Adoption Of Legislation Research Articles

Unfinished Business

This article explains legislators’ support for electoral reforms reducing electoral irregularities and protecting voters’ autonomy at the ballot box in Britain and Germany in the late 19th century. We argue that the main political cleavage over the adoption of new legislation to limit illicit electoral practices pitted politicians able to take advantage of opportunities for vote buying and intimidation against those who could not do so because of unfavorable political and economic conditions in their district. We examine the political, partisan, and economic factors accounting for candidates’ ability to engage in electoral irregularities and show that, in both countries, resource-constrained candidates were more likely to support the introduction of electoral reforms. Because the primary illicit electoral practice differs across these two cases—vote buying in Britain and economic intimidation in Germany—some of the political and economic factors accounting for legislators’ support for reform differ across these cases.

Police officer perspectives on the implementation of a sex offender community notification scheme

Community notification statutes, popularly known as ‘Megan’s Law’, were passed in rapid succession throughout the United States following the enactment of landmark legislation in the state of Washington in 1990. Calls for the adoption of similar legislation in Australia gained momentum following the introduction of ‘limited disclosure’ schemes in the United Kingdom and, in 2012, one Australian state introduced a limited form of community notification. This study presents an analysis of in-depth interviews with specialist police officers ( N=21) who are responsible for coordinating the ongoing management, registration and monitoring of sex offenders who live in the community in this jurisdiction to understand their perspectives on the scheme’s implementation. Systematic thematic analysis revealed that the officers were particularly interested in understanding the impact that notification has on offenders, victims and the broader community, and the police agency. The practice-based wisdom distilled from these interviews is used to inform a discussion about the more widespread implementation of this type of public policy both in Australia and in other countries that may be giving this consideration.

The Transplantability of the EU's Competition Law Framework into the ASEAN Region

The European Union is the home of the most experienced supranational competition law system of the world. Hence, other regional integration systems often look at the EU as a role model for designing their regional competition policies. However, this does not necessarily argue in favor of a ‘copy-and-paste’ adoption of the European framework. To learn from the EU implies taking into account both the European experience and the socio-economic and political circumstances of the relevant region for the purpose of designing a tailor-made regional competition policy. Accordingly, European experience demonstrates that certain decisions need to be made, such as on the scope of application of the regional competition law, its relationship with the national competition law systems, its institutional design and its enforcement mechanisms. ASEAN has chosen to implement a regional competition policy framework as part of its project to create an ASEAN single market and an ASEAN Economic Community. However, ASEAN’s approach to competition law is limited to convergence. Its biggest achievement consists in the adoption of competition legislation in the ASEAN countries. This article discusses whether and to what extent ASEAN should now go a step further and ‘transplant’ the EU competition law framework. The answer depends on a number of considerations such as the goals of creating a supranational competition law, the degree and potential of economic integration of the national economies, the level of economic development of these economies, the development of a competition culture in these countries, the comparative advantages of centralised and decentralised enforcement and the willingness of ASEAN countries to surrender sovereignty in the field of competition law.

The efficacy of sexual orientation anti-discrimination legislation

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to summarize the limited body of research that focuses on the efficacy of sexual orientation anti-discrimination legislation in reducing discrimination.Design/methodology/approachReviews past research that documents overt and subtle forms of workplace discrimination against gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals and describes how legislation plays an important role in changing social norms and underlying attitudes.FindingsEmpirically demonstrates that legislation effectively can reduce discrimination.Originality/valueInforms legislative debate and promotes the expansion and adoption of national, state, and local legislation on sexual orientation anti-discrimination legislation.

Paramountcy, Family Rights and Contested Adoption: Does Contact with Birth Relatives Balance the Scales?

ABSTRACTThis article combines practitioner insight and research evidence to chart how principles of partnership and paramountcy have led to birth family contact becoming the expected norm following contested adoption from care in Northern Ireland. The article highlights how practice has adapted to the delay in proposed reforms to adoption legislation resulting in the evolution of increasingly open adoption practices. Adoption represents an irrevocable transfer of parental responsibility from birth to adoptive parents and achieves permanence and legal security for children in care who cannot return to their birth family. Its enduring effect, however, makes public adoption a contentious field of child welfare practice, particularly when contested by birth parents. This article explores how post-adoption contact may be viewed as reconciling the uneasy interface between paramountcy principles and parental rights to respect for family life. The article highlights the complexity of adoptive kinship relationships following contested adoption from care, and how contact presents unique challenges that mitigate against meaningful and sustainable connections between the child and their birth relatives. In conclusion, a call is made for sensitive negotiation and support of contact arrangements, and the development of practice models that are informed by an understanding of the workings of adoptive kinship.

Donor registries, first-person consent legislation, and the supply of deceased organ donors

In this paper, we exploit the varied timing in state adoption of organ donor registries and first-person consent (FPC) legislation to examine corresponding changes in the supply of deceased organ donors. Results indicate that the establishment of a state organ donor registry leads to an increase in donation rates of approximately 8%, while the adoption of FPC legislation has no effect on the supply of organ donors. These results reinforce the need to encourage individuals to communicate their donation preferences, either explicitly via a registry or by discussing them with family.

Exploring the effects of green infrastructure placement on neighborhood-level flooding via spatially explicit simulations

State and local governments are increasingly considering the adoption of legislation to promote green infrastructure (e.g., bioswales, green roofs) for stormwater management. This interest emerges from higher frequencies of combined sewer outflows, floods and exposure of residents and habitat to polluted water resulting from growing urbanization and related pressure on stormwater management facilities. While this approach is promising, there are many unknowns about the effects of specific implementation aspects (e.g., scale, layout), particularly as urban settlements and climate conditions change over time. If green infrastructure is to be required by law, these aspects need to be better understood. We developed a spatially-explicit process-based model (the Landscape Green Infrastructure Design model, L-GriD) developed to understand how the design of green infrastructure may affect performance at a neighborhood scale, taking into consideration the magnitude of stormevents, and the spatial layout of different kinds of land cover. We inform the mechanisms in our model with established hydrological models. In contrast with watershed data-intensive models in one extreme and site level cost-savings calculators in the other, our model allows us to generalize principles for green infrastructure design and implementation at a neighborhood scale, to inform policy-making. Simulation results show that with as little as 10% surface coverage, green infrastructure can greatly contribute to runoff capture in small storms, but that the amount would need to be doubled or tripled to deal with larger storms in a similar way. When placement options are limited, layouts in which green infrastructure is dispersed across the landscape—particularly vegetated curb cuts—are more effective in reducing flooding in all storm types than clustered arrangements. As opportunities for green infrastructure placement increase and as precipitation increases, however, patterns that follow the flow-path and accumulation of water become more effective, which can be built on an underlying curb-cut layout. If space constraints prevented any of these layouts, random placement would still provide benefits over clustered layouts.

Coopting the State: The Conservative Evangelical Movement and State-Level Institutionalization, Passage, and Diffusion of Faith-Based Initiatives

In the following, we characterize the contemporary conservative Evangelical movement as an example of contentious politics, a movement that relies on both institutional and noninstitutional tactics to achieve political outcomes. Examining multiple institutional and legislative outcomes related to the Faith Based Initiative, we seek to understand why some states have established state faith-based bureaucracies and passed significantly more faith-based legislation. We find that the influence of elite movement actors within state Republican parties has been central to these policy achievements. Furthermore, we find that the presence of movement-inspired offices increase the rate of adoption of legislation, and the passage of symbolic policies increases the likelihood of passage of more substantive faith-based legislation. We argue that the examination of multiple outcomes over time is critical to capturing second order policy effects in which new institutions, the diffusion of legislation and institutions, and increasing policy legitimacy may shape subsequent legislative developments.

Investigation of International Carbon Verification Policy-Systems

Carbon verification can ensure the reliability and credibility of greenhouse gas emissions data,which is the most important part of the daily work in the carbon emissions trading. Many international institutions and countries have researched and practiced of their policy. Generally, verification policy of international institutions focused on the scientific methods of verification. The policy of the important countries was established on the basis of their national conditions and the standards of ISO-14064 series, which also emphasized on scientificity and rationality of verification method. So, major international experience completed policy regimes, standardized verification procedures, diversified forms and verified focused the sources of carbon emissions. The paper considers that the China’s regional economic development imbalances caused by carbon emissions characteristic differences, combined carbon verification of work carried of seven pilot. And that is recommended to accelerate the adoption of legislation to address climate policy, to balance carbon verification, to standardize key sources of GHG emissions, to establish and improve verification of carbon regulation and to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation.

Follow-up on commitments at the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health: Indonesia, Sudan, Tanzania : "A commitment is a promise, a promise is a debt".

This study sought to assess actions which Indonesia, Sudan, and Tanzania took to implement the health workforce commitments they made at the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health (HRH) in November 2013. The study was conducted through a survey of published and gray literature in English and field research consisting of direct contacts with relevant ministries and agencies. Results show that the three countries implemented interventions to translate their commitments into actions. The three countries focused their commitments on improving the availability, geographical accessibility, quality of education, and performance of health workers. The implementation of the Recife commitments primarily entailed initiatives at the central level, such as the adoption of new legislation or the development of accreditation mechanisms. This study shows that action is more likely to take place when policy documents explicitly recognize and document HRH problems, when stakeholders are involved in the formulation and the implementation of policy changes, and when external support is available. The Recife Forum appears to have created an opportunity to advance the HRH policy agenda, and advocates of health workforce development in these three countries took advantage of it.

Comparing Canadian and Colombian Approaches to the Duty to Consult Indigenous Communities on International Treaties

In recent years, the development in Canada of a constitutional duty to consult Indigenous communities has had ramifications on government decision-making that are widespread, far-reaching, and potentially expansive. The modern duty to consult doctrine developed in a series of cases in 2004-2005, ensuring that governments have a duty to consult proactively with Aboriginal communities whose Aboriginal or treaty rights may be adversely impacted by a particular administrative decision, even in the face of uncertainty about the scope of asserted rights in the absence of a final settlement or court decision. Case law development on the duty later established that the duty is also triggered in the context of an early, strategic decision that may determine later administrative decisions. Some have put forth the argument that the duty may be triggered prior to the adoption of legislation; adjudication on that issue is currently making its way forwardthrough the courts. The Hupacasath First Nation case, recently decided at the Federal Court of Appeal, raised another question, that of whether or not consultation was owed to Aboriginal communities in the context of international treaty negotiations. Although the federal government has actually engaged in such consultation in some instances so as to avoid infringing Aboriginal and treaty rights, the case raised the complex question of whether it is constitutionally required to do so in order to comply with the duty to consult doctrine. On the particular facts of the case, the issue concerned the Canada-China foreign investment treaty, which the Hupacasath First Nation argued was apt to lead to later infringements on Aboriginal rights. Both the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal rejected these arguments. Their rejection has broader implications, but we shall argue that it leaves open the possibility that the negotiation of some internationaltreaties may trigger the constitutional duty to consult, thus opening a complex nexus between constitutional and international law.

Transnational Action Fostering Climate Protection in the City of São Paulo and Beyond

This article examines the local outcomes of São Paulo city’s engagement in transnational networks for climate protection. The participation of municipalities in such networks has been an important driver in fostering local initiatives to protect global climate. There have been accounts of many cases of mitigation measures implemented successfully at the local level, demonstrating significant carbon emissions reductions, thus helping national governments in their emissions reductions efforts. However, few studies have explored the linkages between transnational engagement, implementation of subnational climate action, and the actual national commitments in developing countries. This paper assesses the role of local engagement in transnational networks in the adoption and implementation of climate policies and legislation in the city of São Paulo, and its impact on the Brazilian government’s climate action, in the period between 2002 and 2014. São Paulo was an active member of ICLEI’s Cities for Climate Protection campaign and the C40 network during this period. The city was the first government to adopt legislation establishing reduction targets in 2009. However, while transnational action influenced the inception of the city’s climate change policy, it has had limited impact on the implementation of climate action beyond the municipal level. The role of transnational action, in this context, is yet to be determined.

The Effectiveness of eu Law: Insights from the eu Legal Framework on Asset Confiscation

Based on an institutional and legal mapping of the field across Europe, this article explores the different barriers to the effectiveness of the eu’s regime on the recovery and confiscation of proceeds of crime. The aim is to provide a better understanding of the challenges that arise in this field and suggest possible areas of legal or policy intervention. But it is also — using the example of asset confiscation — to contribute to debates about the effectiveness of the eu’s legal strategy in building a genuine area of freedom, security and justice. The article argues that, despite the adoption of new legislation in this field and the stronger institutional framework introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon, the effectiveness of the eu’s action is unlikely to significantly improve. The legal rules still present a number of deficiencies and the emphasis on formal legal solutions has come at the expense of broader questions of transposition and utilisation, which are however crucial to ensuring effective recovery.

The Integration of Renewables into the Bolivian Energy Mix - Legal Framework and Policies

In Bolivia, a large proportion of the population lives in rural areas, facing considerable challenges, such as low incomes and fuel poverty. Numerous homes and businesses are off-grid, with no access to mains gas, electricity and heat. Renewable energy sources could provide basic supplies for domestic needs. Bolivia has a large potential for producing energy from renewable sources, but unfortunately this potential is only being marginally exploited at present. Since the approval of the new Bolivian constitution, in a referendum in January 2009, there is a concrete mandate to introduce and promote renewable energy and, correspondingly, the state has recognized the advantages of their use, not just in connection with the protection of the environment (avoiding climate-damaging emissions), but also for saving finite resources. Nevertheless, there is still no consistent legal framework available that could trigger the proper implementation of renewable energy. This paper will analyse the current legislation in Bolivia and describe the energy sector. Furthermore, it will argue in favour of a rapid and consistent adoption of proper legislation to embrace the use of renewable energies, thereby avoiding the use of conventional energies and the introduction of nuclear power, as is now envisaged by the Bolivian government. The analysis will indicate the need for an integrated approach to put in place the right policies for the development of energy projects and for the rational use of natural resources to satisfy the socioeconomic need of present and future generations. The paper does not focus on how the new generating capacity based on renewable sources is to be constructed, but on the legal framework and policies.

Research into Whistleblowing: Protection Against Victimisation

‘Blowing the whistle’ is fraught with risk and this is increasingly recognised by the widespread adoption of whistle-blower legislation to protect the whistle-blower. This paper reviews current legislation, the literature on victimisation of whistle-blowers and reports the results of a study of whistleblowers. Interviews conducted with whistleblowers showed that their experience is usually negative. They become ‘victims’ of a range of harms, including loss of employment, bullying and harassment and emotional distress. The results have implications for the successful operation of the new disclosure laws introduced by the Australian and State governments.

Contribution of National Implementation Approaches to Enhance Compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention

Effective national implementation, including the adoption of domestic legislation and the creation of a domestic enforcement mechanism, is a key element for the enhancement of the compliance with the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC). Its Article IV contains the explicit obligation for a State Party to take any necessary measures to proscribe and prevent the activities already prohibited under Article I, “in accordance with its constitutional processes” and “within the territory of such State, under its jurisdiction or under its control anywhere”. National implementation is not simply a goal to be achieved once and for all but should be better understood as an evolutionary process that takes into account science and technology developments as well as in best practices. For that reason, the EU and its member States remain committed not only in providing assistance to third countries but also in enhancing their own implementation measures. The point is made that what States should do in order to implement the BTWC is more than simply legislate appropriately: both, the administrative practice and the work of national institutions need to be considered, in terms of financial, administrative, human resources

Roadside observational surveys of restraint use by young children in Qatar: Initial results and recommendations

In a report by the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region(1), the non-use of child restraints for children was identified as a key risk factor that can be addressed by the adoption and enforcement of legislation that will increase their use. Currently, there are no child restraint laws in Qatar. The objective of the study is to report baseline data on child restraint use and to provide evidence to inform the passage of child passenger restraint laws in Qatar. This roadside observational survey was conducted as part of the Young Kids in Safe Seats Project funded by the Qatar Foundation. Trained observers conducted roadside observations of passenger restraint use in vehicles with children, less than 5 years, at 12 sampling sites. Standard data was collected per observation: seating position, restraint used and appropriateness of restraint used. Of 2232 observations of young child passengers: 41% were properly restrained, 21% improperly restrained and 38% unrestrained, 10.9% were on an adult’s lap. The most common seating location was right second row followed by left second row. These 2 locations also had the highest rates of proper restraint use. The positions with the lowest restraint use were the front and second row middle seat. One in 9 children observed was illegally seated in the front row, most on the lap of an adult [38.3%] or unrestrained [34.4%]. This is the first observational study in Qatar that measures child restraint rates in children younger than 5. Less than half of these children are traveling safely. Priority areas for intervention include: enforcement of existent laws banning children in the front seat, education about the risks for children in an adult’s lap and encouraging the proper use of age/size appropriate restraint systems. These findings can inform the development of national child passenger restraint laws. Reference: 1. Road safety in the Eastern Mediterranean Region Facts from the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013.

APA Joins in Push to Advance MH Legislation Through Congress

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Government NewsFull AccessAPA Joins in Push to Advance MH Legislation Through CongressAaron LevinAaron LevinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:29 Oct 2015https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2015.11a14AbstractImportant mental health legislation awaits Congressional action, and APA wants to be sure it continues to move along toward passage.Leaders of major mental health advocacy organizations including APA joined together on October 1 for a visit to Capitol Hill to stress the need for significant reforms in the U.S. mental health system.APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A.Officials from the National Alliance for Mental Illness and Mental Health America, along with executives from the National Council for Behavioral Health and the Kennedy Forum, joined APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A., to urge early action on bipartisan legislation already introduced in both houses of Congress.They met with members of the House of Representatives concerned with mental health issues and also with several members of the Senate, which was scheduled to hold hearings on mental health legislation at press time.A number of bills have been proposed, including the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2015 (HR 2646), put forth by Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), and the Mental Health Reform Act of 2015 (S 1945), introduced by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Tim Murphy is a psychologist, and Cassidy is a physician.The leaders pointed out the fragmented approach to identifying and caring for people in the United States with mental illness. They argued that adoption of new legislation would improve federal coordination of mental health resources, expand access to community and inpatient integrated treatment, and enhance mental health services for children and adolescents. The bills would also address psychiatric workforce shortages by fixing barriers to loan repayment for child and adolescent psychiatrists through the National Health Service Corporation. Proposals also address increasing funding for the National Institute of Mental Health.In a separate but parallel effort, 23 mental health advocacy organizations led by APA addressed the issue in a letter sent to the heads of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, whose responsibilities include mental health.“The need for comprehensive reform is urgent, and you have the opportunity to improve the lives of tens of millions of Americans, their families, and our communities,” they wrote to committee Chair Fred Upton (R-Mich.), and ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.).New legislation would tighten up enforcement of parity rules and have the Government Accountability Office investigate compliance of the parity law by health insurance plans, said the letter.“The Congress and your committee regularly act to ensure that Americans with heart disease, cancer, or any other medical illness have access to care,” wrote the mental health groups. “The same should be true for those with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other serious mental illness.”Both efforts were aimed at keeping mental health reform on the agenda of members of both bodies by urging them to proceed with the internal committee work necessary to advance legislation forward toward final passage. ■More information about comprehensive mental health reform legislation can be accessed here. The letter to Upton and Pallone is available here. ISSUES NewArchived

Matrix Effect of Human Reconstructed Epidermis on the Chemoselectivity of a Skin Sensitizing α-Methylene-γ-Butyrolactone: Consequences for the Development of in Chemico Alternative Methods.

Adoption of new legislations and social pressure are pushing toward the development of alternative methods to the use of animals for the assessment of most toxicological end-points including skin sensitization. To that respect, much efforts have been put in the first step of the adverse outcome pathway focusing on chemical interactions taking place between sensitizing chemicals or haptens and epidermal proteins. However, these in chemico approaches have been so far only based on the use of model nucleophiles, amino acids, peptides, or proteins in water/buffer solution and focused mainly on thiol reactivity. These studies even if bringing a valuable set of information are very far from reflecting chemical interactions that may happen between a xenobiotic and nucleophiles present in a complex heterogeneous tissue such as the epidermis. Recently, we have shown that using a high-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique it was possible to characterize chemical interactions taking place between a skin sensitizer and nucleophilic amino acids present in a 3-D reconstructed human epidermis (RHE). We have now compared the chemical reactivity and chemoselectivity of a sensitizing α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone toward human serum albumin used as a model protein and RHE. Using this technique, we showed that amino acid modifications by this hapten was different according to the model used and that in RHE histidine residues seem to have an important role in the formation of adducts. Obviously, the role of histidine in the induction of skin sensitization has been so far neglected and should probably be taken into account for the refinement of in chemico approaches for the detection and potency classification of skin sensitizers.

Involuntary Medication, Seclusion, and Restraint in German Psychiatric Hospitals after the Adoption of Legislation in 2013.

Involuntary medication in psychiatric treatment of inpatients is highly controversial. While laws regulating involuntary medication have been changed in Germany, no data have been available to date on how often involuntary medication is actually applied. Recently, our hospital group introduced specific routine documentation of legal status and application of involuntary medication in the patients' electronic records, which allows the assessment of the frequency of involuntary medication. For the year 2014, we extracted aggregated data from the electronic database on age, sex, psychiatric diagnosis, legal status during admission, kind of coercive measure (mechanical restraint, seclusion, and involuntary medication) applied, and the number and duration of seclusion and restraint episodes for seven study sites. A total of 1,514 (9.6%) of 15,832 admissions were involuntary. At least one coercive measure was applied in 976 (6.2%) admissions. Seclusion was applied in 579 (3.7%) admissions, mechanical restraint was applied in 529 (3.3%) admissions, and involuntary medication was applied in 78 (0.5%) admissions. Two-thirds of involuntary medications were applied in cases of emergency; the remainder was applied after a formal decision by a judge. In 55 (70.5%) of the admissions with involuntary medication, at least one other coercive measure (seclusion, restraint, or both) was applied as well. Involuntary medication is rarely applied and less frequent than seclusion or mechanical restraint, possibly as a consequence of recent legal restrictions.