State Senator Will Haskell won national recognition on November 18 in the 2021 Ideas Challenge competition held by the NewDEAL organization.

Senator Haskell won in the organization’s “Expanding Access to Education” category for his sponsorship of Connecticut’s Student Loan Repayment Tax Credit legislation, which provides a corporate tax credit for businesses that help employees pay off student loans.

The legislation, enacted in 2019, takes effect in January. It earned broad support on a bipartisan basis and from the business community. The competition category included measures that promote opportunities from early childhood to post-secondary education to put students on a path to college and career success.

“This is such an unexpected honor,” said Senator Haskell. “I really appreciate the NewDEAL highlighting our work to combat student debt in Connecticut. I can’t wait to see the credit become available this January, helping entice graduates to launch their careers in our state.”

“Astronomical student loan debt,” he said, “holds students and recent graduates back, delaying the launch of a small business, the purchase of a first home, and the start of a family. I’m proud that we were able to work across the aisle in revitalizing our economy and making higher education more affordable.”

The NewDEAL, a “selective national network of exceptional, rising, pro-growth progressive state and local elected leaders,” announced that the efforts of Massachusetts State Representative Tram Nguyen (D-Andover) to promote justice for victims of violent crimes have made her a finalist in the 2021 Ideas Challenge – a competition among rising and innovative state and local policymakers to propose the most effective solutions on an array of issues.

Rep. Nguyen represents Tewksbury in the 18th Essex District.

“I am thrilled to be named a finalist and to be included in this group of talented leaders across the country,” said Rep. Nguyen. “We can’t wait for political rhetoric to solve our problems, and that’s why these solutions proposed by state and local leaders across the country are so important. By building on what we have learned from best practices, our work for victims and witnesses of human trafficking and other violent crimes takes concrete steps toward improving our justice system. I’m excited to have the chance to share it as a template that can be replicated by NewDEALers and others across the country.”

The Ideas Challenge is a biannual competition that identifies and recognizes public leaders who promote innovative and sustainable solutions to the complex issues affecting our economic well-being, overall quality of life, and the ability of government to work effectively to meet communities’ needs.

The winners, already a part of the NewDEAL network of over 165 state and local government officials, get their ideas added to an agenda NewDEAL promotes as examples for the country to follow.

NewDEAL Leaders are advancing thoughtful and innovative solutions to the challenges facing their communities. Explore a selection of their exciting policy solutions on a range of topics, including winning and finalist ideas from our past Ideas Challenge policy competitions. The organization is pleased to recognize the winners and finalists across five categories in its 2021 competition.

1. Responding to immediate post-pandemic needs & building a stronger safety net
2. Rebuilding jobs and the economy
3. Expanding access to education and building college & career pathways
4. Securing our communities and our planet
5. Healing our democracy and rebuilding community

For Immediate Release:                                                    

November 18, 2021                                                        

Contact: Jonathon Dworkin (NewDEAL), 202-660-1340 x5, jonathon@newdealleaders.org

 

Five National Ideas Challenge Winners Announced

State and local leaders recognized for best ideas to expand opportunity and make government work better

 

Washington, DC – At the organization’s eleventh annual Leaders Conference today, NewDEAL released the winners of its 2021 Ideas Challenge – a competition among rising and innovative state and local policymakers to propose the most effective solutions on an array of issues. Policy experts voted for the proposals that would best improve Americans’ economic well-being and overall quality of life, and that would make government work more effectively to meet communities’ needs. Of more than fifty solutions submitted, an esteemed and diverse panel of judges (listed below) selected the following five winners in their respective categories:

 

Responding to Immediate Post-Pandemic Needs & Building a Stronger Safety Net: Kentucky Maternal and Infant Health Project – State Representative Nima Kulkarni (Louisville, KY)

 

Rebuilding Jobs and the Economy: Secure Tokens for State Financial Offerings – State Senator Chris Hansen (Denver, CO)

 

Expanding Access to Education: Student Loan Repayment Tax Credit – State Senator Will Haskell (Westport, CT)

 

Securing our Communities and our Planet: Biogas to Vehicle Fuel – Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird (Lincoln, NE)

 

Healing our Democracy and Rebuilding Community: New Standards for Police Use of Force – Councilmember Will Jawando (Montgomery County, MD)

 

More information on the winning ideas is below. A full list of finalists and their ideas can be found here.

 

“Congratulations to our winners for their innovative and impactful ideas that can help inform policymakers in states across the country, as well as leaders in Washington,” said NewDEAL CEO Debbie Cox Bultan. “Their solutions embrace the keys to prosperity in the 21st century — adapting to the new economy, strengthening our safety net, improving access to a great education, promoting cleaner and more sustainable energy, and healing divisions. At a moment of extraordinary challenges facing our nation, but also enormous opportunities to solve persistent problems, the Ideas Challenge has highlighted the critical role of state and local leaders in building back better from the pandemic. Together, the more than 50 proposals submitted in this year’s competition serve as a governing agenda for a more equitable and prosperous society.”

 

In its fifth edition, the Challenge was open to 178 members of the NewDEAL (Developing Exceptional American Leaders), an organization that supports state and local pro-growth progressive elected officials through the exchange of ideas and engagement with other top public, private, and non-profit sector officials. U.S. Senator Chris Coons (DE), Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10), and Columbia, SC Mayor Steve Benjamin serve as Honorary Co-chairs of the group.

Submissions to the New Ideas Challenge were evaluated by seven judges:

U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, Chair, New Democrat Coalition

Elizabeth Fairchild, Executive Director, Business Forward

Josh Freed, Senior Vice President for the Climate and Energy Program, Third Way

Zachary Markovits, Managing Director of What Works Cities, Results for America

Nelson Reyneri Jr., Chair-Elect, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Cathilea Robinett, CEO, e.Republic

Desiree Tims, President and CEO, Innovations Ohio

 

2021 Ideas Challenge Winners:

 

Kentucky Representative Nima Kulkarni’s Kentucky Maternal and Infant Health Project won in the “Responding to Immediate Post-Pandemic Needs & Building a Stronger Safety Net” category, which included ideas to help address Americans’ short-term financial instability, joblessness, housing insecurity, and other needs, while also reimagining safety net systems to better meet Americans’ needs now and beyond the pandemic. Her submission focused on a package of 21 bills and resolutions introduced this year that recognize that expanding resources to women is imperative to ensure their safety and wellbeing. The rate of Kentucky women dying from pregnancy-related causes is more than double the national average. Among its solutions, the legislation addresses: care for families, mental health, incarceration, access to care, and health equity.

 

Colorado Senator Chris Hansen’s Secure Tokens for State Financial Offerings won in the “Rebuilding Jobs and the Economy” category, which included ideas that help communities rebound from the lows of the pandemic, get Americans working for pay that allows for a better quality of life, and address inequities. His idea revolves around finding a new way for people to partake in capital financing by digitizing the origination process and building a transparent system that allows for a broader range of investors. The traditional method of securing state debts limits the number of businesses and organizations that can invest in the state and assist in financing capital projects. Hansen’s plan would reduce dependence on commercial banks, institutional investors, mutual funds, and pension funds. Certificates of Participation (COPs) could be funded by millions of individual investors through the use of secure tokens. The introduction of a policy that sets up a plan for secure tokens to be used to finance COPs would greatly expand the number of potential investors and decrease the interest rate that the state would owe on its principal loan as a result of direct purchases by retail investors.

 

Connecticut Senator Will Haskell’s Student Loan Repayment Tax Credit won in the “Expanding Access to Education” category, which included ideas that promote opportunities at every level — from early childhood to post-secondary — to put students on a pathway to success in college and career and, ultimately, to making the most of their abilities. Haskell’s submission involves a corporate tax credit for any business that helps to pay off the student loans of employees. The credit can be valued up to $5,250 per year to sync with a federal tax benefit available to employers.

 

Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird’s Biogas to Vehicle Fuel submission won in the “Securing our Communities and our Planet” category, which included ideas for states, cities, and regions to address climate change with cleaner and more resilient power, transportation, and infrastructure, and to promote a more sustainable society. Her submission highlights a project in Lincoln to treat, clean, and transform the biogas generated by wastewater systems into quality, renewable vehicle fuel. This initiative addresses the challenge that the anaerobic digestion of solids that go to wastewater treatment facilities produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Lincoln has partnered with the private sector, including companies that have developed infrastructure to connect the renewable natural gas to the national natural gas pipeline and to get renewable energy on the marketplace.

 

Councilmember Will Jawando’s New Standards for Police Use of Force won in the Healing our Democracy and Rebuilding Community category, which included ideas aimed at promoting the right to vote, engaging people in civic society, and healing divisions in our society, especially by addressing systemic inequality. His idea starts with prohibiting a police officer from using deadly force except when absolutely necessary when no other alternatives are available. This includes prohibiting neck or carotid restraints and striking a restrained individual. The bill bans no-knock warrants in drug cases and shooting from or at moving vehicles, unless the vehicle is being used as a weapon and the circumstances would authorize the use of deadly force. In addition, Jawando’s solution requires officers to stop or attempt to stop the use of excessive force or the commission of a crime by another officer. Officers who intervene must not be retaliated against or disciplined for taking action.

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Fergus Falls Mayor Ben Schierer was selected as one of 20 state and local elected officials around the country to join a national network of pro-growth, progressive leaders.

Schierer joins nearly 200 other leaders as part of New­DEAL — which stands for Developing Exceptional American Leaders — a decade-old network that is focusing on “pro-growth progressive solutions” at a time when state and local governments are responding to the pandemic and doling out hundreds of billions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The network has served as a sounding board for its members in sharing ideas on how states, counties, and cities spend pandemic recovery funds.

Schierer was elected as Fergus Falls mayor in 2016 and has been heavily focused on environmental issues such as monarch butterfly preservation, riverfront revitalization, and protection of wetlands.

NewDEAL also cited Schierer’s emphasis on leveraging public investments for private development, which has filled empty storefronts and created entrepreneurial opportunities.

“We must find solutions for the urgent challenges created by COVID-19 while not losing focus on longer-term issues that will continue to affect the economic security of Fergus Falls and other communities for decades to come,” Schierer said in a statement.