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...

FCC Passes E-Rate Reform

President Obama’s 2013 goal to hook American students up to high-speed internet within five years looks more promising after Friday’s FFC approval to modernize the E-Rate program.

E-rate is the Universal Service Fund subsidy that goes to providing Internet access to schools and libraries.  Friday’s vote approved a plan to spend an additional $2 billion to boost wireless Internet connectivity in U.S. schools and libraries over the next two years. Additionally, it plans to phase out subsidies for old technologies like pagers and dial-up phone service in order to subsidize broadband and wireless Internet connections.

Are your schools, school districts or libraries looking to fund telecommunications, telecommunications services, internet access, internal connections and maintenance? Check out the FCC’s E-Rate program here.

Obama Administration Releases Grow America Act Transportation Bill

Yesterday, the Obama Administration released the Grow America Act proposal to finance and fund transportation infrastructure projects. The administration’s proposal is the first one out of the gate - both Houses of Congress are working on legislation that is expected to be released in the coming weeks. The collective goal (we hope) is to have a signed transportation bill before MAP-1 expires at the end of September. 

The Grow America Act proposal includes several new elements that may make it through the legislative sausage making process.  The proposal codifies the TIGER program and eliminates project minimums.  It includes a new FAST program for transportation projects (based on Race to the Top) with a $50 million pay-out.  It also includes a new Rapid Growth Area Transit competitive grant program and allows use of TIFIA fees for small projects.

If you are interested in reading the full text of the bill, click here for a link to the proposed legislation and here for a section-by-section review from the Administration.

Congress Approves $1.1 Trillion Omnibus

On Thursday evening, the Senate easily passed the massive Omnibus spending bill by a vote of 72-26. The 1,582-page bill, which packages all 12 appropriations bills into one, rings in with a price tag of $1.1 trillion dollars.  Although the bill boosts spending by $26 billion over FY 2013 levels, the total budget is about $30 billion below pre-sequester levels.  It provides $63 billion in sequester relief and $85 billion in total savings over the next two years, resulting in about $23 billion in deficit reduction.

This is how the budget adds up:

   $520 for defense

+$491 million non-defense

=$1.012 trillion

+

$98 billion not subject to spending cap (mostly war spending and disaster relief)

=$1.1 trillion

 

Here are some highlights of the omnibus:

• Restores $20 billion for domestic programs that would have been cut by the sequester
• Cuts daily agency operations by $79 billion
• Increases civilian federal workers pay by 1%, the first pay increase in 4 years
• Blocks the U.S. Postal Service from ending Saturday mail delivery
• Increases TIGER funds to $600 million, a 20% increase
• Provides an additional $636 million to fight forest fires
• Decreases funding for CDBG by $278 million
• Decreases Defense Appropriations by $8 billion

The Omnibus was introduced on Monday, and sailed through the House Wednesday afternoon by a vote of 357-64.  The House and Senate had to approve a three-day extension of the current Continuing Resolution to keep the government running while they considered the massive spending package.  The three-day extension will keep the government running until 11:59PM on January 18^th, where after the new Omnibus will take effect at midnight. The Omnibus has been sent to the President for final approval. Read More…

Will Sebelius Resign?

Facing mounting criticism from multiple corners, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius faces numerous calls from Obamacare critics and opponents to resign.  During a CNN interview that aired last week, she refused to comment on whether she offered the President her resignation.  The landscape for her departure and the confirmation of a replacement would be rocky at best.  Moreover, her replacement would require Senate confirmation, a prospect that the White House and Obamacare abhor.  The White House continues to voice support publicly for Secretary Sebelius and there are no reports that she or the President want her to leave.  

 

Nominee Ready for DHS Post

President Obama is expected to nominate Jeh Johnson to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security. Concern has growing all summer among stakeholders because the White House has not moved quickly to select a replacement for former Secretary Janet Napolitano.  Napolitano, the former Governor of Arizona, announced her intent to depart the Administration to head the University of California System back in the late spring.  Johnson has been a leader in the White House’s national security team, having served as the General Counsel for the Department of Defense.  Critics have already emerged, citing Johnson’s lack of experience managing an agency with a large constituency of state and local government officials, scientists, and First Responders.  Johnson is most noted for the Obama Administration’s legal review of the counterterrorism policies of the previous Bush Administration.  If confirmed by the Senate, Johnson would face an agency whose senior leadership ranks are woefully below minimum performance levels.  The New York Times noted that over 40 of top-level manager positions across DHS lack permanent appointees. 

 

 

Health Exchanges Roll Out Amid Controversy

The Obama Administration released partial data on insurance rates for those state-based health insurance exchanges that will be run by the federal government.  The rates have been much-anticipated because they will cover the major of states (35) that did not choose to run the exchanges on their own.  The announcement gave sample rates but not precise figures and should help the White House ease the public’s fear of “rate shock.”  Plan rates are based on tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum) that change according to the level of monthly premiums, reimbursement rates, and coverage.  Tennessee would have the least expensive bronze plan costing $119 per month, while Wyoming would have the most expensive at $286 per month.  Subsidies for individuals and families earning up to 400% of the federal poverty level would further lower those rates.   The announcement emphasized how affordable coverage would be for young adults (27 or older) after subsidies, citing rates of $48 per month in Arkansas and an average among covered states of $100 per month.  Final rates for all federally-run state exchanges are not expected until October 1, when full scale enrollment is set to begin.

With the White House celebrating the rate announcements, opponents in the Congress continue their efforts to delay implementation and defund the Affordable Care Act’s core programs.  Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) ended a sometimes dramatic floor speech that nearly lasted a full day.  He and other opponents are seeking to pass a Continuing Resolution that defunds the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as part of the effort to keep the government funded under a Continuing Resolution.  The House Republican Study Committee recently released a “repeal and replace” proposal that completely replace the ACA with a series of market reforms.  With a looming show down on the need to raise the nation’s debt borrowing capability, opponents are also seeking to repeal or delay ACA implementation as part of those negotiations. 

Calling Local Climate Preparedness Leaders: The White House Wants YOU!

Last month, when the President released his “Climate Action Plan,” he did so with a good deal of recognition for the local impact of climate change and the potential for local influence in policy development and implementation. His announcement included the creation a local government task force will help the government identify challenges and opportunities related to federal efforts to address climate impacts.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality let us know that they welcome suggestions on currently sitting State, Local, or Tribal elected officials who bring experience in building climate preparedness and resilience in their communities, and a strong commitment to strengthening the Nation in the face of climate change. Local officials should send recommendations – including title, organization, contact information and reason for nominating – to [email protected] by July 26, 2013. The White House will formally announce Task Force members once appointments are made.

And If you’re following this issue, you may be interested coverage of one of the most significant impacts of climate change on coastal communities, rising sea levels, which was captured in a Washington Post article this week entitled “Vulnerable Maryland Weighs Threat of Sea-Level Rise. ” 

The Affordable Care Act Outreach Campaign

The Administration has kicked off a health care reform outreach campaign to educate the uninsured and prepare them to enroll in Medicaid and exchange health plans. 

Last week, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced $150 million in grant awards to 1,159 health centers across the nation to enroll uninsured Americans in new health coverage options made available by the Affordable Care Act.  These grant funds will allow consumers to get help understanding their coverage options through the new Health Insurance Marketplace, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program; determine their eligibility and what financial help they can get; and enroll in new affordable health coverage options.

The goal of the Administration is to make applying for health coverage as easy as possible. There will be a new, consumer-focused website at www.healthcare.gov which is also available in Spanish at www.CuidadoDeSalud.gov; along with a 24-hour-a-day consumer call center that offers services in 150 languages to help Americans understand their coverage options and select the plan that best suits their needs when open enrollment in the new Health Insurance Marketplace begins Oct. 1, 2013.

It's Complicated...

..so much so that the Obama Administration has announced that it will delay the deadline for employers to offer basic health care coverage for their employees by a year, pushing it back to 2015.  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) places penalties of up to $3,000 per worker on businesses with 50 or more employees that fail to offer minimal health care coverage.  Small businesses (those with 50 or fewer employees) will continue to be exempt from the penalties.  

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy Mark Mazur wrote, “We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively.”  Starting last year, several business trade groups became increasingly vocal in their concerns that the insurance mandate would compromise economic growth.  They complained of difficulties in navigating proposed reporting requirements and understanding and adapting to new rules for counting full-time and part-time employees.  ACA’s reporting requirements for businesses alone are extensive and include any period in which any employee and any of his/her dependents were covered by health insurance.  

The final language specifying the terms of the delay is expected by July 15.