Headlines
FL: Short on support, Senate leader holds off on prison privatizing vote
FL: Study: Fla’s shift to private care means longer Medicaid waiting lists
UT: Commerce Director says no to liquor privatization
DC: DC trust paid out to mystery groups, records show
PA: Editorial: Bounty hunters need not apply in Philly
CO: Panel reacts coolly to Pinnacol privatization proposal
News summaries
FL: Short on support, Senate leader holds off on prison privatizing vote
A split Senate GOP caucus is threatening a prison privatization effort despite the support of GOP leaders…[Senate President] Haridopolos halted floor debate on the bill Tuesday afternoon and has temporarily postponed a chamber vote, with more than 10 Republicans joining with 10 Democrats in opposition to the plan….Republicans lining up against the bill questioned the true savings involved in the plan to outsource all Department of Corrections operations in an 18-county region in the southern portion of the state…The uncertainty surrounding the vote Tuesday underscored why Senate leaders last year tucked the privatization into the budget rather than bringing it up in a stand-alone bill. A Tallahassee judge threw out that privatization plan, ruling that the way lawmakers went about ordering the outsourcing in the budget was unconstitutional…Haridopolos said he has not yet decided on when to bring up the bill for a full vote. “I’m still debating on that,” he said. “We’ll see how far we get tomorrow.” Palm Beach Post
FL: Study: Fla’s shift to private care means longer Medicaid waiting lists
When the Legislature decided last year to cap Medicaid funding and turn long-term care over to private managed care companies, some experts warned that growing waiting lists would drive people into expensive nursing homes. A study released Tuesday by the Legislature’s own policy analysts underscores that fear. Florida has three main Medicaid programs that divert people from nursing homes by providing home health care, aides for chores, assisted living and other services. One uses a for-profit, managed care model. Waiting lists for those programs rose 30 percent last year, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability reported. Meanwhile, the cost of the managed care program was significantly higher than the two traditional nonprofit programs. Tampa Bay Times
UT: Commerce Director says no to liquor privatization
The interim director of the Utah Department of Alcohol Beverage Control says she doesn’t want to see the state’s liquor industry privatized, but she does believe the department needs to be restructured. “I don’t think privatization is the answer,” said Francine Giani, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce. “I think you would lose money coming to the state.” ..Giani reported her efforts to shape up DABC to the Business, Economic Development and Labor Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. She said she has worked with the department to bring budgets in line, keep stores open that were slated for closure and “move people along who shouldn’t be there anymore.” “In the last six months, I believe that in fact the ship has been righted. Is it perfect? It is not,” she said, adding legislative auditors continue to review the agency. Desert News
DC: DC trust paid out to mystery groups, records show
A public-private trust at the center of former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr.’s theft scandal doled out more than $100,000 to other groups not registered as nonprofits and others that don’t exist in city records, raising more questions about the oversight of D.C. taxpayer money. A review of its records shows that the D.C. Children & Youth Investment Trust Corp. disclosed to the Internal Revenue Service paying more than $100,000 combined to several organizations it deemed to be operating as so-called 501(c)(3) nonprofits, but a check of a public Internal Revenue Service database shows no indication that any of the groups obtained nonprofit status.Scrutiny on the trust intensified Tuesday as its former executive director, Millicent D. West, resigned from her job as head of the District’s homeland security agency. She was in charge of the trust when Thomas steered money from it. The trust pays more than $100,000 per year to an employee for grants management. The Washington Times
PA: Editorial: Bounty hunters need not apply in Philly
Philadelphia authorities have to do a better job when issuing Get-Out-of-Jail cards, but needed reforms in the bail system are more complex than merely putting Dog the Bounty Hunter on the case….Yet, the Senate panel last week heard another pitch for privatizing city-run bail procedures. Commercial bondsmen contend their trade has been professionalized since decades ago when corruption led Philadelphia to scrap its private system. Still, even the slightest risk of a repeat is a big obstacle. That’s why both District Attorney Seth Williams and Pamela Pryor Dembe, president judge of Common Pleas Court, wisely favor retooling, not scrapping, the cash-bail system under which defendants must put up 10 percent of their bail to go free…There are no easy fixes, but the city’s bail system can be repaired. Philadelphia Inquirer
CO: Panel reacts coolly to Pinnacol privatization proposal
Even with Gov. John Hickenlooper selling it in person, a proposal to privatize Pinnacol Assurance — the state-chartered workers’ compensation insurance fund — got a cool reception Tuesday from a special panel. The Pinnacol Assurance Stakeholders Task Force didn’t take an official vote on the proposal, but a straw poll of the panel members in attendance — a group composed of civic leaders as well as representives from business associations, labor unions and nonprofits — showed that more than half were either opposed or neutral. Hickenlooper, a Democrat, has been pushing hard on the privatization deal, which would turn Pinnacol, a quasi-governmental entity that is a political subdivision of the state, into a mutual-assurance company with the option to become a common-stock company. The Denver Post