Showing papers on "Legislation published in 1979"

Dietary Goals for the United States

Abstract: The announcement on Jan 14, 1977, of Dietary Goals for the United States by the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs' may be a turning point in the role of government in determining nutrition priorities for the American people. Before commenting on these goals and their political source, I would like to review the events that led to this controversial announcement and the events that led to its subsequent modification. Since 1968, Sen George McGovern (Democrat, SD) and his committee have been concerned with bridging the gap between the food and farm interests in the Agriculture Committee and the health, welfare, and research interests in the Labor and Public Welfare Committee. They were provided with oversight responsibilities in nutrition and initiated legislation concerned with preventing hunger. Among the accomplishments of the committee had been expansion of the food stamp program, the school lunch program, the summer food program,

Occupational Safety and Health

Abstract: Work accidents became a matter of societal concern in the Progressive era of Woodrow Wilson. When other contingencies of modern life were brought under social security in the New Deal reforms of the 1930s, work accident legislation remained separate. One possible reason was that work accidents can be controlled within industrial and chance limits. But control does not imply elimination since a risk-free environment would paralyze production. In spite of imper fections caused by low benefits and imperfect insurance arrangements, the workers' compensation legislation does help internalize the costs of accidents, but internalization of costs is only one remedy. Regulation and a much broader community responsibility are others. It is argued that regulation poses greater problems and that broader com munity responsibility may evade the issues involved in choosing the appropriate tradeoff point between production and health which will maximize social welfare.

Equilibrium comparison shopping

Abstract: The most important issue in the legal debates over the form consumer protection legislation should take is whether the state should specify the terms on which consumers may contract or cause the disclosure of information to them Proponents of disclosure argue that providing information will make markets more competitive The statutory preamble to the famed Truth in Lending Law (" TIL ") recites: " The Congress finds that competition among the various financial institutions and other firms engaged in the extension of consumer credit would be strengthened by the informed use of credit " Also, the recent Magnuson-Moss Warranty-Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act provides: " In order to improve competition in the marketing of consumer products, any warrantor shall fully and conspicuously disclose the terms and conditions of such warranty " Legal opponents of disclosure argue that consumers will not read the information provided Several studies of the "effectiveness " of TIL, summarized in the Report of the National Commission on Consumer Finance, are cited by both sides Those studies indicate that the number of people unaware of the Annual Percentage Rate paid on credit for recent purchases ranges from almost 90 per cent in poverty areas to 52 per cent in markets populated by relatively affluent buyers Opponents of disclosure argue that such low awareness levels are inconsistent with the existence of competitive markets The apparent force of this point is partly responsible for the schizophrenic nature of American consumer protection legislation The statutes quoted above, despite their paens to disclosure, also regulate the substance of consumer sales contracts For example, the Magnuson-Moss Act requires the disclosure of warranty terms, but also prohibits sellers in many cases from shifting purchase risks to buyers Proponents of disclosure regulation, however, argue that the awareness levels reported above will easily yield competitive outcomes Thus Senator Douglas, the principal legislative supporter of TIL, asserted, unfortunately without explanation, that a competitive market would exist if " only" 10 per cent of the consumers were " cost conscious " The inconclusiveness of this debate seems largely a function of the absence of rigorous analytical tools with which to answer the question how much information is enough Surprisingly little attention has been devoted to the issue in the economics literature This paper reflects the beginning of an attempt to resolve it In particular, it addresses two questions: First, what kinds of equilibria exist when various percentages of consumers are informed? Second, is reducing consumer search costs, the standard technique of modern disclosure legislation, useful in generating competitive equilibria? Both questions are central to the current public policy debate respecting the form which state intervention in consumer markets should take The equilibrium search models which have been developed in recent years are capable of addressing these questions rigorously This paper develops one such model which incorporates elements of fixed sample size search The emphasis on this search strategy

Effectiveness of Seat Belt Legislation on the Queensland Road Toll—An Australian Case Study in Intervention Analysis

Abstract: The effect of seat belt legislation introduced in the state of Queensland was examined by using two approaches. The first approach consisted of modeling time series of road deaths before intervention (the legislation) as a Box-Jenkins univariate time series model. As we expected, this model proved to be inadequate in explaining the postintervention period, and the model was modified to incorporate the expected form of the intervention effects. Results showed that the legislation produced significant reduction in the road toll, but this analytical approach was limited in describing long-run effects. The second approach, involving causal model and incorporating a proxy explanatory variable and autoregressive-moving average error, was fruitful in overcoming the limitation of the previous approach. The long-run legislative effect was quantified, at a specific level of the explanatory variable, to be a 46 percent reduction in deaths.

Can organizations change?: Environmental protection, citizen participation, and the Corps of Engineers

Abstract: As the title suggests, this work concerns itself with our assessment of the environmental movement's impact upon the procedures, organizational structure, and objectives of the Corps of Engineers. The authors have selected four measures of organizational change-setting new goals, reorganization, changes in output, and open decisionmaking-as important factors in the assessment of bureaucratic change in the 1970s. With these factors in mind, the authors provide five case studies of the Corps of Engineers project planning process, and a survey data analysis of the attitudes of citizens who took part in Corps public involvement activities. The methodology is innovative and sophisticated. The reader is allowed the richness of detail and insight that only case studies provide, and empirical generalizations derived from survey data analysis, upon which conclusions about the overall effectiveness of Corps planning strategies on citizen attitudes can be based. The conclusion? Not much change, either in citizen attitudes about the Corps, or the Agency's organizational accommodation to citizen demands through citizen participation. The book, therefore, represents a missed opportunity. Instead of considering a wide scope of decision making in order to define the changing constellation of political support, opposition, and the Corps' organizational responses, the authors chose to focus on a rather minor component of decision making and public relations, the public involvement process. Thus, the work stands primarily as a technical analysis of citizen participation strategies, rather than a political study of the Corps of Engineers. However, the book may be testimony enough to this agency's political strength. The environmental movement of the last decade gave us sweeping anti-pollution legislation, unprecedented federal authority to regulate many sectors of society, wholesale governmental reorganization, and billions for anti-pollution control technology. The authors admit that this social movement led only to what amounted to organizational fine tuning within the Corps: brief experimentation with open planning and decision making, a small increase in environmentally-oriented personnel, and the creation of environmental units in District Planning and Engineering Divisions. These modifications

Public Opinion, Demonstrations,and the Passage of Antidiscrimination Legislation

Abstract: This paper considers the relationship of public opinion and demonstrations to the passage of federal civil rights legislation since World War II. Congress passed such legislation when substantial majorities of the population favored equal rights and the proportion favoring equal rights was clearly increasing. The evidence is consistent with the notion that civil rights demonstrations played a significant role in the passage of the legislation. Both demonstrations and changes in public opinion appear to have been necessary components of the drive to provoke congressional action. Paul Burstein is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Yale University. The author wishes to thank Richard Berk, Mildred Schwartz, William Freudenburg, Russell Neuman, and Russell Schutt for helpful advice and comments. The data utilized in this paper were made available in part by the Roper Public Opinion Research Center, the National Opinion Research Center, and the Inter-University Consortium for Political Research. Neither the original collectors of the data nor these organizations bear any responsibility for the analysis or interpretations presented here. Public Opinion Quarterly ? 1979 by The Trustees of Columbia University Published by Elsevier North-Holland, Inc. 0033-362X/79/0043-0157/$1.75 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.138 on Thu, 19 May 2016 05:19:50 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

Gratian Slept Here: The Changing Identity of the Father of the Systematic Study of Canon Law

Abstract: Who was Gratian? It is hardly necessary to justify the interest of such a question. The Concordia discordantium canonum is one of the most influential law books of all time — a teacher's case book which became, for over 700 years, the law of the Catholic Church; a book which is at the roots of Western legal thought, ecclesiastical and lay; a vast storehouse of prior legislation and judgments, a set of masterful hypotheticals, and a rich commentary distinguished by its shrewdness and wisdom. In any time, in any land, its author would be honored for his achievement and sought after for his skill. His book was composed in a literate age in a milieu which valued learning, and even more than learning, valued law. Surely the composer has left some traces of himself and not vanished into the mists of myth.

Land-Tenure Reform in Kenya: The Limits of Law

Abstract: Most Africans in Kenya have always lived and worked on the land, and until fairly recently their land-tenure arrangements have been governed by customary law. Colonial administrators were divided about the desirability of granting individual titles to African farmers, and concentrated their efforts on persuading them to plant cash-crops, to fight soil erosion and, where necessary, to consolidate their holdings. It was only in the mid-1950s, when large-scale compulsory land consolidation schemes were initiated in the Kikuyu Land Unit, that serious thought was given to the nature of the title which the owner of a consolidated holding would acquire.1 The East Africa Royal Commission advocated the adjudication and registration of individual titles in suitable areas,2 and eventually a working party was appointed to consider what legislation would be necessary to implement this recommendation. As a result of its report,3 a system of registration of title based on the English model was introduced. Once the processes of adjudicacation and consolidation have been completed, the title of the owner is registered and, where appropriate, any interests not amounting to ownership are also entered on the Land Register. The land thereupon ceases to be subject to customary law,4 and is governed instead by the complete code of substantive law – based broadly on English law – which is contained today in the Registered Land Act, 1963.

Reproduction, Ethics, and Public Policy: The Federal Sterilization Regulations

Abstract: After 6 months of public hearings and a controversial climate the Department of Health Education and Welfares rule governing federal financial participation in sterilization programs went into effect in the United States on March 8 1979. The regulations attempt to formulate a government policy for some difficult ethical questions -- the meaning of "voluntary consent" the boundary between justifiable protection from abuse and unjustifiable paternalism and the rights of those judged "incompetent to decide." Before examining the regulations themselves focus is on the issue of what is reproductive freedom voluntary and involuntary sterilization and sterilization abuse. The following are included among the most important provisions of the regulations: 1) requiring the voluntary informed consent be obtained using a mandatory standardized consent form provided in the patients preferred language; 2) prohibiting any overt or implicit threat of loss of welfare or Medicaid benefits as a consequence of nonconsent; 3) prohibiting the obtaining of consent during labor before or after an abortion or while an individual is under the influence of drugs or alcohol; 4) abolishing the distinction between "contraceptive" and "noncontraceptive" sterilizations for purposes of federal regulations; and 5) requiring a 30-day waiting period between consent and operation. Attention is given to the questions of what is to be regulated -- what is surgical sterilization what are the conditions of informed consent and under what conditions is voluntary consent unobtainable. A final question is the ethics of sterilization regulation. Opponents of the sterilization regulations made 2 different kinds of cases: 1) regulation creates obstacles to the exercise of "free choice" by consumers and patients; and 2) the state (through the courts) ought to sanction the involuntary sterilizaiton of certain groups particularly retarded individuals in the interests of caretakers taxpayers parents future children or the retarded themselves.

The Executive Branch in the Interest-Group Theory of Government

Abstract: As the Federalists designed it, there are two ways in which a bill can become a law in U.S. legislatures. Bills become law which obtain a simple majority in both houses of the legislature and the signature of the chief executive, or which obtain two-thirds majorities in both houses without the consent of the chief executive (in both cases bills are subject to judicial review). The economic approach to politics and regulation has made genuine progress in the analysis of various aspects of this legislative process. For example, the legislature and the independent judiciary have been the subjects of a good deal of the recent attention of scholars in this area.' The question, however, of how the agents in the legislative process are interconnected by the rules for passing laws has received only limited attention in the literature. Most particularly, and the issue of concern in this paper, the role of the executive veto in an interest-group theory of government has not been explored. Before turning to our approach of explaining vetoes as a means of enhancing the durability of legislation (by analogy to Landes and Posner's theory of the independent judiciary),2 we will review briefly the field of alternative hypotheses. A primarily theoretical approach to the veto centers around applications of the Shapley-Shubik3 index of voting power. In this approach the voting

Utah's Liberal Drug Laws: Structural Foundations and Triggering Events

Abstract: Utah was one of the first states to reduce the penalty for first-offense possession of marihuana, as well as other drugs, to a misdemeanor. Such innovative legislation in Utah was not expected given the Mormon domination of the state legislature and Mormons' strict prohibition of drug use. To shed light on this development, interviews were conducted with a number of Mormon and non-Mormon citizens of Utah, including a variety of state officials. Other sources of information included Mormon Church documents, local newspapers and Utah state records including legislative floor debates. By distinguishing between legislative triggering events and relevant structural conditions it appears that the legislation was triggered by powerful special interest groups but seems to have been supported by many citizens in this unusually homogeneous state as a way of protecting their children. A corollary of the conflict perspective, which is supported by these results, is that consensus on lenient drug penalties is most easily achieved if the drug in question is not associated with a threatening minority.

Edwin Chadwick, the market ideology, and sanitary reform: on the nature of the 19th-century public health movement.

Abstract: This article is an attempt to place the origin of sanitary legislation in England, and its chief proponent, Edwin Chadwick, in the overall dynamics of 19th-century social development. It examines the public health movement in light of the transition of English society into the domination of the market ideology, and the effect that this had on health. Emphasis is placed on explaining the utilitarian movement, of which Chadwick was an instrumental part, and its role in promoting the market system through the enactment of the New Poor Law in 1834. The article suggests that the enactment of sanitary reform in the 1848 Public Health Act was the unplanned reaction to the detrimental effects that the market ideology had on health in the industrial centers. The main intent of this article is to go beyond the prevailing belief that sanitary reform was a humane contribution of publicly spirited men. It concludes that this state intervention was materially necessitated: it was forced by the contradictions inherent in the market system.

Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977

Abstract: The 1977 amendments to the Clean Air Act are hailed as watershed legislation, the result of ferocious activity, which institutionalizes the Clean Air Act while allowing the world to continue its reliance on fossil fuels. Senator Domenici reviews the legislative debate between competing environmental philosophies and notes the differences between the Senate and House responses. He explains the basic elements of the non-degradation policy and its relationship to non-attainment and trade-off, or offset, policies. The 1977 amendments initiate the use of non-compliance fees as a supplement to environmental regulations, but only skirt the issue of carcinogens.

Conference Committees, Sophisticated Voting, and Cyclical Majorities

Abstract: This paper examines a number of the formal properties of the place of the conference committee in the legislative process. It is argued that the use of conference committees affects the sophisticated voting decisions of a legislature by increasing the number of possible social alternatives beyond that initially considered in either chamber. Certain formal relationships between cyclical majorities and the occurrence and influence of conference committees are also discussed in relation to sincere and sophisticated voting. Finally, interviews with Iowa state senators are used to examine the formal properties of conference committees in relation to one specific piece of legislation. The empirical evidence indicates that the formal properties of conference committees are exhibited in certain behavioral tendencies.

Maintaining Economic Competition: the Causes and Consequences of Antitrust

Abstract: ECONOMIC COMPETITION iS part of the American creed. When it apppeared seriously threatened by the growth of the "trusts" at the end of the nineteenth century, the Sherman Act was passed. Since tlhen, Congress has enacted further antitrust legislation to preserve economic competition. Moreover, the platforms of the major political parties have regularly contained an antitrust plank. While Richard Hofstader could once write that the antitrust movement was "one of the faded passions of American reform," this no longer seems true.' Current surveys suggest that the public is again aroused over big business abuse, and increasingly favors the breakup of large corporations.2 Checking corporate excesses and heightening competition are primary goals of consumer advocates.3 In the

The government of the Northern Territory

Abstract: PREFACE If the political systems of the states have been largely neglected in the treatment of Australian politics, then that of the Northern Territory has fared even worse This book seeks to fill part of that gap at a time when general interest in the region's affairs, stemming from the debates over uranium mining Aboriginal land-rights, and the onset of self-government, is increasing Its prime objective is to describe and analyze the Territory's contemporary political world—by any measurement, a unique and curious one—but, because so much of its political development is explicable only in terms of its physical environment and its history, these areas have also been accorded considerable emphasis, although I hope not unduly As it is the first attempt to deal with the subject in a comprehensive fashion, I am certainly aware of its shortcomings not least because of its length and the absence of detailed specialist studies and reference-frames for comparative purposes One of the major problems of writing on current political events for book publication is that the time between completion of the text and publication may render the study less than topical In the case of the Northern Territory where constitutional change is proceeding apace, the problem is exacerbated Thus, since the text was completed in late 1977, there have been several constitutional and administrative developments which have already overtaken information in the book Some major examples should be cited: the introduction of federal legislation (fifteen bills altogether) to usher in self-government has entailed in part the repeal of the Northern Territory (Administration) Act and its replacement by the Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act; the departmental structure of the Northern Territory Public Service has been further amended, with ten departments to operate after 1 July 1978; the decision to establish a Health Commission has been withdrawn; offers of local-government to Tennant Creek and Katherine have finally been accepted; the timetable for transfer of some state-type functions has been accelerated; with that acceleration, the DNT is to be phased out after July 1978 and its few remaining responsibilities transferred to the Department of Home Affairs; and the financial arrangements for self-government have been finalized Some of these changes are detailed in Appendix 3 Needless to say, I am indebted to a large group of people who, in one way or another, assisted me in the preparation of this study Without their unstinted help, my task would have been immeasurably more difficult The list is too long to acknowledge each individually and many, because of their positions as parliamentary officers, party officials and representatives, and public servants would prefer to remain anonymous Special mention, however is due to Colin Hughes, the general editor of the series, for his invaluable guidance; to the typist, Heather Berryman, who wrestled admirably with the many drafts of the text; to my colleagues at the Darwin Community College, who helped sustain my enthusiasm for the project; and to my wife, who, with good grace, endured my preoccupation with Territory politics for so long

Measuring Public Policy: Impacts of the Supplemental Security Income Program

Abstract: Enactment of legislation providing a national income floor for aged, blind, and disabled Americans has been cited as a major innovation in welfare policy. But did this innovation have significant consequences? To what extent did executive and legislative decision making represented by the legislation affect welfare outputs beyond "normal" increments? This study is an effort to measure impacts of the Title XX amendments to the Social Security Act in an interrupted time-series design. Applications of an AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Averages (ARIMA) model (Box and Jenkins, 1970) to indicators of welfare policy outputs aid in solving a number of perplexing problems of time-series analysis and facilitate estimation of effects of the Supplemental Security Income Program. Results of the analysis show that this welfare policy innovation resulted in dramatic, nonincremental changes in consequential aspects of American welfare policy. The importance of this finding for incrementalist theory is a topic of consideration as well as its implications for future policy evaluation.

Bureaucratic Response to Civil Service Reform

Abstract: On January 19, 1978 in his "State of the Union" message, President Carter stated that his proposed reform of the United States Civil Service was "absolutely vital" to fulfill his promise of "a government that is efficient, open, and truly worthy of our people's understanding and respect."' The passage of the Civil Service Reform Act thus constitutes one of the major accomplishments of the Carter administration. To date much has been heard and written concerning the public's view of the need for civil service reform. Veteran's groups made themselves heard concerning their interest in retention of veteran's preference.2 Academicians proffered well thought out weaknesses of the Carter proposals.3 Women and minority groups speculated on the impact of the reform.4 Administrative spokespersons expressed their view of the plan,s and civil libertarians commented on reform implications.6 Little is known, however, of the views of the people directly affected by the major portions of the legislation. This study investigates the views of top level executives who constitute the target population of a significant portion of the reforms and who will have the major responsibility for implementing these changes.

The politics of deference : a study of the mid-nineteenth century English political system

Abstract: This study emphasizes the degree to which voters behave as members of established communities or networks. It suggests that effective political change in the 19th century was less the product of legislation than of the social and economic processes whose consequences legislation could not arrest.

Congress (and evaluators) ought to pay more attention to history.

Abstract: In 1935, in 1965, and in 1972, the original Social Security Act and amendments to it were used by states to deinstitutionalize. In each instance a private, profit-making nursing home and board and care industry was stimulated. Poor care in such facilities was an unintended consequence of the legislation. Neither the Congress nor evaluators have clear concepts of what constitutes a life of decency and dignity for the chronically dependent. Behaviorally oriented social scientists and legislators have in common the difficulty of dealing with soft variables such as decency and dignity. In the absence of clear goals, care drifts below a lower threshold of acceptability and is corrected to some extent following public scandal. Social scientists need to learn to develop concepts and measurements suitable to monitoring the implementation of humane ideals.

The Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination Acts: Their Impact in the Workplace

Abstract: The women's movement has always been ambivalent about the value of legislation in bringing about real change. On the one hand women have campaigned vigorously for legislation to improve women's domestic, economic and political position. On the other hand, women inevitably find that laws, once passed, are unsatisfactory and that the inequalities they were intended to remove still remain. Disappointed and increasingly cynical, many women have begun to question the effectiveness of legislation as a weapon in their continuing struggle for equality.

Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act of 1978: electric utility rate reform

Abstract: Titles I and III of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) are examined with a focus on the economic bases and implications of retail sales by electric and natural gas utilities. Title I outlines the requirements and procedures for setting retail electricity rates. Six ratemaking standards and the various arguments in favor of rate reform are examined. Rate issues are traditionally argued at the state level, but PURPA directs the states to examine federal standards and ratemaking issues in terms of cost-effectiveness. The legislative history of the Act and the major compromises made are described. The states that have been reluctant to consider rate reforms may be encouraged to adopt cost-effectiveness criteria sooner, while the more-progressive states may find the legislation has slowed the process. If state commissions fail to serve national goals in their rate reform, the Federal government can assume a retail ratemaking role for the interstate market. (DCK)

Attitudes and mainstreaming: A literature review for school psychologists

Abstract: “Mainstreaming” legislation requires that special needs students participate in regular classroom activities to the extent possible. Studies indicate, however, that, neither parents, peers, nor professionals may be expected to hold positive attitudes toward these students or be competent providers of positive growth experiences. Existing evidence supports the need for comprehensive training programs for these groups which provide an interface between their experiences with special needs students and an introduction to new knowledge. School psychologists should assume a leadership role in development and implementation.

Disability benefits as disincentives to rehabilitation.

Abstract: The relations among physical disability, governmental and voluntary benefit programs, and rehabilitation outcome are more complex than has generally been assumed. Factors of motivation and functional capacity are not adequately accommodated by current methods and level of benefit provision. Preliminary investigation shows that programs may, in fact, deter some of the disabled from return to work. Proposed congressional legislation does not appear to likely to resolve conflicting goals and expectations of the labor market, the disabled, and the taxpayer.

The Supply of Development Rights: Results from a Survey in Hadley, Massachusetts

Abstract: Interest in programs for the purchase or transfer of development rights (PDR or TDR) as a means of preserving urban landmarks, agricultural land, and open space has resulted in a growing literature on the economic efficiency and incidence of these "new" land use instruments. Much of this literature has been theoretical in nature or simulative of impacts which could occur in specific programs.1 While many states have enacted enabling legislation and numerous counties, towns, and cities have instigated PDR or TDR programs, the limited number of actual transactions has precluded a definitive assessment of any ongoing program. In this note we report on some survey results from a study designed to examine the supply response of rural landowners within a hypothetical development rights program. The data on which our results are based were obtained from a survey of 22 agricultural landowners in the town of Hadley, Massachusetts.2 Our results have implications for a PDR program or a voluntary TDR program; that is, in the interview process we attempted to ascertain the number of acres for which development rights would be voluntarily forthcoming at alternative offer prices.3 In addition to the supply response for development rights we also inquired into the supply of land (that is, acquisition of fee simple title) and socioeconomic factors which might explain a

Government efforts to influence fertility: the ethical issues.

Abstract: In the past twenty years or so “the population problem” has been added to the world’s agenda not simply as the subject of scientific study and public discussion but also impinging on policy intervention. In the international arena, the United Nations has held meetings, including the first intergovernmental World Population Conference at Bucharest in 1974, passed resolutions, sponsored programmatic efforts, and established a special organization to concentrate on the issue (the United Nations Fund for Population Activities). National governments, both developed and developing, have set up various commissions on the subject and beyond that have adopted policies and organized programs to influence demographic trends. Private foundations, universities, and voluntary organizations have devoted substantial resources to research, training, technical assistance, service, and information distribution. In short, there has been, one might say, a minor revolution in the field—spotty in space and time, trendy in its ups and downs, filled with visions, revisions, and fashions, controversial as to both ends and means, but still maintaining a dynamic vitality of its own.1