Government Reform – Page 4

Transparent Treasury

Problem

Too often, public pension investments are opaque and confusing to the public. A review of public pension websites nationally reveals that it is often very difficult for the public to access basic information on how pension investments are performing, which fund managers public funds are invested in, and what fees and expenses are being paid out of the system. Sometimes such disclosure is prohibited by the contracts between pension systems and the fund managers they employ. The public has a right to know how their funds are being managed, and stronger scrutiny of public investments will fuel an informed public dialogue on how performance can be improved.

Solution

Rhode Island Treasurer Seth Magaziner launched the “Transparent Treasury” initiative, combining tough new disclosure standards for fund managers with a new online portal, making key investment information easy for all to access. Transparent Treasury is a commitment to publicly disclose investment allocations, performance, fees and expenses in aggregate and individually for every fund manager that the state pension system invests in. Going forward, Rhode Island will only invest with fund managers that agree to publicly disclose performance quarterly, and fees and expenses annually.

Citizen Co-Sponsor

Problem

Too often local government lacks an easy outlet for constituents to weigh in on policies that directly affect them. Not having this resource for citizens to get engaged in current legislation hinders the public’s trust in government.

Solution

Assemblymember Troy Singleton established an online tool, called Citizen Co-Sponsor, to help gather input from constituents about what programs and policies matter most to them. Through this new tool, residents can offer immediate feedback on any proposals going through the New Jersey State Assembly. By allowing every citizen to engage in the legislative process by co-sponsoring policy initiatives, this tool is helping increase their trust in government.

PocketGov

Problem

Many local governments lack efficient ways to provide their constituents with easy access to city information and the services they need, resulting in an overwhelming number of calls to 311 systems.

Solution

Mayor Michael Hancock helped launch Pocketgov.com last year, Denver’s online service center, which provides access to city services and information from anywhere, at any time, on any device. With pocketgov.com, users can make a variety of payments, report potholes or graffiti, find property values, sign up for customized services like street sweeping reminders and waste removal notifications, and much more. With new features rolling out every month based on citizen feedback, pocketgov.com is an innovative solution for direct, easy connections to the City of Denver.

Police Shooting Reporting

Problem

There is a national data gap on police officer use of deadly force, and officer-involved shootings because there is no mandatory reporting policy at the national level to capture information about these incidents. While Texas law already requires law enforcement agencies to report information on a number of different types of incidents to the state, including in-custody deaths, it does not require law enforcement agencies to provide statistics on police officer shootings. This means there is limited information for local police to address these issues and no aggregate data for policymakers, researchers, and law enforcement agencies to analyze in order to better understand and address possible trends or issues.

Solution

Representative Johnson has proposed legislation to increase transparency by requiring law enforcement agencies to report information on officer-involved shootings to the Office of the Attorney General and making this report available to the public so that the data gathered informs research and future policy. One of the biggest things that sets this law apart from other state approaches is the parallel reporting system that tracks incidents in which a civilian shoots a police officer in the course of duty. Additionally, unlike the majority of other state laws, the Texas reporting requirement has a strict reporting timeline for each incident to ensure that the data is gathered and reported in a timely fashion. Finally, keeping track of police officer shooting statistics can help increase transparency and maintain public trust in police officer agencies

Veterans Court

Problem

Too many veterans return home with health, substance abuse and/or psychosocial problems, making it difficult to re-enter the civilian population. A lack of jobs, along with family and housing issues, also takes its toll. When these veterans run afoul of the criminal justice system, it’s important for their unique circumstances to be understood and addressed.

Solution

Palm Beach County created a Veterans Court, partnering with federal, state and local agencies, to solve the participants’ underlying health, substance abuse and psychological problems. Honorably discharged veterans who commit certain misdemeanor and felony crimes are eligible upon the consent of the victims. Veterans Court is a non-adversarial atmosphere where a judge, prosecutor and public defender – all veterans themselves – work together to break the cycle of substance abuse and criminal behavior, and address mental and physical health issues. Perhaps most importantly, each veteran in the program is assigned a mentor — a fellow veteran usually from the same branch of service — to be there every step of the way. Working together, nearly all veterans successfully complete the program and return to a law-abiding life. Meanwhile, costs of pretrial incarceration have been reduced by 73%.

Raising The Bar: Treasurer Frerichs’ Responsible Investing Platform

Problem

Government investment officers face difficult choices. Not only do they seek investments that are safe and high-performing, but they seek – and their constituents demand – investments that are responsible. They seek investments that not only strengthen the economic well-being of their community, but they seek investments that reflect their community’s values, contribute to admirable ends, and advance the greater public interest.

The problem is that traditional investment strategies fail to incorporate these priorities, often described as environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. Traditional investing heavily relies on financial indicators, technical data, and short-term gains. While those factors are certainly necessary, government investment officers need a way to integrate additional factors into the investment process if they strive to fully execute their fiduciary duties. In other words, they need a new strategy, one that not only is good for business, but is also good for the community

Solution

Raising The Bar (RTB) represents the future of government investing. RTB is a highly replicable public investment strategy that empowers governments to maximize returns and reduce risk exposures all while focusing on corporate accountability, innovation, and the common good. The strategy also recognizes that sound environmental, social and governance policies are strongly related to safer, more innovative, better-performing companies.

Denver: An Entrepreneurial City

Problem

Governments today – at the federal, state, and local level – must accomplish more with fewer resources while ensuring taxpayer funds are wisely spent. Decision making and problem solving often rely on institutional inertia and a top-down managerial approach, making the entire organization less responsive to constituent demands. By contrast, startup businesses and entrepreneurs generally embrace innovative solutions that leverage unique insights into action, regardless of where those insights come from. In short, governments tend to operate as a hierarchy; entrepreneurs and startups tend to operate as a network. The challenge is how to apply an entrepreneurial mindset and skillset to the public sector to both spur innovation and manage resources, creating workable solutions to pressing problems.

Solution

The innovative Governmental Entrepreneurial Leadership Accelerator (GELA) fellowship explores a new model of governmental problem solving and leadership development, graduating 30 fellows in 2 years, building a new model of professional development and collaboration. GELA begins with a boot camp, which integrates a range of books and articles, guest speakers from the entrepreneurial community and hands-on exercises. This boot camp was followed by six weeks of work on difficult city problems, from bridging the digital divide to addressing overdoses from the opioid epidemic. During pitch night, fellows pitched their ideas to public sector leaders such as Mayor Hancock and Stephanie Copeland, a member of the governor’s cabinet.

Dump the Bad Banks

Problem

In 2015 five giant banks- including Wall Street behemoths JP Morgan Chase and Citicorp- pleaded guilty to criminal felony charges that they rigged the world’s foreign-currency market for their own profit. In 2016 Wells Fargo Bank admitted that thousands of its employees opened millions of fraudulent consumer accounts without authorization, harming people across our country. The actions of these banks pose risks to investors and the public and I question whether these banks can be trusted with County funds. It is absolutely critical that government entities only work with the most trustworthy institutions as we invest and protect the public’s tax dollars.

Solution

Santa Cruz County Supervisors modified the County’s investment policy to reflect that the County will not do new business with law-breaking financial institutions and directed the County to unwind existing relationships with the identified banks to the greatest extent feasible.

Engage Norfolk

Problem

Following the Women’s March in DC in February 2017, many had come home with a strong desire to “do something” to make a difference — beyond a march or protest — but weren’t sure how. They wanted to connect with their elected officials; to learn how to run for office or support someone who was; and, to connect to groups who were making our community a better place. Organizations and leaders needed a way to reach those very people. Websites were helpful, but the ability to have personal interaction was invaluable.

Solution

Engage Norfolk was a civic one-stop-shop that allowed residents to transform their passions into action by connecting with local organizations at the CivicFAIR, meeting elected officials, and learning through Civic 101 Workshops. The event drew more than 1000 attendees and over 100 organizations, with volunteer speakers presenting half a dozen civic workshops on a variety of topics. Elected leaders from local, state and federal offices all came together to meet with their constituents in one place. Engage Norfolk also required minimal monetary investment (less than $1K) thanks to using low-cost online organization tools (Mail Chimp, Sign Up Genius, and Squarespace), and social media for publicity of the event. Due to the event’s success and popularity, we will be holding Engage 2.0 in 2018, and we expect even bigger crowds and participation.

Collective Impact on Homelessness

Problem

Salt Lake County has seen homelessness expand and, as the opioid epidemic has also grown, the area surrounding our main homeless shelter has been unsafe for the public and for those experiencing homelessness. There were no easy solutions to address the challenges that are complex and diverse. In order to effect the system it required stakeholders from the criminal justice, law enforcement, homeless services, nonprofit, faith, and philanthropic sectors to work in a more sophisticated and organized manner. There is no easy or quick fix and collaboration at the highest level is required to effectuate the changes needed.

Solution

Mayor McAdams convened Salt Lake County’s Collective Impact on Homelessness, a coalition of stakeholders from state, county and city government together with over 30 providers of homeless services to reform how services are delivered and better help those experiencing homelessness to overcome crisis and regain a greater degree of self-reliance. By working as a coalition, we have secured financial support from state leaders who are investing unprecedented funding in our efforts to realign the system (includes securing $30 million in state funds to reshape the emergency shelter system), and to provide treatment as well as other stabilizing resources to ensure that homelessness in Salt Lake County is rare, brief and non-recurring. Work has also involved two Pay for Success initiatives launched in early 2017 (Salt Lake County’s ‘Homes not Jail’ effort and REACH initiative to improve outcomes for individuals with moderate to severe substance use disorders), as well as getting to the final stages of negotiating an expansion of Medicaid.

Transparent Treasury

Problem

Solution

Citizen Co-Sponsor

Problem

Solution

PocketGov

Problem

Solution

Police Shooting Reporting

Problem

Solution

Veterans Court

Problem

Solution

Raising The Bar: Treasurer Frerichs’ Responsible Investing Platform

Problem

Solution

Denver: An Entrepreneurial City

Problem

Solution

Dump the Bad Banks

Problem

Solution

Engage Norfolk

Problem

Solution

Collective Impact on Homelessness

Problem

Solution

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