Month: December 2024

This past November, a total of six ballot measures were decided on by voters in Nebraska.

The one that received the most widespread support: a new requirement that workers in the state have access to paid sick leave. Seventy-five percent of Nebraskans voted for the proposal, a higher margin compared to results reported in the two other states with similar ballot initiatives in 2024, Alaska and Missouri. (The measures passed in these two states as well.) Nebraska now joins Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota as the Midwestern states with these kinds of laws in place.

From stalled legislation to ballot win in Nebraska

Beginning in October, Nebraskans working at a small business (fewer than 20 employees) will be able to accrue at least five days of paid leave in a year. Employees at larger businesses can earn at least seven.

Individuals who work less than 80 hours in a calendar year are not covered. The law also does not apply to federal railway workers and federal or state employees.

Nebraska Sen. Tony Vargas, a supporter of the new law, recalls when his parents had jobs that didn’t provide paid sick leave and, as a result, faced decisions on whether they could attend to a loved one’s health (or their own).

When they did have benefits, he says, the decision-making process changed to, “What was best for the family, not what can we afford to do right now?”

Vargas had attempted to get a bill through Nebraska’s Unicameral Legislature. His 2021 measure (LB 258) called for nongovernmental employers who hire four or more people to provide workers with at least 40 hours of leave in a calendar year.

Vargas says he attempted to make concessions — including an amendment that would have exempted businesses with fewer than 50 employees and another that would have mandated unpaid sick leave combined with new worker protections — but the bill still stalled.

He acknowledges that the voter-approved policy could be reversed by the Legislature. (Vargas’ eight-year run as a senator ended at the close of 2024.)

But he believes the fact that it passed so overwhelmingly signifies support from not only Nebraska workers, but business owners as well.

Workers’ access to paid sick leave is on the rise

In early 2024, the IZA Institute of Labor Economics released a policy paper that summarized past research on paid sick leave while examining the impacts on employer costs and the effects of state mandates. Among the results reported in that paper:

• “Employees without access to sick pay are less likely to undergo mammographies, Pap tests and endoscopies at recommended intervals.”
• The estimated cost for employers providing paid sick leave is 41 cents per hour, according to the institute’s analysis of data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• State-level mandates result in an increase of 13 percentage points in the “coverage rate”: employees who have access to paid sick leave.

Other recent research produced by IZA found mandated paid sick leave reduced rates of influenza-like illness by an average of 11 percent in the first year (relative to states without mandates) as the frequency of working-while-sick dropped.

Eighteen U.S. states now have laws requiring paid sick leave for workers.

But Dr. Nicolas Ziebarth of the ZEW Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research says mandates are not the only reason for a recent increase in access to paid sick leave. The rate of U.S. workers with sick pay jumped from 64 percent in 2015 to 78 percent in 2023, Ziebarth’s research shows. That’s in part because more employers saw value in offering the benefit.

“They could attract better workers, retain workers, and it’s not extremely costly,” Ziebarth notes.

In terms of the link between paid sick leave and workforce participation, Ziebarth points to a 2024 study. It analyzed female employment in three states with mandatory paid sick leave: California, Massachusetts and Oregon. The study concluded that the mandates increased rates of employment by around two percentage points, with the largest gains occurring among women without a postsecondary degree and women who are Black or Latina.

How paid sick leave became a court battle in Michigan

Michigan was the first state in the Midwest with mandatory paid sick leave for workers.

In 2018, a citizen-initiated ballot initiative sought to guarantee paid sick leave for every worker in the state (excluding federal workers). Under that proposal, individuals who worked for small businesses (fewer than 10 employees) could accrue 40 hours of leave in a 12-month period, and those who worked in larger establishments could accrue 72 hours.

But this proposal never made it to the ballot in Michigan.

Instead, lawmakers took up the measure. Their final enacted bill (SB 1175) differed from the proposed ballot initiative in several ways.

For example, the law exempts additional categories of workers and only applies to employers with 50 or more workers. Additionally, the Legislature’s version changed how many hours in paid sick leave that a worker at larger-sized businesses must be able to earn over the course of a year: It’s 40 hours, instead of the 72 hours called for in the ballot proposal.

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that the original standards outlined in the ballot initiative must take effect in late February, even though it never appeared on ballots. The justices ruled that the Legislature had acted unconstitutionally by changing the ballot language and enacting a different version.

‘Tension’ in labor law

Following the court’s ruling, Sen. Thomas Albert filed SB 992, which would allow for a continued exemption for Michigan’s small-business owners. For Albert, too, another major point of concern with the pending new mandate on paid sick leave is what he refers to as a “no call, no show” clause.

Under the original ballot measure language, individuals using paid sick leave for an unforeseeable purpose do not need to provide their employer with multi-day advanced notice or documentation unless their leave lasts longer than three consecutive days.

“It’s really disruptive,” Albert says. “When you look at labor law, there’s always this tension of, ‘How do we have a balance of what’s proper protections for employees, and then also making sure employers can keep their businesses operating?’ ”

Albert also points to a survey conducted this summer by the Small Business Association of Michigan. Even without a state mandate, 79 percent of responding small businesses said they were offering workers paid time off.

Like other states, Michigan’s mandate on paid sick leave also covers individuals needing to take off work as the result of domestic violence or sexual assault. This time off can help victims cooperate with law enforcement or access rape-related health treatment. Supporters of the new mandate in Michigan argue this ability should be guaranteed to all workers, regardless of business size.

 

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Details on state laws in Midwest

ILLINOIS

• 1 hour of paid time off for every 40 hours worked
• Annual accrual of 40 hours of paid leave
• Workers do not need to give a reason for the time off

MICHIGAN

• 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked
• Annual accrual of 40 hours of paid sick leave for workers at small businesses (fewer than 10 employees) and 72 hours for workers at larger establishments

MINNESOTA

• Paid sick leave: 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked; annual accrual of 48 hours of paid sick leave
• Paid family and medical leave: Workers receive 12 weeks of partially paid family or medical leave or a combination of the two not exceeding 20 weeks. Benefits are financed through payroll deductions on wages. Employers must pay at least half of the premium.

NEBRASKA

• 1 hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked
• Annual accrual of 40 hours of paid sick leave for workers at small businesses (fewer than 20 employees) and 56 hours for workers at larger establishments

The post Require paid sick leave for workers? Nebraskans said ‘yes’ on a recent ballot measure; changes also are coming soon to a 6-year-old Michigan law appeared first on CSG Midwest.

On the surface, it may not seem that much has changed since conceptual plans for a Midwestern  passenger rail network were announced by the Federal Railroad Administration and the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission.

But go just beneath the surface, and you’ll find a wealth of new developments and a sense of momentum. Since the 2021 release of the Midwest Regional Rail Plan:

• Service on the new state-supported Borealis began in late May 2024, providing travelers with new  options along the Chicago-Milwaukee-Twin Cities corridor.
• Nearly two dozen segments of the Midwest Regional Rail Plan’s proposed routes have been chosen for federal support under the FRA’s Corridor Identification and Development Program.
• The Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission (MIPRC) has received a planning grant of up to $1.84 million over five years for “Invest Midwest: The Future of Midwest Passenger Rail – Phase 1.” (CSG Midwest provides secretariat services to MIPRC.)

Big start for the Borealis

The most visible sign of development in the region is the Borealis.

Designed to augment the long-distance Empire Builder — whose eastbound trip is often delayed far beyond its scheduled arrival at St. Paul’s Union Depot — the Borealis is providing a second daily train service for riders along the Chicago-Milwaukee-Twin Cities corridor.

It’s the Midwest’s first new state-supported passenger rail service in about 20 years, and Minnesota’s first since 1975.

The first few months in service were a resounding success.

The Borealis had carried 88,444 passengers through September, without poaching riders from either the Empire Builder or the Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha service (see ridership tables).

According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, total Borealis ridership through October was
109,342, meaning it will surpass the original first-year ridership estimate of 124,200 passengers.

In 2020, Wisconsin secured a $12.6 million FRA grant to help cover 90 percent of the service’s first-year operating costs. That grant program changed in 2021, and now helps states over six years. Wisconsin has applied for a new grant as well.

The Borealis is one of nine interstate passenger rail routes in the Midwest that receive support from the states where they operate (see table). They are shorter (750 miles or less) than the longer-distance, Amtrak-funded routes.

‘Invest Midwest’

The Midwest Regional Rail Plan presents a long-term vision of what a passenger rail network could look like in this region by 2050.

It’s a high-level view that identifies the potential in  developing existing and new corridors within a region, but the plan doesn’t zoom in on individual corridors to identify what work would be needed, nor  does it address the sequencing of corridors to be built.

MIPRC’s “Invest Midwest-Phase 1” will do just that.

Work will include developing ridership and revenue forecasts, an analysis of economic impacts, and a phasing strategy for corridors across the region.

A steering committee of member state departments of transportation will oversee “Invest Midwest.” MIPRC is contributing the required 20 percent nonfederal match. The ultimate goal is to complete planning work for all potential routes in the region, including those identified in the Midwest Regional Rail Plan as well as in other FRA and Amtrak studies.

Path to ‘Shovel Ready’

Planning also got a major boost in early December 2023 when 20 corridors in the region were selected in the inaugural round of funding under the FRA’s Corridor ID program.

This new program is now the primary “incubator” for expanding passenger rail outside the Northeast region.

In the Midwest, the expansion will result in a mix of brand-new intercity connections (see examples in the map above), extensions of existing corridors, and more service options for riders on existing routes.

Corridor ID uses a three-step process for projects to move from planning to “shovel ready” status.

• In the first step, $500,000 in “seed money” (no non-federal matching funds required) pays for project
sponsors to create a scope of work, schedule and budget for a service development plan.
• The second step (10 percent local match required) creates the service development plan.
• The third step (20 percent local match required) covers preliminary engineering and environmental reviews.

Long-Distance Revival?

Complementing regional plans is release of the FRA’s congressionally mandated “Long-Distance Service Study.” It examined potential new long-distance services (750 miles or more), including the reactivation of routes previously discontinued by Amtrak.

A draft of the study showed  three Midwestern routes, dropped in 1979, as candidates for restoration:

• The North Coast Hiawatha, which would start in Chicago, end in Seattle, and run through the Midwestern states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota.
• The National Limited, which would run from Kansas City to St. Louis to Columbus, Ohio, to Washington, D.C., and New York City.
• The Floridian, which would connect Chicago to Miami.

The post Passenger rail service expanded in the Midwest in 2024; signs point to a major build-out in years ahead appeared first on CSG Midwest.

Already prevented by most U.S. schools for non-academic use, cell phones have become the target of new state-level bans or other legislative actions, including laws passed this year by the Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio legislatures.

The overarching goal of these measures is to curb the use of cell phones during the school day due to concerns that range from disruptions in learning to adverse impacts on the school environment and young people’s mental health. There are variations in these laws, however, from one state to the next.

Minnesota’s law, SF 3567, broadly calls for every school district to adopt a policy on student possession and use of cell phones; it tasked two state associations of school principals with developing a set of best practices.

Ohio’s HB 250 requires all school districts to develop a policy that reduces cell phone-related distractions in the classroom and that makes overall use “as limited as possible” during the school day. However, the new law also notes that cell phones must be allowed when necessary to monitor or address a student’s health concern or to implement any special education instruction, supports or services detailed in a student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). Legislators charged the state Department of Education and Workforce with crafting a model policy on cell phone use.

Indiana’s SB 185 also includes exceptions related to a student’s IEP and health care needs; additionally, language in the new law “permits a student to use a wireless communication device in the event of an emergency.” The law also explicitly gives teachers the latitude to allow cell phone use by students for educational purposes.

Iowa, Kansas and Michigan are among the other U.S. states where legislation was introduced in 2024 to limit cell phone use in schools, according to KFF. Bills did not pass prior to legislative adjournment in Iowa and Kansas, and the Michigan proposal had not advanced out of committee as of early December. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 76.1 percent of U.S. schools prohibited the non-academic use of cell phones in 2021-’22.

The post More states are sending a message to schools: Curb cell phone use by students appeared first on CSG Midwest.