Funding the Cause: How Public Interest Law Organizations Fund Their Activities and Why It Matters for Social Change

Most of the work of public interest law organizations does not make money. How do these organizations survive, given the economic realities of law practice? Drawing on survey data from a national random sample of public interest law firms, we investigate how funding models vary across public interest organizations and how funding sources affect these organizations’ activities. We find funding structures have, over time, shifted away from foundation support toward government grants. Compared to other organizations, however, conservative organizations draw significantly less of their budget from federal and state grants, and significantly more of their budget from private contributions. Conservative organizations are significantly less likely than other organizations to rely on funding that prohibits engaging in class actions, receiving attorney's fees, or lobbying. Respondents reported that funding restrictions hamper their ability to negotiate favorable settlements, bring about systemic change, and represent vulnerable client communities. We close with a comparative institutional analysis of different funding models.     

Telemedicine--the diagnostic tool of the future

The most immediate concern in the development of telemedicine programs, technology, and equipment is the continuation of federal funding. As Congress continues its efforts to balance this year's federal budget, funds for research generally and particularly for the pilot programs discussed above could be cut or eliminated. Federal funding is surprisingly important to the rapid maturation of telemedicine. Without these pilot projects, HCFA believes that it would be unable to assess the effect of Medicare reimbursement for telemedicine consultations. Without such assessment, HCFA may be unwilling to relax the current restrictions on reimbursement for telemedicine outside of pilot programs. HMOs and third-party payors would then be less likely to support telemedicine programs and reimburse providers who participate in them. Similarly, without the promise of federal or private reimbursement, the telecommunications industry will find it harder to justify continuing research and development in new technologies. Nonetheless, even a complete elimination of all federal research monies is likely only to slow the growth of telemedicine, not stop it.     

Purpose and function in government-funded health coverage

Government-funded health insurance programs that claim to provide comprehensive funding of their clients' demands have commonly adopted a purposive (deductive) approach to the problem of health care funding. This involves determining the extent of covered benefits by seeking an "adequate" definition of health or health care. Payment is then limited to only those procedures medically required or indicated. In this paper we argue that the purposive approach is inadequate, and that attempted adherence to it results in a curious dislocation of service, serious inequities, and an unhealthy contemplation of the definition of health. These problems are the result of structural deficiencies in the approach, and so will not be rectified by tinkering with the definitions adopted. As an alternative, we present an outline of a functional (inductive) approach, which seeks to identify which of the expectations of its clients the government health insurance system may realistically satisfy.     

法律促进预算平衡之基本原理研究

财政赤字和公债规模失控是现代国家的政府共同面临的难题。与静态的预算平衡相比,对预算为什么不平衡的追问以及使之重新趋于平衡的法律对策更加值得关注。法律控制不同类型的财政赤字的目标,都指向预算平衡:其法律意蕴应当由传统的财政收支平衡转为总体经济平衡,德国经济宪法中有关总体经济平衡的规定可以为我国提供最具参考价值的借鉴。至于通过专门立法促进预算平衡的典型,当属美国联邦的赤字削减型预算平衡规则。尽管其因为试图改变和突破联邦权力的分立制衡原则而经司法审查认定为违宪,然而,对促进型经济法的理论研究而言,仍不失为极佳的制度范例。     

论财政预算的法律效力——基于财政立宪主义的理论视角

财政预算具有何种法律效力，此为当今财政宪法上重要问题之一。在德国，财政预算主要是一种“授权性规范”，虽具有“限制支出最高金额”之“拘束效力”，但人民不得据此主张权利。而在美国，参众两院的“拨款委员会”依据国会的预算方案举行听证，并由其下设委员会通过具体的拨款法案，该法案具有强制支出之法律效力。在制度形式上，我国的财政预算与美国颇为接近；但是因其缺乏充分的保障机制，故而难以遏制违反财政预算的行为。今后，我国的人大及其常委会可以通过行使监督权等方式来强化财政预算的法律效力，亦可通过建立“纳税人诉讼”等制度适当扩张财政预算的外部效力。     

Local Governance and Redistributive Policy: Explaining Local Funding for Public Defense

In many American states, public defense is provided at the county rather than state level (Langton & Farole 2009 ). Local governments have discretion over implementing and funding the right to counsel, resulting in considerable variability in programs and funding levels. Placing this issue in the theoretical context of redistributive policies and politics, we investigate decisions on funding this service across upstate New York counties. Using as a point of departure Paul Peterson's classic explication of community politics, we first model variation in funding as a function of counties' fiscal capacity, need for services, and costs of supplying legal representation. We also test Peterson's prediction that local political factors will play little if any role in budget decisions. Second, through interviews with program administrators we explore the characters of twelve defender programs in which expenditures departed from the model's predictions. We find that three factors—which we term “influence,” “infrastructure,” and “ideas"”—also vary directly with levels of funding. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for theoretical thinking about due process policies and local politics, and for policy debate over how best to ensure adequate counsel in criminal court.     

The Shadow Price of Social Change and Its Evaluation

This paper analyzes the “shadow price” of social transformation. For the first time, an attempt was made to determine the approaches to measuring this value with regard to nonmarket phenomena and processes, and to apply these approaches in an empirical analysis, based on a representative survey in Russia (N = 1,000) using experimental situations.

Specifically, it quantitatively evaluates (1) the degree of divergence between the real and the ideal structure of the time budget of several important domains of social life; (2) the ratio of social ills to social benefits; (3) individual public welfare functions; and (4) the social cost, legitimated by citizens, of reproducing two fundamental public goods: “the capacity to maintain ‘superpower’ status” and “the well-being of the future generations.”

The authors introduce and operationalize the novel concept of the socially suboptimal product of labor, that is, the product resulting from alienated (or unwilling) labor, and conversely, the product that could potentially result from using unutilized willing labor. In doing so we support the idea of distinguishing productive and unproductive forms within both the notion of labor and the notion of leisure. Aggregated estimates of these values show the share of gross domestic product (GDP) that could be optimized due to a redistribution of the time budget of the population between the main areas of life, according to ideal social preferences.

The balance of social benefits and social ills resulting from the life experiences and activities of individuals is empirically evaluated. We consider this balance, which is the sum of impacts of the social environment on the individual, as a suitable model for explaining how individuals make decisions about whether or not to participate in public life.

“Individual public welfare functions” are assessed empirically, demonstrating that individual utility depends on personal and collective consumption. Empirical testing covered a wide range of nation-building areas with public investment in relevant types of merit and public goods.

Then the authors propose and test on empirical data an opportunity cost approach to evaluating socially legitimate amounts of funding for the fundamental social benefits “superpower” or “additional power” of the nation.

The cost of the public good “well-being of the future generations” is calculated for the Russian sample.

Finally, the estimates of the discount rates of human lives and “healthy and prosperous years of life” were obtained for Russia for the first time.

The findings of the study are relevant for the efficient management of complex socioeconomic systems. The authors strongly believe that revealing the structure of existing social preferences and estimating their impact on various areas of social life will help improve policymaking by explicitly taking into account the specifics of the real social contract between the state and society.     

Costs of Alternative Sanctions in Hungary

ABSTRACT. The author calculated the specific costs of executing probation and community service orders. In addition, she attempted to design indicators that help determine the amount of effort probation officers make to perform their duties. In Hungary, the probation service is under the supervision of the judicial system; therefore, it does not have a separate budget. The author calculated the costs of alternative sanctions in multiple steps. The study found that in 1997 the costs of performing probation orders amounted to HUF 10,645 (± 47 Euro) per case per year whereas those of performing community service totalled HUF 13,395 (± 60 Euro). The analysis established that fines imposed are collected and utilised by the courts themselves. This implies a risk, namely, that judicial sanctioning practice may be determined not only by penal law but also by financial considerations. The author claims that this casts a different light on the recent punishment practice under which imprisonment (and its non-suspended form, in particular) has been increasingly replaced by fines rather than community sanctions.     

THE POLITICS,AND PLACE,OF GENDER IN RESEARCH ON CRIME*

The study of gender and crime has grown exponentially over the past 40 years, but in some fundamental respects, it remains underdeveloped. Few scholars have considered both the similarities and the differences in the predictors of offending among males and females and the implication of this for middle‐range theories. Victimization has been put forth as a major explanatory factor for female offending; yet the study of female victimization has been ghettoized because it has failed to address the ways in which it is related to the larger literature of victimization. Female inmates have always been characterized as having special needs, but the basic necessities (housing and employment) inmates require once they are released from prison are in fact gender neutral. These bodies of research all have suggested that the salience of gender varies in different contexts and is intermixed with other forms of stratification. As such, we would do well to attend to those situations and relational processes that foreground gender and focus our efforts on where gender‐based paradigms are important and can have a real impact.     

法律认知和法律原则：情感、效率与公平

情感、效率、公平是人们认知活动中惯常的三个进程。对应这三个进程,人们对法律的认知有一些基本的原则。这些认知互动既可能形成社会自发秩序,也可能为法学提供一个基于认知背景的分析框架,有助于法学应对实践问题。“公平主导”的一个简单回答是,面对不同场合,情感、效率、公平三种进程被激活的程度不同。大体上,家庭场合激活情感,工程场合激活效率,市场和法律则更激活公平。在实践中,公平主导的法律原则由于比较接近主流社会认知,所以法律规范在社会中往往可能“自执行”,无需全靠外界监督或者激励。公平原则也有其自身的局限。虽然规范和原则很重要,是社会秩序的母体。但是,公平原则并不能解决所有问题。缺乏制度上的法治,光靠情理法是不足的。所以现代社会形成了规则化解决纠纷的机制,这就是二阶意义上的法律。     

Further observations on the speed of death in hanging

Given that most fatal hangings are suicidal and occur in locations that have been selected to conceal this activity (thus maximizing the chances of a lethal outcome), there has been very little corroboration of the speed with which unconsciousness and death may occur. A 35-year-old male is reported who committed suicide by hanging immediately after talking to his spouse. Police investigations confirmed her reliability as a witness indicating that lethal anoxia in this case had occurred within a very short time (most likely in less than 1 min) of suspension. The speed with which death may result from hanging not only gives an insight into fatal pathophysiological mechanisms, but also provides useful information for situations where a lethal outcome is to be avoided, or is not intended. For example, individuals at risk of suicide who are being monitored in institutional facilities need to be constantly under direct visual surveillance as significant hypoxia can be rapidly induced, parents and caregivers with infants and children in potentially unsafe sleeping environments need to realize how swiftly death or irreversible anoxic brain damage may occur from neck compression, and those who engage in recreational asphyxia should be informed just how quickly a fatal outcome may ensue.     

我国预算法修订的规范分析

追求和实现预算民主是我国预算法修订的目标之一。预算法律关系是公共预算关系的抽象和拟制,是立法者运用立法技术制定法律规范的基础和指引,在预算立法与实践之间起着承启的作用。修订预算法应加强预算法律主体的开放性和制衡性,规范和完善不同的预算法律行为及其法权配置,并使预算法律责任具有科学性和可操作性。对预算法律文本中蕴含的各类法律关系进行规范分析,旨在通过对预算法律所预设的逻辑秩序进行阐释和解析,进而说明和论证预算法律规范设定的主体、行为和责任等逻辑秩序与预算实践秩序间的关系。     

Grants to states for construction or acquisition of state home facilities--VA. final rule

This document amends the "Medical" regulations regarding applications for grants to States for the construction or acquisition of State home facilities. VA awards grants based on a priority ranking system. Usually, the higher priority applications deplete the available funding to the extent that the lowest ranking application to be offered funding is offered only a partial grant. This final rule provides that if the lowest ranking grant application receives only a partial grant in a fiscal year and if such grant award is partial solely because VA has insufficient funds for a full grant, the application would be placed at the top of the list within its priority group for the next fiscal year. Often applicants are hesitant to accept a partial grant because of the uncertainty of receiving an additional grant the next fiscal year. This final rule will encourage States to accept a partial grant by creating the likelihood that the State would receive an additional grant in the subsequent fiscal year. Accordingly, this will help ensure that VA would be able to award grants to higher priority applicants that might otherwise reject partial funding. Also, this final rule provides that the applicant receiving partial funding and receiving priority as a proposed will not be required to submit a second application for additional funds in the subsequent fiscal year, but could be required to update information already submitted. The first application would normally be adequate because the grant award in the second fiscal year would be for the same project which received the partial grant award. Further, the final rule provides that the total amount awarded for the application may not exceed 65 percent of the total cost of the project as determined at the time of the second grant award for that grant application. This is consistent with the statutory requirement that limits grant awards to no more than 65 percent of the estimated cost construction or acquisition.     

Supervised injection sites: Health Canada approves Vancouver pilot sites, but concerns remain

The paperwork has been processed, and Health Canada says that two pilot supervised injection sites (SISs) in Vancouver can now proceed, but operational funding for the site to be located in the Downtown Eastside has yet to be secured. Meanwhile, tired of waiting for the sanctioned SISs to open, community groups in Vancouver have begun to operate unsanctioned sites. There are also concerns that even if operational funding for the Downtown Eastside site is obtained, the pilot SIS project is too small in scope to make a major impact on public health in the area.     

Closing the divide: accelerating technology commercialization by catalyzing the university entrepreneurial ecosystem with I-Corps™

In recent years, universities have seen an increasing amount of activity in entrepreneurship and commercialization, not only for students, but for faculty as well. Traditionally, these initiatives have been separate, such that programs and curriculum have been focused on supporting just students or just faculty. In 2012, the National Science Foundation (NSF) launched the NSF I-Corps? program, an innovative funding program that not only offered principle investigators (PIs) funding, but also exposed PIs to an innovation/entrepreneurship curriculum as well. The University of Michigan (U-M) was one of the first two NSF I-Corps? Nodes funded in 2012 and has leveraged the program to catalyze the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This paper describes the growth of this entrepreneurial ecosystem since 1983, the call of entrepreneurship in the U-M College of Engineering and describes the role the U-M NSF I-Corps? program has played across the university. The paper concludes with lessons learned and recommendations to administrators and policy makers considering more active promotion of academic entrepreneurship and commercialization in universities.     

The role of the Portuguese parliament based on a case study: The discussion of the budget, 1983–95

Barely studied, the Portuguese parliament is a young institution which has undergone numerous and deep changes in its first 20 years of democratic existence. This article looks into those changes during a fundamental period of Portuguese political life: from 1983 to 1995, after the so‐called transition to democracy, in the years that Portugal became a member of the European Union and in the period that saw the occurrence (and repetition) of an absolute majority. To understand the changes in parliament's role, a case study has been chosen: the consideration of the budget bill. This article is based on three main aspects: procedural rules, debate styles and votes. The analysis of the budget discussions shows how the Portuguese parliament has undergone a strong rationalisation process, as well as a change in the role of parliamentarians; from a loss of decisional power, the parliamentarians found new ways of exercising influence in Portuguese politics. The votes on the budget bill and its amendments are an excellent indicator of the role of parliament in policy making, showing a very strong institution in the years preceding the absolute majority. Simultaneously, the votes are also revealing of the determinant position, during the IVth legislature, of the short‐lived Renewal Democratic Party (PRD). Finally, this article looks at data showing the existence of stronger links between Portuguese MPs and their constituencies than is generally expected.     

Higher education and the general [lack of] agreement on trade in services: from Doha to Hong Kong and beyond

What international framework, if any, is higher education subject to in terms of its work, not in the sense of validating its programmes or safeguarding its academic freedom, but in terms of its funding, its operating environment and its stakeholders? Is it viewed as a business in some sense? Is it subject to trade rules and negotiations? All of these questions have, to some extent, been raised in the World Trade Organisation's ‘Doha Round’ of negotiations. Has agreement been reached or has the overall operating context of economies submerged higher education, in particular agriculture? This article analyses the brief history of the Doha Round and the possible categorization of higher education within a commercial framework. Conclusions are reached at the end.     

Regulating the invisible: interaction between the EU and Norway in managing nano-risks

Over the last decade, the need for governance of human health and environmental safety risks of nanotechnology (NT) has received increased attention at international, national and EU levels. There were early calls for increased funding of independent research, risk analysis and voluntary or mandatory regulation, but currently overall regulatory efforts have not materialised. One possible explanation is that research has revealed little need to regulate environmental and health safety risks of NT. Alternatively, there is a gap between politics and governance and the evolving state of knowledge. Such a gap can be caused by various factors including change in interests, saliency and organisation. Organisational challenges related to the science–policy interface at national, international and the EU can affect how new knowledge is channelled into decision-making processes. Decrease in public saliency is another possibility. Finally, opposition to regulation among affected producers may have increased and in turn stalled regulation through lobbying. The two explanations are analysed in a multi-level governance context. Norway is chosen as an interesting case: Highly profiled as a frontrunner i.a. in regulating gene technology, but currently awaiting regulations in the EU due to the European Economic Area agreement.     

Sausage rolls and sports fields: the debate over voluntary student unionism in Australia

The Australian Federal Government recently amended the Higher Education Support Act 2003. The effect of this amendment, which came into force on 1 January 2006, is to abolish compulsory up-front fees for the funding of student unions. Voluntary student unionism has been a plank of the Liberal (conservative) platform for many years, but its introduction is as unpopular with universities as with student organizations. This paper analyses the reasons for the introduction of the Act, and the debate over the introduction of the Act in universities and in the media. It considers some fundamental misapprehensions in the origins and rationale of the Act.