Category: Midwest

The Midwest’s transmission grid is rapidly evolving to handle the dramatic shifts toward renewable energy for power generation and customer usage patterns wrought by climate change, but this transition is still measured in years.

That was the message from Bob Kuzman, director of state regulatory affairs for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO).

Kuzman, a former Indiana legislator, provided lawmakers with an introduction to the regional electrical grid at the Midwestern Legislative Conference Annual Meeting in July. He was the featured presenter at the first meeting of the MLC’s new Energy and Environment Committee.

MISO operates 72,000 miles of transmission lines, including in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota and parts of South Dakota.

“We’re like an insurance policy; we spread the risk,” Kuzman said. “If someone’s having a bad day in Indiana, we can move electricity from as far away as Manitoba or Nebraska.”

MISO is neither a utility operator nor a power generator. Its main jobs, he said, are planning for future transmission needs as well as buying electricity at the wholesale and retail levels to deliver power where it’s needed for 42 million end users.

While taking no position on the fuel sources used, MISO does care about how new generating capacity is connected to the grid, and how dependable the power will be as usage patterns shift.

Big shifts in both of these areas pose potential challenges for MISO and state energy leaders.

According to Kuzman, renewable energy generation projects are “growing massively.” As of September 2022, of the 1,723 proposed projects in the MISO “queue” (not all of which will be built), 96 percent were either planned renewable or storage operations: 54 percent solar, 17 percent a hybrid mix, 16 percent storage and 9 percent wind. Only 3 percent were gas or other fuels; coal-generated projects haven’t been in the queue since 2011.

“This does pose new risks to the reliability of the grid,” he said, “because there are days when the wind doesn’t blow, there are days when the sun doesn’t shine.”

Part of MISO’s new planning regimen, he added, includes how to fill in daily morning and evening gaps in electrical generation as solar and wind power get going or wind down. Battery storage technology is improving, but isn’t yet at the point where MISO can rely on it to cover those gaps, he said.

Further complicating matters are the effects of changes in the climate. MISO used to plan for a “worst day,” or highest demand on the system, twice per year; now, Kuzman said, it needs to make sure power is delivered across the region on a “worst day” in every season and in every month.

He said “shoulder” months such as April or October — neither too hot nor too cold, when gas or coal plants could be taken offline for maintenance or to switch fuel sources — don’t really exist anymore.

With more 70- and 80-degree days in October, and even November, more electricity is being used in those months, and temperatures are staying hotter deeper into nighttime hours, thus extending daily peak morning and evening demand hours — all of which increase demand on the grid.

Asked about nuclear power as another non-hydrocarbon source of electricity, Kuzman said MISO doesn’t expect to see proposals for large-scale nuclear plants due to costs. Small modular reactors are a potential option, but no one knows when they’ll be ready. When, and if, they are, MISO will plan for them, too.

“MISO is resource neutral. We just want to keep the lights on,” Kuzman said.

 

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Amid the despair of broken and lost lives due to a rise in the prevalence of substance use disorder (SUD), there is at least one glimmer of hope. States have more financial resources and tools to address SUD.

More money is flowing to states through two federal grant programs: 1) the Substance Use Treatment, Prevention, and Recovery Services Block Grant; and 2) State Opioid Response grants. The National Opioids Settlement is providing new dollars as well, and revamped federal rules on Medicaid are offering states new options to meet the needs of higher-risk populations, including incarcerated individuals returning to their communities.

Making the most of these new funding and policy opportunities was the focus of a July session at the Midwestern Legislative Conference Annual Meeting. Organized by the MLC Health and Human Services Committee, the session provided legislators with a set of evidence-based principles to guide future decision-making.

“Maximizing how the state is spending Medicaid dollars for opioid use disorder …. is really critical because it’s such a big payer,” said Andrew Whitacre, an officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Among nonelderly adults with opioid use disorder, nearly 40 percent rely on Medicaid for their health insurance. A first step for legislators is to make sure their state’s Medicaid program is covering all evidence-based services allowed under federal law. But he said a second step is equally important: evaluate and, when necessary, boost reimbursement rates for services such as care coordination and medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder (the “gold standard” for treatment, he said).

“There are a number of states that do cover all those [SUD] services, but the pay is so low that no providers will participate in the network,” Whitacre noted.

Other obstacles stand in the way of access to effective treatment. Among them: the lack of an information technology infrastructure that would enable providers to establish proper billing systems, coordinate with other providers and evaluate practices. Non-Medicaid, flexible federal funds can be used to build up this infrastructure, Whitacre said, as well as address other areas not covered by the public insurance program. That includes harm reduction strategies such as the distribution of overdose-reversal drugs and fentanyl test strips, as well as funding for syringe service programs.

Opioid-settlement dollars can help in these non-Medicaid areas as well, and Whitacre said it’s critical for states to have guardrails in place to make sure these dollars fund new programs and services. Without such safeguards, the new money may simply be used to supplant current funding streams for existing initiatives.

New federal Medicaid waivers are another way of expanding access to care, John O’Brien, a former senior advisor for the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said during the session. For instance, some states are taking advantage of a new opportunity to provide treatment services, via Medicaid, to individuals in the 90 days before they leave prison or jail and to continue that care upon re-entry. (An estimated 65 to 90 percent of individuals in jails and prisons have a substance abuse disorder.)

Likewise, a handful of states (California, Montana and West Virginia) are seeking waivers to pay for “contingency management” — providing incentives to individuals on the path to recovery (payments for a negative urine sample, for example). This treatment method has proven to be effective, O’Brien said.

The post By making most of new resources, states can build better pathways to recovery from substance abuse appeared first on CSG Midwest.

Five days of learning, leadership development and relationship building marked the experience of legislators taking part in The Council of State Governments’ 28th annual Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development.

The 2023 BILLD program was held in August in Madison, Wis., with participation from a bipartisan, binational group of legislators from across the Midwest.

Read about this year’s class »

Serving state and provincial legislators in their first four years of service, BILLD is a signature program of CSG’s Midwestern Legislative Conference. Fellows are selected via a competitive application process overseen by the MLC’s BILLD Steering Committee.

The 2023 program featured:

• a roundtable discussion on legislative strategies with Minnesota House Minority Leader Rep. Lisa Demuth (BILLD Class of 2021); Indiana House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta (BILLD Class of 2009); and Wisconsin Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Testin (BILLD Class of 2018);
• training on communication, leadership style, time and focus management, bipartisan collaboration, negotiation and conflict resolution;
• policy sessions on the Midwest’s labor force and economy, cybersecurity and digital modernization in state governments, and U.S.-Canada relations;
• featured speakers who provided their expertise on the region’s state legislative institutions and how to build excellence in them, the interplay between the legislative and judicial branches, and the enduring legacy of principled political leadership.

Applications for next year’s BILLD program will be available later this year or in early 2024.

Learn more about BILLD »

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The newest class of national CSG Toll Fellows includes seven legislators from the Midwest, all of whom are graduates of the Midwestern Legislative Conference Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development.

Toll Fellows is the nation’s premier leadership development program for state government officials. Participants are nominated by their peers and chosen by alumni of the program.

Congratulations to the seven BILLD graduates on becoming Toll Fellows (all pictured here).

Commitment to leadership training

Leadership development is a core part of The Council of State Governments’ mission to champion excellence in state government. CSG Midwest’s BILLD program provides annual training for newer state and provincial legislators from this region. Toll Fellows is an “intensive leadership boot camp” for officials in all three branches of state government.

This year’s five-day Toll Fellows program was held in August.

“Fellows are selected based on their demonstrated commitment to solve problems, to work collaboratively to get things done, and their belief that state government can and must be a force for good,” said David Adkins, CSG’s executive director and CEO.

Here is the full list of 2023 Toll Fellows from the Midwest:

• Michigan House Majority Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash
• Ohio Senate Assistant Minority Leader Hearcel Craig
• Bryan Echols, senior advisor and deputy director of impact investments for the Illinois treasurer
• Kansas Rep. Mari-Lynn S. Poskin
• Michael Queensland, Wisconsin Senate chief clerk and director of operations;
• South Dakota House Majority Whip Rebecca Reimer
• North Dakota Senate Majority Caucus Leader Kristin Roers
• North Dakota Rep. Shannon Roers Jones
• Sara Stolt, deputy commissioner for the North Dakota Department of Health & Human Services;
• Wisconsin Sen. Mark Spreitzer
• Jason W. Thompson, senior assistant revisor of statutes in Kansas

 

 

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Minnesota has a new “right to repair” law that not only is the first of its kind in the Midwest, but has been hailed by national advocates as the most comprehensive measure in the nation. Included as a provision in one of the Minnesota Legislature’s omnibus budget bills (SF 2744), the Digital Fair Repair Act aims to ensure that consumers can fix myriad digital electronic products without having to go through the original equipment manufacturer.

The new law covers almost all electronic products, including appliances, HVAC equipment and enterprise computing systems. Cars, medical devices, farm and construction equipment, video game consoles and home energy storage systems are exempt.

In opposing such bills, manufacturers have argued that broadening access could pose dangers to equipment and would-be repairers, as well as compromise device safety and/or security.

Over the past few years, right-to-repair legislation has been considered in state capitols across the country, but Minnesota became only the fourth U.S. state to enact such a measure, following Colorado, Massachusetts and New York. As of June, bills had been introduced this year in at least five other Midwestern states: Illinois (HB 3593), Iowa (HF 587), Michigan (HB 4562), Ohio (SB 73) and South Dakota (SB 194), according to the Public Interest Research Group.

State measures vary on what products are covered and what is exempted. For example, this year, Colorado became the first state to cover farm equipment in its right-to-repair law.

Led by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, 27 state attorneys general co-signed a letter in March calling on the U.S. Congress to pass a trio of federal right-to-repair bills that would cover automobiles, agriculture equipment and digital electronic equipment. Attorneys general Dana Nessel of Michigan, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Marty Jackley of South Dakota and Josh Kaul of Wisconsin also signed the letter.

The post Minnesota gives consumers ‘right to repair’ digital electronic products with first-in-Midwest law appeared first on CSG Midwest.

“Reducing Harm, Increasing Criminal Penalties” ~ PDF

Introduction: ‘Single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered’

In less than a decade’s time, the number of drug overdose deaths in the United States more than doubled, reaching nearly 107,000 by 2021.

One of the striking aspects of this rise has been the increasing role played by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. They were involved in close to 70 percent of all overdose deaths in 2021, compared to only 6 percent of the fatalities nine years earlier, according to a Commonwealth Fund analysis of federal mortality data. Anne Milgram, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, has said that fentanyl “is the single deadliest drug threat our nation has ever encountered.”

This threat has received considerable attention in the Midwest’s state legislatures, with many of the recent legislative proposals taking one of two approaches — and sometimes incorporating a mix of both.

The first approach is “harm reduction”: change a state’s laws or invest in new programs that prevent overdoses by reaching and helping people who use drugs. A second common approach has been to increase criminal penalties related to fentanyl trafficking and/or overdose-related deaths.

 

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This Issue Brief was written by Tim Anderson of the Midwestern Office of The Council of State Governments. It was produced as part of CSG Midwest’s support of two binational, interstate committees of the Midwestern Legislative Conference: the MLC Criminal Justice & Public Safety Committee and the MLC Health & Human Services Committee. 

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On the final day of this year’s Midwestern Legislative Conference Annual Meeting, participating lawmakers approved four policy resolutions urging federal action on subjects such as border policy, food security and the farm bill.

These resolutions, adopted on July 12, are delivered to leaders in the federal legislative and executive branches of government.

• The MLC’s new policy statement on border policy calls on U.S. Customs and Border Protection to expand hours of operation at several ports of entry. Specifically, legislators want the agency to “immediately adopt the same hours of operation as the Canadian Border Services Agency at these land border ports of entry, or 7 p.m. local time, whichever is later.” The resolution states that early closures “greatly harm cross-border trade, tourism, agriculture production, social relationships and the economies of border communities.”
• A second resolution is built around the MLC Chair’s Initiative of Michigan Sen. Roger Victory — “Food Security: Feeding the Future.” Specifically, legislators note the importance of continuing investments in nutrition incentive programs in the farm bill as well as helping states build up local and regional food infrastructure systems.
• The third resolution urges passage of a new farm bill.
• The fourth resolution endorses the continued support of the relationship and shared interests between member jurisdictions of the MLC and Taiwan.

A bipartisan committee of legislators oversees the MLC’s resolutions process. This committee considers resolutions introduced by individual members of the MLC as well as those supported by various MLC policy committees. Any resolution approved by the Resolutions Committee is then voted on by legislators in attendance at the MLC Annual Meeting. This year’s meeting was held July 9-12 in Detroit.

View all recent MLC policy resolutions »

 

 

The post Voice for the region: Four policy resolutions adopted by CSG’s Midwestern Legislative Conference appeared first on CSG Midwest.

Once fully implemented, North Dakota’s HB 1398 will have K-12 schools across the state and at all grade levels providing instruction in computer science and cybersecurity.

The new law makes North Dakota the first state in the nation to require cybersecurity education. By exposing students to this subject area throughout their K-12 careers, the state hopes to help young people: learn from an early age how to be safe online and a good digital citizen; gain the digital skills and knowledge needed to thrive in many sectors of the current and future workforce; and position graduates to take advantage of growing opportunities in fields related to cybersecurity and information technology.

By July 2024, elementary and middle schools must show how they will integrate academic standards on computer science and cybersecurity into coursework. This requirement also applies to high schools, which must provide students with the opportunity to take a stand-alone class in at least one of these subject areas. To graduate, students will need to have taken a stand-alone course or completed the school’s integration plan for cybersecurity and computer science education.

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Flexible academic tracks. Early exposure to the workforce. Financial support for students pursuing work-based learning opportunities. Transitional learning programs that extend beyond secondary education.

Rep. Bob Behning has seen how those education models work in other countries (the Swiss vocational model, for instance).

Among his goals with the recently signed HB 1002: Use lessons learned from those systems to reinvent the high school experience for students in his home state of Indiana, in a way that makes learning more impactful and gets them career-ready.

“A lot of kids see little value, and are finding less and less relevancy, in high school,” says Behning, a chief sponsor of the legislation.

“A bill like HB 1002 changes the paradigm. It provides the academics [that students] need, but embeds it in a work-based learning experience.”

 New Career Scholarship Accounts for students

Central to Indiana’s reinvention plan is the creation of new career scholarship accounts, or CSAs.

With the new law in place, participating students will be allotted up to $5,000 each for the costs associated with career education — for example, enrollment in a youth apprenticeship program, career coaching services, community college coursework, certification examinations, and transportation to and from job-training locations.

A total of $15 million will go to CSAs over the next two fiscal years.

Students who choose an apprenticeship track will be paid by their employer. The amount of time a student spends off campus in a CSA-funded program will vary.

“If you look at what we would consider a traditional youth apprenticeship, you’re probably looking at starting in your junior year where you may spend one to two days [a week] at an employer,” Behning explains.

“By the time you’re a senior, you could spend two to three [days], and by the time you’re the equivalent of what would be a freshman in college, it could be up to three to four days.”

To accommodate these students’ unique school schedules, the state Board of Education will establish a new path for a high school diploma that aligns with a work-based learning model.

Another key component of HB 1002: ensuring that younger K-12 students are aware of and prepared for the new training opportunities.

By the end of this year, state education leaders will develop new standards for a “career awareness course” that introduces students to the CSA program. The course also will show students which industry sectors are in high demand, identify the education and workforce training prerequisites needed to enter various fields, and offer individualized career-plan counseling.

Schools will be required to offer this career awareness course to ninth-graders by 2030.

Goal: More students earn a workforce credential

In order to qualify as a CSA program, the work-based experience must culminate in a student earning a credential — for example, an associate degree or an industry-recognized certificate.

For each student who successfully earns a credential, a $500 grant will be awarded to his or her school as well as the CSA-participating entity (a business or career-and-technical education center, for example).

“Today, the credential really is your currency in the labor market,” says Jason Bearce, vice president of education and workforce development for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and a proponent of HB 1002.

“Employers do a lot of training. A fair amount of it doesn’t result in any kind of recognized certificate or industry credential that would be recognized outside of that place of business. We think that’s a missed opportunity [for workers].”

Bearce also says an increase in credential attainment can have broader, positive economic effects.

“At one time, competing for a business expansion or relocation was primarily about, What’s the tax incentive package? What’s the regulatory environment? What’s the cost of doing business?” Bearce says.

Today, though, site selection often hinges on this question: “Who has a critical mass of highly skilled human capital?”

A highly credentialed workforce helps make the case.

Concerns about potential for ‘new patronage’

How will the state locate and secure work-based learning and training opportunities for potentially thousands of students?

HB 1002 outlines a role for “intermediaries.”

“[They are] the facilitator that brings the employer and the student together,” Behning explains.

“It can be a not-for-profit, it could be a for-profit, but it would be the group that’s in the middle that’s [an] aggregator of potential opportunities for kids.”

The state’s new budget includes $5 million for “intermediary capacity building” over the next fiscal year.

“We are giving some seed money to intermediaries,” Behning says. “Long term, the goal would be that they would be funded as a fee to employers for embedding an apprentice in your business.”

Opponents of HB 1002, such as Rep. Ed DeLaney, believe the administrative burden of operating the CSA program and funding of intermediaries will be exceedingly expensive.

And since qualified CSA programs must include a credential component, DeLaney says this new strategy will undercut the value of existing career-and-technical courses being offered in schools and could lead to decreases in school funding.

Additionally, although participating CSA employers must undergo a rigorous process to demonstrate the high value of their on-the-job training or apprenticeship offering, DeLaney is concerned the new law could lead to an unequal playing field that favors partisan alliances.

“I think it will benefit those businesses that are most adept at getting government grants,” DeLaney says. “To some extent, this does run the risk of being what I call the ‘new patronage.’ ”

During legislative debate over the measure, opponents and even some proponents of HB 1002 said a better plan of action would have been to begin the CSA program as a smaller, more targeted pilot initiative, or to phase in the new model with a small cohort of established intermediaries and employer partners.

Behning, who believes the need for comprehensive work-based learning for students is too imperative to wait for a pilot study, anticipates “a fairly slow uptake [to the CSA program] just because it’s a new concept rolling out.”

 

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