Tag: Governing

State’s Vaccine Plan Failed, Causing Disorder and Mistrust

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/next/States-Vaccine-Plan-Failed-Causing-Disorder-and-Mistrust.html

Excerpt:

In the months leading up to the first COVID-19 vaccine shipments, Washington state health officials agonized over which residents should be vaccinated before others. They surveyed 18,000 people and convened focus groups, debating race, age and essential occupations.

But unlike some other states, the state Department of Health (DOH) neglected to plan for basic logistics that would have allowed for quick vaccination of those most vulnerable to the disease.

They didn’t enlist the National Guard. They didn’t centralize vaccine appointments. Key scheduling and reporting software arrived late. Providers were given vials but no strategy to process patients.

Author(s): MIKE REICHER, THE SEATTLE TIMES

Publication Date: 16 February 2021

Publication Site: Governing

Lawmaker Proposes to Ban AI and Its Discriminatory Impact

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/security/Lawmaker-Proposes-to-Ban-AI-and-Its-Discriminatory-Impact.html

Excerpt:

The Washington state Legislature, which has proposed legislation in the past to tackle issues such as data privacy and the use of facial recognition tech, is now reviewing a bill that would regulate the use of “automated decision systems” and AI technology within state government.

According to the bill, these systems use algorithms to analyze data to help make or support decisions that could result in discrimination against different groups or make decisions that could negatively impact constitutional or legal rights.

As a result, Senate Bill 5116 aims to regulate these systems to prevent discrimination and ban government agencies from using AI tech to profile individuals in public areas.

Author(s): KATYA MARURI, GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY

Publication Date: 26 February 2021

Publication Site: Governing

Does Every State Really Need a Big Biden Bailout?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/finance/Does-Every-State-Really-Need-a-Big-Biden-Bailout.html

Excerpt:

Then there are states like Hawaii, where cratering tourism has left the state in a $1.8 billion budget hole, with tax revenues not expected to recover until 2024. Florida and Nevada are also missing their frequent flyers after tax receipts plummeted by 7.9 percent and 13 percent, respectively. States dependent on taxing energy and mining, such as Alaska, North Dakota, Texas and West Virginia, have seen their own devastating budget hits. And sales-tax-dependent states like New York wound up in worse shape than those reliant on less volatile revenue streams like Vermont, where 32 percent of revenues come from property taxes. In all, 26 states saw their tax revenues decline in the first 10 months of 2020.

But every state’s been a winner this past year with the federal government, whose aid to states and localities rose an astonishing 42 percent. What might have been a $331 billion budget shortfall due to COVID-19 instead came to a $165.5 billion dip, according to Moody’s, and that’s before counting $79 billion in state rainy day funds. Federal aid also propped up businesses and households, which led to economic activity and hiring that boosted state and local tax revenues, while also hiking taxable unemployment benefits. Having the Federal Reserve goose the stock and housing markets with super-low interest rates didn’t hurt either.

Author(s): MICHAEL HENDRIX, MANHATTAN INSTITUTE

Publication Date: 24 February 2021

Publication Site: Governing

Great Variation in Counties’ COVID-19 Vaccine Distributions

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/now/Great-Variation-in-Counties-COVID-19-Vaccine-Distributions.html

Excerpt:

California is pushing shots into arms at a much faster clip than it was just a month ago — closing in on the national average, with vows to accelerate even further — but the pace of COVID-19 vaccinations varies greatly from county to county within the Golden State.

A Southern California News Group analysis of state data found that smaller counties with fewer people and less complicated logistics are leading the pack in vaccinating their residents: Little Mono, with 14,526 residents, ranked No. 1, managing to vaccinate one out of every three residents. On its heels was tiny Alpine, population 1,209, getting shots into 27 percent of its residents.

Author(s): TERI SFORZA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Publication Date: 11 February 2021

Publication Site: Governing

Unemployment System Fraud: Who’s Doing It and How?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/work/Unemployment-System-Fraud-Whos-Doing-It-and-How.html

Excerpt:

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that $63 billion – possibly more – has been paid out by state unemployment offices. California’s unemployment system alone says it paid out more than $11 billion to scammers in 2020. But who are these scammers? And how have they been able to collect upwards of $63 billion – including at least $330 million from Ohio? Here are some answers.

….

At least 70 percent of the bogus unemployment claims originated overseas in countries such as Nigeria, according to Haywood Talcove, CEO of the security firm LexisNexis Risk Solutions, citing data from a dozen states (Ohio isn’t one of them) that have hired his firm to help secure their unemployment systems.

A large portion of these scams are conducted by organized crime rings with names like “Scattered Canary” and “Yahoo Boys,” Hall said. “They literally just live in compounds and all they do, 24/7 is try to figure out how to trick people into stealing their identity and, you know, stripping their bank account of funds,” he said.

Author(s): JEREMY PELZER, CLEVELAND.COM

Publication Date: 11 February 2021

Publication Site: Governing

Public Officials See Salaries Inflate With COVID Overtime

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/work/Public-Officials-See-Salaries-Inflate-With-COVID-Overtime.html

Excerpt:

Among all county employees, 1,226 staffers received $5.9 million in overtime related to the new coronavirus health crisis last year and saw their paychecks grow thanks to federal CARES Act stimulus money awarded to Erie County. But of the nearly $6 million in Covid-19-related overtime paid out last year in federal funds, 54 political appointees received $1.3 million of it. In other words, those 4.4 percent of the workers got 22.1 percent of the money.

These government administrators would not typically receive overtime pay. However, Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz allowed all non-union, managerial confidential employees to accept overtime pay for their Covid-19 related work because he said his administration received explicit guidance that CARES Act federal stimulus money allows non-union managers to collect it.

Author(s): SANDRA TAN, THE BUFFALO NEWS

Publication Date: 29 January 2021

Publication Site: Governing

As Cuomo Banks on Federal Funds, Localities Grow Nervous

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/finance/As-Cuomo-Banks-on-Federal-Funds-Localities-Grow-Nervous.html

Excerpt:

 Receive from above, take from below. Such is the essence of one theme of the 2021 state budget plan unveiled last week by New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

The Democratic governor’s budget plan has a basic premise: Red ink will be washed away only if his request for a bailout from the federal government happens.

Cuomo’s new budget assumes the federal government will give New York at least $6 billion over two years as part of a broader $1.9 trillion Covid-related stimulus package being negotiated by Democratic President Joseph Biden and the Democratic-led Congress.

Author(s): TOM PRECIOUS, THE BUFFALO NEWS

Publication Date: 25 January 2021

Publication Site: Governing

The Supreme Court Decision That Saved States Billions

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/finance/The-Supreme-Court-Decision-That-Saved-States-Billions.html

Excerpt:

The 2018 Supreme Court decision, in South Dakota v. Wayfair, overturned prior decisions that had made it impossible for states to collect sales taxes from remote sellers. They certainly tried in different ways, but were shot down by various courts. It was the long-sought Wayfair decision, as it’s known, that opened the door for states to collect taxes on most online sales.

“Prior to the Wayfair decision, although some ecommerce sellers were going down the path of starting to collect sales tax on their sales, online sales was still a potential avenue to avoid the sales tax,” says Chuck Maniace, vice president of regulatory analysis at Sovos, a tax compliance firm.

Wayfair allows states to demand that businesses without a physical presence collect and remit taxes, assuming they make at least $100,000 worth of in-state sales. Following the decision, large states such as California and Texas have set the threshold higher, at $500,000. States differ in terms of how many in-state transactions can take place before a seller has to collect taxes (generally, about 200).

Author(s): ALAN GREENBLATT

Publication Date: 22 January 2021

Publication Site: Governing

As New York Unemployment Fraud Surges, Victims Want Help

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/work/As-New-York-Unemployment-Fraud-Surges-Victims-Want-Help.html

Excerpt:

Many law enforcement agencies are continuing to see a high rate of identification-theft cases involving individuals whose personal information was illegally used to apply for unemployment benefits during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Some of the recent cases are coming to light when individuals are receiving bank debit cards or paperwork in the mail indicating they were approved for federal pandemic unemployment assistance that they never applied for.

In other instances described by law enforcement officials, victims are learning they have been defrauded when they receive tax forms instructing them that the unemployment benefits they received last year are reportable income — although those individuals were not aware that someone had applied for or received the benefits using their identity. In some cases, multiple individuals from the same organizations — school districts, professional firms or government agencies — were victimized. That, according to law enforcement experts, could be tied to data breaches involving those entities.

Author(s): BRENDAN J. LYONS, TIMES UNION

Publication Date: 10 February 2021

Publication Site: Governing

L.A. Tries to Combat Racial Inequities of COVID Inoculations

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/community/LA-Tries-to-Combat-Racial-Inequities-of-COVID-Inoculations.html

Excerpt:

As stark disparities emerge in vaccination rates, L.A. County officials are jump-starting efforts to improve access for people of color. Strategies include creating more vaccination sites as well as better public messaging campaigns, improving access to transportation and reserving spots at neighborhood vaccination locations before people from other parts of the county can scoop them up.

“We have a lot of work to do to fix this,” L.A. County public health director Barbara Ferrer said Tuesday at a county Board of Supervisors meeting. “However way you cut this data, it’s clear that in some of our hardest-hit communities, there are populations that are not getting vaccinated at the same rate as other groups.”

On Tuesday morning, Darby stood in line yet again, this time at a vaccination blitz in South Park aimed at administering doses to 800 seniors, particularly Blacks and Latinos, as well as healthcare workers in four days. Though there are historical and cultural issues that may make Black residents skeptical of vaccines, the biggest issue in L.A. County thus far has been access, said Councilman Curren Price, who helped plan the event.

Author(s): RUBEN VIVES, JACLYN COSGROVE AND SOUMYA KARLAMANGLA, LOS ANGELES TIMES

Publication Date: 10 February 2021

Publication Site: Governing

Can Vaccines Keep Up With Rapidly Evolving Coronavirus?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/now/Can-Vaccines-Keep-Up-With-Rapidly-Evolving-Coronavirus.html

Excerpt:

Experts told cleveland.com that although the virus may continue to mutate, there’s no reason to think it will render the vaccines ineffective. Pharmaceutical companies are already in the process of updating their vaccines to provide protection against the emerging variants, but the existing vaccines should provide enough protection to get the pandemic under control.

The prevalence of variants is partly the result of a global failure to contain the spread of COVID-19, experts said. The virus has had ample opportunity to evolve while infecting more than 100 million people worldwide.

Vaccines should limit the spread of infection, and that should reduce the chance that another concerning variant might emerge, said Gigi Gronvall, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. There will be even fewer chances for those mutations to occur if everyone who is still waiting for a vaccine continues to follow precautions like wearing face masks.

Author(s): EVAN MACDONALD AND JULIE WASHINGTON, CLEVELAND.COM

Publication Date: 10 February 2021

Publication Site: Governing

Public Health Systems Still Aren’t Ready for the Next Pandemic

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.governing.com/next/Public-Health-Systems-Still-Arent-Ready-for-the-Next-Pandemic.html

Excerpt:

Like public health officials everywhere, Dr. Jeffrey Duchin marvels at the miraculous production of highly effective vaccines against COVID-19 in mere months.

But Duchin, head of public health in Seattle and King County, Washington, doesn’t dwell on the only triumph of the pandemic response. Instead, he quickly pivots to the huge deficiencies plaguing the rollout of those lifesaving injections.

The lack of planning and coordination. The insufficient workforce and training. The inadequate public messaging and outreach. And the failure to create a uniform database to track inventory and equitably distribute shots.

“We’re seeing the consequences now of a complete and utter failure to ensure we have a full and robust vaccination system,” Duchin said. The chaotic execution of state and local vaccination programs is only the latest in a series of missteps by public health departments during the worst pandemic in more than a century. They include lackluster testing, contact tracing and data collection, and the failure to protect minority communities, which have borne the brunt of this disease.

Author(s): MICHAEL OLLOVE AND CHRISTINE VESTAL

Publication Date: 1 February 2021

Publication Site: Governing