Search results

Ten years after the first comprehensive review of fiscal noting in the states, revisiting the impact of cost analysis on unfunded state mandates yields pessimistic conclusions. More states have adopted fiscal noting over the period, yet few report that the process is successful. The majority of fiscal notes contain no cost estimates at all for a variety of reasons, including lack of time, lack of resources, lack of legislative attention, and perhaps lack of institutional capacity.

Why is South Carolina resisting compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993? In a case study with implications for other states challenging the implementation of the motor voter law, the author frames his analysis on the basic of a conflict between nation-centered and state-centered views of American federalism. He argues that: (1) the lingering influence of a traditional political culture (for South Carolina), (2) states' rights tendencies associated with the devolution of more authority to the states in domestic policy, (3) Republican Party hegemony for strengthening the role of states in the federal system, and (4) the general objection of subnational officials to unfunded federal mandates converge to propel South Carolina and several other states (9 of 10 led by Republican governors) to seek judicial relief under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution from what they see as the national government exploiting its authority at the expense of states.

The migration to electronic information strains tight budgets for public and academic libraries. The unfunded mandate by the United States federal government to provide free access to electronic information requires patience, creativity and a new way of thinking about information delivery in the transition to networked information environments. The example of one federal government depository library, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD and the writer’s personal experience as a government documents online researcher at Congressional Quarterly Inc., US News & World Report and as an independent contractor, provides a microcosmic example for library managers to consider to plan for the transition from print materials to electronic information for patrons.

This article addresses the problems and opportunities of on-site cost estimation of state mandates on the law enforcement and justice system in five Arizona counties. On-site cost estimation was time consuming and costly, involving a great deal of travel with numerous return visits to conduct hundreds of interviews with county staff throughout 68 departments. Estimates are based on qualitative as well as quantitative data and thus limited to conveying a general sense of the costs of carrying out a mandate in a given year. On-site data collection also provided opportunities to gain new perspectives on the workings of the law-justice system, on state-county funding arrangements, on the need to view the law-justice system as an interrelated whole, and on the utility of considering community value along with costs of the law-justice system.

This paper explores the changing nature of federalism in the United States. While the paper highlights different phases of federalism and its impact on sub-national governance, the focus is on “New Federalism” a reform initiative begun in the 1970s that emphasizes decentralization from the national to state and local governments. Today, federal programs and funding are transferred to the states; however, these program responsibilities are then devolved from state to local governments. This creates tension across governments in a good economy; however, it can be a formula for disaster in times of severe budget shortfalls. The argument is made that, though devolution is largely a positive development, collaboration among interdependent national and sub-national governments needs to be advanced.

The purpose of this paper is to build an easy to implement, pragmatic and parsimonious yet accurate model to determine an exposure at default (EAD) distribution for CCL (contingent credit lines) portfolios.

Using an algorithm similar to the basic CreditRisk+ and Fourier Transforms, the authors arrive at a portfolio level probability distribution of usage.

The authors perform a simulation experiment which illustrates the convolution of two portfolio segments to derive an EAD distribution, chosen randomly from Moody's Default Risk Service (DRS) database of CCLs rated as of 12/31/2008, to derive an EAD distribution. The standard deviation of the usage distribution is found to decrease as we increase the number of puts used, but the mean value remains relatively stable, as the extreme points converge towards the mean to produce a shrinkage in the spread of the distribution. The authors also observe, for the sample portfolio, that an increase in the additional usage rate level also increases the volatility of the associated exposure distribution.

This model, in conjunction with internal bank financial institution research, can be used for banks' EAD estimation as mandated by Basel II for bank CCL portfolios, or implemented as part of a Solvency II process for insurers exposed to credit sensitive unfunded commitments. Apart from regulatory requirements, distributions of stochastic exposure generated can be inputs for different economic capital models and stress testing procedures used to capture an accurate risk profile of the portfolio, as well as providing better insights into the problem of managing liquidity risk for a portfolio of CCLs and similar exposures.

In‐spite of the large volume of CCLs in portfolios of financial institutions all (for commercial banks holding these as well as for insurance companies having analogous exposures), paucity of EAD models, unsuitability of external data and inconsistent internal data with partial draw‐downs have been a major challenge for risk managers as well as regulators in managing CCL portfolios.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is a reorganization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This redesign of the 1965 Act has legal issues to deal with which we will examine. We also discuss NCLB as it relates to education autonomy of the states, local school districts, and individual students and parents. We review several lawsuits challenging the authority of the federal government to regulate local school districts through funding under NCLB. These legal challenges have led to modifications in NCLB in order to gain greater acceptance by the states and local schools. However, legal challenges continue in the courts and in state legislatures.

Traditionally, management of disasters, particularly those emanating from environmental hazards, have been reactive with efforts focussed on technical response issues. Drawing from incident command system (ICS) theory, this paper proposes a conceptual model for managing marine oil spills in South Africa.

A qualitative biased sequential mixed-based research method was applied for this study. The technical processes undertaken in instituting a incident management system (IMS) for marine oil spills through Operation Phakisa Oil and Gas initiative were observed from November 2016 to November 2019. Preliminary findings were subsequently explored quantitatively in 54 semi-structured questionnaires conducted with experts in the marine pollution environment.

Findings presented in this paper demonstrate an integrative coordination continuum with a stringent focus on coherent multi-stakeholders' incident management collaborations. Qualitative findings stipulated limitations to the efficient application of oil spill risk minimisation policies, especially in the provincial and local spheres of government. Quantitative findings established that some local municipalities have mainstreamed and have budgets for inter-organisational planning and preparedness. Regardless, several informants continue to perceive disaster risk management and offshore-related activities as “unfunded mandates”, especially where response operation and sustainable rehabilitation programmes are concerned.

In integrating the organisational theory and the incident command tools, the value of this study dwells in recommending a conceptual model that mainstreams inter- and intra-organisational planning, preparedness and response to the marine oil spill risk. The model is valuable because it focusses beyond the traditional emergency response tool but is fundamental in effecting adherence to reporting lines, performance standards and information integration.