New resource- Lobbying/Advocacy rules

[from Philanthropy News Digest] The David and Lucile Packard, Bill & Melinda Gates, William and Flora Hewlett, and Gordon and Betty Moore foundations have announced the launch of a free online resource to help program officers navigate the rules of lobbying and advocacy.

Intended to be the first in a suite of free training resources for private foundation staff, the course, Learn Foundation Law, covers such issues as how lobbying laws apply to private foundations, who and what they can legally fund, the types of grants private foundations are allowed to provide, and how to fund projects when advocacy and lobbying are involved. It also offers guidelines and tools designed to help foundation staff engage with grantees and legislators.

As part of the course, "Maya," a virtual program officer, leads participants through the training, which takes less than an hour to complete. Users can return to the training at any time for a refresher and can click on individual modules to refer back to specific topics.

The course aims to supplement existing in-person workshops or staff trainings already provided by foundation legal counsel. "While there are many rules and regulations applicable to our grantmaking, we find the IRS lobbying laws are some of the more important ones for our staff to clearly understand," said Mary Anne Rodgers, general counsel for the Packard Foundation. "Since these rules apply to all private foundations, we wanted to share this important resource with the field and make it accessible to program staff across the country."

“New Resource on Lobbying and Advocacy Rules Now Available.”Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Press Release 4/19/12.

Exciting News from Labor and Industry - Shared Work Program Now In Effect

[from the Strategic Early Warning Network (SEWN) newsletter]

The Shared Work program allows an employer to temporarily reduce the work hours of a group of employees as an alternative to a layoff. Employees covered by the plan receive a percentage of the Unemployment Compensation Weekly Benefit Amount while they work the reduced schedule, if they are otherwise eligible for Unemployment Compensation.

For additional information, visit the Shared Work page on the Department of Labor and Industry web site.

April 24 Primary Election fast approaching!

Want to learn more about the candidates before the Primary on April 24? The League of Women Voters has great resources on their website smartvoter.org. You can search by your address to see information to prepare to cast your vote...

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Workforce Investment Improvement Act hearing available online

This goes for committee mark-up next week!

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Rep. John Kline (R-MN), today held a hearing on the Workforce Investment Improvement Act of 2012 (H.R. 4297). The legislation would strengthen job training and employment services for workers and employers.


To read witness testimony, opening statements, or watch an archived webcast of today’s hearing, visit www.edworkforce.house.gov/hearings


Archived Webcast


More details available here and here. 

New reappointment map introduced

[from Politics PA] Here we go again. The Legislative Reapportionment Commission passed new preliminary versions of the Pa. House and Senate maps by a vote of 4-1 Thursday afternoon. House Dems and GOPers compromised on their map, and Chairman Stephen McEwen introduced his own Senate map when the two sides couldn’t agree...


Read more here...



Proposed House map:

Ryan's approved House budget's tax impact

[from Off the Charts blog] The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center has published new numbers that show the Ryan plan would raise taxes on low-income working families — those making up to $30,000 a year.  That’s because, while he would extend the Bush tax cuts, which are due to expire at the end of this year, he would not extend President Obama’s tax cuts for those with the lowest incomes, which will expire at the same time.  Our updated report gives the details.

Chairman Ryan’s proposed tax hikes on low-income Americans would come even as, on the spending side, his budget would slash programs that assist this same population.

Specifically, people with incomes below $10,000 would see their after-tax incomes fall by 2 percent, on average.  But people with incomes above $1 million would see their incomesrise by 12.5 percent (see graph).

More here...

Workforce training funds declining

[from Progressive Pulse] The recent report on the state’s workforce development system offered some helpful suggestions to align the system and deliver better outcomes for North Carolina’s workers looking to access skills training for good jobs.  One thing it didn’t have suggestions for is how to deal with the declining federal investment in workforce training.

As detailed in a story this weekend, the decline by 18 percent since 2006 in federal workforce dollars has been driven by the failure to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act and the loss of federal Recovery Act dollars.  The result has meant that workers without jobs seeking retraining and those seeking to train for the jobs of the future are not being served.

PA to look at prevailing wage requirements

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -

The state House of Representatives is about to take up a bill that would exempt school districts from Pennsylvania's prevailing wage requirements for public works contracts.

House Bill 709, or the "School Construction Cost Reduction Act," would exempt school districts as a public entity required to pay prevailing wages, unless the school board votes to be subject to prevailing wage.

School officials say the bill is long overdue.

"The prevailing wage needs to go," said Dale Myers, President of the South Western School Board in Hanover. "It's not a fair way to do construction work. As a taxpayer, I've regretted it."

Myers said when Southwestern needed to fix a few leaky roofs, the first bid came in at $84,000 but the bidder forgot to factor in prevailing wage. He reworked the numbers and the new bill came in at $125,000.

When the district built a new elementary school a few years ago, Myers said the guys driving the bulldozer got about $40 an hour. When they were finished, they went to work on building a Walmart store and were paid $20 an hour for doing the same job.

"Why would we use taxpayer money to pay twice the amount to an individual that we're willing to see him paid otherwise on a private job," Myers said.

Prevailing wage has been in existence for 50 years and applies to any municipal construction project such as road and bridge construction, school projects, water and sewer projects costing more than $25,000. It was established to protect local workers from being low-balled by outsiders on municipal projects.

Union leaders insist the quality is higher on prevailing wage projects and the money spent is spent locally.

"There should be prevailing wage to maintain the standard of living in the community and bring the taxpayer dollar back to the community and guarantee the wage will be paid back to the worker in that area," said Frank Sirianni, President of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council."

Another bill before the Legislature, House Bill 1329, would raise the threshold before prevailing wage would be paid on a public project from $25,000 to $185,000. Critics have argued that the mark should be set at $500,000 or higher.

Local Senators meet on higher education

April 3, 2012 - Senator Scarnati and Senator White met with individuals from the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). Dr. John Cavanaugh, Chancellor of PASSHE, school administrators and students from the Universities discussed the importance of quality & affordable higher education.

PA Revenue Picture Brightens

[from Third & State, by Michael Wood] Pennsylvania tax collections came in better than expected in March, lowering the state's total revenue shortfall for the current fiscal year. It was also the first March ever in which tax collections exceeded the $4 billion mark. 

With three months left in the 2011-12 fiscal year, the revenue shortfall stands at $387 million, much lower than the year-end revenue shortfall of $719 million estimated by the Corbett administration and built into his 2012-13 budget.

This should be welcome news as lawmakers move closer to negotiating a 2012-13 state budget. Improved collections may signal a less severe year-end shortfall, and that could help reduce some of the painful cuts proposed in the Governor's budget. Get the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center's full revenue analysis here.

March is an important revenue month for a number of reasons. For one, almost half of corporate tax collections for the year were collected last month. And corporate taxes exceeded monthly estimates by $106 million, or nearly 5%, last month. This played a big role in creating a March revenue surplus of $95 million.

After the strong March collections, every major tax type now exceeds year-to-date tax collections this time last year. Taxes are now $583 million higher than they were at the end of March 2011 — a sign of the improving economy.

We're not out of the woods yet, but we appear to be headed in the right direction. March capped off a three-month pattern of improving tax collections (compared to estimates). April will be another pivotal month to monitor going into budget negotiations. Decent collections in April could mean fewer cuts to schools, colleges, and health care providers in the coming fiscal year.

WIA changes proposed

[from the National Skills Coalition] On March 29, Higher Education and Workforce Training subcommittee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV), and Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) introduced the Workforce Investment Improvement Act of 2012(HR 4297), which essentially combines three WIA reauthorization bills—the “Streamlining Workforce Development Programs Act of 2011” (HR 3610), the “Local Job Opportunities and Business Success Act” (HR 3611), and the “Workforce Investment Improvement Act” (HR 2295)—previously released by Foxx, Heck, and McKeon, respectively.  National Skills Coalition has prepared analyses of Title I (Workforce Investments Systems), Title II (Adult Education and Family Literacy Education) and Title IV (Repeals and Conforming Amendments) of the combined bill.

HR 4297 would consolidate more than two dozen existing federal workforce programs (including current WIA formula and national programs, Wagner-Peyser Employment Services, SNAP E&T, Job Corps, and others) into a single $6 billion Workforce Investment Fund, which would be allocated to states and localities by formula. In addition, the bill would:

• Eliminate all current membership requirements for state and local workforce boards, except for certain requirements relating to business and economic development representation, and locally elected officials;
• Eliminate provisions relating to automatic designation of local workforce areas, allowing state boards to designate local areas in consultation with the governor;
• Reduce the governor’s set-aside for statewide activities from 15 percent to 5 percent of a state’s Workforce Investment Fund allotment, effectively codifying a provision that was included in the FY 2011 and 2012 appropriations bills;
• Require states to reserve no more than 18 percent of Workforce Investment Fund allotments for new State Youth Challenge Grants;
• Require states to reserve 2 percent of Workforce Investment Fund allotments for grants to serve adults with barriers to employment;
• Eliminate the requirement that local WIBs give priority for services to low-income individuals;
• Authorize states to develop unified state plans, and consolidate funding for other federal training and social services programs—including funding for TANF, Trade Adjustment Assistance, Community Services Block Grants, and programs under state unemployment compensation laws—into such state plans;
• Mandate a minimum percentage of local area allocations that must be used for training services; and
• Set common performance measures for the Workforce Investment Fund, adult education programs under Title II, and Vocational Rehabilitation programs under Title IV.

It is expected that the Education and the Workforce committee will take up HR 4297 by early May, and will likely bring the bill to the House floor soon thereafter. The Senate is not expected to take up the House bill this year.