11 Jul Government Paper
Part I: The Foundations of the U.S. and Georgia State Political Systems
Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S.
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
1. What is a Public Policy?
-A public policy is a course of action undertaken by a government to deal with a problem in society.
-Public policies result from political struggles at the federal, state, and local government levels in the American political system.
-Failure to comply with a public policy can put an individual at risk for penalties (fines and possible jail time) depending on the public policy.
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
-Public policies can exist in a number of different forms:
(1) a law/statute adopted by Congress and signed by the President (or adopted by a state or local government)
(2) an initiative placed on the ballot by citizens or a referendum authorized by a legislative body for voter approval (e.g., medical marijuana)
(3) a rule or regulation written by an agency of the executive bureaucracy (ex.: IRS writing rule to define “taxable income”)
(4) a presidential executive order (ex.: President freezing federal employee salaries)
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
-Examples of national government public policies:
https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_policy_of_the_United_States
-United States federal legislation, 2001-present:
http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_federal_legislation ,_2001-present
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
Local Examples of Public Policy (city and county ordinances):
-City of Kennesaw ordinance requiring heads of all households to own and maintain a firearm
“Southern U.S. town proud of its mandatory gun law”
http ://www.reuters.com/article/2007/04/18/us-usa-crime-shooting-town-idUSN1719257620070418
“Kennesaw, where everyone is armed by law”
http :// www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/5c1b6a72-c5eb-11df-b53e- 00144feab49a.html#axzz1gA5A3N88
-Cobb County, GA, Ordinance prohibiting more than 2 unrelated individuals living in the same house
http ://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/4972932/article-Zoning-board-denies-permit-to-4-students
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
2. Five Phases of the Public Policy Process
-In the U.S., public policies are developed and put into place through a five-phase process:
a. Problem Identification
-The problem identification phase involves the setting of the agenda of a government.
-An agenda is “the set of issues and concerns before government.” The agenda defines the set of problems and issues that will receive serious attention from policy makers.
-Agendas constantly change. For instance, environmental concerns may be an important item on the agenda during one year, but these concerns may fall off the agenda the next year if unemployment begins to increase. The economy then becomes the important agenda concern.
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
-Agendas are set in response to perceived problems.
-A problem exists when there is “a gap or shortfall between existing conditions and desired conditions.”
-For instance, a problem exists if people desire low unemployment, but the existing condition is one in which unemployment is high.
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
-How do we as a society come to view something as a problem? A number of factors and people are involved in problem identification:
-events (such as an airplane crash, a terrorist attack, a murder, or other tragedy) [“focusing events”]
-changes in expert opinion (smoking associated with lung cancer)
-changes in mass opinion (same-sex marriage)
-“political entrepreneurs” – individuals leading efforts to change public policy
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
-Since resources (such as money) are limited, not all problems can be dealt with by government. As a result, some problems do not make it onto the agenda of government.
-Problems that do make it onto the agenda of government tend to be salient (important to a lot of people).
-Examples
-Gas prices
-High unemployment
-Traffic congestion and commute times
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
b. Policy Formulation
-During the policy formulation phase, different policy alternatives are discussed and debated.
-A policy alternative is “a proposed action to deal with a problem.”
-Policy alternatives are ideas for dealing with a societal problem.
-Policy experts, academic researchers, policy think tanks, political scientists, and interest groups are important in developing policy alternatives.
-What can be done about traffic congestion?
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
Example: Traffic congestion
-public transit expansion
-rail line from Kennesaw to Atlanta
-expanded bus service
-expanded roads
-more toll roads – fees based on congestion
-reversible lanes
-use technology and traffic calming innovations
-traffic signals
-real time traffic congestion monitoring
-roundabouts (rather than full stop intersections)
-carpooling promotion
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
c. Policy Adoption
-A policy alternative becomes a public policy when it is officially adopted by a government.
-For instance, when both houses of Congress pass a bill and the President signs it, a policy alternative is transformed into a public policy.
-The adoption of one of the policy alternatives by government transforms the policy alternative into a public policy, which must be complied with by all in society.
Policy alternative Adoption by an authoritative policymaking body of government Public Policy
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
d. Policy Implementation
-The agencies of government (the bureaucracy) are primarily concerned with policy implementation.
-Examples of federal government agencies:
http:// www.usa.gov/directory/federal/index.shtml
-The policy implementation phase involves the process of putting adopted public policies into practice (or operation).
-According to the U.S. Constitution, the implementation (or “execution”) of public policies is the responsibility of the executive branch of the federal government (the President and the agencies).
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
-Agencies in the executive branch bureaucracy are assigned the task of implementing specific public policies.
-For example, the Department of Labor implements labor policies adopted by Congress.
-Executive branch agencies draft and approve rules that put “teeth” into the laws passed by Congress.
-Example: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drafts rules defining “clean” air and safe levels of certain substances (such as arsenic) in the water.
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
-“Administrative discretion”: implementation of public policy is usually done by individuals at the bottom of agencies – the street-level bureaucrats.
-Street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) typically have discretion to act or not act in some situations. For instance, a police officer seeing a violation of traffic laws can enforce the law by writing a ticket, give a warning, or not do anything.
-SLBs can determine how rigorously a law is enforced, particularly regulatory laws governing certain areas such as traffic law enforcement, environmental protection, workplace & food safety.
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
e. Policy Evaluation
-During the policy evaluation phase, an analysis of the policy impacts (or outcomes) in society is conducted.
-Four (4) Evaluative Criteria for Public Policies:
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
(1) Effectiveness:
-Were policy goals achieved?
-Did the policy solve the problem it was intended to deal with?
-How closely are goals being achieved if the policy is still being implemented?
-Example: A housing policy is designed to create 2,000 public housing units in 5 years. Did this goal get accomplished? Is it on track to meet the goal (if still being implemented)?
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
(2) Efficiency:
-The costs of the program relative to benefit
-Cost-benefit analysis
-Focus on cost per unit (amount per housing unit created; spending per student, etc.)
-Was more money spent on the policy than originally planned?
-Efficiency is relative: one policy is more or less efficient than another. Efficiency is hard to gauge without comparison to other policies.
-Example: How much did each of the 2,000 new public housing units cost on average? How this this compare with other programs, such as using vouchers in the private market?
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
(3) Adequacy:
-Has the policy actually made a significant improvement in the quality of life of people?
-Has it significantly reduced a societal problem?
-Example: 2,000 additional public housing units may be beneficial, but if 200,000 units are needed, then the policy really has been inadequate as a means for significantly reducing the housing problem.
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
(4) Equity:
-Does the policy treat people the same?
-Does it tend to benefit one group more than other groups?
-Does the policy place extra burdens on particular groups in society or on certain regions of a state or country?
-Does the policy treat everyone with fairness?
-Example: Does the housing policy tend to benefit certain racial or ethnic groups over others?
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
-Feedback from the policy evaluation phase provides policymakers with important information that can be used in the future to revise current policies and to create successful new policies to manage problems in society.
-Recommendations
-Keep policy as is
-Revise policy to correct shortcomings identified in
evaluation
-Terminate policy if policy objectives are not met
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Part I – D: The Public Policy Process in the U.S. _______________________________________________________________________
Examples (Future policy cases):
City of Kennesaw gun ordinance (1982)
Backyard chickens ordinance in Cobb County (2013)
Massachusetts health care reforms (2006) & national reforms (2010)
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