2014, “Eligibility of Flood Risk Reduction Measures under the Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) Programs,” FEMA has revised the guidance allowing for the construction, demolition, or mitigation of dams, dikes, levees, floodwalls, seawalls, groins, jetties, breakwaters and erosion projects related to beach nourishment or re-nourishment under the HMGP and PDM programs. 

How does the expansion of eligible projects under HMA impact your local flood mitigation efforts?

Senators Propose 12 Cent Gas Tax Hike

On June 18 Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) released their proposal to increase the fuel tax by 12 cents over two years to create revenue necessary to shore up the Highway Trust Fund and pay for a long term transportation authorization bill.

Senator Murphy wrote notes in a press release “…the purchasing power of the gas tax is approximately 63 percent of what it was in 1993…” when last the tax was increased.  The Senators’ proposal would increase the federal gasoline and diesel taxes by six cents in each of the next two years. According to the Senators, this increase would provide enough funding to offset current MAP-21 spending levels over the next 10 years and replace all of the buying power the federal gas tax has lost since it was last raised in 1993.

The plan also would index the gas tax to inflation, using the Consumer Price Index (CPI), to ensure that it remains viable into the future.

The press release with a link to a one-page fact sheet is located here:

http://www.murphy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/murphy-corker-unveil-bipartisan-plan-to-shore-up-highway-trust-fund-boost-economic-growth

What are your thoughts on this proposal?

Wednesday News Roundup

Every Wednesday, the TFG Blog posts a series of articles published over the previous week that discusses topics of interest to local governments. Learn about emerging trends and keep up on key policy issues by browsing the TFG Wednesday News Roundup!

Localities Want More Say in Transportation Spending

Many local government leaders are saying some changes made under MAP-21 disproportionately hit cities and counties when it came to how money was divvied up. States are now in charge of decision making that should be taking place at the local level, some local officials say. The reauthorization of MAP-21 may be an opportunity to reverse these changes. Read More…

U.S. Senate’s Tax Writer Sees 15-Month ‘Window’ For Tax Reform

The U.S. Senate's chief tax law writer on Tuesday vowed to work on overhauling the federal tax code by August 2015, citing a move by global medical device manufacturer and innovator Medtronic, Inc. to shift its tax home base to Ireland as a spur for congressional action. Senator Ron Wyden, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, sees the time between now and August 2015 as a “prime 15-month window” to finally pass a comprehensive tax reform law.  Read More…

The Job Training Program That Actually Works

The Twin Cities RISE! (TCR) Program is a job training nonprofit that helps people who’ve fallen out of the job market climb back in. The program may seem expensive, costing $5,000 per participant per year, but Minnesota found that by investing in TCR, the state was actually saving money. Read More…

The President Talks Manufacturing and Innovation at TechShop Pittsburgh

On June 17, President Obama traveled to TechShop, a maker space in Pittsburgh, to promote the next generation of American innovators and entrepreneurs who are putting life back into American manufacturing.  Maker spaces like TechShop are popping up in cities across the country, not just helping innovators gain access to advanced manufacturing technologies, but also helping many cities revive their manufacturing sectors of years past.  Read More…

Congress Panel Backs Renewal of Ban on Internet Taxes

The U.S. ban on internet taxes has been in place since 1998, but is set to expire on November 1. The House Judiciary Committee, however, made a clear statement Wednesday when it passed a bill to make the internet connection tax ban permanent by a large majority of 30-4. Read More…

EPA Announces Brownfields Grants Winners

On May 28, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that 171 communities will receive 264 Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund and Cleanup (ARC) grants totaling $67 million in EPA brownfields funding. These funds will give communities like High Point, NC and businesses like Congress Street Hill Property, LLC of Belfast, ME a chance to return economic stability to under-served and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods through the assessment and clean-up of abandoned industrial and commercial properties. The City of High Point will use community-wide assessment funds to conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments for both hazardous substances and petroleum. Congress Street Hill Property, LLC will access brownfields cleanup grant funds to remediate the Old Waldo County Jail site which has environmental concerns including inorganic contaminants, metals and PCBs.

View the full list of FY 2014 brownfield award recipients here.

Does your community have properties that require assessment or remediation? If so, you should learn more about EPA’s Brownfields Program by visiting www.epa.gov/brownfields/.

Wednesday News Roundup

Every Wednesday, the TFG Blog posts a series of articles published over the previous week that discusses topics of interest to local governments. Learn about emerging trends and keep up on key policy issues by browsing the TFG Wednesday News Roundup!

Partners Start Hashing Out Details of Chicago’s Digital Lab for Manufacturing

Earlier this year, Chicago secured $70 million from the Defense Department to build a digital manufacturing lab, one of six “Manufacturing Innovation Institutes” being created this year by multiple federal agencies in conjunction with the White House. The Chicago digital manufacturing lab with be the first of its kind, bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders how are designing the lab together. Read More…

 Nation’s Largest Ocean Desalination Plant Goes Up Near San Diego; Future of the California Coast?

The Western Hemisphere’s largest desalination plant is going up in San Diego County, CA. The $1 billion project will provide 50 million gallons of drinking water a day when it opens in 2016. This plant is not the only plant proposed along the coastline of California; 15 others are in the works. Read More…

Tax Extenders Bill Will Await November Elections: Senator Reid

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid admitted that the $85 billion two-year tax break extender bill will likely be stalled until November elections are over. Election-year partisanship is leaving many initiatives in limbo at least until the November elections, when all 435 House of Representatives seats and 36 of 100 Senate seats are in play. Read More…

Chattanooga, Tenn., Is Proof Municipal Broadband Works

Several years ago, Chattanooga unleashed a beast: A fiber-to-the-home network spanning 600 square miles with 1 Gigabit-per-second speed available to all businesses, residences, and public and private institutions. It’s attracting businesses and industry to the area, helping to revitalize a community that once depended on pollution-heavy manufacturing. Developers, computer programmers, investors and entrepreneurs now call the city home. Read More…

Mikulski Would Like Appropriations Bills Bundled Into ‘Mini or Maxi’ Buses

The Senate Appropriations chairwoman is interested in seeing spending bills bundled together for floor consideration. The “minibus” approach would be a reprise of a strategy attempted with brief success in fiscal 2012 when the Commerce-Justice-Science, Transportation-HUD and Agriculture bills were bundled together into a cluster. Read More…