Keeping Securities Safe | OAS Episode 165

Our American States

The high cost of prescription drugs is a focus for legislators across the country. Over the past year, this podcast has talked with lawmakers about controlling the price of insulin, bringing more transparency to the work of pharmacy benefit managers, increasing efforts to gather drug cost data and creating drug affordability boards.

In this fourth and final episode of the series, we sat down with Rep. Iman Jodeh (D-Colo.) to talk about legislation passed in her state, requiring pharmaceutical benefit managers and health plans to demonstrate how rebates collected for manufacturers are used to reduce health insurance premiums. The legislation also requires certain state regulated health plans to implement co-payment only structures for all cost sharing tiers in their drug formularies.

Also joining for this episode is Colleen Becker of NCSL. She tracks legislation related to prescription drug costs and was instrumental in putting this series of podcasts together. She talked about the different types of legislation passed in 2022 and what we can expect to see coming out legislatures on this issue in the future.

Resources

• OAS Episode 176 Transcription
• Prescription Drug State Bill Tracking Database | 2015-Present
• Rep. Iman Jodeh, Colorado General Assembly

Previous Episodes in the Series

• Shining a Light on Drug Prices
• Tackling Prescription Drug Costs
• How Two States Took on the Cost of Insulin

Across the Aisle

When the 11 women in the Missouri Senate met socially one evening in 2021, they realized they were making history--the most women ever to serve at one time--and they wondered how to mark the occasion.

They decided to write a book telling the story of all the women who have served in the Senate. They called it “You Can Too” to show young readers--girls and boys--there are many paths to becoming a senator. But they didn’t stop there. They became known as The 11, and joined forces to shut down two key filibusters and to write a comprehensive approach to literacy that passed with nearly unanimous support in both chambers.

In this episode of "Across the Aisle,"" we hear how their collaborations and friendships developed and how it improved the legislation they work on.

NCSL’s Kelley Griffin is the host and producer. She has 28 years experience as a reporter and editor in public radio, and she invites you to share your stories of bipartisanship at acrosstheaisle@ncsl.org.

Resources

• ATA Episode 2 Transcription

Legislatures: The Inside Storey

Peverill Squire may know more about state legislatures and their history than anyone, and was a perfect guest for host Tim Storey on this episode of “Legislatures: The Inside Storey.”

Squire is a professor at the Truman School of Government at the University of Missouri, with a distinguished career researching state legislatures since colonists began the work in 1619. He has taught in Japan and Hungary and been part of the international committee of legislative specialists.

With new sessions starting in January with more than 1,500 newly elected legislators will alongside the veterans, Squire and Storey sat down to discuss how legislatures have changed over the centuries and how, in some respects, they’ve stayed the same. They also discussed the value of diversity, the need for more resources as legislatures deal with increasingly complex issues and why it’s important to give the minority its say.

Resources

• LTIS Episode 15 Transcription
• Peverill Squire, University of Missouri

Our American States

The $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) signed into law in November 2021 included $65 billion for high-speed internet, or broadband. The bill includes nearly $45 million to serve parts of the country that are not well-served with broadband and also provide other services so people can both connect and make use of the service.

We sat down with Angela Siefer, the executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, and Erlinda Doherty in NCSL’s Washington office, to better understand the effect that money will have on communities across the country.

Doherty broke down the funding, explained how the federal government will administer the program and actions states need to take to participate.

Siefer discussed what communities are most in need of broadband service, the importance of providing not just service but also devices and the critical role of teaching digital skills and literacy.

This is the fifth and final installment of our podcast series on the IIJA and the massive infusion of infrastructure money to the states. Our earlier episodes broke down the overall financing; the water projects covered under the bill; the highways, bridges and transportation programs; and the impact the legislation will have on the nation’s energy system.

Resources

• Biden-Harris Administration Announces $5.6 Million in Internet for All Grants to Two Minority-Serving Colleges and Universities in California, National Telecommunications and Information Administration
• Digital Inclusion Trailblazers, NDIA
• High-Speed Internet for All
• Join the NDIA Community
• The New Broadband Maps Are Finally Here, Federal Communications Commission, FCC
• OAS Episode 175 Transcription
• State Digital Equity Plan Toolkit, NDIA
• See more about NDIA
• Updates on the Affordable Connectivity Program, NDIA

Across the Aisle

NCSL is launching a new podcast called Across the Aisle to explore how bipartisanship is working in state capitols. We’ll hear how state legislators connect across party lines to get things done, sometimes in unlikely ways, and how they build relationships that allow them to work together on common goals.

Sometimes that collaboration starts on a mountain. Our first episode covers a bipartisan group of Nebraska senators who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro together - while one was battling cancer - and built connections that serve them back at the statehouse.  We’ll have new stories every month and we hope we can include your experiences with working across the aisle.

NCSL’s Kelley Griffin is the host and producer. She has 28 years experience as a reporter and editor in public radio, and she invites you to share your stories of bipartisanship at acrosstheaisle@ncsl.org.

Resources

• ATA Eisode 1 Transcription

Legislatures: The Inside Storey

Host Tim Storey, CEO of NCSL, sits down with Terry Gerton, president and CEO of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), to discuss the critical role of those who work in government service.

Gerton explains the important role expert public administrators play in roles such as handling federal grants and ensuring the money is spent responsibly. She also discussed the formation of NAPA, and why Congress gave it a charter to gather the best information and practices for managing the work of government. Gerton and Storey also discussed the challenge of attracting young people to public service and the path that took her from West Point to her current role.

Resources

• LTIS Episode 14 Transcription
• National Academy of Public Administration

Our American States

The U.S. energy system will see significant change as a result of two huge pieces of federal legislation: the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in November 2021, and the more recent Inflation Reduction Act, which invests $369 billion over the next 10 years in climate and energy security programs.

The guests for this podcast are Ali Nouri, assistant secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. Department of Energy, and David Terry, the executive director of the National Association, a State Energy Officials.

Nouri discussed programs to improve the resiliency of state electric grids, nuclear power, electrical vehicle charging infrastructure, hydrogen carbon capture and storage, reducing home heating and cooling costs, and other issues. Terry explained how state energy offices are working with federal officials, the role of state legislatures in implementing these programs, and how this new funding will affect state energy policy goals.

Resources

• Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: Implementation and Key Resources, NCSL
• National Association of State Energy Officials
• OAS Episode 174 Transcription
• Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy

Our American States

Since 2018, state lawmakers in at least nine states—Alabama, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington and Vermont—have introduced legislation that would establish portable benefits programs for gig workers, create funds to foster innovative experimentation in this area or study related issues.

Portable benefits are just what they sound like—unemployment insurance, health care insurance, paid family leave coverage and more—that a worker can hold onto as they move from job to job.

The guests on this podcast--Senator Elena Parent, a Democrat from Georgia, and Senator Arthur Orr, a Republican from Alabama—both discussed the large number of workers in their states who would benefit from legislation that made portable benefits easier.

They discussed how the pandemic put a spotlight on nontraditional workers, the need for all workers to have access to robust retirement savings and changes in federal law that would help states innovate.

Resources

• OAS Episode 173 Transcription
• Portable Benefits for Gig Workers, NCSL LegisBrief

Legislatures: The Inside Storey

Charlie Cook has been observing, analyzing and chronicling America’s political trends for decades.

He founded The Cook Political Report in 1984 as an independent, nonpartisan newsletter that reports on elections and campaigns for Congress, president and governors. He left his publisher/editor role in 2021, a position now held by Amy Walter, another veteran observer of Washington politics.

Cook remains a regular contributor to the Cook Political Report and still almost as busy as ever keeping a keen eye on this election.

On this podcast, he talks with host Tim Storey about everything from high school debate to how Washington has changed to what he expects to see when all the ballots are counted in this year’s election.

Resources

• Looking Ahead: Charlie Cook on the Midterms, NCSL
• LTIS Episode 13 Transcription
• The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter

Our American States

Medicaid agencies and enrollees around the country will face big changes in the new year.

The current federal public health emergency for COVID-19 has resulted in about a 25% increase in people enrolled in Medicaid. Under the emergency declaration, Medicaid agencies have not reviewed the eligibility of people in the program since early 2020. Once that emergency declaration expires, probably in early 2023, experts expect millions of current enrollees will no longer be eligible.

To help understand what’s coming, we sat down with Andrea Maresca and Jane Longo of Health Management Associates. Both have deep expertise in Medicaid policy at the federal and state level.

Maresca discussed the details of the changes at the federal level, the increase in the number of enrollee and how it affected care for people in the Medicaid program.

Longo explained how state Medicaid agencies responded to the increase in clients, how state legislatures are helping to manage the coming changes and the scale of the challenge facing Medicaid agencies around the nation.

Resources

• Health Management Associates
• Medicaid: Unwinding From the Public Health Emergency, NCSL
• OAS Episode 172 Transcription