Lane Closure Policy Development, Enforcement, and Exceptions: A Survey of Seven State Transportation Agencies, February 2007

Traffic volume increases and an aging infrastructure create the need for reconstruction, rehabilitation, and maintenance of existing facilities. As more motorists feel that delays should be minimal during highway renewal projects, lane closures that reduce capacity through the work zone should not create unreasonable delays. In order to facilitate the determination of when a lane closure is permitted during the day, some state transportation agencies (STAs) have developed lane closure policies, or strategies, that they use as guidance in determining daily permitted lane closure times. Permitted lane closure times define what times of the day, week, or season a lane closure is allowed on a facility and at a specific location or segment. This research addresses the lane closure policies of several STAs that were reputed to have good lane closures policies or strategies and that were selected by the project advisory committee for further research.

Continuity of Government Planning Interim Study Committee, March 2007

The Legislative Council established the Continuity of Government Planning Interim Study Committee in 2006 and authorized the Committee to meet during the 2006 Legislative Interim. The Committee was given the following charge: Examine issues relating to the continued functioning of state government following a disaster, including gubernatorial succession, replacement of constitutional officers and department heads, legislative elections to fill vacancies, and continued funding of state government if the General Assembly is unable to meet and pass a budget.

Are rules-based government programs shielded from special-interest politics? Evidence from revenue-sharing transfers in Brazil

Manipulation of government finances for the benefit of narrowly defined groups is usuallythought to be limited to the part of the budget over which politicians exercise discretion inthe short run, such as earmarks. Analyzing a revenue-sharing program between the centraland local governments in Brazil that uses an allocation formula based on local population estimates,I document two main results: first, that the population estimates entering the formulawere manipulated and second, that this manipulation was political in nature. Consistent withswing-voter targeting by the right-wing central government, I find that municipalities withroughly equal right-wing and non-right-wing vote shares benefited relative to opposition orconservative core support municipalities. These findings suggest that the exclusive focus ondiscretionary transfers in the extant empirical literature on special-interest politics may understatethe true scope of tactical redistribution that is going on under programmatic disguise.

Annual report of the Iowa Citizen's Aide/Ombudsman 2006

Annual report for the Iowa Citizen's Aide/Ombudsman Office.

Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management 2006 Annual Report

This annual report highlights the many programs and initiatives with which the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division is involved.

Social capital, government expenditures, and growth

Countries with greater social capital have higher economic growth. We show that socialcapital is also highly positively correlated across countries with government expenditureon education. We develop an infinite-horizon model of public spending and endogenousstochastic growth that explains both facts through frictions in political agency whenvoters have imperfect information. In our model, the government provides servicesthat yield immediate utility, and investment that raises future productivity. Voters aremore likely to observe public services, so politicians have electoral incentives to underprovidepublic investment. Social capital increases voters' awareness of all governmentactivity. As a consequence, both politicians' incentives and their selection improve.In the dynamic equilibrium, both the amount and the efficiency of public investmentincrease, permanently raising the growth rate.

Annual Infrastructure Report, 2007

Major maintenance; health, safety, loss of use; and Americans with Disablities Act deficiencies at the Capitol Complex and statewide for twelve agencies and divisions participating in the Vertical Infrastructure Program in collaboration with the Governor's Vertical Infrastructure Advisory Committee, including the Department of Administrative Services; the Department of Commerce, Alcoholic Beverages Division; the Department of Corrections; the Department of Cultural Affairs; the Department of Education, including Iowa Public Television and Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services; the Department of Human Services; Iowa Law Enforcement Academy; the Department of Public Safety; Terrace Hill; Iowa Veterans Home and Iowa Workforce Development. The advisory committee meets on a monthly basis to review the progress of the work and to make recommendations on procedures and priorities. Additional information on major maintenance projects is available in the advisory committee's Eighth Annual Report to the Governor, dated December 15, 2006.

NAPIS Report YTD 1st Quarter-4th Quarter 2007

INAPIS Title III Client Service Unit Report - INAPIS (National Aging Program Information System) Service Unit Report collects and reports service/performance data and related program management information to the federal and state government. This report shows the number of older Iowans who receive services and the number of units by service category from Title III funding of the Older Americans Act, the Administration on Aging (AoA) and limited state general fund dollars. Additionally, it shows the number of persons served by individual services and total "unduplicated" client count across all services. In other words, if you add the total number of clients from all services it is higher than the actual number of persons served across all services, because some people need and receive more than one service. (Please note: this is preliminary data, and may be subject to change.)

Divorce: Things to Consider, 2007

Document for Commission on the Status of Women.

Departure Survey Report, 2005

This project was initiated by the Department of Personnel, now the Department of Administrative Services (DAS)– Human Resources Enterprise (HRE), to assist executive branch agencies in determining why employees leave their employ or state government as well as provide insight into past employee perceptions of their employer. As the workforce continues to age and at the same time the available workforce declines, employers must have data to manage their turnover effectively.

Departure Survey Report, 2006

This project was initiated by the Department of Personnel, now the Department of Administrative Services (DAS)– Human Resources Enterprise (HRE), to assist executive branch agencies in determining why employees leave their employ or state government as well as provide insight into past employee perceptions of their employer. As the workforce continues to age and at the same time the available workforce declines, employers must have data to manage their turnover effectively.

Labor Relations Information and News, October 2007

The purpose of this newsletter is to inform and update State agencies on relevant labor relations issues and employment law on a monthly basis, and to focus on topics or questions agencies would like more information about.

Labor Relations Information and News, July 2007

The purpose of this newsletter is to inform and update State agencies on relevant labor relations issues and employment law on a monthly basis, and to focus on topics or questions agencies would like more information about.