Public Safety and Justice Update: 11/22/23

Michigan Democrats who have transformed gun laws in the state in the wake of multiple mass school shootings are now making it more difficult for individuals with convictions for misdemeanor domestic violence to get guns…

Recent mass shootings have put a spotlight on the gun laws in states where tragedies occurred, prompting local legislators to address the growing impact of gun violence on the U.S. Maine has come under scrutiny for its lack of gun restrictions following the 10/25 shooting in Lewiston, Maine, that left 18 people dead and injured 13 more…

In an effort to boost recruiting, Pennsylvania lawmakers have passed a bill to lower the police academy fitness requirement. Pennsylvania police departments have struggled to recruit cadets since the pandemic, and protests in the summer of 2020 over police brutality in the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis…

“Super Meth” and other drugs are pushing America’s drug crisis beyond opioids. The utility of medications to reverse overdoses, developed to address the opioid crisis, is diminishing…

California advocacy groups are preparing legislation that would ban schools from expelling or suspending students for possessing drugs, alcohol or nicotine products — an approach no other state has taken…

Weekly Update 11/20/23

Appropriations

Another House Republican spending bill hit a roadblock Wednesday (11/15) as the House punted legislation to fund the departments of Labor, Health and Education until after the Thanksgiving break in the face of opposition from within their own ranks…

House lawmakers left town Wednesday (11/15) for Thanksgiving after a GOP revolt that led to defeat of the rule for floor debate on the final two pieces of legislation before leaving…

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) says she wants to see Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) call up another multibill funding package for floor debate, in short order…

President and Administration

On Monday, 11/13, the Federal Communications Commission proposed the creation of a Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program that would allow the Commission to obtain valuable data concerning the cybersecurity and advanced firewall services that would best help K-12 schools and libraries address the growing cyber threats and attacks against their broadband networks…

On Tuesday, 11/14, the U.S. Supreme Court  took up its first major Second Amendment case since it expanded the right to bear arms in a landmark decision last year, and once again the idea of protecting schools was in the backdrop of the debate…

 More Americans used tobacco, misused drugs and alcohol and struggled with mental illness in 2022 compared to 2021, a new national survey released Monday (11/13) shows, leading Biden administration officials to call for more funding from Congress to address the crisis…

Congress

Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum are among a list of conservative luminaries who wrote congressional leadership on Tuesday, 11/14, urging lawmakers to strengthen the Child Tax Credit in a potential year-end tax deal…

Education

Despite undergraduate enrollment gains for the first time since the pandemic began, a new report shows jarring declines among traditional freshmen…

In an unusual, first-of-its-kind ranking of 35 states and the District of Columbia, charter schools in Alaska turned in the highest scores in reading and math, with students there learning the equivalent of about a year’s more material than their peers in other charter schools…

Educators in Los Angeles are awaiting the unveiling of a new policy limiting the use of nearly half the city’s school buildings by independently run charter schools…

Public charter schools are more productive than traditional school districts in terms of their ability to translate a given level of investment into math and reading gains for students…

About 2.9 million high school students took at least one Advanced Placement course in the 2020-21 school year, according to the latest federal data measuring access to educational opportunity…

A new case study found that schools continue to deploy “school hardening measures” like campus police and surveillance technology despite research suggesting that efforts to support youth well-being are more effective…

Weekly Update 11/13/23

Appropriations

Speaker Mike Johnson will seek to pass a complex “clean” stopgap funding bill tomorrow, 11/14, that maintains the status quo…

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is firing up a funding backstop to ward off a government shutdown, not waiting to see what kind of short-term spending fix Speaker Johnson tries to rally his raucous GOP conference around…

The House of Representatives postponed a vote on a transportation funding bill on Tuesday evening (11/7) minutes before it was scheduled to be considered on the House floor, a sign that it likely did not have the votes to pass…

House Republicans skipped passage of the judiciary, Treasury Department and IRS on Thursday, 11/9, as Speaker Mike Johnson’s legislative goals teeter thanks to the same disputes that vexed his predecessor…

California

Inflation may not be the only reason Californians are dealing with high prices at the grocery store…

California advocacy groups are preparing legislation that would ban schools from expelling or suspending students for possessing drugs, alcohol or nicotine products — an approach no other state has taken…

Last year, Californians voted to ban flavored tobacco products from being sold in the state…

Neither California’s traditional public schools nor charter schools have an edge over one another in national rankings of student achievement, according to the first assessments of charter students conducted by the Nation’s Report Card…

Congress

An influential group of House and Senate lawmakers will soon propose a set of sweeping restrictions over the government’s ability to surveil the digital exhaust and online communications of Americans, according to a copy of the legislation shared with Politico…

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), the West Virginia centrist and appropriator who helped shape Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, announced Thursday, 11/9, that he won’t run for reelection next year…

Education

As part of its 2023 “State of the American Student” report, the Center on Reinventing Public Education invited 14 experts from various sectors to write about the path forward in education, with an eye toward innovation, solutions and hope…

As schools continue to recover from the pandemic, there’s one troubling COVID symptom they can’t seem to shake: record-setting absenteeism…

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released a new round of findings from the School Pulse Panel, examining summer programs in 2023 and after-school programs during the 2023-24 school year…

A federally funded program designed to increase the number of educationally disadvantaged students attending North Carolina charter schools has met most of its goals, Barbara O’Neal, NC ACCESS program administrator, told the NC Charter Schools Review Board this week…

Infrastructure and Transportation Update - October 2023

California

On Monday, 10/16, a trucking industry group The California Trucking Association filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California against the California Air Resources Board’s Advanced Clean Fleets rule, which requires large trucking companies to transition their fleets to zero-emissions by 2042…

In California's Bay Area, where highway traffic often moves slower than cold molasses, voters have a long history of generously paying to support public transportation, even though most don’t use it much themselves…

California’s top 10 public transit agencies (including BART) must survey riders about safety, sexual harassment, and racial and gender-based discrimination in order to learn more about threats to riders of buses and trains, according to new requirements spelled out in legislation signed into state law…

A small pilot project in Los Angeles is testing the waters of funding a universal basic mobility program…

A new vehicle charging incentive program in California aims to increase mid-level charging in apartment housing, job sites, places of worship and other areas…

Electric bike programs in the San Francisco Bay Area are investing millions of dollars toward incentives for purchasing a bike, as well as a program to lend them out…

President and Administration

EPA has formally closed a long-panned loophole that allowed industry to avoid reporting small releases of "forever chemicals…”

Gas-powered vehicle sales are projected to peak globally between 2027 to 2033, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in a report released Wednesday, 10/11, which also found that electric vehicles will eventually constitute the majority of new vehicles…

Congress

Legislation to ensure electric vehicles contribute to a federal highway funding account was recently introduced in the U.S. Senate…

Public Safety and Justice Update: 11/10/23

The U.S. has made some progress over the past few decades, enacting gun policies that have saved lives, according to a new study by Princeton University…

The Supreme Court heard arguments this week in a case that could limit the legislative and political power of Congress and local lawmakers to regulate gun possession nationwide…

California is showing progress at reducing domestic violence involving firearms and gun homicides against women and children more broadly as its efforts face a challenge before the Supreme Court, Attorney General Rob Bonta and advocates said this week…

California advocacy groups are preparing legislation that would ban schools from expelling or suspending students for possessing drugs, alcohol or nicotine products…

Four members of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department have died by suicide since Monday, 11/6, according to a statement from the department…

An Oakland police sergeant was defending himself when he shot and killed a man who targeted him just steps away from the plaza at City Hall, an officer with the police union said…