Archive
One city pulls the plug on intersection cameras after they fail to produce revenue.
Municipal bond market investors want to know more about issuers -- and they want to know it on a quarterly, semi-annual and annual basis.
Cross-boundary collaboration makes finding 10 red balloons placed around the continental United States possible.
It helps government officials create public value by connecting, innovating and executing.
After four decades of destructive drug control policies, will the U.S. change its ways?
An experiment by Annie E. Casey Foundation staff in children and family services agencies is improving these organization's performance.
In the public sector, great customer service is nice. But there's something else that matters more.
Despite the popular picture of states divided by red and blue lines, researchers found that most citizens share a diverse range of liberal and conservative beliefs.
Do tied chambers complicate or facilitate getting legislative business done?
Don't wait for disaster to strike -- or for feds to arrive -- to prepare for a catastrophe.
With a budget deadline approaching, California lawmakers can learn a thing or two from the Nevada Legislature on finding common ground.
A business idea born in the 1940s has major implications for innovation today.
Tasked with outcomes sought, a small group of the most creative thinkers can bring about rapid innovation.
Bryan Sivak speaks about why failure is a necessary part of innovation.
Shortchanged foster parents in California are expected to receive long-overdue raises in payment rates, no thanks to the state Department of Social Services.
Incremental improvements can naturally stitch together and uplift an entire city.
California schools use control over spending decisions to plug budget holes, special programs suffer, study finds.
Her committee proposes a six-year bill that preserves highway funding. There's little chance that will become law any time soon.
The best way for government managers to engage the public via technology is to use the tools themselves. Officials must be seen as both engaged and engaging.
With the right tools, Baltimore is turning around its worst neighborhoods.
The right management tools can literally help rebuild a blighted city.
Across the country, the process of drilling for natural gas has created an explosion of controversy around the rules of disclosure.
The lack of money for bridge repairs is symptomatic of a larger problem: Transportation projects in general are going to slip behind.
Plus: Four-day school weeks and more management news
B&G readers sound off on their frustrations with on-the-job technology.
Gov. Rick Perry tells Fox News that "there is great terror" on the Texas-Mexico border. FBI statistics say otherwise.
Moving to the cloud doesn't relieve agencies from ensuring public services and programs continue to operate in spite of technological hiccups.
Employers can't pinpoint what the real value of retiree benefits is to them.
A controversial plan to tax state and local debt could rob states and localities of millions.
As schools opt for healthier lunch options, governments are pitted against the powerful dairy industry.
When New York City replaced a car lane with a bike lane, it exposed the tricky problem of adding another form of transportation infrastructure to a city.
With the expansion of the Panama Canal, states and cities are debating whether to spend money deepening channels and expanding facilities to handle new ships.
State and local governments want to dump a costly tax provision that would bring more costs at a most inopportune time.
A true high-speed rail network may be years away. But despite some setbacks, plans for fast trains are moving ahead around the country.
Contributor Ken Miller draws from his latest book to explain how management-by-fear accountability systems rarely work and produce devastating side effects.
Is Medicaid in its current form sustainable? And if not, is welfare reform the right model for change?
Here's how to plan, fund and make a safer, more efficient transportation system.
Chicago's Richard M. Daley is a tough act to follow. But Rahm Emanuel is determined to make his own mark.
Mayor Tony Kennon has pushed for bigger beach cleanup efforts, faster settlement of claims and larger marketing budgets to bring visitors back to Alabama's Gulf Coast.
Massachusetts helps marginal earners become first-time homeowners.
The electric grid could become overloaded with increased use of electric cars. Public utilities in Austin and Los Angeles have already begun tackling the issue.
At the recommendation of doctors and in spite of the tanning industry, California may be the first state to set a precedent on tanning beds.
The new executive director of the National Governors Association, Dan Crippen, has big shoes to fill. Luckily, he has years of experience working with governors.
The legality of texting while lawmaking has been cause for debate, but Texas may be the first state to ban the practice altogether.
Massive teacher layoffs have led to concerns that young people will shy away from entering the suddenly less-than-secure profession.
The lack of money for bridge repairs is symptomatic of a larger problem: Transportation projects in general are going to slip behind.
Democrats complain that GOP legislators are seeking to disenfranchise vulnerable groups of voters. Republicans say they're merely protecting the sanctity of the ballot.
Owners wanted municipalities to build them stadiums -- and taxpayers ponied up. Now the NFL may refuse to play games at the very facilities they requested.
Inmates in cramped cells and lawmakers outside of them feel the pressure of funding shortage.
Federal law prohibits the IRS from alerting government contract officers to tax scofflaws.
A new essay suggests ways to avoid collaborations that end in a puddle of frustrations and ambiguous results.
A successful program is one that effectively captures the interest of public and private entities.
To prevent default, the Treasury Department stopped issuing a security that's key to municipal bond issuers.
A guide to when and where public managers might seek -- or receive -- citizen input.
Animal welfare activists won a victory at the polls last November. They say some of that victory has already been taken away by the Legislature.
California education cuts may be less severe then originally thought. But overall, schools still need help.
States are lobbying Washington for permission to cut Medicaid rolls. If that happens, county leaders say, local governments would be left with the bill.
Harvard professor William Hsiao brings Taiwan’s health-care system to Vermont.
To advance new ideas in the field, sustainability experts need to understand how to win support from internal and external stakeholders.
As new technologies, priorities and budget realities take hold, public leaders have to insist that the public workforce embrace changes that promote efficiency.
Plus: Shared services and more management news
A discussion with a veteran of local level public service.
Three lessons leaders need to know in order to advance their ideas.
Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to demolish California’s wall of debt can’t get around GOP’s wall of doubt.
Finding a way to redevelop a contaminated site, such as a brownfield, is often the best solution, both environmentally and economically.
Desperate for revenue, states are trying all the tricks in the book to force Internet retailers to collect sales taxes.
Florida’s teletrauma pilot helps create a network of specialists available to the most remote of patients.
Only about 30 percent of jobs in the country's 100 largest metros are accessible via transit, according to a new Brookings report.
When information is delivered by the media, it can not only be a big, embarrassing dose of ugly, it can also be a distorted picture.
The president's budget calls for a highway bill that's nearly double the size of its predecessor. How to fund it, LaHood says, "is up to Congress now."
Even though states may not have the data to know how well their transportation investments fared, they still need to consider options that could maximize the value of any transportation spending.
States spent $131 billion on transportation last year. But most can't say fully whether those investments paid off.
State and local taxes deserve higher priority than mortgage interest.
Both borrowing and lending have decreased. The municipal bond market's problems run deeper than simple headline risk.
History is chock full of instances where key initiatives of a majority party were called into question by the Congressional Budget Office. Yet it survives.
Five lessons from the CBO story about establishing and maintaining a mission-centered organization.
The requirement, considered burdensome by state and local governments, is now slated to take effect in 2013.
More states are starting to explore new ways to fund transportation that don’t count on the gas tax. But every possible solution comes with perils of its own.
Concerns about public employee confusion over financial options led North Carolina Treasurer Janet Cowell to rethink how her department shapes and shares personal finance info.
To get a bigger fence along the border with Mexico, lawmakers propose online donations and prison labor.
A recent transparency conference provided one Virginia local official the opportunity to explain the challenge governments like his face in embracing transparency initiatives.
It is the 'in person' feature of StateStat that sets it apart from other successful performance measurement programs.
More than 100 projects sought the money rejected by Florida Gov. Rick Scott. Among the big winners: Amtrak's northeast corridor.
When all governments in our federal system suffer from common maladies, joint solutions are preferable.
The health-care reform bill is full of very scary news -- and great opportunities -- for states and localities.
A new report gives credence to a plan that state and local government officials say will overstate the challenges facing pensions.
Trending health conditions and behaviors for the U.S. population
State and local government revenue projections: 2011 and beyond
Variability in the political landscape over a half-century is most clearly seen in the west and south. Concentrated areas of party control in 1954 have been dispersed with more than a two-fold increase in the number of state electorates opting for divided government.
Average job time, compensation and staff size for state legislatures.
To charge or not to charge? With gas tax revenues on the decline, states are exploring electric car fees as a way to help maintain roads.
A draft transportation bill calls for federal highway officials to investigate a system based on miles traveled.
As the federal government marks the death of Osama bin Laden, local leaders highlight the millions just cut from anti-terrorism programs in transit systems.
When it comes to dealing with the unexpected, government struggles. In order to address the nation's greatest public challenges, government needs to destroy its bureaucracies.
San Diego court finds OPEB promises are "not vested."
The unregulated industry could soon face new rules from a legislature that has a Republican supermajority.
In the wake of a catastrophe, an effective recovery effort requires a functioning government -- an issue a number of legislatures are addressing.
Dwight Eisenhower astutely suggested problems be given larger context.
Dwight Eisenhower said, 'If you can't solve a problem, enlarge it.' It's a powerful insight into problem solving.
Only 7 percent of federal highway funds go directly to metro areas. Most gets funneled through the states. Kasim Reed says that needs to change.
Plus: Too much certainty, and more management news
In this commentary, Russell Nichols writes that to recruit and retain great teachers, let’s start by razing our standards.
The only things certain in California are debt and taxes, and the country's oldest current governor is struggling to erase the former without raising the latter.
For decades, states have been moving toward an annual budgeting process. Now, a GOP strategy is emerging in several states that focuses on budgeting over longer periods of time.
Higher maintenance costs in urban areas have led to a serious lack of grocery stores for city dwellers. States and cities are working on ways to get them back.
The time to upgrade to IPv6 -- and take advantage of its innovative technologies -- is now.
The distinctions between gaps and deficits can show just how dire a city or state's condition is.
Exaggerating problems is more about politics than budget balancing.
Temporary work is becoming the norm. Economic developers must change their focus if they want to create jobs in this new economy.
Free-market economists argue that replacing welfare programs with direct cash grants to the poor would require a smaller bureaucracy and be more beneficial to those in need.
States are increasingly utilizing prison labor to plug budget holes, but public employee unions aren’t happy.
Cities are struggling to increase residential density without destroying single-family neighborhoods. That means the return of the backyard cottage.
Nonprofits deliver crucial health and human services to the most vulnerable populations, but state budget constraints are endangering their operations.
State and local leaders have taken to saying, ‘We’re broke.’ The true story is a lot more complicated.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie calls on citizens to direct homeless people to medical, mental and housing services.
In an interview with GOVERNING, the new head of the National Governors' Association disputes recent data on pension gaps, and lays out his federal priorities.
With little or no additional funding, geomapping can help law enforcement fight crime while lowering traffic incidents.
State and local officials in the West are filing lawsuits to overturn new policies they say will prevent development and job growth.
While some states offer extra protection for statutes enacted by popular vote, legislatures can still overturn ballot initiatives in most states.
With the loss of 25 percent of its residents, Detroit could also lose its ability to levy higher income taxes.
Unpopular governors have good chances of winning re-election -- as long as they push their most controversial policies early on.
An Ariz. county will begin testing its employees and offering health insurance discounts to nonsmokers. But is it right to find and penalize those who smoke?
More leaders are trying to cut costs by merging environmental agencies. Critics worry this will water down the impact of environmental protection.
To recruit the best and brightest, the government need to familiarize itself with social media tools.
Tough times and the growing need for innovation require the use of social media to attract the best and brightest.
This is a time of angry ideological showdowns in budget-writing all over the country. But you wouldn't know it to look at Connecticut. There, the governor is convinced he can prevail by sticking to a centrist course.
Newly released data show how the Great Recession exacerbated states' ability to fund pensions.
Governing's John Buntin speaks with the new director of Utah's health exchange on how it's progressing.
Is public sector accountability a pipe dream, or an excuse to gut government?
Is public-sector accountability a pipe dream, or an excuse to gut government?
To save more money, state lawmakers propose new exit strategies for inmates and patients.
Is it time to retire Jane Jacobs’s vision of the city? In two book reviews, John Buntin explores recent releases that challenge traditional urban theory in the 21st century.
He ran Providence for 20 years and went to prison for five. In his new book, the former mayor wants to set the record straight.
Why does government use performance measurement to find heroes and culprits, rather than solutions?
Forget ladder climbers and yes men. Tomorrow's workforce should be made up of people who know how to think outside the bureaucratic box.
