THE CASE OF COMPARABLE WORTH IN WASHINGTON STATE

Twelve years after its precedent-setting comparable worth study, Washington State has approved an agreement guaranteeing implementation of its comparable worth system by 1993. A history is presented of state actions on comparable worth. The causes for the slow course of policy formation and implementation are seen to lie with the following: being the first to conduct a study, taking too long to act, the changes in persons in key positions, the state economy, attitudes towards state workers, lack of focus of responsibility, and denial that sex-based differences in wages are the bases for Comparable worth adjustments.     

INITIATING A COMPARABLE WORTH WAGE POLICY IN MINNESOTA: NOTES FROM THE FIELD

As of January 1986, Minnesota has progressed farther than any other state in implementing acomparable worth (pay equity) wage policy, with two laws requiring pay equity, one covering state employees and a second covering employees of all types of jurisdictions. This article presents a discussion of Minnesota's importance as a case study, a definition of comparable worth, the history and politics o f pay equity policy in Minnesota, and an analysis of Minnesota's role in a national campaign to change wage policy. The article shows that implementation has been more straight-forward in state government than for the 1,583 local jurisdictions, many of which had less-developed personnel systems than did the state. The passage of the local pay equity law ushered in a new stage in this policy, where the issue Is no longer controlled by a small number of legislators, bureaucrats, and lobbyists.     

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPARABLE WORTH IN IOWA

This research describes and analyzes the implementation of comparable worth legislation in Iowa and focuses on two aspects of the issue: implementatlon of the job evaluation study mandated by the law, and implementation of the classification and compensation systems which resulted from the study. The paper argues that the General Assembly involved itself too directly and too long in the implementation process which led to confrontation with the executive branch and numerous problems in the implementation of comparable worth legislation.     

FROM SOCIAL DOCTRINE TO IMPLEMENTATION: AGENDA SETTING IN COMPARABLE WORTH

Comparable worth is a policy issue with twofaces. It is both a social doctrine proposing equal pay for work of comparable value and a methodology in personnel administration, called "objective job evaluation," that introduces new evaluative criteria to assess job worth. It has achieved policy status on the subnational level through the use of multiple agenda setting and implementation strategies by coalitions of women's advocacy groups and unions. The shifting use of comparable worth as a social doctrine or as a methodology to assess jobs has varied with the distribution of power resources of the sponsors and the receptiveness of the policy setting. The paper explores how comparable worth developed as a general policy issue on the subnational level. It offers a policy framework to interpret i t s transformation into policies and programs and assesses i t s probable impact on personnel administration.     

Environmental Protection and the New Federalism: A Longitudinal Analysis of State Perceptions

Surveys of the directors of state air and water quality programsin 1979, 1985, and 1990 are used to assess the directors' (and,indirectly, the states') reactions to the New Federalism ofthe 1980s and related federal efforts to increase the role ofthe states in environmental decisionmaking. Despite frequentclaims that the New Federalism led to significant improvementsin state-federal relations in the environmental arena, the surveydata suggest that these relations have changed little since1979.     

SOME NEGLECTED POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF COMPARABLE WORTH

Comparable worth, the lkivil rights issue of the eighties, is based on the notion that women in traditional female occupations such as nursing make, on average, wages 20 percent lower than men In traditionally male occupations such as truck drivers despite the fact that both jobs are of equal value to the employer. The question is who will bear the cost; employers who implement comparable worth will bear the cost, but if pay inequities continue, women will. The cost can be mitigated if comparable worth is implemented incrementally. The problem cannot be solved by women shifting to male dominated occupations, for that would cost more than comparable worth. Comparable worth would help the women who work full time but are still below poverty and, while it would cost employers, taxpayers would realize a savings of $186 million. If the employer is a public agency, the taxpayer burden remains constant.     

State Initiatives in the Federal System: The Politics and Policy of Comparable Worth in 1984

In 1984, comparable worth came to occupy center stage amongstate and local political systems as the civil rights causeof the 1980s. Advocates of comparable worth came to see stateand local governments as being more receptive to consideringpolicy initiatives in this area than was the federal government.This article documents comparable worth events culminating in1984, describes the expansion of state and local action in thisarea, and considers the implications of these developments forthe federal system. A conceptual framework for examining theissue of comparable worth is also presented.     

The Status of State Governments in Nigeria's Federalism

Nigerian states have almost completely lost their autonomy.The Babangida years and, in particular, 1991–1992, havewitnessed unprecedented reductions in states' powers. The entrenchmentof local government autonomy and the loss of some state powersto local authorities, the reduction of states' financial powersand their share of the Federation Account, as well as the decreeof a highly centralized two-party system, all have, within theframework of structural economic adjustment and the transitionto civil rule (expected to be completed in January 1993), worsenedthe position of the state governments. However, with the establishmentof civilian governance in the states and the return of constitutionalgovernment after January 1993, the state governments may reasserttheir autonomy.     

Recent Trends in State Spending: Patterns, Problems, Prospects

After more than three decades of institutional and fiscal capacity-building,the debate over the states' commitment to their citizens andlocal governments continues. Federal domestic disengagement,the national recession, taxpayer unrest, and anti-incumbentsentiments, among other factors, have raised concerns aboutthe states' performance. This article reviews recent trendsin state spending for public education, Medicaid, corrections,AFDC, and local aid to discern changes and assess their implicationsfor the states' role and record.     

Immigration and the Evolving American Welfare State: Examining Policies in the U.S. States

The inclusion of racial/ethnic minorities is often considered an important factor leading to a relatively limited American welfare system. However, given the federal nature of welfare eligibility rules and the states' role in determining benefit levels, few studies explicitly link questions of inclusion and benefit levels when explaining the evolution of American welfare policy. This study examines the relationship between inclusion and benefit levels by analyzing state policies related to the welfare reforms of 1996 which allowed states to decide if recent immigrants would be included in welfare benefits, and subsequently the extent to which this decision affected overall benefit levels offered by states under TANF. The results suggest that states' decisions regarding inclusion subsequently affect benefit levels, with the direction of these relationships most closely reflecting the erosion model's prediction of broader eligibility associated with lower benefit levels.     

Information Resources Management Expenditures in the States: A Case for Integrating Accounting and Budgeting Systems

A recent national study has found that states may be spending $20 billion on information resources management (IRM) in FY1989. The significant findings of the study regarding financial management are highlighted to show the dimensions of the IRM expenditures in the states. The second part of the paper examines how well the states' accounting systems are able to provide data on IRM expenditures for budgetary decisions. The article expands upon an important issue raised in the study's findings: the need for better integration of accounting and budgeting systems to improve management of information resources. An Information Object Classification Scheme, first suggested by the Commission on Federal Paperwork, is proposed as an important step in helping states improve their information resources management.     

Performance Funding in Federal Agencies: A Case Study of a Federal Job Training Program

Our case study highlights important details that enter into developing performance contingent budgeting schemes—details that do not emerge in more general discussions of the subject—and shows how the handling of these details can be crucial to these schemes' success. We study a federal job training program that gives state and local decision makers discretion over the program's operation, but through performance funding holds them accountable for achieving specific objectives. We find that states' modifications to the scheme's construction produced over time highly individualized performance funding schemes that likely varied in their effectiveness.     

Variation in Elderly Friendliness across the U.S. States: Operationalization, Rankings, and Selected Consequences

The United States faces a rapidly growing population of elderlycitizens. To learn more about their prospects, we engage inthree tasks. First, we develop and operationalize a five-dimensionalconcept, "state elderly friendliness," that facilitates assessingvarious political, economic, and social aspects of state environmentsthat influence the well-being of elderly persons. Second, werank states on the five dimensions of this concept. We findlarge differences both within states across various dimensionsand across states on individual dimensions. Third, we demonstratethat differences in states' ranks on our dimensional scalesare associated with sharp variations in particular societaloutcomes of importance for the well-being of various segmentsof the elderly.     

Performance Budgeting and Performance Funding in the States: A States Assessment

For a variety of reasons, performance budgeting has gained new life in the 1990s. Initially introduced in the 1950s by the Hoover Commission and others, performance budgeting efforts, in the 1990s, go beyond the workload productivity and efficiency focus of earlier phases and place greater emphasis on outcomes and accountability. This study reports on a survey of state executive-branch budget officers designed to determine the current status of state performance budgeting efforts including performance budgeting processes used by the states, their perceived impacts on budget decision making, and their probable future use. In addition, the study assessed the emerging role of performance funding as a further extension of performance budgeting processes. The linking of performance to the allocation or distribution of appropriated funds may be emerging as the next iteration of performance budgeting in the states. In addition to reporting on the survey, relationships between performance budgeting and various aspects of state budgeting practices are analyzed through crosstabulations, and regression analysis is employed to examine the states' organization, fiscal, and political capacity to implement performance budgeting and funding.     

Old Wine in New Bottles? An Analysis and Preliminary Appraisal of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982

Highway programs were included in the Reagan administration'sNew Federalism proposals which were designed to return manyfederally supported projects to state and local governments.Shortly after those proposals were presented, Congress enactedthe Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982. The act increasedthe federal highway fuel tax by five cents to nine cents pergallon (of which states receive four of those five cents forhighway purposes). Although devolution of responsibility toaddress state and local needs was a key feature of the New Federalism,an analysis of the effects of the act on Ohio suggests thatthe increase in highway revenues may have skewed states' prioritiesin both their maintenance outlays and capital project selectionprocess.     

THE STATES' ROLE IN POLICY IMPLEMENTATION: TRANSPORTATION POLICY

Over the past 25 years, the federal government has exerted a profound impact over transportation policy, with over one thousand policies and programs administered in 1979. States have been heavily involved in administering most of these programs. In the past, state and local governments have responded by raising the revenues necessary to match federal grants. Despite budget problems, the states' role is expected to continue.     

LONG TERM CARE REGULATION IN THE STATES: A SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVE

In recent years there has been growing interest in differing state roles in the regulation of the health care industry. Most of this attention has stressed the impact of regulatory policy with only superficial attention directed towards understanding the extent to which states can be counted on to act effectively in the area of health care regulation. Using the regulation of nursing homes as a focus, this study evaluates a variety of sociocultural, political, and economic conditions for their impact on the development of various regulatory policies. The findings suggest that the development of certificate of need legislation and reimbursement controls were not related to significant changes ir, states' budgets for Medicaid services or in bed/population ratios. Instead, regulatory efforts were more closely linked to the sociopolitical environments surrounding the policy arena. While these factors provide some indication of the potential for strong state action in the regulatory arena, ultimately the use of state regulatory policies will depend quite centrally on the innovative tendencies of the state, its organizational capacity for addressing policy issues, and the nature and extent of interest group politics.     

Local Government Procurement of CPA Audit Services: The Role of the States

Recent studies have raised serious concerns about the quality of governmental audits by independent CPAs. Part of the problem is that many governmental units do not use effective audit procurement procedures. This article examines current state guidelines for the procurement of CPA audit services by local governments and recommends an expansion of the states' role in this area.     

Which States Will Restrict Abortions? Predictions from Votes in the House of Representatives

In response to the Supreme Court's rulings in Webster v. Reproductive Services and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, which increased the ability of states to restrict abortions, many state legislatures have reexamined their abortion policies. Several recent studies use a variety of methods to predict whether states will restrict abortion access. These studies have utilized congressional votes on abortion legislation, past state laws restricting abortions, or current attitudes by state legislators and governors. Each method has its merits and limitations. This paper uses recent votes in the states' House of Representatives pertaining to abortion issues to predict the likelihood of significant abortion restrictions. These results are compared with rankings from other recent studies.     

Determinants of the probability and timing of commercial casino legalization in the United States

The adoption of lotteries by state governments has received significant attention in the economics literature, but the issue of casino adoption has been neglected by researchers. Casino gambling is a relatively new industry in the United States, outside Nevada and New Jersey. As of 2007, 11 states had established commercial casinos; several more states are considering legalization. We analyze the factors that determine a state’s decision to legalize commercial casinos, using data from 1985 to 2000, a period which covers the majority of states that have adopted commercial casinos. We use a tobit model to examine states’ fiscal conditions, political alignments, intrastate and interstate competitive environments, and demographic characteristics, which yields information on the probability and timing of adoptions. The results suggest a public choice explanation that casino legalization is due to state fiscal stress, to efforts to keep gambling revenues (and the concomitant gambling taxes) within the state, and to attract tourism or “export taxes.”