Wednesday, February 3. 2010February 3, 2010
Headlines
NASA's outsourcing may benefit large contractors Dems target GOP privatization plans AZ: State sends out inquiries about the privatizing of prisons IN: Amendment would take the bite out of oversight bill OH: Naming rights one option for train service NY: M.T.A. fails to honestly rate contractors’ work KS: Strapped KC schools look at outsourcing News summaries NASA's outsourcing may benefit large contractors Despite the Obama administration's multibillion dollar bet that a scrappy band of entrepreneurs can revitalize the U.S. manned space program, its budget also offers sweeteners to some of the nation's largest aerospace contractors. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's proposed $19 billion spending plan for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 includes early seed money for development of pioneering technologies to deliver cargo and astronauts to Earth orbit and beyond. But two of the five initial recipients hardly fit the mold of hungry start-ups: Boeing Co., one of NASA's premier suppliers, and United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin Corp rocket joint venture that currently has a virtual monopoly launching U.S. military and spy satellites. The Wall Street Journal Dems target GOP privatization plans Democratic Party officials believe they have a major opening in the upcoming budget wars after two Republican congressmen laid out deficit-reduction proposals that rely on the privatization of Social Security and Medicare. Huffington Post AZ: State sends out inquiries about the privatizing of prisons The Arizona Department of Administration released a Request for Information Monday, seeking to determine if there is interest from private prison companies to operate Arizona prison complexes in Douglas and Safford....“We will know before the end of February whether there is any interest by private companies in operating these two prisons,” ADC Director Charles L. Ryan said. “We will await the responses and conduct an evaluation before proceeding.” Douglas Dispatch IN: Amendment would take the bite out of oversight bill Legislators would not have the power to force the cancellation of private contracts, but would still get to take a long look at how effectively Indiana's human services agency is administering benefits such as Medicaid and food stamps if an amendment state Rep. Gail Riecken, D-Evansville, plans to offer later today is adopted. Riecken said she will offer the amendment to House Bill 1003, which she authored, because she thinks the change would give the bill a better chance of winning bipartisan backing. The amendment removes some of the bite from the bill as it is, but would keep in place its added oversight....Riecken said she considers such an oversight committee necessary because last year, three legislative panels held summer hearings on the since-cancelled 10-year, $1.34 billion modernization contract led by IBM Corp., but no final report was ever produced. Evansville Courier and Press OH: Naming rights one option for train service Ohio is looking at other states for creative ways to pay for a new passenger train service connecting Cleveland and Cincinnati, hoping to minimize political fights over the issue. Everything from advertising, naming rights and franchise fees for Wi-Fi and food service is on the table, said Stu Nicholson, spokesman for the Ohio Rail Development Commission, the state agency in charge of the project...."These days, you have to be creative when you're looking for revenue," said Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority. Business Week NY: M.T.A. fails to honestly rate contractors’ work Outside contractors working on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s biggest projects are routinely given positive evaluations despite mediocre work, in part to preserve business relationships, an investigation by the authority’s inspector general has found.... The authority is constantly under fire for rampant delays and ballooning budgets on its major construction projects, including the Second Avenue subway, which are often handled nearly entirely by private contractors....“Too often we have let our contractors slide when they fail to perform, and that is why we have accepted the I.G.’s recommendations and are working to implement them,” Mr. Walder said Tuesday in a prepared statement. The New York Times KS: Strapped KC schools look at outsourcing Outsourcing support staff employees will be further reviewed by the Kansas City, Kan., School District Board of Education. During a special budget meeting Tuesday, the board asked staff to prepare a request for proposals that could allow private companies the chance to bid on positions held by custodians, security officers, nutritional services workers and bus drivers...That action came after an informal cost estimate showed that the district could save millions of dollars by outsourcing some services. One estimate projected a $3 million to $4 million savings a year in custodial services. Outsourcing security officers could save an estimated $740,000 a year. The Kansas City Star Tuesday, February 2. 2010February 2, 2010Headlines How America's universities became hedge funds Aussie firm's pullbacks continue IL: Some Chicagoans not feeling the need to feed meters OK: Lawmakers: Donations had no sway on workers' comp privatization CA: Public-private pairing envisioned for S.F. parks LA: State leaders honored by Reason Foundation for privatization efforts CA: Privatizing convention center would hurt nonprofits, panel learns [click on link below for articles] Continue reading "February 2, 2010" Friday, January 29. 2010January 29, 2010Headlines Europe: Privatized services back in public hands Obama plan privatizes astronaut launchings CO: Editorial: Caution on privatizing workers' comp CA: L.A. officials recommend privatizing 10 public parking garages IL: PP3 expressway bill not likely to go far [click on link below for articles] Continue reading "January 29, 2010" Thursday, January 28. 2010January 28, 2010Headlines Lawmaker tells DOD to slow down security contractors KY: Bill to end contract to feed inmates advances VA: Lawmakers want approval of port privatization deals DE: Wilmington considers outsourcing parking tickets MI: MDOT seeks partners in new Detroit-Canada bridge [click on link below for articles] Continue reading "January 28, 2010" Wednesday, January 27. 2010January 27, 2010MT: Missoula airport puts privatization wheels in motion The Missoula County Airport Authority officially set the wheels in motion Tuesday to replace federal Transportation Security Administration screeners (TSA) at Missoula International Airport with a private security firm.The airport authority selected Chicago-based Covenant Aviation, which has an office in Anaconda, from three proposals submitted by private firms. Covenant provides security at airports in San Francisco and Sioux Falls, and appears well positioned to woo Montana Airport managers who are increasingly leading the privatization movement... But the deal has yet to be sealed. Before getting the official go-ahead, airport management must apply with the TSA to opt out of federal security. Missoula Independent IO: Private schools could use state money to buy laptops Private schools would be able to use the money they already get from the state to pay for laptops, rather than just textbooks – as long as they're not used for religious purposes, under a bill before lawmakers. The Des Moines Register Tuesday, January 26. 2010January 26, 2010Headlines WH decides to outsource NASA's manned programs TN: Nashville mayor eyes Morgan Stanley plan to privatize parking IL: Privatize Illinois' tollways? Voters say no CA: Incarcerate inmates in Mexico, Gov says CO: Bill proposes outsourcing state services FL: Rep.Mica says to privatize Fla toll roads GA: Lawmaker pushes tax collection privatization UT: Privatizing state parks eyed [click on link below for articles] Continue reading "January 26, 2010" Friday, January 22. 2010January 22, 2010SC: State's toll road goes bust The first public-private partnership toll road established as a not-for-profit corporation has gone bust. The Connector 2000 Association, which operates a sixteen-mile, four-lane toll road linking Interstates 85 and 385 in southern Greenville County, South Carolina, announced last week that it was in default on its financial obligations. “Traffic on the Southern Connector was inadequate to permit the association to collect sufficient toll revenues to pay debt service on the bonds which came due January 1, 2010,” a Connector 2000 Association statement explained. Like other highly-leveraged tolling efforts, the Connector was hampered by unrealistic traffic projections and rosy financial scenarios for an area expected to experience an economic boom. “The expected growth in the region has yet to materialize,” the toll road’s 2008 annual report admitted. “This factor, the recession and consumer resistance to the payment of tolls (the Southern Connector Toll Road is the only toll road in Upstate South Carolina) have all contributed to the lower-than-forecasted traffic demands.” The Truth About Cars WA: Builders' lobby pushes workers' comp initiative A politically active construction-industry group wants voters to decide whether Washington's workers' compensation system should face private competition, a move bitterly opposed by organized labor and top Democratic lawmakers. The Seattle Times IN: Ind.to launch 'hybrid' welfare system Indiana's human services agency is expected to roll out its ''hybrid'' welfare intake program, aimed at correcting problems that arose when it tried to privatize the system, in 10 southwestern counties next week....Under the hybrid system, which follows the state's aborted effort to turn welfare intake completely over to private vendors, many state and private case workers will shift from call centers into local offices to give people more personal contact with those making decisions about their food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits...Problems with privatized welfare, including documents turning up lost after being submitted by clients, lengthy hold times for the call centers and too many errors in processing benefits, led FSSA Secretary Anne Murphy to halt its rollout and Gov. Mitch Daniels to fire Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp. as the lead vendor on the privatized system. The New York Times Friday, January 22. 2010January 21, 2010Headlines Privatize Fannie andFreddie? Easier said than done CA: Grim budget news for LA: Mayor wants more privatization CA: 14 arrested in protest over privatization of UC bus service CO: Gov talks privatizing workers' comp fund OK: Lawmakers pursue workers' comp privatization PA: Parking authority signs on with Chicago, local law firms IN: Race to improve education will hit hard [click on link below for articles] Continue reading "January 21, 2010" Wednesday, January 20. 2010January 20, 2010Headlines War and the deadly privatization of public power Privatize everything - Ralph Nader Charter schools: Vehicles for privatization MN: AFSCME blocks prison privatizing profiteers CA: Gov wants to privatize state prisons CA: Private prison must offer medical care for inmates' babies TX: US food stamp czar critical of Texas privatization GA: Milton ends privatization experiment MI: Privatization backlash GA: County moves forward with airport privatization [click on link below for articles] Continue reading "January 20, 2010" Wednesday, December 9. 2009December 9, 2009The real Chicago way - Thomas Frank A privatization scheme that's a loser for taxpayers. The city's longtime mayor, Richard M. Daley, is such a keen enthusiast of privatization that he has promoted it as the budget solution for every government in the land. "If they start leasing public assets—every city, every county, every state and the federal government—you would not have to raise any taxes whatsoever," Mr. Daley told the Chicago Sun-Times in January. "You would have more infrastructure money that way than any other way in the nation." ...The details of the parking meter deal, for example, were negotiated by the Daley administration with almost no public scrutiny. When it came time to approve the billion-dollar arrangement, the city council got exactly two days. It was a farce. ..What they eventually learned is that they had handed over a component of self-governance to a private company that is, by definition, unconcerned with the public interest. Chicago police will still hand out parking tickets; the state of Illinois will still suspend drivers' licenses; but for the next 75 years all of it will be done to ensure that citizens render proper tribute to Wall Street. And now comes the inevitable denouement. Last week, the Chicago City Council voted to plug a hole in its 2010 budget using funds remaining from the billion-dollar parking-meter haul, despite earlier plans to invest the money for the long term. Almost all of it will be gone by the end of next year. It may not fit the myth, but that's the real Chicago way. Sell off public property without public scrutiny. Prohibit public input on an essential public service. Rationalize the whole thing, as Mr. Daley's administration has done, by insisting that government can't run such things as well as the private sector can. And then, when the money runs out, privatize something else: The water supply, maybe. The sewer system. An airport or two. Why not privatize a U.S. Senate seat, too? Just imagine what Abu Dhabi would pay for that. The Wall Street Journal MI: GOP candidate for gov: Privatize most school services Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Bouchard says he thinks school districts could save money by having intermediate school districts contract out transportation, food and janitorial services for schools within their jurisdiction. The Oakland County sheriff said Tuesday he has saved $1.6 million a year by privatizing food services at the county jail. He says schools can see their own savings by consolidating services and leveraging their purchasing power. He adds that some school districts already have turned some services over to private contractors. AP LA: Gov't streamlining group done with 1st report Cost-cutting recommendations that would shrink Louisiana's state work force, boost outside contracting and rework bureaucracy were offered by the Commission on Streamlining Government, which wrapped up its first report Tuesday...The list of recommendations, which was due to lawmakers and Gov. Bobby Jindal by next week, totals 236 proposals...Among the ideas embraced by the streamlining panel were proposals to: shrink the number of state-owned cars, reduce the number of managers in state agencies, close three state-run ferries in south Louisiana and to privatize some of the state-run institutions for the developmentally disabled and consolidate others. ABC News Tuesday, December 8. 2009December 8, 2009Death by privatization For-profit prison healthcare system implicated in death of inmate. Ashley Ellis’s misdemeanor arrest turned into a death sentence. Her crime: “careless and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.” Less than two days after entering a Vermont prison on a 30-day sentence, she died from the careless and negligent operation of a privatized for-profit prison healthcare system. Her death shows what can, and does, happen across the country when states outsource prisoner medical services: states cut corners on monitoring, and contractors skimp on care. Ellis’ death “is a pretty blatant and obvious and extreme case of gross negligence,” says Seth Lipschutz, supervising attorney at the Vermont Defenders office. “We figured out in a day that they killed her.” ...When she entered prison, she required regular potassium supplements to keep her heart from shutting down. Prison Health Services (PHS) never gave her the prescribed medication that could have saved her life. An autopsy put the cause of death as heart failure caused by “denial of access to medication.”..From the moment Ellis entered the bleak intake room with its two barred cells, her life was in the hands of PHS, the fourth for-profit prison healthcare contractor since 1996 to serve Vermont inmates. The Tennessee-based company’s cross-country rap sheet is spattered with deaths, lawsuits, millions of dollars in fines and settlements, and numerous investigations. A 2005 three-part New York Times investigation found PHS care “flawed and sometimes lethal.” In These Times CA: Courthouse project eyed as privatization test A planned public-private partnership to build an estimated $300 million courthouse in Long Beach, Calif., could serve as a template for cash-strapped state and local governments nationwide, according to privatization experts. California's Administrative Office of the Courts will consider financial proposals due Dec. 9 from three private consortia selected as finalists to design, build, operate and maintain the proposed new Long Beach courthouse. State officials contend the deal would mark the first U.S. courthouse to be financed and built through such an arrangement...California officials estimate the cost of the 31-courtroom Long Beach facility at upwards of $300 million if built conventionally using tax dollars or bond funds. Instead, the privatization plan calls for the state to lease back the facility under a 35-year agreement...Philip Carrizosa, a spokesman for the California court system, acknowledged the effort is "experimental" and stems from California's own high-profile budget woes. It's also serving as something of a test case in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's call for more private involvement in development and management of the state's public works projects. The Wall Street Journal NE: Report suggests Nebraska consider public-private partnerships for roads The Nebraska Platte Institute will release a 68-page paper Tuesday that provides a tutorial on the assortment of ways public-private projects (PPPs) have been used across the U.S., primarily in high-population areas...The Platte Institute sees toll roads in the state's future. The best way to get roads like Lincoln's South Beltway built might be through public-private partnerships, which usually also involve charging tolls, according to two conservative policy organizations, the Nebraska-based Platte Institute for Economic Research and the national Reason Foundation. A report from the groups, to be released Tuesday, suggests projects the state might consider for a partnership. Journal Star Monday, December 7. 2009December 7, 2009Headlines IL: Midway airport only asset Chicago ‘actively’ looking to lease IL: Abu Dhabi shares profits from parking meters IL: Apple teams up with CTA to revamp station. What's next? TX: Plan for roads includes tolls, private operators CA: Profs union: State university caters to corporations KS: Editorial: Privatization caution LA: Panel wants to cut number of contracts, privatize LA: Gov eyes privatizing workers’ health plan MT: Plan to ship Yellowstone bison to Ted Turner ranch gets OK PR: Puerto Rico seeks to privatize airport, pay debts Court to decide: Who owns a preserved beach? Barbarians at the schoolhouse [click on link below for articles] Continue reading "December 7, 2009" Tuesday, December 1. 2009Monday, November 30. 2009November 30, 2009Headlines Nat'l parks seek to share of profitable science NY: NYC schools share space, and bitterness, with charters GA: State planning more carefully for public-private toll roads IN: Indianapolis mayoral candidate attacks water sell-off [click on link below for articles] Continue reading "November 30, 2009" Tuesday, November 24. 2009 |
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