Toomey Bill Takes Aim at Federal Funding for Sanctuary Cities; Drug Tests for Illinois State Workers
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Connecting state and local government leaders
Also in our State and Local Daily Digest: S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley’s hurricane recovery request; a Calexit vote in 2018?; ACLU vs. Maine police over social media monitoring.
SANCTUARY CITIES | Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey has urged President-elect Trump to take action against Philadelphia and other cities where law enforcement agencies refuse to hand over undocumented immigrants to federal authorities. Toomey has proposed a bill that would deprive such sanctuary cities of federal community development block grants. Philadelphia received nearly $39 million from such grants this year. [Keystone Crossroads]
WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT | Under a new plan from Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, state workers in Illinois who are suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol while on the job may now be subject to drug tests. But state workers won’t be randomly drug tested across the state workforce. [WJOL; CBS Chicago]
DISASTER RECOVERY | South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley plans to ask state lawmakers to budget $64 million for Hurricane Matthew recovery next year, after the extreme weather event caused $341 million in damage to public property—$100 million of that to state-owned roads. [The State]
CALEXIT | Last week, a grassroots group called Yes California proposed a 2018 ballot measure that would ask voters if the Golden State should become its own nation. But the path for the state to break away from the U.S. would face significant financial and political obstacles, according to experts. “I don’t see how Californians get to the point where a majority of us want to secede,” said Darry Sragow, a Democratic strategist who teaches election law at the University of Southern California. “I cannot envision a circumstance under which the rest of the country would even think about this for a nanosecond.” [The Sacramento Bee]
RAISES | New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is willing to reconvene a commission granting the state legislature its first pay raise since 1999 if they support a number of his reforms including a $2 billion affordable housing plan, hate crime task force and reforming contracting at SUNY and CUNY. The political maneuvering prompted Sen. John DeFrancisco, a Democrat from Syracuse, to say: “If that isn’t pay to play, I don’t know what the heck is.” [Democrat & Chronicle]
LAW ENFORCEMENT | Maine police have been using a controversial computer program, known as Geofeedia, which is designed to monitor social media posts. “People don’t realize that the government is monitoring the personal information they share,” said Zachary Heiden, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine. [Bangor Daily News]
PARKING | The effectiveness of Chicago’s overnight parking ban during winter months on some city streets is called into question by an investigative report from a local public radio station. “A closer look at three years of city data suggests the overnight parking ban is not necessary for snowplows to keep the streets clear—and towing patterns indicate the policy appears to be a large money maker,” according to the story. [WBEZ]
WORKFORCE REDUCTIONS | Mark Webb, a blind applications systems technician with Shawnee County, Kansas for 28 years, had his job unanimously eliminated by commissioners 16 months before his retirement and after teaching himself new technologies to continue assisting jail employees within the Department of Corrections. Commissioners said they would try to find him another role in government, but the layoff illustrates how automation is reducing employee headcount—often to the detriment of those overcoming accessibility issues. [The Topeka Capital-Journal]
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | “I’m glad to see that our government is taking an attitude that we need to retain jobs," said Rowan County, Indiana, Commissioner Craig Pierce regarding Carrier’s decision not to move its manufacturing plant out of the U.S, which President-elect Trump has claimed credit for. "You know it’s great to create jobs, but if you’re letting skilled labor jobs at $20, $25 an hour go away and you’re bringing, replacing them with minimum wage jobs, we’re not really doing what’s best for our citizens.” The county has been hit hard by job losses in the manufacturing sector. [WBTV]
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