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| NEWS: Dec. 9, 2016 Public Workforce | The Nation Obama Boosts Civilian Pay Raise to 2.1% In a surprise move, President Obama increased next year's average pay raise for civilian federal employees to 2.1 percent, up from the 1.6 percent he had proposed earlier in the year. The raise, which matches the 2.1 percent increase Congress approved for the military, goes into effect in January unless Congress takes action to stop it. >> Government Executive Congress Sets New Limits on Feds' Administrative Leave Federal employees will see new limits in 2017 to the number days they can spend on administrative leave and agencies will be on a tighter timeline to finish personnel investigations under new policies contained in the defense authorization bill passed by Congress. >> Federal News Radio
Troubled Pension Fund Suspends Lump-Sum Withdrawals The Dallas Police and Fire Pension System's trustees suspended lump-sum withdrawals, staving off a possible restraining order and stopping $154 million in withdrawal requests. Pension officials said allowing the withdrawals would leave the $2.1 billion fund, which is hurtling toward insolvency in the next decade or so, without the liquid reserves it needs. >> Dallas Morning News The Presidency | The Nation Trump's Agency Transition Teams Moving Slowly Donald Trump is beating President Obama on the pace of splashy Cabinet announcements, but the president-elect is lagging when it comes to other transition efforts. The slower pace applies not only to key appointments throughout Trump's administration but also to the lower-profile agency review teams. Obama administration officials say Trump's representatives have been AWOL at some agencies. >> Politico Minimum-Wage Critic Tapped to Head Labor Department Trump said he will nominate Andrew Puzder, the CEO of a fast-food company who has been a vocal critic of substantially increasing the minimum wage and an opponent of rules that would make more workers eligible for overtime pay, to be secretary of Labor. >> Washington Post
Did DHS Try to Hack State's Voter Database? Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp has asked federal officials to explain what he says appears to be an attempt by the Department of Homeland Security to breach the state's voter-registration database. In a letter to DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, Kemp alleges that a computer with a DHS internet address attempted to penetrate the state's firewall. A DHS representative said that the agency was investigating. >> Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Hill GOP Senators to Probe Alleged Russian Meddling Leading Senate Republicans are preparing to launch a coordinated and wide-ranging probe into Russia's alleged meddling in the U.S. elections and its potential cyberthreats to the military. >> Washington Post Spending | The Nation Fight over Miners Could Bring Short Shutdown Senate Democrats are threatening a short-lived government shutdown this weekend, indicating they would not go along with a House-passed stopgap measure that would keep agencies open through April 28. Several senators objected to the short-term nature of the extension of health-care benefits for 16,000 coal miners. >> Government Executive
Regents Mandate Reviews of Tenured Faculty Every 5 Years University of Wisconsin system regents approved a new policy mandating that administrators conduct "independent, substantive reviews" of tenured faculty members every five years, a process that faculty members fear could open the door to overturning positive performance reviews by faculty peers and justify firings. >> Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Study: It's Still Too Hard to Fire Bad Teachers Many states have revamped teacher evaluations in an effort to identify teachers who don't help their students learn and send them on their way. But it's still really hard to dismiss poorly performing teachers, according to a study by a conservative-leaning think tank. >> Education Week Public Safety | Oakland, Calif. Warehouse Where 36 Died in Fire May Never Have Been Inspected The warehouse that housed the Ghost Ship art collective, where 36 people died in a fire last Friday, was not listed as it should have been in a city database of commercial buildings that require yearly fire-safety inspections and no records exist of any inspections of the structure, according to a city employee familiar with the records. >> East Bay Times Fire Brings Crackdown on Warehouses Residences In the aftermath of a fire that killed 36 people in Oakland, fire departments around the country have begun to investigate and in some cases evict residents from illegally occupied warehouses. >> New York Times >> Follow GovManagement on Twitter >> Share this edition:
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DATAPOINT 96% Percentage of Wyoming residents who want state-government spending to stay the same or increase, according to a University of Wyoming poll that also found that, despite the state's tax-averse reputation, a majority of Wyomingites are open to some tax increases, results that come as the legislature considers cutting programs to close a $157 million hole in the state budget >> Casper Star Tribune | More data QUOTABLE
“Zero-G and I feel fine. Oh, and that view is tremendous.” John Glenn, the last survivor of the original seven Mercury astronauts and former U.S. senator who died Thursday at the age of 95, several minutes into his Feb. 20, 1962, mission aboard the Friendship 7 capsule as he became the first American to orbit the earth >> Reuters | More quotes VIEWPOINT Public Administration | Stephen G. Harding What's a Bureaucrat to Do? It's no surprise that the governed seem none too happy with their government. Populism notwithstanding, it can be argued that one of the national dissatisfaction points is the country's discord with governmental bureaucracy itself, the perception of an untouchable, uncaring, unresponsive, power-centered system of government. Bureaucracy needs to take responsibility for reducing the level of societal consternation. This starts by balancing the needs of the community with the needs of the organization. Well intentioned and technically competent bureaucrats need to publicly demonstrate dedication to public service, not just to their corporate structures or the mandates of their professional associations. >> PA Times PLUS: David Paschane on how Donald Trump can make government work again. >> Government Executive | More commentaries UPCOMING EVENTS Heritage Foundation Book discussion: "American Commander: Serving a Country Worth Fighting For and Training the Brave Soldiers Who Lead the Way" Today, noon-1 p.m. ET, Washington, D.C. American Enterprise Institute Discussion: "Obamacare's Administrative Law Space: Navigating the Next Frontier" Dec. 12, 9-11:30 a.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Brookings Institution Discussion: "U.S. Security Assistance and Human Rights" Dec. 12, 10-11:30 a.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Center for American Progress Discussion: "How Progressives Can Defend the Working Class in the Trump Era" Dec. 12, 10:15-11:45 a.m. ET, Washington, D.C. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, PRI's The World and WGBH Webcast: "The Future of Food: Feeding the Planet During Climate Change" Dec. 13, 12:30 p.m. ET American Society for Public Administration Student and young professional webinar: "Navigating the Federal Job Search" Dec. 13, 1 p.m. ET Government Technology Webinar: "Lessons Learned on the Journey to the Cloud" Dec. 13, 2 p.m. ET >> Full events listings |
