Headlines
PA: Corbett moves on changes to lottery
IL: Chicago ready to go it alone
AZ: Arizona prisons’ health care to be run by Pa. company
LA: Lawmakers debate school vouchers’ ripple effect on local budgets
IN: Indiana’s court fight with IBM nearing finish
‎SC: South Carolina considers private school tax perk
CA: Santa Monica college students protest summer fees
CA: Bus privatizing savings not as touted
FL: New public park could use private company to maintain sports fields
Protests at USDA over poultry inspection

PA: Corbett moves on changes to lottery
…Gov Corbett said he had issued a “request for qualifications” from companies seeking to manage the nation’s sixth-largest lottery. Corbett called the move an “innovative step” that could increase funding for services for the aging as record numbers of Baby Boomers join their ranks…The 40-year-old lottery generated a record $3.2 billion in ticket sales last year. All proceeds – nearly $1 billion last year – fund prescription drugs for seniors, as well as transportation, long-term care, and other services….House Democratic leader Frank Dermody (D., Allegheny) said his caucus had “serious reservations” about any proposal that gambles with critical health programs for seniors..”Why ‘fix’ something that isn’t broken, especially when privatizing it has the potential to hurt hundreds of thousands of senior citizens who rely on lottery-funded programs every day?”  Philadelphia Inquirer

IL: Chicago ready to go it alone
..Unlike his predecessor, Mayor Richard Daley, Mr. Emanuel has produced a plan that would not result in the privatization of infrastructure. Mr. Daley’s 2008 parking meter deal notoriously lost the city billions of dollars, even as it deprived the city of control over much of its street space. The Trust would allow for private profit-making without handing over full control — a reasonable compromise…Yet unlike leaders of other cities, Emanuel has not yet made the push for increases in taxes to pay for infrastructure, unlike, say, Los Angeles. In some ways, this represents a strategic move; rather than assume that voters are ready to contribute more to a not-perfect system, there has been an effort here to live within the city’s existing means. If this can be done without imposing too much austerity on public services, it will raise confidence in the local government’s ability to perform adequately.  Chicago’s decision to fund its projects in such a manner is something that most cities could likely emulate with few negative political results. They just have to be more willing to experiment with creative financing and efficiencies. Transport Politic

AZ: Arizona prisons’ health care to be run by Pa. company
Arizona’s Department of Corrections awarded a $349 million, three-year contract Tuesday to privatize health care for prison inmates that will cost the state $5 million a year more than it spent in 2011…Wexford, which has previously lost contracts for poor service and was implicated in a 2008 payoff scandal in Illinois, bid $116.3million a year, $1.1million less than the second-place bid by Corizon Inc. of Brentwood, Tenn…After a prior effort to privatize prison health care failed last year, Kavanagh, Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, removed language from a bill that had required bidders to meet or better the Corrections Department’s costs.  Despite the Wexford bid exceeding state costs to provide care, Kavanagh insists that, “in the long run, reducing pension costs” by eliminating hundreds of state employees through privatization saves the state money…However, Caroline Isaacs, director of the American Friends Service Committee’s Tucson office, a prison-watchdog group, said, “This has never been about saving money; the real reason is that legislators are ideologically wedded to privatization and damn the evidence.”..The company also has had past problems meeting its contractual obligations. Clark County, Wash., declined to renew a contract with Wexford in 2009 at its county jail and juvenile-detention center after complaints that Wexford wasn’t dispensing medications to inmates in a timely fashion, leading to psychological and behavioral problems with inmates on psychotropic drugs. New Mexico terminated a statewide contract with Wexford in 2007 after an audit by that state’s legislative finance committee found shortages of physicians, dentists and other prison medical staff and noted that the company had failed to issue timely reports on the deaths of 14 inmates the previous year. Arizona Republic

LA: Lawmakers debate school vouchers’ ripple effect on local budgets
As expected, the Senate Finance Committee gave its blessing Monday to Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposal for charter school expansion and to use the state’s public-school financing formula to pay private-school tuition for certain low-income students. But the vote did not come without considerable discussion about the measure’s effects on local school coffers…The Louisiana School Boards Association and lawmakers friendly to the group have noted that when only a handful of students leave a school, there is not a sufficient drop in expenses to make up for the lost revenue: the same number of school buses must run, the same number of teachers must be in the classroom, the same utilities must run on campus. Legislative analysts peg the average nonpublic school tuition in Louisiana at about $4,500, but that is driven by elementary schools and less-urban schools. Stan Smith, chief financial officer of Orleans Parish schools, noted that he still must manage “legacy costs” — such as retirement payments, insurance, legal settlements — from when his system, now at 17 schools, had 120 campuses. Those burdens are on the books regardless of how many students are enrolled, he said. A handful of systems also have bond debt that depends on existing MFP financing streams.  The Times-Picayune

IN: Indiana’s court fight with IBM nearing finish
‎The real reason Indiana canceled its nearly $1.4 billion contract with IBM for a troubled welfare automation system was state budget problems, a lawyer for the computer giant argued Tuesday. But the state said IBM was more concerned about profit than getting assistance to needy people. Both sides traded jabs during five hours of closing arguments before Marion Superior Court Judge David Dreyer, who is considering dueling lawsuits in the case. Gov. Mitch Daniels canceled IBM’s privatization contract in 2009 amid complaints about long wait times on calls, lost documents and improper rejections from clients and federal officials…He said IBM failed to process applications in a timely manner, which he said was its primary obligation under the 2006 contract. He said IBM didn’t devote enough resources to provide the service it had promised, and cited a company executive’s testimony that IBM couldn’t shirk its fiduciary responsibilities.” So the shareholders trump a million needy Hoosiers,” Maley said. Indianapolis Business Journal

SC: South Carolina considers private school tax perk
Parents of private and home-schooled students in South Carolina could soon have a smaller tax bill thanks to a bill that passed the House last week that would allow parents with any income to deduct up to $4,000 for private school tuition and expenses and up to $2,000 for home-schooling costs. It also would provide tax credits to businesses and individuals who donate money for private school scholarships.
If it becomes law, South Carolina would be the seventh state to offer a tax deduction or credit for private or home-school expenses, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. Eight states have tax credit pograms for donations to private school scholarship programs, according to NCSL, and several others have passed or are considering such plans this year. Stateline

CA: Santa Monica college students protest summer fees
About 100 students protesting a plan to offer high-priced courses at Santa Monica College this summer tried to storm into a meeting of the college’s Board of Trustees on Tuesday evening…The protest came on the same day that a group of students said that it will call for a campus strike if the school moves forward with plans to offer the two-tier pricing plan…They contend that the program is unfair for those who can’t afford the so-called self-funded courses and argue that the move will lead to privatizing public education. Los Angeles Times

CA: Bus privatizing savings not as touted
The North County Transit District and the private company to which it outsourced the district’s bus operations have hailed the partnership as a “new business model” that would save the district up to $10 million annually while not affecting service levels. A review of the district’s most recent financial statements by The Watchdog, however, shows that the outsourcing plan saved the district about $1 million last year. The district saved more money — $1.5 million — by cutting bus services…North County Transit in November 2009 approved the agreement with the private company, Ohio-based First Transit, to take over its maintenance and operations for its BREEZE bus line. The contract is for seven years with an option to renew it for three more years, for a total of 10 years. UT San Diego

FL: New public park could use private company to maintain sports fields
The Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District, which is building the $12.5 million project on city property, is considering using a private company for groundskeeping at the eight-field complex. It could open in 30-60 days…”I’m sure there’s some employees worrying about what that might mean for their job,” Frisch said. Sun Sentinel

Protests at USDA over poultry inspection
Food inspectors, advocacy groups members, and others protested proposed changes to the poultry inspection process – know as HIMP – in front of the USDA yesterday. The changes would dramatically increase the rate of birds whizzing by for inspection at plants, and move toward privatizing the inspection process – essentially allowing the poultry industry to regulate itself.  GAP