Stateline Midwest: December 2019
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Stateline Vol. 28, No. 11 • December 2019 MidwestTHE MIDWESTERN OFFICE OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS INSIDE CSG Midwest Issue Briefs 2-3 • Great Lakes: Ohio targets phosphorus State economies tied to runoff in $172 million clean-water plan • Midwest-Canada Relations: Federal bill supports state-level international diplomacy • Health & Human Services: New Illinois law caps insulin costs for health consumers ‘upskilling’ of workforce • Agriculture & Natural Resources: Nebraska has new plan to close gap in broadband access Help for incumbent workers includes use of micro- Around the Region 4 Big trends in Medicaid policy include expansion, credentialing, greater investments in community colleges work requirements and new cost controls by Laura Tomaka ([email protected]) Capital Closeup 5 A look at the similarities and differences in states’ rules for impeachment arysville, Ohio, is home to the ‘Jobs where they can excel’ Estimated # of job openings in first Honda manufacturing plant Midwest as of June 2019 Question of the Month 5 Min America. It opened in 1979 The answer to that question, in Ohio and Do any Midwestern states have laws to with 64 workers assembling the company’s other states, is more complicated than 25,000 encourage the use of restorative justice? simply relying on new high school or Motocross motorcycle. Auto production 156,000 college graduates. soon followed. Now in its 40th year of 23,000 160,000 Profile 8 production, the original plant, along with “Colleges are not pumping out enough 234,000 Nebraska Sen. Mike Hilgers several nearby operations, employs 13,000 people to fill the new positions that are go- 84,000 51,000 289,000 workers in the northwest part of the state. ing to be available in our workforce in the 296,000 175,000 FirstPerson 9 Ohio Rep. Jon Cross, whose district next three to five years,” Wisconsin Sen. 77,000 Ohio Rep. Riordan McClain on his state’s lies just north of the Marysville plant, Dan Feyen says about the labor market investment in Commission on Fatherhood has visited the facility and seen the work challenges in his state. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CSG News & Events 10 being done there. “So we need to make sure that we can “It’s highly technical, highly skilled,” take people within our existing workforce Great Lakes Legislative Caucus emerging as leader on nutrient-reduction policies he notes, more of what one might expect and put them in jobs where they can excel.” at a tech company rather than a car With that challenge as a backdrop, State unemployment rates in BILLD Page 11 manufacturer. legislators are re-evaluating their state Midwest, October 2019 The value of ‘constituent-focused’ messaging More and more, that is the reality of workforce systems and policies, while — and how legislators can do it work in manufacturing and other sectors looking to invest in new strategies that 2.5% of the Midwest’s economy — the result of help with the retraining or “upskilling” of 3.2% Capitol Clips 12 advances in technology, automation and incumbent or unemployed workers. 3.0% 3.3% robotics. 4.1% • Wisconsin adopts telehealth parity law In Ohio and Wisconsin, for example, For states, that means economic 2.6% • States graded on laws to prevent sex trafficking lawmakers are exploring the idea of 3.1% 4.2% 3.9% 3.2% • Nebraska Unicameral: More senators needed? growth depends in part on having a highly “micro-credentialing”: a path for indi- • Illinois bans schools’ use of isolated seclusion skilled, adaptable workforce able to keep viduals to earn a workforce credential that 3.1% up with the fast pace of change. typically takes less than a year to complete, According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor at a relatively low cost. In Indiana, the Higher than U.S. rate of 3.6% Stateline Midwest is published 11 times a year Statistics, as of June, there were 1.5 mil- state’s network of public community col- lion job openings in the Midwest (see by the Midwestern Office of lege is placing a much greater emphasis on Lower than U.S. rate of 3.6% The Council of State Governments. map for state-by-state data), and many support for adult or returning students. businesses say they can’t find enough Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Annual subscription rate: $60. “We still need to serve the 18-year-old, To order, call 630.925.1922. people with the necessary skills to fill the vacancies that they have. PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 CSG Midwestern Office Staff Parts of this region, too, have among the Michael H. McCabe, Director Tim Anderson, Publications Manager lowest unemployment rates in the nation; Mitch Arvidson, Policy Analyst Ohio’s is actually a bit over the national The changing needs of state Cindy Calo Andrews, Assistant Director average, but it’s still only 4.2 percent. workforces, combined with Jenny Chidlow, Office Manager “That basically means we’re at full low unemployment rates, Jon Davis, Assistant Editor/Policy Analyst have states looking for new employment, and that’s really great for the Ilene K. Grossman, Assistant Director investments and policies Lisa R. Janairo, Program Director economy,” Cross says. “But the downside that encourage more job Laura Kliewer, Senior Policy Analyst is that businesses are [struggling] to grow Laura A. Tomaka, Senior Program Manager training for working adults Kathy Treland, Administrative Coordinator and Meeting Planner and find new employees. — whether it’s on the job or “Where are these new employees at local community colleges. going to come from?” CSG MIDWEST ISSUE BRIEFS Issue Briefs cover topics of interest to the various groups and policy committees of CSG Midwest, which provides staff support to the Midwestern Legislative Conference, Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus, Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission and Midwestern Radioactive Materials Transportation Committee. Great Lakes Ohio using new dollars and River watershed, one of the western basin’s major partnerships to tackle problem tributaries. State incentives will go to farmers that Estimates of phosphorus loads in of harmful algal blooms have been certified as having adopted a mix of nine Lake Erie’s western and central basins “best practices” in nutrient management (soil testing, in 2018, by source type ith tens of millions in new state dollars cover crops, edge-of-field buffers, etc.). 1,289 metric tons to incentivize farmers, along with a list “They’ve done the work in finding what and of best practices known to reduce phos- W where will get the biggest bang for the buck,” Bill 456 metric tons phorus runoff, Ohio will spend the next two years Stanley, director of the Nature Conservancy of Ohio, implementing its most comprehensive effort to says about implementation of the H2O plan. “That date to prevent harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. 321 metric tons 2,405 gives me hope that they’re on the right track.” metric tons And it’s likely just the beginning of the com- What to watch over the next two years, he says, is mitment needed to tackle the problem. how many farmers decide to partner with the state: In the new biennial budget, lawmakers appropriated “The challenge is going to be signing up the farmers 4,887 metric tons $172 million for the H2Ohio Water Quality Plan. that you need at the scale that is needed.” Without Money is being split among three agencies, with enough buy-in for this voluntary certification the Department of Agriculture using its dollars to program, he adds, the next step may have to be some reduce nonpoint source pollution — specifically the type of enforcement mechanism. Nonpoint source pollution from phosphorus runoff that comes from the commercial Each county in the watershed will have a local- monitored tributaries fertilizer and manure on farmland. (The Department of ized phosphorus target, as well as a goal for the Estimated load from nonpoint sources on Natural Resources is focusing on wetlands restoration, number of acres that get certified. To encourage land downstream of a monitored location the Environmental Protection Agency on failing septic participation and help farmers improve their systems and lead contamination in day care centers.) practices, the state is working with local soil and Point sources of pollution According to the U.S. Environmental Protection water conservation districts as well as agricultural Agency, nonpoint sources account for up to 89 commodity groups. Rainfall percent of the total phosphorus loads in Lake Erie’s “We’ve never had such a dedicated, collabora- western basin, the shallowest part of the lake where tive effort to move the needle forward on reducing Lake Huron input harmful algal blooms have been most severe, phosphorus,” says Dorothy Pelanda, director of the Source: Great Lakes Commission, Blue Accounting drinking water supplies have been threatened, and Ohio Department of Agriculture. recreational use has been hampered. Legislators will be monitoring the progress made Over the next two years, the state Department with their new funding commitment, while also a permanent endowment fund, or ask voters to of Agriculture will target changes in agricultural thinking about how to sustain it beyond the current approve issuing up to $1 billion in state bonds for practices in the counties that make up the Maumee budget cycle. Among the legislative proposals: create water quality projects over a 10-year period. Brief written by Tim Anderson, who can be reached at [email protected]. CSG Midwest provides staff support to the nonpartisan, binational Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Legislative Caucus. Indiana Sen. Ed Charbonneau serves as caucus chair and Illinois Rep. Robyn Gabel as vice chair. Midwest-Canada Relations Federal legislation would boost • maintain a database of all subnational Ohio Rep.