Headlines

The fallacy of privatization: anti-government screeds and the Romney agenda. For Romney, efficiency and competition are gods that only the private marketplace can worship and therefore all government functions would be better handled by private rather than public forces…Here’s the most relevant language from Romney on the idea that private is always better than public:  MITT ROMNEY: Well, clearly you don’t like to hear [about] anyone losing a job. At the same time, government is the least productive—the federal government is the least productive of our economic sectors. The most productive is the private sector. The next most productive is the not-for-profit sector, then comes state and local governments, and finally the federal government. And so moving responsibilities from the federal government to the states or to the private sector will increase productivity. But that’s simply wrong.  It is empirically wrong.  It is theoretically wrong.  And it is wrong-headed policy for America.  Business Insider

Toll road rates rising in Indiana, Pennsylvania: Road Rant. The cost of driving keeps going up on toll roads. The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission recently approved higher rates for 2013 on its roadway. Tolls will rise 10 percent for those paying cash and 2 percent for those using E-ZPass…Going west, meanwhile, the cost to drive a car the full length of the Indiana Toll Road increased by nearly 4.5 percent last month for cash-paying customers. The 157-mile trip now runs $9.40, up from $9. This marks the fourth price bump since 2008 for those using dollars and coins. The Plain Dealer

CT: Female inmates sue state over disparities. The state is currently considering privatizing the state’s prisons, and as part of that had asked bidders to contemplate building a stand-alone women’s prison or a hybrid version that kept female and male inmates on the same site.  Concord Monitor

NJ: New Jersey considers privatizing lottery. New Jersey is asking lottery companies to bid for the right to run the state’s massive game of chance… Gov. Jon Corzine’s administration explored the idea of letting a private company run the lottery, which is the nation’s 8th largest. A task force recommended the change to Gov. Chris Christie last year.  Sacramento Bee

FL: Prison Privatization Issue Produces Outpouring of HD 7 Candidates. A crowded race in what is essentially a new House district in North Florida is in some ways serving as an outlet for the area’s frustration over its diminishing influence and the GOP’s continuing interest in privatizing prisons.  All seven candidates running for House District 7 — which spans nine counties from Calhoun in the Panhandle to Lafayette in the Big Bend and also takes in a piece of Leon — are opposed to handing prisons over to for-profit companies. They also knock changes that would ask existing state employees to contribute to their own retirements — though most keep the door open on changes for future employees. While those views are common among legislative Democrats, they would be maverick positions if one of the four Republicans wins the seat — which covers at least a share of what used to be six different House seats.  SunshineStatesNews

TX: Advocacy Groups Don’t Want GEO to Run State Hospital. A coalition of influential Texas organizations is pushing back against the proposed privatization of a state psychiatric hospital by GEO Care, a subsidiary of a prison operations group that has a troubled history in Texas. …”The GEO Group has a long and troubled history in Texas,” said Bob Libal, whose organization, Grassroots Leadership, signed the letter along with groups like the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the Center for Public Policy Priorities, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition and the United Methodist Church. The Texas Tribune

Headlines
ME: Plan to Speed Travel With Toll Road in Maine Hits a Nerve
MI: Anti-privatization suit dismissed
PA: Allentown water privatization draws concerns at hearing
VA: Privatizing Va. facility is a flawed idea
NY:  Community college janitor fired

ME: Plan to Speed Travel With Toll Road in Maine Hits a Nerve
The idea of an east-west highway has been kicking around for decades. But a proposed private road has a good chance of becoming reality, and opponents say it would ruin the state. Opponents say a major thoroughfare slicing through the state would destroy the very qualities of peacefulness, natural beauty and remoteness that make this region desirable in the first place. “It would just completely change ‘the way life should be,’ ” said Chris Buchanan, referring to the state’s unofficial slogan. Ms. Buchanan is the statewide coordinator for Stop the Corridor, a coalition opposing the highway. “Maine is a rural state,” she said, “and this is a businessman who is trying to make it the Northeast trade gateway.”That is exactly what others hope Mr. Vigue (pronounced VIG-you) can achieve.  New York Times

MI: Anti-privatization suit dismissed
A state appeals court Friday overturned an Ingham County judge and dismissed a lawsuit attempting to halt the privatization of nursing aide jobs at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans. In October, Ingham Circuit Judge Paula Manderfield issued a preliminary injunction halting the privatization, saying she feared it would cause “irreparable harm” to the more than 600 veterans who live in the state-run home. But a three-court panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned the injunction and sent the case back to Manderfield with instructions that she grant a state motion to dismiss the case. Tony Spallone, a Vietnam veteran who lives at the home, testified that nursing aides hired by contractor J2S Group of Grand Rapids don’t get enough training and don’t stay on the job long because they make about $10 an hour. The court heard about injuries to veterans because of improper lifting techniques and other mistakes by J2S employees…The appeals court ruled that Spallone can’t show he has a protected right to receive adequate care at the home because “he is free to leave the home at any time.” The panel also said Manderfield’s ruling was based on “the mere apprehension of future injury” and is speculative.  Detroit Free Press

PA: Allentown water privatization draws concerns at hearing
Thursday marked the first public hearing for Allentown’s proposal to privatize its water and sewer plants in order to make up for pension shortfalls. Meeting the minimal municipal obligation of $18 million in 2013 alone would require a property tax increase of 35 percent, Pawlowski said…The proposed 50-year lease is expected to bring an immediate $160 million to $180 million, but residents were concerned about water quality and the fate of the city’s water and sewer work force. LehighValleyLive

VA: Privatizing Va. facility is a flawed idea
Virginia is considering an especially problematic privatization bid – to turn over the management of the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation, a secure facility for the civil commitment of people who have completed sex offense sentences…While Virginia leaders may find the prospect of saving money attractive, there are a number of potential problems with privatization.  GEO has a long and troubling record of cancelled contracts and lawsuits, abuse and neglect of people in its facilities. GEO contracts at three facilities were recently ended in Mississippi, including a youth facility that a federal judge described as having “allowed a cesspool of unconstitutional and inhuman acts and conditions to germinate.” VCBR personnel are already concerned about safety with double bunking. An incident at the Florida GEO facility of an assaulted resident’s cries for help going unanswered for 15 minutes may offer a glimpse into the facility’s future under GEO management. The Daily Progress

NY:  Community college janitor fired
…The incident brings to light a possible flaw in the city’s effort to privatize the maintenance force in some of its public colleges. Joseph is one of many janitors who are screened and hired by private companies and are not subject to the same background checks that the city provides for its college staffers. Joseph, for example, was hired by a private contractor, Perfect Building Maintenance, and began working at LaGuardia in June 2008. Perfect Building Maintenance holds a five-year contract to provide custodial services at LaGuardia. That contract expires next year, and the company declined to comment for this story.A spokeswoman for LaGuardia said that Perfect Building Maintenance does conduct background checks, but the company would not confirm whether Joseph got one. New York Daily News

Headlines
Immigrants prove big business for prison companies
Private firms eyeing profits from U.S. public schools
Post Office Privatization Is Probably a Huge Real Estate Deal
Spending cuts and privatization have ravaged the economy – opinion
MI: Michigan City Outsources All of Its Schools
AZ: Former Arizona Commerce Authority chief Cardon’s bonus stirs questions
LA: Panel OKs privatization of Bossier City developmental center

Immigrants prove big business for prison companies
Locking up illegal immigrants has grown profoundly lucrative for the private prisons industry, a reliable pot of revenue that helped keep some of the biggest companies in business. And while nearly half of the 400,000 immigrants held annually are housed in private facilities, the federal government — which spends $2 billion a year on keeping those people in custody — says it isn’t necessarily cheaper to outsource the work, a central argument used for privatization in the first place. The Associated Press, seeking to tally the scope of the private facilities, add up their cost and the amounts the companies spend on lobbying and campaign donations, reviewed more than 10 years’ worth of federal and state records. It found a complex, mutually beneficial and evidently legal relationship between those who make corrections and immigration policy and a few prison companies. Some of those companies were struggling to survive before toughened immigrant detention laws took effect.  AP

Private firms eyeing profits from U.S. public schools
The investors gathered in a tony private club in Manhattan were eager to hear about the next big thing, and education consultant Rob Lytle was happy to oblige. Think about the upcoming rollout of new national academic standards for public schools, he urged the crowd. If they’re as rigorous as advertised, a huge number of schools will suddenly look really bad, their students testing way behind in reading and math. They’ll want help, quick. And private, for-profit vendors selling lesson plans, educational software and student assessments will be right there to provide it. “You start to see entire ecosystems of investment opportunity lining up,” said Lytle, a partner at The Parthenon Group, a Boston consulting firm. “It could get really, really big.” Indeed, investors of all stripes are beginning to sense big profit potential in public education. The K-12 market is tantalizingly huge: The U.S. spends more than $500 billion a year to educate kids from ages five through 18. The entire education sector, including college and mid-career training, represents nearly 9 percent of U.S. gross domestic product, more than the energy or technology sectors.  Reuters

Post Office Privatization Is Probably a Huge Real Estate Deal
…It’s hard, in this pass, not to wonder if the Right Wing is forcing the issue by creating a crisis, then pressing for action. This, after all, has been its strategy for shrinking the Federal Government — systematically starve it for money by cutting taxes and larding it with debt, then call for drastic reforms to stave off disaster, a la the Ryan Plan. There’s even what amounts to a business plan for privatizing the USPS, published by the AEI in 2011, called “Return to Sender: Reforms for the Failing Postal Service.” The premise: The USPS is obsolete and doomed, and the taxpayers’ interests have to be protected by getting it off the government’s books as soon as possible….But the idea raises a question: If Geddes and the AEI are correct and the USPS is such a bottomless money pit, why would anybody want it? Who ever heard of buying a service company with no upside? What’s in it for them? Well, real estate, actually, and Geddes and every commenter hints at this. Privatizing the USPS has the potential of being one of history’s biggest — and most profitable — real estate deals ever. Here’s how it could work. Huffington Post

Spending cuts and privatization have ravaged the economy – opinion
Americans overwhelmingly underestimate the benefits they receive from government involvement in the economy and increasingly place the blame on too few of the people responsible. The overall effect is a collapsing democratic society and economy. The United States of the past century benefitted from the creation of a robust national highway system, an educational system that was the envy of the world, a space program that took us to the moon, a military capable of facing down almost any threat imaginable, and a computer network that reached across the entire globe. A social safety net designed to ensure that the weakest members of the population remained insulated from absolute poverty added to the overall stability of the system. Each of these public-sector achievements allowed the United States to create an equally robust and successful system of private enterprise, ranging from small businesses to what are now multinational corporations. Today, every piece of this American puzzle stands ravaged by privatization and spending cuts. For reasons escaping all logic, our civic and corporate leaders embarked on a campaign to cut costs, corners, and jobs around 30 years ago. These cuts run counter to any intelligent notion of economics.Charleston City Paper

MI: Michigan City Outsources All of Its Schools
The public school district in this hard-luck city has come up with a radical answer for its troubled education system: It is outsourcing all of it. Highland Park School District, one of the state’s lowest-performing academically, says it will turn over its three schools and nearly 1,000 students to a private, for-profit charter school company—the second district in Michigan to take such a drastic step to avert financial collapse. The abrupt news last week sparked concern—and in some cases, relief— from parents and other residents who packed a Wednesday night meeting in the faded industrial city, which is nearly surrounded by Detroit.  New York Times

AZ: Former Arizona Commerce Authority chief Cardon’s bonus stirs questions
Former Arizona Commerce Authority CEO Don Cardon, who recently quit with more than two years remaining on his contract, is eligible for a “discretionary bonus” of up to $75,000, records obtained by The Arizona Republic show. Critics, meanwhile, say the situation is yet another example of the agency’s lack of transparency. Under Commerce Authority policy, part of the CEO’s compensation is to be paid by private-sector interests served by the authority’s economic-development work. It is unclear whether enough private funds have been raised to cover the bonus or if taxpayers will be on the hook. Cardon officially left his state post July 6. However, he remains tied to the agency as the paid executive director of Team ACA, the non-profit arm that raises private money to pay for some of the agency’s expenses. Some of those expenses include part of the commerce director’s compensation. Team ACA does not plan to disclose Cardon’s salary or how much donors are giving, raising other transparency issues, critics say….Brewer pushed for creation of the Commerce Authority, a public-private partnership that began last year. Although it is a state agency, it has a board made up of local business leaders. It uses taxpayer money, including a $25 million deal-closing fund, to lure businesses to Arizona. During Cardon’s short tenure, the Commerce Authority says, more than 5,000 jobs were created, totaling more than $321 million in capital investment, prompting Brewer to praise his work. “They should be transparent on whether he is getting a bonus or not and where the money is coming from,” said Serena Unrein of the Arizona Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, a public watchdog group that has been critical of the Commerce Authority. “We have concern that the Commerce Authority is not showing taxpayers how their money is being spent.” Arizona Republic

LA: Panel OKs privatization of Bossier City developmental center
A state panel has approved Louisiana’s plans to hire private companies to run state facilities in Bossier City and Hammond that care for the developmentally disabled.  Shreveport Times

Headlines
IN: Toll Road money running out as state prepares to elect new governor
VA: Groups oppose privatizing sex offender program
FL: Tab for taxpayers in suits over Scott-backed laws hefty and growing
WA: Washington liquor privatization boosts sales in Idaho
NY: NYC extends deadline for first step in parking meter contract
Choices Often Limited in ‘School Choice’ Programs
Privatization: The Big Joke That Isn’t Funny – commentary

IN:  Toll Road money running out as state prepares to elect new governor
…Lawmakers and the new governor also will have to find roughly $500 million each year to pay for transportation projects as the money from the leasing of the Indiana Toll Road runs out. “Highway funding is going to be a big issue,” said House Ways and Means Chairman Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, who is not seeking re-election after more than four decades in the General Assembly. Espich also notes that the economic picture could turn again at any time, causing the state to begin losing money as it did during the Great Recession. Chesterton Tribune

VA: Groups oppose privatizing sex offender program
Eleven organizations sent a letter to Virginia’s governor Monday opposing offers by two companies to operate a state facility that detains violent sex offenders for treatment after their sentences are completed. State officials are considering privatization as a way to control costs of the rapidly expanding civil commitment program at the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation in Burkeville. The state spends about $97,000 annually to treat each offender at the 300-bed facility — more than quadruple the cost of housing a prisoner. The program’s budget has increased tenfold since it started in 2004. A report late last year by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, the General Assembly’s investigative arm, projected the number of committed offenders could reach 600 by 2016 unless something is done to slow the program’s growth. The facility now houses 289, and preparations for double-bunking are under way. “What is currently an overcrowded situation at VCBR could become dramatically worse if run by a company that increases its profits at the expense of programs and operations, including security, in the facility,” the coalition of civil rights, labor, criminal justice reform and religious organizations said in its letter to Gov. Bob McDonnell. The organizations said the companies that have submitted proposals have had problems running some facilities elsewhere.  The News Leader

FL: Tab for taxpayers in suits over Scott-backed laws hefty and growing
Lawsuits over major legislation championed by Gov. Rick Scott more than a year ago are still working their way through the courts, and the legal bills for Florida’s taxpayers continue to mount….So far, the total legal tab on these cases combined is $888,317.51…Here’s an update of some of the biggest lawsuits the state is currently defending against and the bill paid by taxpayers so far….Prison privatization Lawsuit: In 2011, lawmakers put language in the state budget to privatize more than two dozen prisons and correctional facilities  in South Florida. The Police Benevolent Association sued, saying the move was unconstitutional. Status: A Leon County circuit judge ruled that lawmakers had the right to privatize if they passed a separate piece of legislation, but not by doing it through the budget process. Bondi appealed at the request of the Legislature, but the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled last week that Bondi was ineligible to make the appeal. How much has it cost? This case was handled by Bondi’s office at a cost of $19,789.50.   Orlando Sentinel

WA: Washington liquor privatization boosts sales in Idaho
Idaho liquor officials say border sales are up after a change in the law in Washington state made Idaho booze cheaper. Washington privatized its liquor market but added a 10 percent distributor fee and a 17 percent retail fee to replace money the state lost when it shut down its state-run liquor stores. The Idaho Statesman reports the increase in sales along the Idaho border mirrors the increase seen along the Washington-Oregon border. Oregon reported sales rose 35 percent in June along the border, bringing Oregon $870,000 more than usual. That’s slightly more than Idaho’s border-store sales. Both Idaho and Oregon have a state-run liquor market. KING5.com

NY: NYC extends deadline for first step in parking meter contract
New York City is extending by three weeks its deadline to request qualifications from bidders interested in leasing the country’s largest parking system – with 80,800 parking spaces – after the companies requested additional information, a spokeswoman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday. Since last year, the city has been studying hiring a private manager to run the system more efficiently and install smart parking meters.Other U.S. cities are already exploring more modern parking meters. Denver, Colorado, and Santa Monica, California, have parking meters that use underground sensors to erase leftover time. Solar-powered meters also are available as are meters that let drivers pay with mobile phones…The Bloomberg administration has said it will not require any upfront payment and that it will avoid some of the problems other cities have encountered with similar privatizations…It will also require a parking meter operator to pledge $100 million of collateral and have experience running at least 100,000 parking spaces. Unions have contested the plan to privatize New York City’s parking meters because they are concerned that the 466 unionized workers who now collect parking fees would be laid off. Lillian Roberts, executive director of District Council 37, the largest municipal union, said on Monday that a private parking contract was unnecessary because “city parking system workers are already doing an excellent job, generating approximately $1.2 million per worker in revenue.”  Reuters

Choices Often Limited in ‘School Choice’ Programs
…Scholarship tax credit and voucher programs, like EdChoice, are growing rapidly across the country. Louisiana created both a statewide voucher program and a scholarship tax credit program this year. Virginia, New Hampshire and Oklahoma also recently created scholarship tax credit programs. But a Stateline analysis found that many private schools choose not to participate in these “school choice” programs. Many are wary of government regulations, especially standardized test requirements. Others are concerned about the possible impact on their educational mission, among other things.  Stateline

Privatization: The Big Joke That Isn’t Funny – commentary
The privatization of public goods and services turns basic human needs into products to buy and sell. That’s more than a joke, it’s an insult, it’s a perversion. It generally benefits only a privileged group of businesspeople and their companies while increasing inequality and undermining the common good. Various studies have identified the ‘benefits’ of privatization as profitability and productivity, efficiency, wider share ownership and good investment returns. These are business benefits. More balanced studies consider the effects on average people, who have paid into a long-established societal support system for their schools and emergency services, water and transportation systems, and eventually health care and retirement benefits. These studies have concluded that: Privatization has generated large profits for new owners but these have not been shared with the general public. The potential benefits of privatization are often outweighed by high contracting costs and opportunism.Most privatization programs appear to have worsened the distribution of assets and income, at least in the short run…In the U.S. and around the world, privatization has simply not worked in industries that provide essential public goods and services. Common Dreams

Headlines
Report finds for-profit colleges serve shareholders over students
MI: Editorial: Privatizing prison health care must include stronger state oversight
WI: Privatized emissions testing off to bumpy start
IN: Indiana looks to outsourcing Hoosier Lottery
CA: The thin green line
NY: Park privatization elsewhere – opinion
TX: State Parks and Wildlife Department turns to corporate sponsorships to raise money

Report finds for-profit colleges serve shareholders over students
A Senate committee that successfully pressed for tighter regulation of the for-profit higher-education sector published a report Sunday that said the business had put shareholders before students. It said the schools excelled at recruiting students, but not necessarily at retaining them: More than half of students at for-profit schools who enrolled in the 2008-09 academic year left without a degree, the report found. Half of all non-finishers ended their studies within four months. The findings are in line with concerns voiced last year when the Education Department imposed stricter rules on for-profit schools that benefit from federal student loans. The new report is titled “For Profit Higher Education: The Failure to Safeguard the Federal Investment and Ensure Student Success.” It concludes a two-year investigation by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Including appendixes, the document totals about 800 pages. “We uncovered two very big problems in for-profit higher education,” Harkin said in a statement. “One, billions of taxpayer dollars are being squandered. And two, many for-profit schools are doing real, lasting harm to the students they enroll.”  Washington Post

MI: Editorial: Privatizing prison health care must include stronger state oversight
Despite the evidence, the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder continues to regard privatizing government services as a panacea for controlling state spending. The latest, and largest, example is a call for bids on providing medical services — physical and mental — to all 43,000 state prisoners. It could be the largest privatization of state government services in Michigan history. The contract, depending on how the bidding goes, could replace the work of 1,300 state employees. Privatizing health care inside prisons, hidden from the public, contains enormous risks — all the more so because prisoners have no political constituency. To minimize the risks, Corrections must prepare now to do a far better job of oversight. Keeping vendors accountable will inevitably mean more state employees. Will complaints be resolved? Detroit Free Press

WI: Privatized emissions testing off to bumpy start
Just two weeks into the shift of Wisconsin emissions testing to 198 repair shops and dealerships, the number of failing vehicles is already higher than normal. For the past two years, an average of 6% to 7% of vehicles failed their tests at the nine centralized stations in southeastern Wisconsin, according to state data. But the average fail rate has increased to 9% since the test sites shifted to private businesses on July 2, according to a Journal Sentinel analysis of the 18,600 tests conducted through July 18. Eight of the new testing locations had a fail rate of 20% or more…Meanwhile, some drivers are complaining that the new test facilities are trying to sell them overpriced repairs they don’t need. They say unlike the old facilities – which only conducted emissions tests and did not offer other services – the newly designated facilities have an incentive to sell drivers other services to make up for the mere $2 they make from the state for conducting each test.  Journal Sentinel

IN: Indiana looks to outsourcing Hoosier Lottery
The $791 million Hoosier Lottery wants to be among the fastest-growing in the country, and it’s looking to the gambling industry to help it reach that goal. The lottery threw open bidding July 11 for a 10-year contract on marketing, sales and distribution services. The response from the private sector is likely to be enthusiastic, as Indiana will be one of the first states to enter a major outsourcing deal since the U.S. Department of Justice said states could engage in non-sports gambling online.  Indianapolis Business Journal

CA: The thin green line
…More than one park district superintendent has told me that while motivating people during these circumstances, the department was at the same time, promoting the privatization of park resources and undermining the basic intent of public-trust lands. Examples of this include the recent issuing by the department of requests-for-proposals to concession out the management of up to 20 parks and encouraging corporations to sponsor and fund the high-profile, glitzy aspects of a park operation. Less visible or less marketable aspects do not receive the same attention. Cumulatively, this leads to commercialization, the degradation of public lands and public trust and disparity throughout the system The core principles of the state’s public-trust resources are at stake. The actions by executives in the department give the appearance that money was concealed to create a false financial emergency while encouraging the privatization effort.  Santa Cruz Sentinel

NY: Park privatization elsewhere – opinion
Despite City Hall’s disastrous track record with outsourcing contracts to large corporations, like CityTime to SAIC and the 911 emergency-call system to HP, Mayor Bloomberg apparently continues to believe in the myth that private companies always do a better job than the public workers already on the payroll. Perhaps in an attempt to repair his bad record of farming out multibillion-dollar technology projects, the mayor is aggressively moving forward with what may prove to be the largest such project in New York’s history: privatizing the operations and maintenance of the city’s nearly 90,000 total parking spaces. If his plan proceeds, a private company would soon be servicing our Muni-Meters and collecting the money. Preliminary proposals are due tomorrow, Tuesday, so New Yorkers need to know the facts today. As the mayor’s proposal notes, in a city such as New York, where space is limited, parking is the lifeblood of our neighborhoods and businesses — enabling people to work, shop, eat at restaurants, visit doctors, see family and run errands of all kinds. In fact, when you look at the financials of our parking system, it becomes clear that our curbs and parking spots are not only a scarce and shared resource but also a municipal treasure. New York Daily News

TX: State Parks and Wildlife Department turns to corporate sponsorships to raise money
Are you a bank willing to chip in $500,000 toward the upkeep of Texas state parks? In return, you could put the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department logo on your credit card and get your company name on trail maps. Desperate to shore up its finances following budget cuts, the state parks department recently announced it is turning to corporate partnerships for at least a modest boost to its coffers. The Legislature cut the agency’s budget by 17.6 percent, or $114 million, for the 2012-13 biennium. As a result, the department eliminated 169 full-time positions, 111 of which were occupied. It closed two regional offices and reduced the budget for minor repairs and park support. The agency also slashed much of the money it put toward a program that doles out matching grants to cities, counties and other local entities to develop their parks. The parks department is soliciting partnerships through an official request for proposals, which includes a menu of partnership options ranging from “$100,000-$149,999” to “$500,000 or more.” Statesman

Headlines
Report: Profit Motive May Be Influencing Immigration Policies
FL: Sen. Nan Rich seeks to block inmate health care outsourcing
FL: Report claims Florida lawmakers do bidding of corporate-funded ALEC
FL: Florida prison vendor agrees to hefty fine in Pa. case
NY: Legislator: Sewage Privatization Plan Will Cost You
TX: An Outsourcing Plan Stirs Fear at Texas A&M

Report: Profit Motive May Be Influencing Immigration Policies
The for-profit prison sector would have been hit hard by the Great Recession had it not been for expanded federal immigration enforcement. That’s according to a just-released report by The Sentencing Project. States suffering budget shortfalls, like Texas, have trimmed prison populations, reducing the need for new private contracts. But federal agencies have helped take up the slack by increasingly relying on private facilities to hold detainees awaiting hearings, according to Cody Mason, who authored the report. “A lot of the detention growth is coming from immigrant detainees. There are these huge networks of facilities that they’re being housed in, and they’re not properly being overseen. It’s hard to keep track of where people are being held and what companies are actually holding them.” He says most new detention centers are for-profit. One such facility opened this year in Karnes City. It’s an example of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s effort to steer fewer detainees into the prison system. The Orange Leader

FL: Sen. Nan Rich seeks to block inmate health care outsourcing
Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich, D-Weston, has lodged a formal objection to the Legislature giving final approval to budget transfers that would allow the prison system to privatize health care for 100,000 inmates….The outsourcing of health care in Florida prisons has a checkered history, and this latest venture is highly controversial because it was created under budget proviso language that expired June 30 when the previous fiscal year ended. “But for the proviso, the appropriation would not be made,” Rich wrote. “Consequently, I believe the DOC does not have the authority to privatize health services in prisons.” Miami Herald

FL: Report claims Florida lawmakers do bidding of corporate-funded ALEC
Some of the most controversial bills introduced recently in the Florida Legislature were thought up by out-of-state corporate interests with financial motives, according to a report released Thursday by a two national watchdog groups and Progress Florida. The report says the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, is a shadowy force exerting an uncanny amount of power over Florida’s lawmaking process. ALEC advances so-called “model bills” on items like public education, immigration, labor issues, healthcare, gun rights and voter rights. Replicas of those business-friendly bills often end up in legislation sponsored by Florida lawmakers who are ALEC members, the report found. Dozens of Florida lawmakers have ties to the group, which has been thrust into the spotlight this year as the main force behind the rapid spread of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law across the country. “We realized that this was a massive corporate agenda that often puts the corporate agenda in front of public interest and in some cases, public safety,” said Doug Clopp, of Common Cause, a liberal group. “What ALEC represents is the poster child for a non-transparent [political process] that puts corporate profits ahead of the public interest.” Miami Herald

FL: Florida prison vendor agrees to hefty fine in Pa. case
The company awaiting final approval from Gov. Rick Scott’s administration to privatize health care services for most Florida prison inmates has agreed to pay a $1.85 million fine in Philadelphia for skirting minority contracting requirements. The vendor, Prison Health Services, now known as Corizon Health, is accused of falsifying official documents and federal prosecutors are looking for evidence of mail and wire fraud.  Miami Herald

NY: Legislator: Sewage Privatization Plan Will Cost You
‎Legislator Dave Denenberg said Tuesday that Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano’s sewage privatization plan will put a dent in the wallets of taxpayers. “This is the biggest giveaway of county assets that will cost county taxpayers forever,” Denenberg said at a public forum held at Bellmore Memorial Library. “The bottom line is that the sewer tax will be converted into a rate that will go up at least 3 percent and as much as 10 percent per year.”   Patch.com

TX: An Outsourcing Plan Stirs Fear at Texas A&M
When the Texas A&M University System announced that its flagship would gain $260 million in new revenue and savings in the next 10 years by outsourcing its building maintenance, landscaping and dining services, Chancellor John Sharp said the plan was an unprecedented way to raise money in financially struggling higher education…But excitement over the plan is not universal. Many people on campus and in the surrounding community are worried and angry. A&M staff members who perform the support services have expressed concern over their future employment. And Bryan-College Station vendors fret that they could lose one of their biggest clients…. As financially squeezed public universities increasingly turn to the private sector to generate revenue, their actions can create discord within college communities. The University of Texas at Austin has been derided for starting the Longhorn Network, a 24-hour sports channel that it said would raise hundreds of millions of dollars but that has failed to win major cable contracts. The private partner in A&M’s effort is Compass Group USA, based in North Carolina. The company is expected to take over support services at A&M in August, creating its largest partnership with a university. The New York Times

Headlines
LA:New Rules Shift Tens Of Millions Of Dollars From Public Schools
CA: Misguided call to privatize universities – opinion
FL: New county administrator says privatization fed purchasing scandal
UT: Watchdog claims Utah lawmakers are corporate lapdogs
The Semi-Private Lottery

LA: New Rules Shift Tens Of Millions Of Dollars From Public Schools
State money will continue to flow to scores of private and religious schools participating in Louisiana’s new voucher program even if their students fail basic reading and math tests, according to new guidelines released by the state on Monday. The voucher program, the most sweeping in the nation, is the linchpin of Louisiana’s bold push to reshape public education. The state plans to shift tens of millions of dollars from public schools to pay not only private schools but also private businesses and private tutors to educate children across the state. Huffington Post

CA: Misguided call to privatize universities – opinion
For a chilling look at what the University of California would look like if it were run by unprincipled economic ethos, look no further than “Public No More.” The title of this new book from business school deans Gary Fethke of the University of Iowa and Andrew Policano of UC Irvine provides an apt summary of the book’s libertarian call to privatize most of what public universities do. That is, it is a call to run these universities much like corporations, and to do so for private benefit rather than the public good. The authors’ fatally flawed assumption is that “higher education is primarily a private good, with most of its returns flowing to the recipients” rather than a public good benefiting our broader economy and society. Nothing could be further from the truth. Public universities, such as the University of California, which engage in some of the most innovative basic research in the world, generate huge spillover effects for local, state and national economies. While the fruits of such research can’t be turned easily into profits by the universities themselves, such research is a powerful magnet for business investment – and the jobs that come with it. San Francisco Chronicle

FL: New county administrator says privatization fed purchasing scandal
Signaling a major difference in philosophy from his predecessor, Sarasota County Administrator Randall Reid now blames a rush to privatize government services for last year’s purchasing scandal. Reid said that an increased reliance on contracts for goods and services — Sarasota County spends about $300 million a year on such contracts — was typical in many other governments as the Great Recession forced hard looks at spending. Compounding the poorly executed attempt to push more government services into the private sector was a reluctance to acknowledge the problems that started arising, Reid said. ..He now says Sarasota County government will reevaluate whether any services could be better accomplished in-house.  Herald Tribune

UT: Watchdog claims Utah lawmakers are corporate lapdogs
A national watchdog group says Utah legislators too often act as lapdogs for corporations that lobby with stealth through the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council — often introducing in their own names ALEC model bills without disclosing who actually wrote them…Since 2001, Utah lawmakers copied ALEC model bills word-for-word and introduced them at least 17 times, and heavily relied on model ALEC legislation numerous other times, according to a report prepared by Common Cause, the Center for Media and Democracy, People for the American Way, ProgressNow and the Alliance for a Better Utah….The report compared bills introduced in the Utah Legislature with ALEC model bills and internal documents provided by whistle blowers. Common Cause President and CEO Bob Edgar, a former Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, said pushing ALEC model bills is a big deal because corporations can pay to be on ALEC committees that draft and vote on model legislation — and they often push privatization of government services to help corporations.  The Salt Lake Tribune

The Semi-Private Lottery
With budgets still tight, states are asking lotteries to bring in more money. In some cases, that means hiring a private operator to reinvent them. Faced with a persistently rocky economy, and budgets straining at the seams, a number of them may soon follow the Illinois example. Partial privatization of lottery services is attractive to states looking to quickly develop new games, leverage technology — and shift the risks to the private sector. “This is a way that lotteries are looking at boosting sales,” says Kilsby, “without having to expend state resources.”  “If you look at the amount of dollars that are returned to the various programs funded by Illinois, you have to say it’s a resounding success,” says Rebecca Hargrove, president and CEO of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation.  Stateline

Headlines
The GOP Plan to Get Air Traffic Safety on the Cheap
Media Matters: WSJ Covers Up ALEC Link To Anti-Union School Privatization Law
FL: Court rejects Florida prison privatization appeal
AZ:  Documents Show Arizona Officials Knew Private Prisons Weren’t Saving Money
LA: Louisiana sets rules for landmark school voucher program
CA: LA Times Demands Records on Privatization of LA Memorial Coliseum
PA: Editorial: Halfway houses need repairs

The GOP Plan to Get Air Traffic Safety on the Cheap
Privatize the job. Republican Representative Tom Petri of Wisconsin, who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s aviation subcommittee, says private controllers handle about 28 percent of the nation’s aviation traffic, The Hill reports. The private contractors work mostly at low-activity airports near smaller cities that are served by commuter airlines rather than major carriers. If Petri has his way, the ranks of private contractors will grow.  Business Week

Media Matters: WSJ Covers Up ALEC Link To Anti-Union School Privatization Law
The Wall Street Journal this morning failed to report ties between the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and controversial “parent-trigger” legislation that would allow parents to take over and convert public schools to charter schools. They also failed to report that the Journal’s parent company, News Corp, is a member of ALEC. The Journal’s treatment of the legislation also cited no criticism of the proposal, which has been described as an effort “to manipulate parents into letting [the charter school lobby] privatize more public schools…In addition to not disclosing their conflict of interest, the Journal reported on the claims of “advocates” of the legislation, but made no mention of opposition by several parent organizations, including parents who wanted their initial petition signatures in favor of that legislation revoked, because “many parents said that they had been misled about what the petitions called for” as well as “harassment by some signature gatherers.” Media Matters

FL: Court rejects Florida prison privatization appeal
An appellate court has rejected Attorney General Pam Bondi’s appeal of ruling against the Legislature’s plan to privatize nearly 30 prison facilities in South Florida. A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal rejected her plea to reverse a lower court’s ruling against privatization, saying Bondi couldn’t appeal on her own after her client, the Department of Corrections, declined to do so. The panel unanimously dismissed the case because Bondi was not a party…Leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature had urged Bondi to appeal after Gov. Rick Scott decided the department, which is part of his administration, would not…Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford of Tallahassee last year blocked the privatization plan, saying it violated the Florida Constitution because it should have been authorized through passage of a stand-alone law instead of being tucked into the budget. Lawmakers subsequently considered such a bill, but it was defeated in the Florida Senate.  Miami Herald

AZ: Documents Show Arizona Officials Knew Private Prisons Weren’t Saving Money
Documents recently obtained by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) show that the state of Arizona deliberately circumvented and ultimately repealed a state law requiring private for-profit prison corporations to demonstrate cost savings in their bids on new prison contracts. These records reveal that the state was aware that existing private prison contracts were not saving the state money–despite state laws requiring private prison contractors to deliver such savings…For the past six years, these reports have consistently found that private prisons are not saving the state money, and in many cases, the private beds cost more than equivalent public beds. In fact, an AFSC analysis of ADC Per Capita Cost Reports revealed that between 2008-2010, Arizona overpaid for its private prison beds by $10 million. Therefore, it would be impossible for a for-profit prison corporation to claim that its proposed prison would save the state money using this data as the basis of the assessment.  But instead of holding the for-profit prison corporations accountable or changing course, the Arizona State Legislature simply began circumventing the law. Tuscon Citizen

LA: Louisiana sets rules for landmark school voucher program
State money will continue to flow to scores of private and religious schools participating in Louisiana’s new voucher program even if their students fail basic reading and math tests, according to new guidelines released by the state on Monday.  The voucher program, the most sweeping in the nation, is the linchpin of Louisiana’s bold push to reshape public education. The state plans to shift tens of millions of dollars from public schools to pay not only private schools but also private businesses and private tutors to educate children across the state…Critics, including teachers’ unions, argue that vouchers unfairly divert vital tax dollars from public schools.  The Louisiana vouchers cover the full cost of private school tuition for poor and middle-class children who would otherwise attend a low-performing public school. In pushing the plan, Jindal and State Superintendent of Education John White promised to hold the private schools accountable for student achievement. MSNBC

CA: LA Times Demands Records on Privatization of LA Memorial Coliseum
The Los Angeles Times claims in court that a deal to privatize Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was negotiated behind closed doors, and that the Coliseum Commission blew off the newspaper’s requests for public records. Joining the Times as plaintiff in Superior Court is Californians Aware, a free speech advocacy group. They sued the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission for public records, and asked the court to reject a lease to the (nonparty) University of California, and let the public vote on the deal.  The commission negotiated the lease after it failed to deliver stadium upgrades as part of its agreement with USC, the Times reported one week ago. The Coliseum has projected losses of roughly $5 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2013: almost one-third of its operating budget. Courthouse News Service

PA: Editorial: Halfway houses need repairs
Hearings into the lax oversight of New Jersey’s prison halfway houses won’t do much good if they don’t dig into the fundamental question of whether the state should scrap the privatized program and assume direct control with its own employees. The separate Assembly and state Senate hearings this week come a month after a New York Times series reported that some halfway houses have become dens of violence, drug abuse, and sexual assault. They have become holding tanks for prisoners awaiting trial and include inmates with such violent histories they should have never been assigned to live in low-security settings. It’s no wonder some residents have begged to be returned to a regular prison…Halfway houses are cheaper to run than regular prisons — by about half. But you get what you pay for. The poorly paid halfway-house employees have little motivation to do their jobs well. There is a cost to their incompetence. One man sent to a halfway house for not paying traffic fines was killed. Another resident escaped and killed a former girlfriend. Philadelphia Inqirer

eadlines
Privatized prison health care scrutinized
NJ: Charter Schools Have New Accountability System in New Jersey
IN: Human toll of Social Services deal is laid bare – editorial
CO: University leaders give their warnings
CO: Effort to Privatize Colorado Workers’ Comp Insurance Fund Fails
MI: Privatization plan for prisons moves ahead
OH: Is state’s $3,200/hour consultant 3 weeks late on Turnpike study?

Privatized prison health care scrutinized
About 20 states, including Arizona, Illinois and Maryland, have shifted all or portions of their prison health-care operations to private providers in an attempt to cut costs, a trend that is raising concerns among unions and prisoners’ rights groups. Officials in the states say the companies — which provide medical, dental, mental and pharmaceutical services — are less expensive than employing state workers, in part because using them saves on benefits and pension costs. Human rights groups, however, say that private services are not always providing care that is as good or better than what the state could. Joel Thompson, co-chair of the Health Care Project at Prisoners’ Legal Services in Massachusetts, said using private services can carry its own set of problems. “As with anything privatized or contracted out, you worry about whether the incentive to cut costs becomes too great,” he said. Public employees see the move as yet another attack on unions, and question the delivery of care. “Private correctional health care companies have a track record of cost cutting that put both inmates and staff at risk,” said Kerry Korpi, director of research for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. “These companies’ goal is profit, not public safety.”  Washington Post

NJ: Charter Schools Have New Accountability System in New Jersey
When New Jersey approved nine new charter schools on Monday, it also announced a new accountability system aimed at setting uniform standards to evaluate the success of charters over time.  The annual “Performance Framework” will examine academic achievement, financial performance, and governance in the state’s 86 charter schools. Schools will do a self-review, evaluated by the state. Previously, the state simply relied on each school’s initial application plan to hold the schools accountable, said Barbara Morgan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education. The Philadelphia Inquirer

IN: Human toll of Social Services deal is laid bare – editorial
John Cardwell could be forgiven for gloating, but he’s doing nothing of the sort. “There are still people hurting,” said the long-time social services advocate. “There’s not much warmth in that satisfaction.” A judge’s ruling last week, however, confirms what Cardwell and other critics warned about when Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration first proposed privatizing Indiana’s welfare system. Advocates charged in 2006 that a $1.6 billion contract with IBM was being pushed through without opportunity for public input and without a cost-benefit analysis. But Mitch Roob, then the FSSA secretary, pushed ahead, to the detriment of low-income families, older Hoosiers and people with disabilities and – as the judge’s ruling shows – to the benefit of Affiliated Computer Systems, Roob’s former employer and the lead subcontractor in the project. Cardwell, chairman of the Indiana Home Care Task Force, said the deal was “based on all the wrong motivations – to give contracts to private companies to make maximum profits off the misery of our poorest residents.” Indeed, replacing county caseworkers with an automated call-center operation proved disastrous to a vulnerable population. It created immediate backlogs and left some Hoosiers without access to needed assistance. Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

CO: University leaders give their warnings
Top higher education officials on Friday said drastic cuts in public funding have left the state’s institutions with dire shortfalls – and students paying far more in tuition. Colorado State University President Tony Frank, who met with The Durango Herald editorial board as part of a statewide tour, said he is concerned that higher education is on its way to privatization. “I’m afraid we’re going to hit 2025 and have privatized higher education without ever having the conversation,” he said.  Durango Herald

CO: Effort to Privatize Colorado Workers’ Comp Insurance Fund Fails
Despite extensive lobbying, the latest attempt to privatize Pinnacol, Colorado’s state-owned workers’ compensation insurer, failed to gain legislative approval. Business Review

MI: Privatization plan for prisons moves ahead
The state Department of Corrections is moving forward with privatizing nearly $500 million in services following Gov. Rick Snyder’s signature in late June on new laws needed to bid the jobs out. The department will try to shave its $1.9 billion budget by bidding out medical and mental health services, including the Woodlands facility for mentally ill inmates in Whitmore Lake, which cost more than $334 million to run annually. The Detroit News

OH: Is state’s $3,200/hour consultant 3 weeks late on Turnpike study?
Governor Kasich wants to privatize the Ohio Turnpike. He’s made that clear. He’s even told us he’s holding out for $3 billion. And his two-year budget included language allowing him to do it. His first step was to hire a consultant to look at how much other states have gotten in exchange for privatizing their toll roads. KPMG was selected in November, and got the green light to proceed in February. Recommendations about the road’s future were due no later than July 1, 2012. That was nearly three weeks ago. So where are the KPMG recommendations? Did they recommend selling the Turnpike? Leasing it? Hiring an outside operator? Transferring it to ODOT? It would be really interesting to know, but so far, ODOT has remained silent about whether or not the report was even delivered on time.If the study is not complete, how much more is KPMG billing the state? With an original price tag of $2.85 million for five months of work, KPMG’s consultants were charging just under $3,200 per hour. Every day of delay could cost taxpayers $25,000. PlunderBund

Headlines
Towns Cut Costs by Sending Work Next Door
For-Profit College At Risk Of Losing Accreditation And Access To Federal Student Aid
NJ: Focus on Halfway Houses at a State Senate Hearing
IN: Daniels: State Will Appeal IBM Ruling
MI: State is taking bids to privatize prison health care

Towns Cut Costs by Sending Work Next Door
MOLALLA, Ore.—This town of 8,000 residents has found a way to trim its troubled budget: outsource city-hall jobs to a nearby county government. In 2008, Molalla spent $507,973 on employee salaries and other expenses to handle its building permits, inspections and other construction red tape. In the fiscal year ended June 2012, it spent less than $150,000 for that work. Molalla did it by finding a subcontractor, much as some corporations contract out to specialists the task of making their products. The town is paying Clackamas County to take care of the construction-related work. So far, town residents aren’t complaining. The Wall Street Journal ($)

For-Profit College At Risk Of Losing Accreditation And Access To Federal Student Aid
In just seven years, Ashford University has grown to be one of the nation’s largest for-profit colleges, morphing from a 300-student Catholic school in Iowa into a massive online institution serving more than 90,000. Ashford’s explosive growth was a product of shortcomings in the collegiate accreditation system, according to critics: A California corporation purchased an accredited, near-bankrupt Iowa college in 2005 and used it as a platform to access hundreds of millions of dollars in federal student aid. Now Ashford is at risk of losing its accreditation, a scenario that would jeopardize the school’s ability to tap into federal student loans and grants — the source of more than 85 percent of its revenues. In the week since Ashford’s parent company announced that a regional consortium of colleges had denied the school’s bid for new accreditation, the company’s stock has plummeted more than 50 percent. The review team with the Western Association of Schools & Colleges found that Ashford was not investing enough in its academic programs, devoting significantly more resources toward new-student recruitment than educating its current students. The report found the school suffered from an “under-allocation” of faculty and staff, leaving the school unable to adequately promote student success. Although Ashford’s student population is much larger than major state universities such as Ohio State and the University of Texas, it has only a few dozen full-time faculty members. Huffington Post

NJ: Focus on Halfway Houses at a State Senate Hearing
Legislators said Thursday that the state should consider posting corrections officers inside privately run halfway houses, a move that would significantly increase New Jersey’s oversight of the troubled facilities. Many of the state’s halfway houses are the size of prisons, but have little of the security, relying upon low-wage workers with little training instead of professional officers. Proposals to increase staffing and security were discussed at a State Senate hearing, where lawmakers pressed halfway house operators and senior state officials about escapes, drug use and violence in the facilities.
Legislators said they were disturbed that the halfway house network had arisen with minimal oversight and regulation…Community Education Centers, the company that dominates the halfway house system and has recently come under fire, sought to bolster support by packing the room with staff members and former inmates. Gary M. Lanigan, the corrections commissioner, acknowledged problems with the halfway houses, saying, “There have been horrific acts that have happened.” The New York Times

IN: Daniels: State Will Appeal IBM Ruling
The State of Indiana has to pay IBM $52 million for terminating a contract with the company to overhaul the state’s welfare system.  IBM was hired in 2006 to improve Indiana’s welfare system through privatization. However, the system’s improvement worsened and in 2009 the state cancelled the $437 million contract.  IBM had been seeking $113 million for the cancelled contract. The state countersued to regain $150 million of the contract amount. In issuing the ruling Wednesday, Marion County Judge David Dreyer determined the state owed IBM $12.5 million for equipment, in addition to $40 million he had previously ordered the state to pay. Dreyer said neither side deserved to win and that taxpayers were the losers in the case.  Daniels said Indiana had the nation’s worst welfare system eight years ago, and now has its most timely, accurate, cost effective, and fraud free system ever…Meanwhile, Democrats say the botch welfare privatization should serve as a lesson. EagleCountyonline

MI: State is taking bids to privatize prison health care
The State of Michigan has called for bids in what could be the largest privatization of state government services in Michigan history. Proposals are due Aug. 29 for a massive deal to provide medical services — physical and mental — to all 43,000 inmates held in Michigan prisons. Services include wound care, treatment of heart disease and diabetes, dental care, optometry and sex offender treatment.
The contract could replace the work of 1,300 state employees, Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan said Thursday. Prison medical and mental health services cost the state $306 million in 2011, and the state wants to test the waters through competitive bidding to determine how much or whether it can reduce that, he said. The three-year deal, if it proceeds, could easily eclipse the state’s 1995 sale of its workers compensation insurer, the Michigan Accident Fund, for $255 million. Though privatization initiatives of various types can be difficult to compare, that deal, under former Republican Gov. John Engler, is sometimes cited as the largest to date by the state…Michigan’s track record on privatization has been spotty. Because many of the jobs in the current deal involve health care professionals with marketable skills, such as nurses, critics say the state won’t be able to save as much on pay and benefits as it might in other cases…Roland Zullo, a research scientist at the Institute for Research on Labor, Employment, and the Economy at the University of Michigan, said the complex contract — the request for proposals has 134 pages, plus 30 appendices — will be difficult and costly to monitor. “Even if the state outsources this, the state still remains liable for what happens to those prisoners,” Zullo said.  Detroit Free Press