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!

White House Creates New Cybersecurity Agency

On Tuesday, the White House announced the creation of a new agency designed to combat cyber threats and to coordinate digital intelligence among federal agencies. The $35 million Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center is designed to "connect the dots" among cyber threats facing the United States, "so that relevant departments and agencies are aware of these threats in as close to real time as possible," a White House official said in a statement. Read more...

Why Boston is Spending $20M on Affordable Housing

Boston has announced a $20 million affordable housing project that will redevelop 250 city-owned parcels of land into housing specifically for low- to middle-income families. The strategy is to help maintain affordability while infilling vacant land in urban neighborhoods. Read more...

Restoring the Concrete Jungle: How to Address Urban Blight in 2015

Reducing blight and preventing its spread is best achieved when the solution incorporates the interest and input of active and engaged citizens. Many cities are starting to harness innovative civic tech products to begin repairing and rebuilding some of the country’s most severely affected areas with help from residents. Read more...

NYC’s Plan for Free, Citywide Wi-Fi

Private companies are paying New York City $500 million to transform old pay phones into high-speed Internet hotspots. The plan is called LinkNYC, and it’s important for two reasons. One, it may be a plan other cities can copy -- there are certainly plenty of old public pay phones around. Two, it’s an example of reimagining old assets and connecting citizens to what is increasingly a vital and life-enhancing service: the Internet. Read more...

An Interactive Gathering for City Leaders

On February 11-12, Louisville will host the Governing Summit for Innovation, a meeting that will convene city leaders to discuss how to get more out of less through synergy and innovation. What makes the gathering unique is that every detail of the meeting, from the room setup to the discussion, is intentionally interactive and challenging. While this event is sold out because of the unique set up of the accommodations and the “everyone participates” format, those who are interested should make a note and watch Governing for similar opportunities in the future. Read more...

Get Your Public Comments in on Draft Second Round Promise Zone Application Guides!

In preparation for this fall’s open solicitation for the second round of Promise Zone designations, HUD has published draft guidelines for urban, rural, and tribal communities, initiating a 60-day public comment period. The public comment period will close on June 16, 2014. The final second round Promise Zone Application Guide is expected to be posted later this year.

As part of President Obama’s bold agenda, to a make our nation a magnet for jobs, equip Americans with the skills to do these jobs, give a high quality education to all children and ensure that hard work leads to a decent living, a total of 20 Promise Zone designations will be made by the end of 2016, including the five designations announced in January 2014. A minimum of five and up to fifteen designations will be made in this round.

Questions or comments pertaining to the draft application guides should be sent by email to [email protected] with ‘‘Second Round Promise Zone selections’’ in the subject line. To learn more about Promise Zones, please go to: https://www.onecpd.info/promise-zones/.

House HUD Funding Bill Deals a Blow to Key Programs, Outlook Better in the Senate

Earlier this week, the House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee approved its FY 2014 appropriations bill. The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider the bill on June 27. The bill includes $28.5 billion for HUD, $5 billion, or 15 percent, less than the FY 2013 enacted level and $3 billion, or 9 percent, less than the FY 2013 post-sequestration funding level.

Community Development Block Grant formula funding would be decreased by almost 45 percent to $1.6 billion.  Overall, funding for Community Development Programs would be cut by $1.9 billion from FY 2013 to $4.8 billion, which is $1.6 billion below the spending level under sequestration. It would eliminate funds for new "sustainable" or "green" community development programs. The bill would fully fund veterans housing vouchers at $75 million, but would cut Section 8 and public housing overall by $953 million to $24.9 billion. Families expected to hold vouchers at the beginning of FY 2014 would continue to receive assistance. Housing for the disabled and for the elderly would be funded at levels requested by the Administration at $126 million and $374.6 million respectively.

Wednesday News Roundup

Every Wednesday, the Ferguson Group blog will be posting a series of articles published over the previous week that discuss topics of interest to local governments.  Learn about emerging trends and keep up on key policy issues by browsing the TFG Wednesday News Roundup!

Senators Offer A Bipartisan Blueprint for Immigration

A bipartisan group of senators have agreed on a set of principles to overhaul the country’s immigration system.  Under the plan, the nation’s 1 million undocumented immigrants would have a path to citizenship.  The plan would also tighten immigration enforcement.  The group hopes that this proposal will help to frame the upcoming immigration debate.  Read more . . .

Senior Citizens Drive Infrastructure Spending

Mayors around the country are beginning to understand that mobility plays a big role in the health and well-being of America’s rapidly aging population.  Policies that allow older people to maintain their social ties with the community encourage greater life expectancies. Investing in transportation infrastructure also allows older individuals, who may not have access to cars, to maintain community ties and easily access medical care.  Read more . . .

Virginia’s Bold, New Transportation Funding Idea

Governor Bob McDonnell (VA) has a new plan to fund his state’s transportation needs.  He plans on repealing the gas tax and raising a portion of the sales tax dedicated to transportation to pay for more than $3.1 billion in new transportation funding.  Read more . . .

Rep. Paul Ryan Says He Thinks ‘Sequester Is Going To Happen’

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) thinks that the sequester, a series of mandatory across the board federal spending cuts, will take place on March 1.  He believes that the cuts will occur because Democrats have opposed Republican offers to replace those cuts with other cuts and have offered no alternative spending cut proposals.  Read more . . .

Congress Takes Up Gun Violence

Today, the Senate Judiciary committee was scheduled to hear various proposals on stronger gun controls.  One proposal would ban fast-firing semiautomatic weapons and ammunition magazines that can hold more than 10 bullets.  Another proposal would make federal background checks universal, while another proposal would create a separate criminal offense for gun trafficking.  Read more . . .

President Obama Signs $50B Sandy Relief Bill

The President signed into law a $50.5 billion emergency measure that would aid the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  The bill will help residents and businesses in storm ravaged communities, rebuild and recover.  As with past natural disasters, the Sandy aid bill is not offset with spending cuts.  Read more . . .

The Heart and Soul of Communities: Will Congress Support Homebuilding and Ownership Through Tax Policy?

Good News!  This week, the US Commerce Department announced new-home sales grew 5.7 percent in September to the highest level in 2 ½ years.  The National Association of Home Builders also announced that builder confidence is at its highest level since June 2008. Let’s hope this community expansion and increased consumer confidence does not slip back into a recession because Congress allows housing tax credits and deductions to expire January 2. 

Will Congress renew the mortgage-debt-forgiveness tax provisions for homeowners whose lenders write off portions of their debt as part of the loan modifications, foreclosures, short sales, or deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure? Without an extension, borrowers who receive reductions in principal next year would be hit with federal income taxes at their regular marginal rates on the amounts forgiven.  Will there continue to be deductions for mortgage insurance premiums, tax benefits for homeowners who install energy-savings improvements, tax credits for builders of energy-efficient houses, and the extension of current relief for middle-income taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax (AMT)?  The lame duck session will impact millions of homeowners and your communities and we’ll continue to track these issues and provide updates.

Wednesday News Roundup

Every Wednesday, The Ferguson Group blog will be posting a series of articles published over the previous week that discuss topics of interest to local governments. Learn about emerging trends and keep up on key policy issues by browsing the TFG Wednesday News Roundup!

Milwaukee Police Give 911 a Facelift

A Milwaukee Police Chief has a new way to respond to crime, and it doesn’t involve the police coming to you.  Differential Police Response (DPR) allows officers to respond to certain grievances via the phone, allowing them more time to patrol “hotspot” areas.  Read More…

Some in Congress Look to $55 Billion Fiscal Cliff ‘Fallback’

Some in Congress would like to avoid the upcoming “fiscal cliff,” large cuts in the federal government, by scrapping the across-the-board spending cuts of $109 billion and replacing them with targeted savings of $55 billion.  Read more…

In Fairfax County, Sequestration is Already Here

The possibility of more than $1 trillion in mandatory federal spending cuts is already taking a toll in Fairfax County.  While communities across the country are dreading the cuts, the threat looks especially ominous to Fairfax County, where a lot of residents have jobs that depend--either directly or indirectly--on the Federal government.  Read more…

Study Touts Job Potential of ‘Smart’ Infrastructure

A report put out by Deloitte Consulting and the New England Council states that investments in “smart” infrastructure have the potential to create 27,000 new jobs in New England alone.  “Smart” infrastructure includes transportation systems, diversified energy sources, access to high-speed internet, a skilled work force, and appropriate financing.  The report offers eight recommendations for building “smart” infrastructure.  Read more…

Dedicated Bike Lanes Can Cut Cycling Injuries in Half

New research shows that dedicated bike lanes can cut in half the rates of injury for cyclists, with protected bike lanes nearly eliminating the risk of injury.  Read more…

 

Wednesday News Roundup

Every Wednesday, The Ferguson Group blog will be posting a series of articles published over the previous week that discuss topics of interest to local governments. Learn about emerging trends and keep up on key policy issues by browsing the TFG Wednesday News Roundup!

Gallup: State, Local Governments Hiring Most Since Economic Collapse

A new Gallup poll indicates that the state and local government employment sector has started to rebound for the first time since the start of the recession.

Read More…

Bond Sellers Fret Over Romney Tax Plans

Comments from the Romney campaign that the candidate’s tax reform plan could aim to raise revenue by targeting tax-exempt municipal bonds have restarted a debate over the future of this tax incentive.

Read More…

American Society of Civil Engineers Releases New ‘Failure to Act’ Study Focusing on Ports

A new ASCE report indicates that new investments in ports, inland waterways, and airports are necessary in order to ensure that American exports remain competitive.

Read More…

Being Neighbor.ly in Kansas City: Kickstarter for Local Government?

Kansas City is looking to duplicate the success of crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter to raise funding for local projects.

Read More…

N.J. Pilot Program IDs Hazards in Abandoned Buildings

Camden is the site of a new pilot program established by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which aims to help first responders identify buildings that contain hazardous materials as they are responding to incidents at these sites.

Read More…

President Obama Signs into Law First Minibus Spending Package and Continuing Resolution

Today, President Obama signed into law a FY 2012 “minibus” spending package (H.R. 2112) that contains three of the twelve annual appropriations bills and sets FY 2012 spending levels for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, as well as NASA and the National Science Foundation. By passing this legislation with strong bipartisan support yesterday, Congress avoided a potential government shutdown at midnight tonight. This bill marks the first yearlong spending measure enacted for FY2012 and provides almost $300 billion in total spending.

The minibus adhered to spending caps set by August’s debt ceiling compromise, with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) absorbing the most significant funding cut. HUD funding dropped approximately 10% from FY 2011 levels, with the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program suffering a 16% cut and all funding for HUD’s Sustainable Communities grants eliminated. Outside of HUD, most agencies fared relatively well under this bill – Agriculture spending was only cut 2% and the Departments of Commerce, Justice and Transportation saw slight funding increases. The bill also includes $2.3 billion in emergency disaster relief to assist victims of recent natural disasters.

Along with setting FY 2012 spending levels for these agencies, the minibus also included a Continuing Resolution that will allow the government to stay funded through December 16^th. Congress is expected to act next on the appropriations bills funding the Department of Energy, Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Treasury, Small Business Administration, General Services Administration, and State Department.

Senate Passes First Minibus Spending Package

Today the Senate passed the first minibus spending package (H.R. 2112), by a vote of 69-30. The bill includes three of the twelve annual appropriations bills (Agriculture; Commerce-Justice-Science; and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development) and would provide approximately $128 billion in discretionary spending for FY 2012.  

Before passing the spending package, the Senate rejected 13-85 an amendment (S. Amdt. 800) offered by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) that would cut USDA’s rural development programs by $1 billion.

In addition, the Senate rejected 38-60 an amendment (S. Amdt. 821) introduced by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) that would redirect Transportation Enhancements (TE) Program funding to bridge repairs.

The House and Senate are expected to conference the bill quickly, maybe even as early as next week.

The Senate will now begin work on its second minibus, which is expected to contain the State-Foreign Operations (S. 1601), Financial Services (S. 1573), and Energy-Water (H.R. 2354) spending measures.

Guide to the American Jobs Act for Local Governments

Last week, President Obama addressed a Joint Session of Congress and outlined his strategy to help boost the economy and create more jobs in America.  On Monday, September 12th, he sent the American Jobs Act (AJA) to the Hill. In outlining his legislative proposal, the President declared that this bill would “provide a jolt to an economy that has stalled” and repeatedly urged Congress to “pass this jobs bill.”

Although Congress is unlikely to quickly pass the AJA in its entirety, several elements of the proposal have attracted preliminary support from House Republican leadership and it is possible that segments of the legislation will be considered by Congress in the coming months. To view an overview of how new federal funding might flow to local governments if the AJA is enacted, please visit our Guide to the American Jobs Act. Stay tuned to this blog to remain up-to-speed on the progress to enact the AJA.