3.02 Public Policy - Lecture notes 3.02 PDF

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3.02 – Public Policy 1. a. foreign policyapplies to relations with other countries b. domestic policy- applies within the country c. Social Welfare policy- address the well-being of citizens and include programs like education and health insurance. The goal of these policies is to “promote the general welfare” as described in the Preamble to the Constitution, meaning to improve citizens’ quality of life. Those who benefit from social welfare programs often must meet certain age, income, or other requirements. Examples of social welfare programs at the federal level include Medicare and Social Security, direct assistance to people who are disabled or past retirement age. Medicare is health care, and insurance and social security provides supplemental income. A major state-level social welfare policy is public education. A state makes many policies related to education, from funding the school lunch program to establishing requirements for high school graduation. d. Economic policyinclude the government’s budget, which includes government taxing and spending rules. Economic policy also establishes rules for businesses. The goal of economic policy is to grow the productive capacity of the economy, while keeping unemployment and inflation low. Inflation is the general rise of prices over time. People disagree whether it is better for the economy and people when government makes rules for it. Examples of federal economic policies include establishing a minimum interest rate to charge banks for borrowing money and making changes to how income taxes are calculated. State governments, like the federal level, create a yearly budget and establish sales taxes on goods and services. e. Environmental policyaddress concerns related to the impact of human activities on Earth. The goal, of course is to minimize the negative effects on air, water, wildlife, and land that result from our activities, such as cleaning land for farms and driving gas-burning vehicles. Environmental policies are often controversial because they can be very expensive for American businesses. An example of a federal environmental policy is the Clean Air Act, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2010. The act sets rules and limits related to emission of chemicals into the air to prevent pollution and its results, such as acid rain. State environmental policies can include establishing areas protected from human development, creation and maintenance of public parks, and efforts to rescue and rehabilitate endangered species of plants and animals. f. Defense policyinclude laws and programs related to maintaining the armed forces. The goal of defense policy is to protect the safety and security of the country and its citizens. Defense policy often intersects with foreign policy. Like other types of policy, it can be very controversial as people disagree on

what role the United States should take in world affairs as a measure to protect its own peace and security. Defense policy at the federal level can affect any branch of the armed forces, such as the U.S. Army or U.S. Navy. Each state maintains its own branch of the National Guard, soldiers whom executive officials may call to serve during times of state or national emergency. For example, many members of the National Guard from around the country have served overseas in Iraq in recent years to help meet the need for additional soldiers. 2. What are the different ways citizens can monitor the actions of their elected officials? a. Phone You can talk to people to learn more about local and state agencies, such as a friend’s parent who works for one. Your local phone book lists government offices and phone numbers, often in a special section on different color paper. You can find phone numbers for lawmakers and different agencies that deal with certain issues to learn more about them.

b. InternetMost state and federal legislators have websites where you can learn about their positions on different issues and what committees they serve. You can track the daily activity of Congress through House and Senate WebPages. Many states governments post their legislative proceedings online to their websites as well. Many local governments have their own websites for citizens to find information they need as well. Through different organizations, you can learn about issues and the work of people that are trying to address them.

c. News mediaOn television, you can watch events that happen to the main floor of Congress or state legislatures. You can listen to reporters describe events and interview lawmakers, or read about it in articles published in newspapers. You can learn about different perspectives on issues through newspaper editorials and television or radio political commentators as well.

3. a. Where do policies come from? Policies arise out of the lawmaking process at the local, state, and federal levels of government. Yet there has to be a reason for suggesting a new policy or change to an existing policy in the first place. Legislators receive ideas and complaints about all kinds of issues from individuals, businesses, and other groups. They talk to other lawmakers to place the issue on the legislative agenda. Most of the states have a similar lawmaking process to the federal government, with bills starting in committees and eventually going up for vote by both halves of the legislature.

b. initiativeprocess in many U.S. states that allows citizens to introduce ideas for new laws to the state

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legislature. c. referenduma process in many U.S. states to introduce ideas for changing existing laws to the state legislature. d. take notes on the policymaking process: As a state legislature, my job is to represent my constituents and see that public policy meets their needs. My work depends on many other groups of people, including other government bodies. Yet there are two basic steps in policymaking-- getting the idea on the agenda and then making a decision. -Example; when the federal government passed the Clean Air Act in 1970 and in 1990 it set a deadline for gasoline to produce less air pollution. Scientist created a substance called MTBE to add to gasoline and reduce emissions. By the end of the 1990s, however, I began receiving complaints from citizens groups that MTBE was a health threat. They wanted the chemical banned. -To get MTBE on the legislative agenda, I had to convince my fellow lawmakers it needed our attention. It took time, and many more complaints had to come in to convince enough members of our health and environmental committees to study the problem. Once it was on the agenda, our real work began. You might think it would be a simple matter of banning MTBE, but that was not the case. As legislatures, we are not experts in every area of life. We do not have the time to conduct science experiments or get college degrees in all fields that exist. We rely on experts, data, and citizen testimony to learn all we can about an issue and how it affects people. At every stage in the lawmaking process, the public has the right to share their opinions. I received emails, phone calls, and letters in my office. My fellow legislators and I listened as people came in person to speak before our committee meetings. -While we depend on others for our information, the volume of it can be overwhelming. A great challenge is sorting through the different aspects of the issue and the information to determine what is fact from fiction. With MTBE, for example, it wasn’t just citizens complaining of health problems from drinking water contaminated by gasoline runoff. We also listened to the scientist who developed MTBE, who of course did not want to see the substance banned that they had worked so long on and earned money from. The gas companies using it did not want it banned because they would have to spend billions of dollars to find a new way to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act without the use of MTBE. We did not have a viable alternative at the time. Any policy we created would also have to consider the costs of cleaning up contamination from MTBE. -Therefore, as lawmakers, we listen to all these groups of people and have to analyze the information we receive for ourselves. Who has the strongest data? Who has the greatest stake in the outcome or solution to this issue? How might that affect the information or testimony given to us? What would a policy change cost, who would it benefit, and how? A there alternatives to policy we have not considered? We look for areas where people agree; those are where you can find the solid facts. For example, we did find that no one disputed

that MTBE could be toxic to human health. Where experts disagreed, we knew we had to ask more questions, to probe our sources for more information to find the underlying facts surrounding the issue. All of this analysis and research happened in committees, and our response to the issue, which is the policy, changed often as we gathered more information. Ultimately, our committee designed a bill that went through the full lawmaking process, and citizens both for and against the bill still contacted me as I pushed other lawmakers to support it. I hope this helps you understand the complexity of analyzing an issue and creating a policy to address it. By the way, MTBE is still in use and still controversial, but most states have or are in the process of replacing it in their gasoline with ethanol or other less toxic fuel sources.

4. Costs and benefits of public policy a. Externalities unintended costs or benefits to third parties

b. give an example An example of a negative externality is pollution caused by a policy encouraging new factories to operate and create jobs for a certain area. c. What are the positive externalities of enacting seatbelt legislation? Lowers cost to taxpayers by fewer public hospital emergency room visits by people who failed to use seatbelts.

d. What are the negative externalities of enacting seatbelt legislation? The costs of vehicles would increase for the consumer who bears the cost of the new seatbelt.

5. What can you do to drive public policy? Take notes as you complete the activity. Public policy is the government’s response to an issue or problem brought to their attention. Whether as a citizen, part of an interest group, or a legislator, people analyze public policy by learning as much as they can about the problem, considering potential solutions, and analyzing costs and benefits of any potential solution before making a policy decision.

6. Review and Practice – complete the review. Analyzing Public Policy 1. Learn all you can about the issue or problem. 2. Monitor the media and legislative proceedings related to the issue. 3. Identify and analyze the costs and benefits of any potential solution to different groups of people 4. Make a decision about the best policy idea and make recommendations to your elected officials 5. Repeat the process as changes or new ideas for the public policy are proposed. 7. Activity: write a public policy analysis about a state issue that interests you....