In Arizona, candidates who agree to accept very low amounts of private money receive a fixed and limited amount of public funds. A five-member, non-partisan election commission with real authority to enforce election laws administers the system.… Read More
After the controversial Presidential election of 2000, many communities were compelled to re-examine their voting equipment and consider alternatives. In addition the Federal government passed legislation in 2002 (Help America Vote Act)that created standards for voting equipment and funding to states to make the switch. In the rush to pass this new law some key elements were left out, such as a voter verifiable paper receipt.… Read More
As Greg LeRoy (GoodJobsFirst)points out, “As states grapple with their worst deficits in more than half a century, policymakers seek better data to help with budgeting decisions. But most states spend the bulk of their economic development budgets almost invisibly, in uncollected taxes, a.k.a. ‘tax expenditures.’” He continues, “That makes it hard to see — much … Read More
Texas has created a Unified Development Budget — an annual statement to the legislature with all forms of spending itemized in one place. All tax credits (such as those for investment, job creation, enterprise zones or research and development), all tax exemptions (such as sales and utility tax breaks)and all appropriated spending (such as training, manufacturing extension services, loans and loan guarantees).… Read More
All officers of the city, as defined in section 1207, and all employees of the city and any and all agencies and instrumentalities thereof, including all employees of the school department and the department of public safety, shall be residents of the city during such employment… Read More
The Barnstead Water Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance[Warrant Article 31] was presented and passed at the Barnstead Town Meeting on March 18, 2006. The ordinance declares that water is a common resource for the residents of Barnstead and prohibits corporate water withdrawals for resale.… Read More
Efforts to privatize government services in cities and states do not always save the city money, replace well paid and benefited largely unionized public workers with low paid, lesser benefited and non-unionized private workers, and reduce or even eliminate effective control over this public service by the public. A number of states and cities have established … Read More
While some reformers believe that campaign finance reform will cure many of the ills of our election process, others feel the key is proportional representation, or other, related reforms. Proportionalrepresentation means electing representatives to our legislatures in proportion to their support in the population. Under our current system of winner-take-all elections in single-member districts, the representative … Read More
The city recognizes the importance of expanding the opportunities for its citizens to experience public art and other projects resulting from the creative expression of its visual artists in public places of the city. The city further recognizes the substantial economic benefits to be gained in the form of increased tourism through enhancement of public spaces and consequent retail activity throughout the city. A policy is established in this article to include works of art and design services of artists in certain city capital improvement projects.… Read More