US Reps introduce bill to outsource investment adviser oversight
Government to pay contractor executives more
IL: Just how does Chicago’s Infrastructure Trust work?
MI: Legislators propose big cuts for state prison system
OH: Franklin County Children Services ok’s privatizing all foster care

US Reps introduce bill to outsource investment adviser oversight
Two U.S. House lawmakers unveiled legislation Wednesday to let the Securities and Exchange Commission outsource oversight of investment advisers to a private body, a move aimed at stepping up scrutiny of the industry. The bipartisan measure, introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R., Ala.) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, would set the stage for merging adviser oversight into the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street’s self-policing body. Finra isn’t explicitly mentioned in the bill, but many in the industry believe it is the only organization poised to take on oversight of the more than 12,000 investment advisers currently registered with the SEC should the regulator give up the role. Finra hasn’t been shy about wanting the job. Wednesday’s proposal comes amid concern the SEC doesn’t have the resources to adequately oversee advisers. Only about 8% of advisers were inspected by the SEC last year.  The Wall Street Journal

Government to pay contractor executives more
The government is raising the cap on what it pays contractors’ top five executives to $723,029, a 10 percent increase, federal procurement officials announced Monday…”Current federal employees have had their own salaries frozen for two years and new employees will have to pay four times as much in retirement contributions, saving the government $75 billion. Yet nothing is being done to trim out-of-control contractor spending,” said John Gage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees..”This rate of growth in the cap (both from 1995 onward, and in this most recent year) has far outpaced the rate of inflation, the rate of growth of private-sector salaries generally, and the rate of growth of federal salaries — forcing our taxpayers to reimburse contractors for levels of executive compensation that cannot be justified for federal contract work,” Lesley Field, acting administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, said in the notice. Federal Times

IL: Just how does Chicago’s Infrastructure Trust work?
Michael Likosky, director of the Center on Law & Public Finance at New York University, has prepared  an infographic showing how Chicago’s new Infrastructure Trust works. NYU

MI: Legislators propose big cuts for state prison system
The state would close and privatize a 1300-bed prison in Ionia and three juvenile detention facilities and make significant cuts to prison support staff under budget bills moving quickly through the Legislature…Union leaders say privatization efforts attempted under former Republican Gov. John Engler were largely failures, and they can recommend other ways to save that don’t primarily involve the loss of public-sector jobs.  Detroit Free Press

OH: Children Services ok’s privatizing all foster care
Foster parents licensed by Franklin County Children Services must find a private agency to work for if they want to continue caring for children in their homes. The agency’s trustees voted 6-1 yesterday to disband the internal foster-care system at Children Services, a move that effectively privatizes all foster care. About 75 percent of foster-care services have been bought from provider agencies for some time, officials said. Yesterday’s decision affects about 260 foster parents who had remained licensed through the agency…No county-licensed foster parents spoke at the meeting. But Trustee Doug Moore, who voted against the resolution, said he has heard from many who are not happy that the county is severing its last direct ties to foster families. Moore also said that agency administrators didn’t inform trustees early enough or give them a chance to discuss the policy proposal before The Dispatch reported on the plan last month. “Every time I turn around, we are subcontracting stuff out,” Moore said. Columbus Dispatch