论行政收费的设定和监督

近些年来“乱收费”现象愈演愈烈,使行政收费引起了社会重视。因为,虽然乱收费中不排除某些非行政性的收费,但行政收费的“乱”首当其冲。要治理行政收费上的乱,必须从规范行政收费设定上入手才能从根本上解决问题。由于行政收费具有无偿性、强制性,因此有必要对其进行监督。     

浅谈税费改革与行政改革的关系

我国的收费制度是在改革开放过程中逐步发展并形成巨大规模的。本文认为,要想根治乱收费现象,取得费改税的成功,必须深化行政改革。行政改革是税费改革取得成功的前提,税费改革是行政改革的组成部分,税费改革的成功能增强国家推进势在必行的行政改革的决心,而行政改革又能推动税费改革的成功实施。     

农业水价综合改革政策绩效偏差从何而来? ——基于甘肃10个试点县(区)的实证研究

【问题】农业水价综合改革是推进节约增效型农业、保障国家水安全的关键改革。但地方政策实践中面临农户节水意识与用水方式尚未完全改善、政府部门水价形成机制和节水激励机制尚未良性运行、农业节水的经济和社会效应尚未充分彰显等系列问题,政策实际绩效与目标绩效间产生偏差。政策绩效偏差何以形成?关键影响因素及其内在关联是什么?如何矫正绩效偏差并增进政策绩效?【方法】以甘肃省10个试点县(区)农业水价综合改革为研究样本,对实地调研和深入访谈所获取的数据资料进行质性编码,建构我国农业水价综合改革政策绩效偏差的归因模型。【发现】农业水价综合改革政策绩效偏差的形成是涉及“利益相关者—政策执行—政策情境”交叠驱动的复杂过程,表现在:1.在主体层面,利益相关者政策认知、偏好和协同行动是决定政策绩效的关键因素;2.在行动层面,任务分解层层加码、政策落实困难是构成导致政策绩效偏差的核心变量;3.在场域层面,政策资源和改革需求等情境要素进一步催化了政策绩效偏差的形成。【贡献】相对于源自政府绩效管理工具性路径下对绩效悖论和绩效损失的关注,本研究的贯穿概念:绩效偏差,则可覆盖公共政策全过程,有更为广阔的研究价值与适用场域。本研究构建了基于农业水价综合改革政策绩效偏差的影响因素及相互间逻辑关联的理论模型,为解释公共政策绩效偏差提供新的视角;并从整合政策利益相关者认知与偏好、加强政策执行效能和优化政策环境三个维度提出农业水价综合改革政策矫正策略,为地方政府提升政策整体绩效提供参考。     

试析我国行政收费法治化的路径

行政收费在经济上和行政管理上都具有毋庸置疑的存在合理性,但由于国家缺乏严格的法律规范和控制,直接导致了行政收费的泛滥,严重损害了政府的形象和相对人的利益。因此,从法治的视角解读行政收费存在的问题,进而为行政收费找出一条法治路径,无疑具有重大的理论意义和现实意义。     

Equity and cost-effectiveness of multilateral adaptation finance: are they friends or foes?

This paper analyzes potential criteria to allocate international funding for adaptation to climate change, as a response to one of the main governance challenges of international adaptation funding—the prioritization of project proposals given scarce funding. Based on the review of the equity and cost-effectiveness literature and relevant policy documents, we identify three potential indicators for equity (vulnerability level, poverty, equal funding per capita), and three indicators for cost-effectiveness (economic savings in absolute and relative terms, human lives saved). Applying these simple indicators to information provided in all 39 project documents considered by the Adaptation Fund Board (AFB) in 2011, we find that projects approved or endorsed by the AFB rank high according to one cost-effectiveness indicator (absolute economic savings), while they rather rank low according to all equity and further cost-effectiveness indicators. Furthermore, we analyze whether equity and cost-effectiveness are two contradicting goals, or whether ways can be found to reconcile both goals in multilateral adaptation finance. We conclude from both the theory and the 39 analyzed project documents that a pure economic definition of cost-effectiveness tends to be in contradiction with equity but that trade-offs between equity and cost-effectiveness can be limited if relative economic savings or human live savings are used as indicator for cost-effectiveness.     

Mandatory Full-Cost Pricing in Public Services: The Case of the ‘Fantask’ Sentence

The sentence issued by the Court of Justice in the Fantask Case defined what sort of policies can be adopted by the Member States in connection with the fees for company registration without contravening the stipulations of Community legislation on raising capital. This article analyses how to set prices that comply with the sentence and at the same time generate efficient incentives. It first reviews to what extent the sentence meets the aims on which it is based. Second, it provides a guide for subsequent development of related jurisprudence. Third, it throws some light on how public authorities can set pricing policies.     

Not disabled enough: the ADA's "major life activity" definition of disability

Michelle Friedland argues in this note that the Americans with Disabilities Act fails to adequately distinguish between the separate goals of preventing pure discrimination and providing affirmative accommodation. The Act's conflation of these two different objectives, and its reliance on a single definition of disability for both, hinders its effectiveness in improving the status of individuals with disabilities in the employment setting. To illustrate this, she points to the counterintuitive results reached in recent court decisions. Friedland further traces the legislative origins of the Act's definition of disability and the ambiguity it leaves as to Congress's goals for the Act's employment provisions. She posits three possible goals the Act might be designed to achieve and recommends basic reforms for accomplishing each. Her ultimate conclusion is that provisions dealing with accommodation and discrimination need to be divided so that each can have its own definition of disability. In addition, she believes funding mechanisms for providing accommodation should be altered to ameliorate inequalities in burdens borne by employers and to avoid improper incentives to circumvent the Act.     

The Role of Victim-Related Factors in Victim Restitution: A Multi-Method Analysis of Restitution in Pennsylvania

Mandatory statutes do not always produce change, but a 1995 Pennsylvania statutory change making restitution mandatory dramatically increased the proportion of cases in which restitution was imposed. There are three possible reasons for this generally successful implementation: (a) judges agreed with the victim-centered goals of the statute, (b) there were mechanisms in place to implement the goals of assisting victims, and (c) there was a context supportive of victims that made it easier to follow the law. Two studies investigated these possible explanations. First, a statewide survey of trial court judges suggested that they agreed with the statute's goals of compensating victims. Second, hierarchical logistic models of 55,119 statewide restitution-eligible decisions indicated that a victim-related contextual factor, the nature and location of the victim/witness assistance office, was significantly related to the imposition of restitution, although a more general contextual factor relating to funding for victim programs had only small effects.     

CLIA program; fee schedule revision--HCFA. General notice with comment period

This notice updates the certificate fees for laboratories established under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) consistent with the methodology set forth in 42 CFR part 493. Section 353 (m) of the Public health Service Act requires that fees be collected to recoup costs of general administration of the CLIA Program. By economizing at every opportunity, the CLIA program has managed to maintain the fees established in 1992 and has absorbed all increases in costs. Revisions to the fees are necessary because the current fees are no longer sufficient to support the administration of the CLIA program. This restructuring of fees will move equitably distribute fees across all sizes and complexity of laboratories. For purposes of simplification, this notice announces a flat fee of $100 for a certificate of registration.     

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.     

Understanding Recreation and Sport as a Rehabilitative Tool Within Juvenile Justice Programs

This article discusses relevant literature on the potential benefits of sport, recreation, and leisure, and how these benefits relate to rehabilitation of juveniles. Many professionals involved in juvenile rehabilitation believe sport and recreation are beneficial adjuncts to treatment programming; however, it can be difficult to structure sport and recreation in ways that directly correspond to treatment goals. The purpose of this article is to provide insights for professionals working with juveniles on how sport and recreation programming can be an effective means of helping to achieve rehabilitation goals. Attention is given to approaches, particularly the Teaching Games for Understanding model (Bunker & Thorpe, 1982), which can be used to effectively link recreation and sport to the rehabilitation process.     

A hierarchical,objectives-based framework for the digital investigations process

Digital investigations, whether forensic in nature or not, require scientific rigor and are facilitated through the use of standard processes. Such processes can be complex in nature. A more comprehensive, generally accepted digital investigation process framework is therefore sought to enhance scientific rigor and facilitate education, application, and research. Previously proposed frameworks are predominantly single-tier, higher order process models that focus on the abstract, rather than the more concrete principles of the investigation. We contend that these frameworks, although useful in explaining overarching concepts, fail to support the inclusion of additional layers of detail needed by various framework users. We therefore propose a multi-tier, hierarchical framework to guide digital investigations. Our framework includes objectives-based phases and sub-phases that are applicable to various layers of abstraction, and to which additional layers of detail can easily be added as needed. Our framework also includes principles that are applicable in varied ways to all phases. The data analysis function intended to identify and recover digital evidence is used as an example of how the framework might be further populated and used. The framework is then applied using two different case scenarios. At its highest level, the proposed framework provides a simplified view and conceptual understanding of the overall process. At lower levels, the proposed framework provides the granularity needed to achieve practicality and specificity goals set by practitioners and researchers alike.     

Minimum Alcohol Pricing: Balancing the ‘Essentially Incomparable’ in Scotch Whisky

This note contrasts the approaches taken by the Court of Justice of the European Union and the UK Supreme Court in the high‐profile litigation which preceded the introduction of minimum alcohol pricing in Scotland. The case of Scotch Whisky Association and others v The Lord Advocate and another hinged, ultimately, on the necessity of minimum pricing to achieve important public health goals. The notably differing viewpoints adopted by the domestic and Union courts, however, both illustrate the elusiveness of the proportionality criterion, and expose tensions between domestic and supranational control in the context of internal market regulation.     

Medicaid program; rescission of the guidelines for documenting Medicaid recipient access to immunizations under the Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program--HCFA. Notice

This notice rescinds the guidelines that we published in the Federal Register on October 3, 1994, that required States to document equal access to immunizations for Medicaid children if States elected to use lower vaccine administration fees than the maximum charges that were published and applicable under the Vaccines for Children program. These guidelines are rescinded in response to public comments on the October 3, 1994 notice. States indicated that there were numerous problems regarding the collection of useable data.     

Claims of psychiatric injury after alleged false arrest

Litigation has increased rapidly in the United States; those who feel aggrieved sue readily for damages. Police officers and security people may be sued after arrests or detention followed by unsuccessful prosecution or dropping of criminal charges. Claims of psychiatric injury may be made where there are no discernible damages otherwise. Examiners must keep in mind that physical abuse or grossly inappropriate police behavior may be factors in the ultimate results. This paper reviews 13 cases of claimed psychiatric injury after arrest. Almost all were settled, some for significant amounts. Appropriateness of evaluation, the value of nuisance suits in this type of litigation, the role of attorneys' fees, and the effect of Federal suits as opposed to state suits are discussed.     

Hard choices: targeting long-term care to the "at risk" aged

Recent expansion of Medicaid coverage to home- and community-based long-term care moves that payment program away from its traditional institutional bias. But tension over the appropriate role of home care and fears of budget-busting have caused the current administration to set goals for the states that may be impossible to achieve.     

National planning for locally controlled health systems: the Finnish experience

The World Health Organization considers Finland's health planning system to be among the most successful in the developed world. Despite tight resource constraints--symbolized by total health expenditures held consistently to less than 7 percent of gross domestic product--the Finns have built up a strong primary care sector and dramatically improved the overall availability and accessibility of needed services. This article compares the official health planning system with the actual planning process as experienced within one Finnish central hospital district. The official planning system seeks to integrate national strategic goals with local municipal ownership, administration, and funding of service delivery. The actual planning process within the studied district suggests that technically oriented civil servants at the regional level may be at least as important in the overall decisionmaking structure. The article concludes with a brief exploration of this finding's potential consequences for the long-term development of the Finnish health care system and for national health planning efforts generally.     

Evaluation of competency to stand trial in defendants who do not want to be defended against the crimes charged

Implicit but significant assumptions made in the criminal justice system include beliefs that criminals do not commit crimes to be tried and convicted and that, once arrested, defendants' primary motives are to avoid or minimize the legal consequences of the charges they face. When those assumptions are not correct, clinicians and legal decision makers are faced with difficult tasks. The authors present three cases of defendants who were not primarily concerned with defending themselves against the charges they faced, but rather with using the criminal justice procedures to further personal goals, and discuss the problems involved for forensic evaluators and courts.     

Court fees and access to justice: towards a policy-oriented approach in Malawi

In this article, the author examines the rise in court fees which has been decided in Malawi. The author argues that this increase is excessive and contravenes the constitutional right of access to justice, as poor litigants cannot afford the fees and thereby cannot access the justice system. In his analysis, the author suggests that the decision-makers in Malawi should adopt a policy-oriented approach in reviewing court fees in order to protect citizens’ rights and achieve equality.     

Fees for certifying insulin drugs--FDA. Interim rule; opportunity for public comment

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing interim regulations to revise the fee schedule for insulin certification services. Under the revision, FDA will charge a fixed fee for each master lot or batch submitted for certification. The changes in fee schedule reflect a change in agency testing policy for certification and release of batches of insulin. The changes in fees will allow FDA to continue to maintain an adequate insulin certification program as required by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the act). The fees are intended to recover the full costs of operation of FDA's insulin certification program, including the unfunded liability of the Civil Service Retirement Fund and appropriate overhead costs of the Public Health Service and Department of Health and Human Services.