Connections Blog

San Fran Bans Official Travel to Arizona

Ross Weber — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:01:15 -0700

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced today a moratorium on official city travel to Arizona after the state enacted a controversial new immigration law that directs local police to arrest those suspected of being in the country illegally.

The ban on city employee travel to Arizona takes effect immediately, although there are some exceptions, including for law enforcement officials investigating a crime, officials said. It's unclear how many planned trips by city workers will be curtailed.

The move comes amid a cascade of criticism of Arizona's law, which has been denounced by civil rights groups, some police officials and President Obama, who said it threatens to "undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans." Legal challenges are being weighed to overturn it.

Nonprofits Find Social Media Present New Challenges

Ross Weber — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 07:07:57 -0700

But Marsden acknowledged it has been a big culture shift for an organization that generally sends out one or two e-mails a month to supporters. Now, the group was contacting them three, four and five times a day online, asking them to vote.

So, no matter what happened in the next two hours, Northern Virginia Family Service had decided one thing: It wouldn't participate in the monthly contest again in April. It wanted to take a break.

"We were worried about voter fatigue," said Mary Agee, the group's president and CEO. She acknowledged that she doesn't really understand all this new social media stuff, but she says she does realize how important it is if her nonprofit wants to expand its base of support.

Non-profit Ill. hospital must pay property tax

Ross Weber — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 07:27:16 -0700

The decision is the culmination of a five-year fight over whether Provena Covenant Medical Center, a Catholic hospital in Urbana, provided enough of a benefit to the community to justify the tax break. Provena came under scrutiny by state regulators for its aggressive collection policies, especially toward uninsured patients.

“The record showed, however, that during the period in question here, Provena Hospitals did not advertise the availability of charitable care at PCMC. Patients were billed as a matter of course, and unpaid bills were automatically referred to collection agencies,” Justice Lloyd Karmeier wrote for the court.

“As a practical matter, there was little to distinguish the way in which Provena Hospitals dispensed its 'charity' from the way in which a for-profit institution would write off bad debt,” he added.

States Move to Revoke Nonprofits' Tax Exemptions

Ross Weber — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:54:44 -0800

Faced with steep declines in tax revenue, an increasing number of states and localities are considering eliminating various tax exemptions for nonprofit groups.

A bill before the Hawaii Legislature, for instance, would require charities to pay a 1 percent tax, and Kansas is considering making them subject to sales taxes.

And last fall, Minneapolis made charities subject to the fees it charges businesses and residents for streetlights in hope of gaining an additional $155,000, an exercise Jon Pratt, executive director of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, describes as “looking under the sofa cushions.”

In most cases, churches would be exempt from the tax measures, but all other nonprofit groups, including private schools and colleges, would be affected.

Some Push for Elimination of Counties, Minn.'s Want More Power

Ross Weber — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:57:44 -0800

Minnesota counties would give up all their state aid in exchange for authority to levy a half-cent sales tax.

Instead of whining about the cuts, Mulder said, counties want Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Legislature to give them more flexibility on how they deliver services and fewer spending requirements.

The association estimated their "redesign plan" could save the state $1 billion over the next two years, although Mulder said some savings wouldn't be realized for three or four years.

The state would save the most money under the plan — about $600 million over two years — by eliminating county aid payments. The counties would replace the lost state funds with a 0.5 percent sales tax, which would raise an estimated $640 million.

Counties could opt out of the sales tax, or they could also use it to reduce property tax levies, Mulder said, so it wouldn't necessarily mean a net tax increase for taxpayers.

Chicago convention biz hangs in balance in Springfield

Ross Weber — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:35:14 -0800

To their credit, Mr. Ochoa and McPier Chairman John Gates appear to have received the message that even high-value-added Chicago will have to seriously cut costs at a time when price is about all that counts.

McPier's payroll, long filled with sundry cousins and wives and brothers-in-law, has been slashed from 700 to 400 workers in the past three years, even as the convention center opened another building. Most of the center's electricians — a particular source of complaint through the years — have been fired, replaced with more-cooperative sorts who work under tighter controls. New workers now get defined-contribution pensions rather than the more-expensive defined-benefit type.

That's a start.

Other, bigger changes that McPier wants require legislative approval.

Like reducing the number of unions that move and build exhibits, so fewer standby workers must be paid. Like banning strikes and settling disputes through arbitration rather than softball negotiations.

Like allowing McPier to audit the books of the two large companies that actually operate conventions for trade groups to make sure cost savings are passed on to their clients. Like allowing McPier to refinance its debt instead of tapping the state treasury for an estimated $84 million in two years.

Ill. Supremes Stop! Med Mal Law

Ross Weber — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:45:35 -0800

The Illinois Supreme Court struck down the state's medical malpractice law today, saying it violates separation of powers by allowing lawmakers to interfere with a judge's ability to reduce verdicts.

The much-anticipated ruling, which challenged the constitutionality of damage caps for doctors and hospitals, is being watched closely by the health care industry and employers that see caps on damages as a way to tame rising health care costs.

Four ways technology will change advertising in 2010

Ross Weber — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:39:42 -0800

From print to radio, TV to the Internet, businesses trying to sell you stuff have quickly taken to new technology. Today, this means targeting social networks like Facebook, online video sites, and that smart phone in your purse or pocket.

The advertising trade publication Adweek has tracked ten trends in digital marketing it anticipates will affect consumers most in 2010. Most are for marketing insiders, but here are the ones consumers will likely notice most.

Municipal Wi-Fi: Mixed Results

Ross Weber — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:15:35 -0800

...success stories prove that municipal Wi-Fi can indeed work, but that doesn't mean there's only one way to solve the problem of the digital divide. In the past few months, two major cities have illustrated two very different ways in which a city can make that big connection.

Ill. Lobbying Registration On Hold

Ross Weber — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:39:19 -0800

The state temporarily has stopped registering lobbyists, leaving the public without official information about who's trying to influence lawmakers about what issues.

The process of registering lobbyists is on hold as a lawsuit over higher fees plays out in Chicago. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the state over its plans to increase fees on registered lobbyists.

ACLU spokesman Ed Yohnka said increased fees on nonprofit lobbying is taxing free speech.

"That really isn't permissible," he said.

A court decision temporarily blocked the fee increases for some lobbyists. But until a final decision is reached, the secretary of state's office won't know which fees it should charge some people, said spokesman Henry Haupt.

For that reason, Illinois lobbyists don't yet have to register for 2010.

Neighborhood Complaints Widget Boosts Newspaper's Hits

Ross Weber — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:18:23 -0800

He thought SeeClickFix could help. Mr. Hardy drew a SeeClickFix map of the paper’s coverage area last spring and posted some sample issues, but the map did not receive responses until an article about the site ran in The Hartford Courant. After the article, Mr. Hardy noticed new issues on his map and added a SeeClickFix widget to the Journal Inquirer site last August, where it drew many comments.

Colo. to Lower Min. Wage

Ross Weber — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:13:39 -0800

The state’s Department of Labor and Employment said Tuesday that it planned to lower the minimum wage to $7.24 from $7.28, after an August federal consumer price index report showed that the cost of living had fallen in the state. A public hearing on the issue is set for next month.

Colorado is one of 10 states where the minimum wage is tied to inflation. The others are Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

Social Networking Use Increases, But Has Yet to Transform Government

Ross Weber — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:10:13 -0800

The pace of adoption has been dizzyingly fast. An August 2009 survey by the Public Technology Institute (PTI) found that 72 percent of cities and counties use Facebook to communicate with citizens. Last year, a Public CIO reader survey found that social media didn't make the list of the 10 technology priorities for 2009. Today it's become the No. 1 topic among public CIOs.

Health Lobby Takes Fight to the States

Ross Weber — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:42:07 -0800

It is just one example of how insurance companies, hospitals and other health care interests have been positioning themselves in statehouses around the country to influence the outcome of the proposed health care overhaul. Around the 2008 election, the groups that provide health care contributed about $102 million to state political campaigns across the country, surpassing the $89 million the same donors spent at the federal level, according to the institute.

Any federal legislation is likely to supersede state constitutional amendments. But backers of the state measures say they want to send a message to Congress and also lay groundwork for fights about elements of the health care package that are expected to be left up to the states.

Read more from The New York Times.

Mass. Antismoking Plan Gets Attention

Ross Weber — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:37:20 -0800

When Massachusetts began offering virtually free treatments to help poor residents of the state stop smoking in 2006, proponents hoped the new Medicaid program would someday reap benefits.

But state officials never expected it would happen so soon.

New state data show a steep drop in the smoking rate among poor people. When the program started, about 38 percent of poor Massachusetts residents smoked. By 2008, the smoking rate for poor residents had dropped to about 28 percent, a decrease of about 30,000 people in two and a half years, or one in six smokers, said Lois Keithly, director of the state’s Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program.

Read more from The New York Times.