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As Deadline Nears, No Budget Agreement in Sight
NLC Schedules Webinar to Discuss FCC Inquiry
NLC, NARC Seek Input on Project Delivery and Regulatory Barriers
House Passes EPA Greenhouse Gas Preemption Bill, Amendments Fail in Senate
Repeal of 1099 Reporting Ready for President's Signature
CBO Report Highlights Impacts of the Affordable Care Act of 2010
IRS Releases Interim Guidance on Reporting Costs of Employee Insurance
As Deadline Nears, No Budget Agreement in Sight
With a deadline looming and negotiations ongoing, House and Senate leaders and the White House continue to hash out disagreements over a fiscal year 2011 federal spending bill. Without an agreement, the federal government is scheduled to shutdown starting at midnight tonight.
In preparation for a shutdown, the federal agencies have released their respective contingency plans to help states, local governments and other stakeholders understand what a shutdown means for locally administered, federal funded programs. To view the agency-specific contingency plans, go tohttp://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/contingency-plans. (Carolyn Coleman, coleman@nlc.org, 202.626.3023)
NLC Schedules Webinar to Discuss FCC Inquiry
At its open meeting on Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) examining rights-of-way issues and how the agency "can work with its state, local, Tribal and federal partners to improve policies for access to rights of way and for wireless facility siting." Specifically, the NOI seeks information and data regarding challenges, best practices, and educational efforts so the FCC can accurately determine the need for policy and rules surrounding broadband deployment.
On April 14 at 2:00 p.m. (EDT), NLC, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors, and the National Association of Counties will sponsor a webinar to discuss the implications of the NOI and what your community can do to help preserve local rights-of-way authority and compensation. Please visithttps://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/699497122 to register for the webinar. (Laura Bonavita,bonavita@nlc.org, 202.626.3037)
NLC, NARC Seek Input on Project Delivery and Regulatory Barriers
As part of the ongoing transportation authorization debate, Congress is seeking recommendations from city officials on ways to streamline the project delivery process to decrease the time it takes to build a transportation project, while still respecting environmental concerns.
NLC is working with the National Association of Regional Councils (NARC) to solicit specific examples of barriers cities and towns have faced and are facing in delivering transportation projects, as well as any other regulatory barriers and concerns faced in using federal funds for community projects. If you have examples of federal rules and regulations that have delayed projects or suggestions for improvements to current rules and regulations that would help streamline the process, please submit this regulatory response form to Joe Patterson at intern3@narc.org. (Leslie Wollack, wollack@nlc.org, 202.626.3029)
House Passes EPA Greenhouse Gas Preemption Bill, Amendments Fail in Senate
On Thursday, the House passed the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011 (H.R. 910) by a vote of 255 to 172. Sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the bill permanently halts EPA regulation of power plants, refineries and other stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions that went into effect in January. The legislation also prohibits the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. Because NLC supports the EPA's authority to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act, we oppose the legislation. Efforts to advance similar legislation in the Senate failed. (Carolyn Berndt, berndt@nlc.org, 202.626.3101)
Repeal of 1099 Reporting Ready for President's Signature
On Tuesday, the Senate voted 87 to 12 to repeal an unfunded mandate in the new health care reform law scheduled to go into effect in 2012. The paperwork mandate would have required local governments to report to the IRS each time they made payments and purchases totaling more than $600 in a calendar year to a vendor. The provision was designed to raise $19 billion in revenue to offset the costs of the healthcare reform law without increasing tax rates. Similar repeal legislation passed the House earlier this month; the measure now heads to the President's desk for his signature, which is expected according to the White House. (Lars Etzkorn, etzkorn@nlc.org, 202.626.3173).
CBO Report Highlights Impacts of the Affordable Care Act of 2010
On March 30, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report highlighting the current and future impacts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), (the new health care reform law) on the budget deficit and on health care coverage in general.
The CBO report concluded that under the new law, 95 percent of legal non-elderly residents will have insurance coverage by 2021, compared with a projected share of only 82 percent in the absence of the law. The CBO also concluded that the ACA will increase federal budget outlays by $464 billion over the next ten years to ensure the expanded coverage requirements are met.
The report also found that premiums for health insurance in the individual market are likely to be somewhat higher, as the ACA will cause the average insurance policy to cover a larger share of enrollees' costs for health care and provide a slightly wider range of benefits. Despite this, the report also notes that reductions in outlays for Medicare and added revenues from taxes, fees, and penalties will result in a net savings to the treasury of $210 billion the next ten years. (Neil Bomberg, bomberg@nlc.org, 202.626.3042)
IRS Releases Interim Guidance on Reporting Costs of Employee Insurance
Also in late March, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released interim guidance for employers on how to report the cost of sponsored group health plan coverage to employees. The reporting, which is scheduled to begin in 2013 with calendar year 2012 W-2 forms, is a requirement under the ACA and is meant to provide "useful and comparable consumer information to employees on the cost of their health care coverage." It is not intended as the basis for taxing these benefits.
The guidance also provides transition relief for smaller employers that are required to file fewer than 250 W-2 forms. These employers will not be required to report the cost of health coverage on any forms until January 2014. (Neil Bomberg, bomberg@nlc.org, 202.626.3042)
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