Our American States

The death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020 sparked a cascade of state legislation affecting policing policy. There were more than 3,000 bills that were considered in legislatures, and more than 400 were signed into law.

The legislation came from both sides of the aisle. For this podcast, we spoke with Rep. Leslie Herod, a Democract from Colorado, and Sen. Whitney Westerfield, a Republican from Kentucky.

Herod discusses legislation she sponsored shortly after Floyd’s death that was one of the first pieces of legislation enacted in the nation. She also talks about how the death of Elijah McClain in Colorado galvanized efforts to pass legislation.

Westerfield is a leader in criminal justice issues in Kentucky, where the death of Breonna Taylor helped spur action around no-knock warrants. He discusses how bringing all the parties together was critical to passing good legislation.

Also on this episode is Amber Widgery, who tracks a number of criminal justice issues for NCSL. Amber talks about the trends in legislation, the bipartisan nature of the efforts in many places and the surprising fact that legislatures are addressing policies that affect law enforcement at the local level. She’s also putting together a session on this topic for NCSL’s Legislative Summit Nov. 3-5 in Tampa, Fla.

Resources

• NCSL Policing Legislation Database
• NCSL Statutory Database
• OAS Episode 143 Transcription
• Rep. Leslie Herod’s website
• Sen. Whitney Westerfield’s website

Our American States

The cost of higher education, the amount of student loan debt, the percentage of students who receive degrees and other related issues have been debated in legislatures and on the campaign trail. Proposals for a new federal state-partnership on higher education and for free community college are among the issues being debated.

On this podcast we hear from Kevin Carey and Jason Delisle, both experts on higher education policy. Carey is the vice president for education policy and knowledge management at New America, a policy research organization. Delisle is a senior policy fellow at the Urban Institute.

The two discussed the track record on affordability, access and outcomes in U.S public higher education and the different approaches states have taken. They also assessed proposals for state-federal partnerships and the likelihood that different states might have very different attitudes toward the type of partnerships being proposed.

While they differ on a number of points, both agreed the complexities of how a federal-state partnership would work are largely missing from the public debate.

This topic also will be on the agenda for NCSL’s Legislative Summit in Tampa, Fla., Nov. 3-5.

Resources

• NCSL Higher Education Resources
• New America
• OAS Episode 140 Transcription
• The Urban Institute

The crushing strain of caring for patients the last year and half of pandemic has taken a toll on health care workers. Legislatures play an important role in this area by creating laws for licensure and regulation.

On the podcast to discuss the workforce and how to help health care workers cope with the current challenges is Dr. Luis Padilla, the associate administrator for health workforce at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Padilla also serves as director of the National Health Service Corps.

Padilla discusses how HRSA supports states in strengthening the workforce. He also talked about the growing role of telehealth and the important role states have in regulating scope of practice rules.

The other guest is Sydne Enlund from NCSL. Enlund tracks of scope of practice laws across the country and maintains a website on the topic with interactive maps dealing with nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists and more. She discusses the role legislatures have played in modifying regulations for workers during the pandemic.

Resources

• Health Resource and Services Administration (HRSA) Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) 
• Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Data Warehouse 
• Health Workforce Technical Assistance Center 
• OAS Episode 139 Transcription
• Scope of Practice Policy website, NCSL
• The Telehealth Explainer Series, NCSL
• Telehealth: Health Care From the safety of Our Homes, HHS

One of the most promising areas of cancer treatment involves identifying the cancer a person has and using therapies targeted at just that cancer. This field of precision medicine or targeted medicine is not well understood by most lawmakers or the general public.

On the podcast to discuss this emerging field is Dr. Carl Morrison, a molecular biologist and pathologist who is the senior vice president of Scientific Development and Integrative Medicine at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y. He is one of the nation’s leading researchers in the field.

Our second guest is Karmen Hanson, a policy expert at NCSL. She explains why these new treatments are important for legislators to understand, both so they can aid their constituents and because of the costs to the health care system.

Resources

• Advancing Health Equity, Addressing Cancer Disparities, American Cancer Society/Cancer Action Network   
• Biomarker Testing, LUNGevity
• Cancer Disparities, National Cancer Institute
• Cancer in the 21^st Century, NCSL
• Common Cancer Testing Terminology, Consistent Testing Terminology Working Group 
• “Improving Access to Biomarker Testing,” American Cancer Society/Cancer Action Network
• “Development of an Actionable Framework to Address Cancer Care Disparities in Medically Underserved Populations in the United States,”  JCO Oncology Practice
• “Know Your Biomarker,” Global Colon Cancer Association 
• No One Missed, LUNGevity 
• OAS Episode 138 Transcription
• “Precision Medicine,” Cancer Support Community

This is the second of a two-part series on the Quad Caucus, a coalition of the four national caucuses of color representing Asian-Pacific American, Black, Native American and Hispanic legislators. Combined, the four groups represent more than 1,400 state lawmakers.

On the earlier podcast, we spoke with Washington Representative Sharon Tomiko Santos (D) and Kansas Representative Barbara Ballard (D) about their work with the Quad Caucus.

On this show, we talk with Senator Daniel Ivey-Soto (D), president of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, and Senator Benny Shendo (D), chair of the National Caucus of Native American State Legislators. Both are from New Mexico.

They discussed the work of their caucuses, the census and redistricting, some of the challenges facing their communities and more.

Resources

• National Asian Pacific American Caucus of State Legislators 
• National Black Caucus of State Legislators
• National Caucus of Native American State Legislators
• National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators
• OAS Episode 137 Transcription
• Quad Caucus, NCSL

Civility in politics seems to be a subject of almost constant discussion. Our guest today has written and spoken extensively on the topic. Teresa M. Bejan is an associate professor of political theory and fellow of Oriel College at the University of Oxford. She is the author of “Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration,” published in 2017.

Bejan will be the keynote speaker at NCSL’s online Base Camp event on Aug. 4 at 11 a.m. ET.

In this podcast, she talks about how civility works in politics, the difference between civility and talking about civility, the polarized state of our politics and more.

Resources

• NCSL Base Camp
• OAS Episode 136 Transcription
• Teresabejan.com

Traffic safety is an issue of critical concern to state leaders, especially after a year that saw a sharp increase in traffic deaths.

On this podcast to address the issue is Steven Cliff, the acting administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA.

Cliff spent several years in a variety of roles at the California Air Resources Board and previously worked as a research professor at the University of California at Davis. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry.

Cliff discussed how NHTSA and the states can work together on traffic safety issues, the increase in traffic fatalities during the pandemic, ongoing efforts to combat impaired driving and much more.

Resources

• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• NCSL Transportation Homepage
• OAS Episode 135 Transcription

The guest on this podcast is Paul Manna, a professor of government and public policy at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Manna has written extensively about federal and state education policy.

A key focus of Manna’s research concerns the role of principals in K-12 education and ways to identify and groom candidates to become principals.

Manna talks about the critical role principals play, how a principal pipeline can work and why the investment in principal training is worthwhile. He also shared some thoughts for how legislators can approach the issue and policies that can help foster school leaders.

Resources

• Developing Excellent School Principals to Advance Teaching and Learning: Considerations for State Policy, Wallace Foundation
• New book tells story of Illinois’ principal preparation reform, Illinois State University
• North Carolina State University Educational Leadership Academy
• OAS Episode 134 Transcription
• “Principal Pipelines: A Feasible, Affordable, and Effective Way for Districts to Improve Schools,” Wallace Foundation
• Principals Pipeline Homepage, Wallace Foundation

States faced myriad challenges trying to acquire everything from personal protective equipment to hospital sinks during the pandemic. The guests on this podcast—George Schutter, chief procurement officer for the District of Columbia, and Lindle Hatton, the CEO of the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO)—know those challenges all too well.

Our two guests discuss when the emergency first became clear, the rush to acquire goods, how emergency operations centers were activated during the crisis and the key lessons learned. They offer advice to legislators, suggest policy and process changes for the next emergency and reflect on what they learned.

Resources

• “Assessing State PPE Procurement During COVID-19: A RESEARCH REPORT”
• National Association of State Procurement Officials
• NASPO ValuePoint
• OAS Episode 133 Transcription

There is an increasing focus at the state and federal level on policies to require greater cost transparency in health care. While there’s debate about how effective these policies are, the goal is to allow comparison shopping on the part of consumers and employers with the aim of controlling the increasing cost of health care.

The guest on the podcast is an expert in the area of health data and analytics. Niall Brennan is the president and CEO of the Health Care Cost Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on data to analyze key issues affecting the U.S. health care system. Brennan previously was chief data officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Brennan discusses the pros and cons of price transparency, examples of where it’s been effective and his skepticism about the individual consumer’s use of the information. He also shares some surprising examples of price variation for the same medical procedure in the same area—even in the same hospital group. 

Resources

• Bringing Health Care Prices to Light, NCSL LegisBrief
• Cost and Quality Homepage, NCSL
• Health Care Cost Institute
• OAS Episode 132 Transcription