Daily Newswire
National/Politics
Gains in Health System Seen as Lasting by Some
By ROBERT PEAR, New York Times, May 22, 2012
The new health care law is already transforming the way care is delivered, and the changes will continue regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on the mandate for most Americans to carry health insurance, a Democratic senator and an Obama administration official said Tuesday. The comments by the senator, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and the official, Dr. Richard J. Gilfillan, director of the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, indicated how Democrats were preparing for a Supreme Court ruling on the 2010 law. The law, which President Obama pushed through Congress on a party-line vote, promises to be a salient issue in elections for the White House and Congress this year.
CBO warns of 2013 recession
By: Seung Min Kim, Politico, May 22, 2012 05:43 PM EDT
What would happen if a deadlocked Congress did nothing? If the expiring Bush tax rates are allowed to lapse and the automatic spending cuts kick in next year, it could hurl the U.S. economy back into a recession, the Congressional Budget Office warned in a report released Tuesday. Calling the combination a “fiscal cliff,” the CBO estimated that the economy will most likely contract by 1.3 percent in the first half of 2013 if lawmakers allowed the tax rates to go up and the across-the-board cuts – called a sequester – to take effect. The CBO said the economy will grow at about 2.3 percent in the second half of 2013 under this scenario.
Moody's: State Borrowing Slowed in 2011, Will Remain Subdued This Year
Wednesday, May 23, 2012, By Jennifer DePaul, Bond Buyer
States slowed their borrowing dramatically, with a growth of only 2.5% in 2011, despite low interest rates, according to a new Moody’s Investors Service report. This comes after much higher growth of 10% and 8% in outstanding net tax-supported debt in 2009 and 2010, respectively. The combined 2011 net tax-supported debt for all 50 states increased to $510 billion from $497 billion in 2010, Moody’s said. Net tax-supported debt is defined as debt secured by state taxes or other operating resources that could otherwise be used for state operations.
High deductibles, unexpected hospital bills produce sticker shock / Even savvy consumers may find it impossible to get reliable estimates
1:06 AM, May. 23, 2012 , Tennessean
…. Her quandary is one that more will face as employers increasingly switch to high-deductible health plans — some of which require workers to spend as much as $5,000 before filing an insurance claim. These plans are intended to lower overall health spending by making consumers more cost-conscious, but experts say hospitals and physician practices have been slow to embrace the changes to make this paradigm work.
Obama Online Tool Targets Volunteers
By DANNY YADRON And AMY SCHATZ, Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2012, 10:09 p.m. ET
President Barack Obama's re-election campaign on Wednesday plans to introduce its online organizing tool for 2012, hoping to spur the volunteer enthusiasm that carried the president to the White House four years ago. The program, known as Dashboard, has been in development since last year and builds off technology used by the campaign in 2008. It is meant to replicate a campaign field office, allowing volunteers to do phone banking, organize events and talk to campaign leaders from their laptops or smartphones. ….. Republicans recently started a similar effort on Facebook, called the GOP Social Victory Center, which is designed to organize supporters in the virtual world.
Romney sets out to frame campaign themes with weekly speeches
By Philip Rucker, Washington Post: May 22
Mitt Romney has begun delivering a series of weekly policy speeches aimed at outlining his proposals and drawing contrasts with President Obama on issues from education and health care to energy and debt. The speeches are part of an effort by Romney’s advisers to use the months before August’s Republican National Convention to help introduce the all-but-certain GOP presidential nominee to a general-election audience and to lay a foundation to debate policy differences with Obama. The speeches also give Romney a platform to test ways to articulate the country’s problems and his proposed solutions. For undecided voters, the speeches could open a window into what kind of Republican Romney is and what kind of president he wants to be.
Hawaii Verifies Obama Birth Records to Arizona
Associated Press, May 23, 2012, 7:26 a.m. ET
Hawaii has verified President Barack Obama's birth records to Arizona's elections chief after a nearly three-month back and forth that Arizona officials said could have ended without the incumbent's name on its November ballot. …. Joshua Wisch, special assistant to Hawaii Attorney General David Louie, told the Associated Press in an email late Tuesday that the matter was resolved after Hawaii gave Arizona the verification it sought.
WSJ Poll: Dim Views of Big Business, Government
Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2012, 5:00 PM ET
Voters have little confidence in Wall Street, large corporations or the news media, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. …. Other institutions that received low marks from voters include health insurance companies, the entertainment industry, the national news media and the federal government, in line with weak showings in other surveys in recent years.
In One Corner, a Champion of Government. In the Other, Its Foe.
By JOHN HARWOOD, New York Times, May 23, 2012
….. Mr. Obama champions government as a linchpin of future economic growth and the average American’s protector from the excesses and failures of the free market. Mr. Romney condemns government as a menace whose excesses and failures imperil the free market’s ability to enhance individual opportunity and make the nation prosperous. …. Blacks and Hispanics were twice as likely as whites to rate government positively, for example, and nearly four times as likely as white evangelicals. Mr. Obama’s argument draws stronger support from single women, Mr. Romney’s from white men and married women.
College Students and Workers Coming Together in Main Street Movement
BY KOREY HARTWICH | MAY 22, 2012, AFSCME blog
Across the country, AFSCME is engaging young people as a key part of the Main Street movement, and is developing young worker activists and leaders. We’re building alliances with organizations of pro-labor student groups and now AFSCME is launching a partnership with United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) as part of their Campus Community Solidarity Campaigns.
AFSCME Honors National Emergency Medical Services Members
BY KOREY HARTWICH | MAY 22, 2012, AFSCME blog
When injured or seriously ill, Americans rely on emergency medical services. These women and men come day or night, to provide professional care that saves lives. That tireless service – and the need to give them adequate tools to provide it – is the focus of this year’s National Emergency Medical Services Week.
Study shows isolation may lead to corrupt state capitals
By David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2012,
What makes some state capitals so much more corrupt than others? New researchprovides a partial answer to that long-standing question: isolated capitals breed more corruption and lack of news coverage is a major reason why. ….. The most corrupt state capitals – Jackson, Miss., Baton Rouge, La., Nashville, Tenn., Pierre, S.D., Springfield, Ill., and Albany, N.Y., for example – are all relatively isolated, with Springfield and Pierre ranking as the two most isolated on the list. The less isolated the capital (the further to the right), the more likely it is to rank low on corruption.
State/Local
CA: Los Angeles approves $7.2B city budget
Richie Duchon, Contra Costa Times, 05/21/2012 07:51:29 PM PDT
The Los Angeles City Council on Monday approved a $7.2 billion budget that delays layoffs but makes nearly $70 million in cuts to services and shrinks the city's workforce by more than 400 positions. The budget, first proposed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and amended by the council's Budget and Finance Committee, closes a $238 million deficit but leaves next year's budget $199 million in the red.
CA: State prison inmates add to SB, SLO county jail problems
May 21, 2012 12:05 am • By Brian Bullock / santamariatimes.com
County jails on the Central Coast are overcrowded, understaffed and insufficient for the inmate population forced into them by Assembly Bill 109, according to reports from both the Santa Barbara County Probation Department and the San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury.
Calif. pension fund to vote against Wal-Mart board
AP, May 23, 2012
One of the nation's largest pension funds says it will vote its 5.3 million shares against all of Wal-Mart's (WMT) board nominees — including the company's current and former CEOs — at the retailer's annual meeting next week. The California State Teachers' Retirement System, known as CalSTERS, said Tuesday that it has lost faith in the board's independence amid allegations of bribery in Wal-Mart's operations in Mexico.
DE: State worker pay hike challenged
10:25 PM, May 22, 2012 | The News Journal
Riding high on fresh news of better-than-expected state revenue projections, the co-chairs of the General Assembly’s budget-drafting committee attempted Tuesday to secure a 2 percent raise for state employees next fiscal year. But, shortly after bringing it up, Sen. Harris B. McDowell III and Rep. Dennis P. Williams chose to table the plan in response to concerns from other lawmakers on the committee and a negative reception from Gov. Jack Markell’s budget-planning staff.
IL: State cuts temporary deals with 3 health insurance providers
By DOUG FINKE The State Journal-Register May 23, 2012
The state is making temporary deals with three state employee health insurance providers until officials can determine which carriers should receive longer-term HMO contracts. …. The state and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union are also negotiating a new labor agreement. Health insurance premiums and co-payments for active employees are included in those negotiations.
IL: Guards at Dwight, other prisons get layoff notices
By Kevin Barlow | pantagraph.com, May 23, 2012
Prison guards at Dwight Correctional Center and other state facilities slated for closure this summer received layoff notices this week even though the sites’ fate is far from settled. “It’s never good news when layoff notices are handed out,” said Daniel Dunlap, a corrections officer at the prison and president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1133. “But this is far, far from over. Dwight is open now, we will do everything we can to keep it open, and as far as I’m concerned, it will always be open.”
IL: New photo company, busing on Unit 5 agenda
By: Ryan Denham | WJBC, May 23, 2012
…. The board is expected to decide at a special session in early June whether to turn over student transportation to First Student. ….. The district now has 200 bus drivers and monitors on payroll who transport more than 11,000 students every day. Those workers, part of the American Federal of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME union, object to the outsourcing plan. They note that the proposed First Student savings are largely driven by salary and benefit cuts – 0.5 percent in 2013-14 and 1 percent in 2014-15.
Indiana governor candidate John Gregg picks Vi Simpson for Democratic ticket
1:11 AM, May. 23, 2012 | Associated Press
Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg reached out to his party’s base Tuesday with his pick for lieutenant governor, a liberal lawmaker with decades of experience at the Indiana Statehouse. Gregg tapped Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson as his running mate Tuesday. The addition of Simpson, an abortion-rights supporter, to the Democratic ticket should shore up support for Gregg among liberal Democrats and prompt Democratic donors turned off by his anti-abortion stance and opposition to same-sex marriage to open up their wallets.
IN: As Indiana Toll Road Funds Wind Down, State Looks to More Transportation P3s
Wednesday, May 23, 2012, By Caitlin Devitt, Bond Buyer
As Indiana spends down $3.8 billion generated by its 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road, the state has a series of new public-private partnerships in the pipeline that underscore its continued reliance on the technique to provide financing for transportation infrastructure projects. As of this year, all of the remaining cash from the toll road lease to a private consortium — $1.7 billion — is earmarked for ongoing projects, and officials plan to rely on other P3s to help finance transportation projects in the future. The Hoosier State has three major privatization deals in the works under a P3 program launched by Indiana Department of Transportation for the state’s largest infrastructure projects.
Kansas governor signs massive income tax cuts into law
May 22, 2012, 4:30 pm, Associated Press
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed massive income tax cuts into law Tuesday, expressing confidence they would boost the economy and not create future budget problems or shift the state's tax burden to the poor. …. Brownback said the state will help poor families the most by creating new jobs. Derrick Sontag, state director for the anti-tax, small-government group Americans for Prosperity, said the tax cuts are designed to just that.
Related Kansas City Star: Editorial | Kansas tax cut plan is an exercise in hubris
LA: 5,100 in La. can get vouchers
5:53 PM, May. 22, 2012 The Associated Press
More than 5,000 Louisiana students in 33 parishes can get new taxpayer-funded voucher slots at private schools this fall, under a law pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal that established a statewide voucher program. …. Critics of the program expansion are planning to file a lawsuit challenging the use of the public school funding formula to finance the vouchers.
MI: Detroit proceeds with 2012-13 budget
May 23, 2012 | Detroit Free Press
Despite its concerns that a court might rule Detroit's consent agreement with the state illegal, the City Council plans to move ahead with a dramatically reduced 2012-13 city budget that would slash nearly 2,600 more jobs, eliminate or consolidate some departments and privatize, at least partially, the city's transportation and lighting divisions.
Mississippi Prison on Lockdown After Guard Dies
By ROBBIE BROWN, New York Times, May 22, 2012
A private prison for illegal immigrants in Mississippi remained on lockdown Tuesday after a violent outbreak on Sunday that ended with the death of a guard and 20 people injured. …. Inmates took more than 20 prison workers hostage. They started a fire in the prison yard. And they attacked a guard, Catlin Carithers, 24, who later died from blunt head trauma, officials said. All 2,542 of the prison’s inmates are immigrants, from more than 70 countries, who are serving time for felonies before they are deported, said Steve Owen, a spokesman for the private company that operates the prison, the Corrections Corporation of America, of Nashville.
NH: City approves custodians contract
seacoastonline.com, May 22, 2012 2:00 AM
The City Council on Monday night approved a contract with the school custodians union, making it the latest employment pact ratified by the council in recent weeks. Councilors voted 8-1 to approve the contract with the AFSCME 1386 School Custodians' union. Councilor Jack Thorsen was the lone vote against the contract Monday night.
NJ: Missed Revenue Targets Negative for New Jersey, Moody's Says
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 Tonya Chin, Bond Buyer
Moody’s Investors Service said on Monday that New Jersey missing its revenue targets is a credit negative for the state. New Jersey, rated Aa3 with a stable outlook, released a report last week that showed it missed year-to-date revenue targets through April by $230 million.
NY: Union Contests Expansion of County Exec’s Power in Nassau
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - 06:17 PM WNYC/WQXR News
A New York labor union is trying to block a measure that would give Nassau County’s executive power to make $40 million cuts in the budget without legislative backing. … Civil Service Employees Association Local 830 went to court seeking to file a temporarily restraining order to prevent the law from taking effect on Tuesday but was told the action could not be taken before the measure was signed into law, according to spokesman Ryan Mulholland.
OH: Counties saving big on health care costs / Workers paying higher deductibles; wellness programs on the rise.
Joanne Huist Smith, Middletown Journal, 9:04 PM Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Switching to high deductible plans coupled with incentives for staff who get annual check-ups and health screenings is shaving thousands of dollars — and in one case, millions — off what local counties are paying for employee health care. Assistant Montgomery County Administrator Amy Wiedeman said the changes are helping the county hold down the rising cost of health care — a $50 million a year expense — for its 3,200 employees by up to $4 million a year. Lisa Hale, director of risk management in Greene County, said that after five years of offering wellness incentives to county employees, the cost for health care and the number of catastrophic illnesses both are on the decline.
PA: Senate panel approves arbitration settlement cap process
BY ROBERT SWIFT, May 23, 2012, Times Tribune
A bill to establish a new process for limiting the amount of arbitration settlements and awards for public safety employees in Act 47 cities was approved unanimously Tuesday by a key Senate committee. The Appropriations Committee approved legislation that addresses an issue raised when the state Supreme Court ruled last year that Scranton must pay arbitration awards costing millions of dollars to city police and firefighters. …. The Senate action came as a new coalition called for legislative action on Act 111 and municipal employee pension issues affecting financially distressed cities. The Coalition for Sustainable Communities includes municipal officials and chamber of commerce executives.
PA: Narberth businessman convicted in $390,000 tax fraud
May 22, 2012|By Michael Hinkelman, Daily News
A Narberth man who owned and operated a company that processed dental claims for labor union health and welfare funds was convicted by a federal jury Tuesday of willfully filing false tax returns from 1999 through 2002. Jonathon Felix, 51, who owned and operated United Professional Plans, Inc., which received management fees on a per claim or per person basis to process claims and resolve disputes between labor union members and dental providers. Among the unions UPPI worked for was District Council 33 of AFSCME, which represents the city of Philadelphia’s blue-collar workers.
WA: Talking up Discover Pass / State parks: Efforts include website, marketing coordinator, more use of mascot
JORDAN SCHRADER | May 23, 2012, Olympian
The state parks system is stepping up marketing of the pay-to-park Discover Pass this summer after disappointing early sales. …. The union that represents many park employees welcomes the marketing campaign, even if it spends money that could go to front-line jobs. “We view it as much the same as what the lottery commission does,” said Tim Welch, a spokesman for the Washington Federation of State Employees. “You do have to spend some money to make some money, and that’s what I think the Discover Pass marketing effort is going through right now.”
WA: Mayor defends his cuts, but remains open to other ideas
By Michelle McNiel, World, Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Laying off fireman and police officers will balance the city’s troubled budget without greatly impacting public service, Mayor Frank Kuntz said Monday. …. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — the union that represents 69 public works employees — agreed to the changes if the police and fire unions did, too. The Wenatchee Police Guild refused to make any concessions, Kuntz said, and the Wenatchee Firefighters Local 453 proposed some smaller alternative reductions to salaries but not to health-care benefits.
WI: Internal Democratic polling shows dead heat in Wisconsin recall
By Rachel Weiner, Washington Post: May 22
Gov. Scott Walker (R) is not safe in next month’s recall election, Wisconsin Democrats say. Walker has been pulling ahead of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) in polls on the June 5 recall election sparked by the governor’s collective bargaining reforms. But internal polling from We Are Wisconsin, a labor-backed coalition supporting the recall, finds a dead heat. …. In a survey of 472 recall voters conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research from May 19 to 21, Walker leads Barrett 50 to 47 — within the poll’s four-point margin of error. Barrett leads with independents, 50 percent to 44 percent.
WI: “We Are Wisconsin"
BY DAVE KUNES | MAY 22, 2012, AFSCME blog
In a few short weeks, the recall election against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will occur. Walker is facing recall because of the unparalleled attacks he led against Wisconsin’s workers and their collective bargaining rights. …. Documentarian Amie Williams was there from the beginning and created a feature length film about the experiences of six regular people who joined the protests called “We Are Wisconsin.” The video also prominently features Rachel Friedman who is a Wisconsin social worker and AFSCME Local 2436 member.
WI: Coveted young voters could be hard to come by when Wisconsin recall election rolls around
By Associated Press,: May 22
…. Both sides of the June 5 recall pitting Walker against Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett are focused on get-out-the-vote efforts because of a low number of undecided voters. But tapping into college-aged voters, traditionally a strong well of support for Democrats, is proving difficult because of a new law making it tougher for those students to cast ballots and the fact that many will have left college campuses for the summer by election time.
WI: Anonymous fliers target Wisconsin teachers who signed Scott Walker recall petitions
Daily Kos Labor, TUE MAY 22, 2012 AT 01:09 PM PDT
Janesville, Wisconsin, teachers who signed—or simply may have signed—petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker are being targeted by an anonymous group. The group, fronted for by Citizens for Responsible Government, a conservative Milwaukee organization, filed freedom of information requests and obtained the names, job titles, and salaries of every teacher in Janesville, then produced a flier listing the names and salaries of the 321 highest-paid teachers.
WI: Windfall! Rich will get richer from new tax credit
MIKE IVEY | The Capital Times, May 23, 2012
… Slipped into Gov. Scott Walker's 2011-2013 budget at the last moment, the domestic production tax credit will cost the state $360 million in revenue over the next four years and some $130 million each year thereafter, according to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Critics warn the impact could be even greater, a key point in a state still struggling with budget shortfalls.
