Public Policy Commons^™

Community Services Implementation Project

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

In November 2000, the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center (PPC) and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center on Children, Families and the Law (CCFL) entered into a partnership with the Lincoln/Lancaster County Joint Budget Committee (JBC) and United Way of Lincoln/Lancaster County (UW). The purpose of this University-Community partnership has been to facilitate implementation of the Lincoln/Lancaster County Human Services Three-Year Comprehensive Plan (Plan). It has since become known as C-SIP (the Community Services Implementation Project). PPC and CCFL have been serving in a coordinating and technical assistance role for the overall process including: providing staff support and technical assistance …

Comprehensive Community Initiatives (Cci): A Comparison Of Community Implementation Plans, Teri Perkins

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

People in crisis often require multiple community services. A homeless person may need medical health care and behavioral health care, along with shelter. A woman who is the victim of domestic abuse may need help with childcare, transportation, food, and emergency housing. Comprehensive community initiatives (CCIs) attempt to provide this interrelated range of community services.

CCIs developed as a part of community building efforts in the late 1980’s (Kubisch, 1996; Stagner and Duran, 1997). “Comprehensive” can either refer to an initiative that incorporates social, educational, cultural, physical, and economic development in a community or to an initiative whose purpose is …

The Impact Of Earnings Of Nebraskans With Disabilities On Their Eligibility For Selected Services And Programs, University Of Nebraska Public Policy Center

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Many states, Nebraska included, have been actively developing programs to promote competitive employment for persons with disabilities. Buy-In programs (enabling persons with disabilities with increased earned income to continue to Medicaid eligibility) have become a keystone program in states’ efforts. States are implementing Buy-In programs (and related programs and supports) not as welfare programs, but as programs that help states make productive use of all of their human capital resources. Many policymakers support Buy-In programs as a means to increase workers with disabilities’ participation as productive citizens of states. That is, such programs are seen as a means to “enhance …

Posting The Ten Commandments As A Historical Document In Public Schools, Tarik Abdel-Monem

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

The notion of religion being introduced in a public school setting is a controversial and socially divisive topic. When the church encroaches on the state's domain, courts are called upon to adjudicate the matter as a constitutional issue. If public schools impose religion on students, courts invoke the Constitution's Establishment Clause, which states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

The courts should prepare themselves for a new round of Establishment Clause cases. "Hang Ten"-a movement to post the Ten Commandments in public schools and buildings-has arrived, raising intense debate in communities and state legislatures across the …

Conceptual Framework For Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Alternatives, Gary D. Lynne, Colby E. Kruse

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

The earth has a limited atmospheric capacity to absorb more greenhouse gases generally, and carbon dioxide in particular. It also has a limited capacity for agricultural lands to store a stock of carbon that might be drawn from the atmosphere and thus help alleviate the global warming problem. There are alternative mechanisms and mixes of mechanisms that might be used to address both scarcities and to work within the atmospheric limits on emissions and agricultural limits represented the capacity of soil and land to store carbon. These include a) government regulation, b) tax and subsidy programs, c) spontaneous evolution of …

Carbon Sequestration, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, And Nebraska Agriculture – Background And Potential

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Scientists believe that rising levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are contributing to global warming, although to what extent is difficult to determine. While limiting fossil fuel consumption is one method of reducing emissions of carbon to the atmosphere, another is sequestering carbon sources on the land. Carbon sequestration is the use of practices, technologies, or other measures that increase the retention of carbon in soil, vegetation, geologic formations, or the oceans with the effect of offsetting carbon dioxide emissions from other sources.

Nebraska’s agricultural producers can help address greenhouse gas concerns by implementing practices that cause the …

Are Court-Appointed Experts The Solution To The Problems Of Expert Testimony?, Anthony Champagne, Danny Easterling, Daniel W. Shuman, Alan Tomkins, Elizabeth Whitaker

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

In contrast with the legal systems of many other countries, the use of privately-retained experts is the subject of intense criticism. Critics argue that privately-retained experts bias the information provided to courts because attorneys shop for experts who will present their point of view in the most favorable light, even though that point of view may not be the mainstream scientific one or appropriately reflect the consensus of technical or specialized knowledge. Others argue that the use of retained experts permits non-mainstream perspectives to be brought into court and gives judges little control over its introduction, and that privately-retained experts …

Potential For Market Systems/Carbon Trading, Gary D. Lynne, Colby E. Kruse

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

If carbon sequestration concerns are to be addressed through markets, the cap and trade mechanism is perhaps the most likely approach that will be taken in solving the carbon problem. This is based in part on experience with the sulfur allowances market that is being implemented starting with the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. It is recognized, however, that a great deal of uncertainty surrounds the matter of whether we might see emission allowance markets and the related carbon storage markets anytime soon. As a result, the bulk of the report is devoted to highlighting the major parameters that will …

Potential Impacts Of State Meat And Poultry Inspection For The State Of Nebraska, Kara Slaughter, Sam Cordes, Alan Tomkins, Lyn Kathlene

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Since 1907, Federal law has mandated the inspection of all slaughter and processing establishments engaging in interstate sales of meat and poultry products. In the late 1960’s, Congress expanded the Federal Meat and Poultry Inspection Acts to also require inspection of establishments selling within state lines. At that time, Congress intended for individual states to take on the responsibility for monitoring intra-state meat and poultry sales, using standards “at least equal to” the Federal guidelines for interstate establishments.

At present, 27 states do maintain their own state inspection programs, at an average cost of $1,882,319 per state, per year. In …

Selected Special Education Flexible Funding Projects Reference Document Contains Selected Project Descriptions 1997-2001, Reece L. Peterson, Carl R. Smith, Adria Bace, Jennifer S. Elliott, Thomas M. O'Connor, Sarah Bloxham

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

This Reference Document is intended to provide information about a variety of flexible funding projects that address issues related to discipline and counseling in Nebraska’s schools. The Document is a product of the “Practices Improvement Project in Behavior/Discipline and Counseling,” sponsored by the Nebraska Department of Education, and housed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Drake University, Des Moines. This Reference Document is intended to be used to permit sharing, cooperation, and coordination of school efforts.

The flexible funding option for Nebraska’s school systems allows the use of a percentage of that district’s special education funds for the education of …

Enhancing Rural Sustainability Project Status Report

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

For the past year, the PPC has been working to identify a small list of key issues related to enhancing rural sustainability that would benefit from University research, with special attention paid to research activities already underway or in the planning process at the University. We also have been considering procedural options to determine the best way to facilitate the research to be conducted.

Carbon Sequestration Policy And Global Warming: A Legal Analysis, Norman W. Thorson, Harry A. Spencer

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Global warming seems destined to become one of the defining issues of the twenty-first century. Most scientists now agree that measurable increases in average global mean temperatures over the past decades cannot be explained by natural temporal variations in the earth’s climate. Instead, global warming appears to be a fact that can be attributed to human induced changes in the composition of greenhouse gasses in the earth’s atmosphere. Moreover, if the trend toward ever increasing temperatures continues, consequences for the earth’s environment will be dramatic, and perhaps irreversible. Growing concern over the potential for human activities to alter the earth’s …

Survey Of Existing I&R Services And A Nebraska 211 System Cost/Benefit Analysis

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

In June, 1999, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NHHSS) and the United Way of the Midlands requested that the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center coordinate a feasibility study of a statewide Information and Referral (I&R) system for health and human services. Because several I&R systems around the country make use of the 2-1-1 three digit number for I&R information, and there are a number of states investigating reserving 211 for statewide I&R services, this report uses the 211 nomenclature although there has been no state Public Service Commission designation of 211 for this purpose in Nebraska. …

How The Public Views The State Courts (1999 National Survey)

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Table of Contents:
A REPORT ON THE NATIONAL SURVEY by Frank A. Bennack, Jr., President & Chief Executive Officer, The Hearst Corporation
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH METHODS
FINDINGS
TRUST, CONFIDENCE AND APPROVAL
Public Trust and Confidence in America’s Institutions
The Manner in Which Courts Handle Cases
INVOLVEMENT, KNOWLEDGE, INFORMATION SOURCES, AND THE MEDIA
Personal Involvement
Self-Rated Court Knowledge
Sources of Information Regarding News and the Courts
Media Portrayal of Courts
COURT PERFORMANCE: THE PUBLIC’S EVALUATION
Court Access
Timeliness of Courts
Equality and Fairness of Courts
Perceptions of Equal Treatment
Court Independence and Responsiveness
CONCLUSION

Agricultural Property Taxation: A Comparative Analysis, Brandon G.Y. Raddatz, Bruce Johnson

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

The purpose of this study was to update a terminated Economic Research Service-USDA information series comparing property taxes across states. The top 25 a gricultural producing states were studied along with Wyoming since it shares a border with the focused state, Nebraska.

State departments of revenue personnel from each of the states were surveyed and tax information compiled which provided the means to update the comparative tax analysis to 1998 for 19 of the 26 states. The remaining sta tes lacked sufficient data to complete this update.

How The Public Views The State Courts A 1999 National Survey, Frank A. Bennack Jr.

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

The survey covered four broad areas: access to the courts, timeliness of court decisions, fairness of judicial decision-making, independence and responsiveness of the courts to the public and to changing conditions in society.

The questions came at the issues from many angles, but when all the figures were totaled and all the comments considered, the courts came out just okay on average.

This conclusion is a mix of high, medium and low marks across different categories. Sometimes there was broad consensus and other times views differed widely by race, ethnic group, income and other factors.