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Data Mining Ban Upheld, Pension Investments and Paid Sick Days Victory
 Data Mining Ban Upheld, Pension Investments and Paid Sick Days Victory Friday, November 21, 2008http://www.progressivestates.org/dispatch
Data Mining Ban Upheld, Pension Investments and Paid Sick Days Victory hsp Tuesday, New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation law banning the sale of data on physician prescribing habits to drug industry marketers was upheld by a federal appeals court. The legislation and subsequent court ruling dealt a significant blow to the drug industry and its heavy-handed marketing tactics. The 2006 New Hampshire law, sponsored by Rep. Cindy Rosenwald, will protect the privacy of physicians and their patients by banning data-mining - the process by which the drug industry uses, or mines, the prescribing habits of providers to inform direct-to-provider marketing. As Rep. Rosenwald stated in a press release, the "decision unanimously recognizes that States have the right to protect the prescriber-patient relationship and patient safety, and to try to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals.” Maine and Vermont passed similar laws which have been held up by litigation, but will now move forward. The Federal Appeals Court's ruling will open the flood-gates of reform in other states. Sharon Treat, a Maine State Representative and Director of the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices (NLARx), reports that 12 states in 2008 introduced similar bills. But, largely “because of the pending litigation challenging the New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont laws, these bills were withdrawn or did not pass. Now that legislators have been given the green light in this unanimous and clear victory, we can expect that these and other states will consider resubmitting this legislation.” The drug industry spends at least $7 billion each year marketing directly to physicians — pitching the latest "celebrity" drug and driving up health care costs for states, businesses, and consumers. As the New York Times explains, with “data describing which doctors prescribe what drugs, pharmaceutical sales forces are better able to identify which doctors might use their products and be receptive to their sales pitches. They can also focus on persuading doctors who do not write many prescriptions for their products to change their minds.” In Tuesday’s unanimous ruling, the court called the data-mining process “mind-boggling.” Stating, “[t]he record contains substantial evidence that, in several instances, detailers armed with prescribing histories encourage the overzealous prescription of more costly brand-name drugs regardless of both the public health consequences and the probable outcome of a sensible cost/benefit analysis.”
Taking Action on Job Creation: Invest Michigan! Fund
In the past few years states have become increasingly unwillingly to rely on the chance that volatile global investment markets will choose to invest in their local communities. Instead, states are choosing to directly invest themselves in local emerging opportunities. The great advantage of direct investment, instead of simply raiding the state treasury and giving away corporate welfare, is that by making direct investment in local businesses, states create a financial stake in firms. If these businesses are successful, they will return equity to the tax payers that can be reinvested in other projects. According to the National Association of Seed and Venture Fund, as of 2006, all but six states had state venture capital funds. An emerging key source of venture capital is state pension funds. One of the most progressive efforts by a state to provide capital to entrepreneurs who create jobs is the Invest Michigan! Fund, which features The Michigan Opportunities Fund and the Growth Capital Fund. The Invest Michigan! Fund is capitalized with $300 million from the state's pension fund, and made its initial investments this past week in two technology related ventures. The overall objective of the Invest Michigan! Fund is to grow the state's pension funds "by investing in new businesses in emerging sectors and encouraging companies in established industries to innovate and expand." According to a release by the Governor's office, "encouraging growing companies to plant roots in Michigan or existing companies to expand in Michigan has at points been challenging...Traditionally, Michigan has lacked a continuum of capital necessary to help technology companies start and grow." The hope is that by investing in small and medium-sized Michigan-based companies, the state will attract and retain successful businesses, which will create jobs and a more diversified economy. Michigan is not the only state utilizing state pension funds as a source of venture capital. An earlier adopter of the strategy, California, found in a recent study that its California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CALPERS), the nation’s largest pension fund, has used an estimated $15.1 billion in state-based investments in 2006 to create 124,000 jobs. Other examples include:
Paid Sick Days Victory in Milwaukee- But Business Lobby is Going to Court One key victory on election day was a victory for paid sick days in Milwaukee by a commanding 69-31% of city voters. Parents in Milwaukee who need to take a day off to care for a sick child can now afford to do so now that their paid sick days referendum has Milwaukee following the lead of San Francisco, CA and Washington DC. in adopting a program to require employers to provide paid sick days. Under the measure, full-time workers in large businesses will earn up to 9 paid sick days a year and workers in smaller businesses with fewer than 10 employees will earn up to 5 days a year. While business leaders didn't challenge the referendum at the ballot box because they knew polling showed overwhelming public support for paid sick days legislation, but the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce has launched a legal challenge to the approved ordinance. Community and labor groups are working with Mayor Tom Barrett, who opposed the measure but has decided to respect the voters' wishes. The referendum must be implemented within 90 days of publication in local papers. While the Milwaukee business leaders are trying to argue that the local law endangers local businesses, their counterparts in San Francisco, where similar rules are already in place, disagrees that such policies lead to businesses relocating: Jim Lazarus, the senior vice president of public policy for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, said more than 90 percent of member businesses already offered sick-leave policies so the new law didn’t change much. “I can’t imagine this burden would be at such a level that a business would relocate based on that.” While some business lobbies are fighting paid sick days laws, others obviously recognize that the burden is low but the gains for families are tremendous. Rather than hurting business competitiveness, one study on the likely effects of the Milwaukee ordinance found it would actually save businesses $38 million a year in reduced employee turnover and gains to public health. Given the popularity of paid sick days and the weakness of their economic arguments, hopefully the Milwaukee lobby will soon give up on their legal fight and work with their employees to improve their families' lives and the public health.
Report: Stop Retailers Pocketing over $1 Billion in Sales Tax Revenue According to a new study by Good Jobs First, state and local governments lost over $1billion in sales tax revenue last year as a result of laws that allow retailers to retain a percentage of the sales tax they collect.
Given the current economic climate, it is critical that states make wise policy decisions regarding retailer compensation and economic development subsidies in order to reduce the amount of sales tax revenue that is lost by such practices and to protect essential public services that depend in part on this revenue. Research RoundupA few good resources highlighting the need for a federal recovery program focused on aid to the states:
A couple of reports highlight rising inequality and the shakiness of the American Dream:
The Progressive Income Tax: An Essential Element of Fair and Sustainable State Tax Systems (IETP) - As states struggle with fiscal crises, this policy brief outlines why a fair and progresive tax on incomes, particularly on the wealthy, is critical to promoting stable revenues and funding social and physical investments. The 2008 State New Economy Index (Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF)) - Ranking states on their strength in becoming global, entrepreneurial and innovation-based economies, this report finds that five states - Massachusetts, Washington, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey -- are leading the nation, while Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, Alabama and Wyoming are ranked lowest on the studies' 29 indicators of effectiveness in national and global competition. Opportunity Agenda this month is highlighting the role of international human rights in state law and public opinion:
The Center for American Progress has two new studies on education:
Two new reports highlight challenges for early education:
Sustaining Anti-Poverty Solutions: Keep an Eye on the Prize (CLASP) - Local solutions to poverty that provide opportunity are taking hold in different ways around the United States and this article identifies for funders and others a set of issues that should get considered when tackling poverty. Please email us leads on good research at research@progressivestates.org ResourcesData Mining Ban Upheld, Pension Investments and Paid Sick Days Victory NLARx — Federal Court Upholds New Hampshire Drug Marketing Restrictions Taking Action on Job Creation: Invest Michigan! Fund Invest Michigan! Makes Initial Investments Paid Sick Days Victory in Milwaukee- But Business Lobby is Going to Court Paid sick days Milwaukee 3 Steps Forward 1. CA: California leads fight against climate change on global level 2 Steps Back 1. States Cut Services for Elderly, Disabled MastheadThe Stateside Dispatch is written and edited by: Nathan Newman, Policy Director Please shoot us an email at dispatch@progressivestates.org if you have feedback, tips, suggestions, criticisms, or nominations for any of our sidebar features.
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