State Agency Staff Research Articles

“A Hunt to Find Anything”: The Complexities of Finding and Sharing Disability-Related Information Among State Agency Staff

State agencies are charged with addressing the service and support needs of residents with and without disabilities. Undertaking this task effectively requires having familiarity with the array of available disability-related resources and programs—both within and beyond one’s own agency. We asked 212 staff from 13 state agencies about their awareness of local disability-related information and resources that could support their stakeholders. We were interested in understanding (a) their familiarity with available community resources impacting multiple areas of people’s lives, (b) their experiences accessing needed information or resources, and (c) the sources of information they find most helpful in their work. State agency staff reported moderate, but mixed, familiarity with resources for supporting an array of valued experiences and key service needs. Years of experience was modestly correlated with degree of familiarity in some areas. In addition, state agency staff considered fellow professionals and internet sources to be useful avenues for addressing disability-related information needs. We offer implications for policy and practice aimed at creating more seamless pathways for information and resource sharing within a state and across the country.

Social Connection, (Im)material Gains and Experiences of Inclusion of Asylum Seekers’ and Refugees’ Volunteering in Glasgow

Volunteering is an activity based on a non-profit idea of engagement in productive transactions. This paper examines why and how asylum seekers and refugees (ASRs) partake in volunteering focusing particularly on the everyday, mundane experiences of volunteering and the role of the material and financial gains as part of it. Data is drawn from 30 interviews conducted with ASRs from 15 countries residing in Glasgow, 20 interviews with the third sector and state agency staff, and supplemented by participant observation conducted in third sector organisations involved in ASRs’ integration and settlement. Despite the individual and situational differences, volunteering appeals to ASRs as it enables them to gain familiarity with and social connectivity in their new environs as well as supplements subsistence needs, providing material and financial benefits. These mundane and seemingly secondary gains from volunteering consist of the flesh of the otherwise abstract processes of inclusion, due to the symbolic and logistic significance they have in the ASRs’ lives.

Institutionalizing the United States Forest Service’s Shared Stewardship Strategy in the Western United States

AbstractThe USDA Forest Service’s (Forest Service) 2018 Shared Stewardship Strategy emphasizes partnerships with states, tribes, and other organizations or stakeholders to identify priority areas for forest management, coordinate across jurisdictions, and leverage capacities to expand forest restoration and wildfire mitigation. Through ninety-six interviews across nine western states with Forest Service and state agency staff and partners, we researched how the Shared Stewardship Strategy was being translated into practice. We found that, in most states, actors have relied on existing programs and partnerships to set the foundation for Shared Stewardship. Some states developed new positions or committees to support enhanced coordination, inclusive representation, and joint prioritization. Interviewees said that realizing shared accountability among partners and trying new approaches required training staff on existing mechanisms to work across jurisdictions and clear communication and support from leaders. Monitoring how efforts around the Shared Stewardship Strategy interact with other initiatives can inform future institutional changes to support multi-partner, landscape-level work.

The effectiveness of opportunistic public reports versus professional data to estimate large carnivore distribution

AbstractSpecies distribution models are key to spatially explicit conservation and management plans. Modeling distributions using data collected by the public has become increasingly popular; however, it is vital to evaluate their advantages and limitations. We investigated whether distribution models developed using opportunistic data (public reports) are congruent with those developed using professional data, while evaluating two strategies to remove spatial biases: data filtering and covariate removal. We compared GPS telemetry data (598 locations, 2010–2018) with public reports (1384 locations, 2016–2019) of American black bears (Ursus americanus) in Missouri (USA). Reports were subdivided into unfiltered reports, filtered reports (more reliable), and verified reports (confirmed by state agency staff). Each data set was modeled twice, with and without road covariates. Each distribution model was an ensemble of three machine‐learning methods. Models using filtered or verified reports and excluding road covariates were most similar to the telemetry model, both in spatial extent and spatial suitability patterns. However, the report‐derived distributions included several times more agriculture and developed land. The inclusion of roads resulted in spurious patterns and consistently reduced the predicted distribution area by ~10%. Elevation and vegetation productivity were consistently selected as the most important variables, regardless of data source and covariates included in models, but the report‐derived distributions included more agriculture and developed lands. Filtering data for reliability and removing covariates related to spatial biases resulted in models suitable to estimate broad black bear distribution, though differences remained that could represent different segments of the bear population (e.g., dispersing vs. established). Verification was not essential to develop suitable models if reports are filtered for reliability, important for areas that lack professionally collected data to model species distributions.

Implementing a mandate to plan for sea level rise: top-down, bottom-up, and middle-out actions in the Tampa Bay region

The 2015 Peril of Flood Act mandates that municipalities in Florida, USA consider sea level rise (SLR) in the coastal element of the comprehensive plan. Because the mandate lacks specificity, planning actors have broad discretion on how to respond. This paper examines how state, regional, and local level actors are implementing the mandate through a case study of the Tampa Bay region. Documents and interviews reveal that state agency staff provided inconsistent compliance guidance. Regional organizations developed credible planning intelligence and promoted collaboration and shared learning. Local planning actors, led by champions, utilized the mandate as political cover and a window of opportunity to pursue progressive planning. These champions were committed to technically competent planning practice and a moral duty to plan for SLR. The analysis reveals the importance of a top-down mandate to spur SLR planning in Florida when paired with regional capacity building and local level progressive champions.

Implementing Oregon’s New Quality Measurement Program for Assisted Living Communities

Oregon legislation requires assisted living (AL) communities to report selected quality measures to the state licensing agency. The Quality Measurement Program (QMP) includes five metrics that assess different areas of resident safety and wellbeing: falls, antipsychotic medication use, staff training, staff retention, and resident satisfaction. This paper describes findings based on our 2019 survey of AL communities and offers suggestions for stakeholders interested in public reporting and quality metrics. Assisted living providers reported 28% of AL residents and 38% of memory care (MC) residents fell at least once in the prior 90 days, with 39% and 45% reporting an injury, respectively. Antipsychotic medication use was 20% among AL and 44% among MC residents. These findings and the survey methods used to collect them, combined with stakeholder and state agency staff participation, informed the current QMP approach. We describe how to collect meaningful quality metrics within the AL context.

Exploring Institutional Change in the Context of a Statewide Developmental Education Reform in Florida

ABSTRACTWe explore institutional change and organizational learning in higher education in the context of a large-scale reform of developmental education in Florida. We use statewide survey data to examine administrators’ perceptions of the use and effectiveness of accountability metrics, methods to identify solutions to improve student outcomes, and challenges responding to data. We find that institutions most commonly use accountability data to track their own performance, but find it less effective for making comparisons across colleges. Institutions use a variety of methods to identify solutions for improvement; with the most common method being presentations at professional association conferences. The greatest challenges in reviewing and responding to data are finding resources to implement solutions and understanding underlying problems affecting student outcomes. We conclude with implications for policymakers and state agency staff designing large-scale reforms in order to encourage organizational learning and promote meaningful change.

State-Level Trends and Correlates for Cross-Sector Collaboration on School Nutrition and Physical Education Activities, 2000-2012.

IntroductionCross-sector collaboration on child obesity prevention is common, yet little research has examined the context of collaboration at the state level. This study describes secular trends in collaboration between state agency staff responsible for school nutrition and physical education activities and other organizations from 2000 to 2012.MethodsData from the School Health Policies and Practices Study were used to describe collaboration between state agency staff and 13 types of public, private, and nonprofit organizations. Breadth of collaboration in 2012 was examined across political, social, and economic conditions.ResultsCollaboration between state agency staff and other organization types increased from 2000 to 2006 and decreased or stabilized from 2006 to 2012. Breadth of collaboration was greater in states with a physical education coordinator, higher levels of poverty, higher prevalence of childhood obesity, and more public health funding. Breadth was similar across states by census region, political party of governor, majority party in state legislature, percentage non-Hispanic white population, high school graduation rate, and unemployment rate.ConclusionCross-sector collaboration on school nutrition and physical education was widespread and did not vary substantially across most political, social, and economic measures. Expanded monitoring and surveillance of state-level collaboration would assist efforts to understand how state agencies work across sectors and whether this collaboration affects the support they provide to schools.

Negotiating credibility and legitimacy in the shadow of an authoritative data source

Environmental agencies designate certain datasets as authoritative, or official datasets for use in decision making. Although this is a common administrative term, the notion of certain sources being authoritative has received minimal attention in the social science literature. Science translates into environmental decisions when it is perceived as being salient, credible, and legitimate. But the actual process by which data come to be viewed as credible and legitimate has received little attention. Drawing on 58 semistructured interviews, we examine the mutual negotiation and social learning that occurred during the course of a planning process focused on the development of new marine protected areas in California, under the auspices of the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative. A geospatial decision support tool, MarineMap, was viewed by scientists and state agency staff as an authoritative data source. Stakeholder acceptance of certain data, however, required extended dialogue and trust building over time. Acceptance of the data and tool influenced participant views of the planning process as a whole. This case reveals that the ways in which conversations about ambiguous or missing data are conducted influence stakeholders' trust in scientific analysis, as well as their belief in the legitimacy of decision making.

Constructing the public will: How political actors in New York State construct, assess, and use public opinion in penal policy making

Prior research has failed to attend adequately to the ways in which state-level political actors in the USA think about and relate to public opinion. While some research has considered how political actors, such as legislators and state agency staff members, assess public opinion on penal issues, that body of research has been limited both conceptually and methodologically. This article argues that an enterprise perspective on policy making combined with a constructionist perspective on public opinion have the potential to deepen our understanding of penal policy making. To that end, descriptive data from interviews with a wide range of political actors in New York State are considered for what they indicate about the dynamics of public opinion construction, assessment, and use among political actors engaged in penal policy making.

Techbits: SPE Summit Addresses Hydraulic Fracturing Issues

Techbits The first SPE Technical Summit, titled “Hydraulic Fracturing: Ensuring Groundwater Protection,” was held in conjunction with the SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference in the Woodlands, Texas, in January. About 80 people representing industry producers and service companies, consulting firms, academia, national laboratories, state and federal government, and national governmental organizations (NGOs) participated. The discussion focused on the impact of fracturing on groundwater. The summit began with a keynote presentation by a state regulatory official on how state oil and gas agencies are evaluating and regulating hydraulic fracturing. Organized into four 90-minute sessions, each session had two or three short presentations by experts who provided information and stimulated discussion. The themes were: What is hydraulic fracturing? What are the issues? Environmental risks and issues—facts vs. perception How to move forward? State Regulations US states have the lead role in regulating most oil and gas activities, including hydraulic fracturing. Among the approximately 30 oil- and gas-producing states, there is a range of requirements and levels of detail regarding the type of hydraulic fracturing information that must be reported to the agencies. One presentation introduced the collaborative efforts of a nonprofit, multi-stakeholder group known as the State Review of Oil and Natural Gas Environmental Regulations (STRONGER) that provides critical reviews of state oil and gas programs and offers suggestions for improvement. Teams made up of members from states, industry, NGOs, and others periodically conduct detailed reviews of state oil and gas regulatory programs. The group developed guidelines for hydraulic fracturing in January 2010. They set forth general principles such as: Wells should be properly designed and constructed. Water, wastewater, and waste management should be planned and conducted in a careful manner. Information on the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations should be disclosed and reported. Focused reviews of state hydraulic fracturing requirements have been conducted in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and reviews of Oklahoma and Louisiana requirements are in progress. STRONGER also is an advocate for sufficient funding and training of state agency staff in order to provide a better oversight of oil and gas activities. What is Hydraulic Fracturing? This session discussed the history of hydraulic fracturing and its impact on the oil and natural gas industry both past and future. It laid out the foundation of horizontal wellbore construction and described the principles of hydraulic fracturing and its integral role in recovering natural gas. The first use of the combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing began in 1985 in the Austin Chalk in Texas. These efforts showed good results and were soon transferred to the Barnett Shale and later to other shale formations.

Oregon Voices: Pioneering Water Pollution Control in Oregon

OREGON VOICES Pioneering Water Pollution Control in Oregon byGlen D. Carter with an introduction by Douglas W. Larson INSEPTEMBER 1956,GLENCARTER became thefirst aquatic biologist to work for the Oregon State Sanitary Authority (OSSAj, theforerunner of theOregon Department of Environ mental Quality.When Carter joined the agency, ithad a staffof fifteen to twenty, includingprofessional engineers, chem ists,bacteriologists, and officesupport personnel. At that time, the expres sion "environmental quality" was still unfamiliar tomost Oregonians, and industrial wastes and raw sewage were commonly deposited in riversand other waterways. Today, environmental qual ity is a household phrase among most Oregonians, and nearly a thousandpro fessional engineers, chemists,geologists, bacteriologists, attorneys, officesupport personnel, and aquatic biologists are employed by theOregon Department of Environmental Quality. Although federal environmental mandates and public education contributed to increas ing concern about environmental issues and effortsto address them, the effortsof state agency staff in thefield played a critical role in environmental cleanup. The scientists and engineers who worked for the OSSA used their knowledge and experience to establish an advanced, scientificallysoundwater pollution controlprogram. Carter and other agency personnel who inspected disposal sites did so without wearing protective clothing and respirators because thevarious health risksassoci ated with these hazardous sites were largely unknown or minimized. Most of thesepeople have since died, possibly victims of longand frequent exposures to hazardous industrial chemicals and wastes. In this "Oregon Voices," Glen Carter describes water pollution problems that he encountered on the Willamette River while he worked for the OSSA. His memories representonlya smallportion of the work he conducted throughout the state and indicate themagnitude of the task that he and theOSSA confronted. He also offers a picture of a river that is unfamiliar to many Oregonians. Although pollution and habitat destruc 254 OHQ vol. 107, no. 2 ? 2006 Oregon Historical Society r-'V?t?Lfvr^' ?' 'krm & s ~*m: * *1 G/e?D. Carter stands on an oil companydock seweron the west side of thePortland Harbor on September 2,1959. The liquid beingdrained isa mixture ofoil and sewage. tion continue to strain the river, much has been done since the1950s to improve thehealth of the Willamette and other waterways in Oregon. Glens storyrepre sents theefforts ofone group thathelped protect the Willamette River. Carter, PioneeringWater Pollution Control inOregon 255 DURING THE LATENINETEENTH and early twentieth centuries,Oregon's population and economy grew rapidly, devastating the state's rivers, lakes, and estuaries. Seemingly limitless in capacity, Oregon's waters were largely viewed as inexpensive, convenient disposal sites for an assortment of industrial, agricultural, and domestic wastes.1 Chief sources of pollution were discharged from pulp and paper mills? located atCoos Bay, Lebanon, Salem, Newberg, Oregon City, and West Linn? and raw domestic sew age discharged by nearly every cityand town inOregon.2 As early as the 1920s,private groups such as the IzaakWalton League and government agencies such as the Oregon State Board of Health and theU.S. Public Health Service called foractions to address water pollution. In 1938,Oregon voters approved, by three-to-one, an initiative thatwould establish statewide water-pollution regulations and an agency to enforce them.The new law created theOregon State Sanitary Authority (OSSA) and placed itunder the jurisdiction of the Oregon State Board ofHealth, which was already responsible for directing and cooperating with county health departments on public health issues, including the regulation of drinking water quality. OSSA was given full responsibility for water-pollution control, including the enforcement of water-quality standards where domestic and industrial wastes were being discharged.3 A seven-member commission pro vided public oversight of the agency. Commission members included the Statehealth officer,the state engineer, the chairman of the Fish Commission of Oregon, and the head of OSSA. Three additional members, one from each congressional district inOregon, were appointed by the governor to four-year terms.Harold Wendel, presi dent of theLipman-Wolfe department store,was chair of the commission for all ofOSSA's existence.4The legislature provided funding for seventeen posi tions, including professional engineers, chemists, bacteriologists, and office support personnel. Full implementa tion and staffing was delayed by World War II,however, duringwhich time the agency employed only two engineers, Carl Green and Kenneth Spies. After thewar, Curtiss Everts, an engineer,was...

Publishing trends within state government: The situation in North Carolina

The State Library of North Carolina is responsible for ensuring public access to North Carolina state government publications and maintaining a permanent state documents depository collections. Over the last 7 years, state agencies have increasingly disseminated information in digital formats via the Internet, posing challenges for the State Library to collect, manage, and preserve state publications for public access. In order to address these challenges, the State Library initiated a multiyear research project to develop a plan for managing digital state publications for permanent public access. The first year of the project was devoted to gaining knowledge of current publishing practices by surveying state agency staff and reviewing a selection of state agency publications. The article discusses the results of this research, using North Carolina as an example to illustrate many of the challenges of providing permanent public access to digital information, including rapidly changing Web sites, technological obsolescence, lack of standards for preservation and access, complex political considerations, and difficulty obtaining sufficient funding. The article concludes with recommendations for actions that state libraries and other memory institutions should take to adequately preserve and provide access to digital government information.

Statewide Strategy to Improve Quality of Care in Nursing Facilities

We describe the development of a statewide strategy to improve resident outcomes in nursing facilities, and we present some evaluative data from this strategy. Key components of the strategy include (a) a partnership between the state agency responsible for the nursing home survey and certification and the school of nursing in an academic health sciences center; and (b) on-site clinical expert technical assistance and support to facilities throughout the state. The partnership has resulted in state agency staff having information from analyses about resident needs and outcomes in the state and facilities having access to the quarterly electronic "Show-Me Quality Indicator Report." On-site clinical expert technical assistance is now used widely across the state, with 569 site visits conducted in 286 different facilities to help them interpret their quality indicator (QI) reports and implement quality improvement programs; statewide improvements in QI scores have been measured in several key QIs. Other states should consider building partnerships with schools of nursing in an academic health sciences center. Programs using on-site clinical consultation can facilitate improving quality of care in nursing facilities.

Repair of Ultrathin Whitetopping Pavements

Since its inception in 1991, ultrathin whitetopping (UTW) has moved beyond the experimental stage and has become a viable pavement rehabilitation alternative. Development of the mechanistic design procedure in 1997 represented a milestone in the development of this technology. Over 150 UTW pavements have been built in the past decade. With the use of UTW rapidly increasing, the next logical step in the development of this technology is to develop UTW repair and rehabilitation techniques. How does one repair UTW pavements? Can conventional concrete pavement rehabilitation materials and methods be used for UTW pavements? Construction of the UTW test sections at the FHWA Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, subjected to accelerated loading tests, provided an excellent opportunity for evaluating potential UTW pavement repair methods. These test sections were constructed in April 1998 and were subjected to accelerated load testing with FHWA’s accelerated loading facility (ALF) from May 1998 until November 1999. Some UTW panels exhibited distresses, with corner cracking being the most prominent. After discussions with state agency staff and industry representatives, panel removal and replacement was selected to repair some of the distressed panels of these test sections. The repair work was done in April 2000 and the repaired test sections were load tested with ALF from May to August 2000. Based on the results of ALF testing, it was observed that panel removal and replacement is an effective method for UTW pavement repair. Guidelines for UTW pavement repair by this method are proposed. A strong bond between the concrete and asphalt layers, even for distressed (cracked) panels, was observed. The time required for UTW panel repair was also documented and can be used for planning UTW repairs.

Letter to the Editor

As the Surgeon General of the United States in 1989, I challenged parents, physicians, state agency staff, and researchers to work together to find better ways to identify very young children with hearing impairments. With that challenge, I set a goal that by the year 2000, all children with significant hearing impairment would be identified before 12 months of age. Although it was an ambitious goal, I was optimistic that it could be accomplished. The last 5 years have demonstrated the feasibility of that goal, and it has, in fact, been accomplished by people who were ready and eager to do something toward its achievement.

Ethical issues for academic participants in state-university collaboration programs.

State-university collaboration programs often create ethical dilemmas for participants because of their conflicting values, goals, and expectations. Treatment and administrative staff in state agencies often seek to create an atmosphere of managed stability rather than fostering patients' autonomy. Academic participants in collaboration programs often feel impelled to change the system, even though the goal of collaboration requires them to find common ground with state agency staff. Academic participants must decide whether collaboration programs will contribute to needed reforms without overly compromising professional and academic standards. If they cannot endorse the values and quality of care provided in state systems, they must consider whether their participation should be conditioned on an agreement to work toward change. However, even in situations that are improving, clinicians must not let temporary compromises become permanent.

The Colorado, USA, Joint Review Process: an initial evaluation of its success as a permit reform by key participants

Colorado, USA, developed the Joint Review Process (CJRP) in 1978 to coordinate the application and review of permits required for major development projects. Since then, the state has used the process on over 20 projects. This study examined whether the CJRP has achieved its primary goals—enhanced coordination of agencies, enhanced public participation, and strengthened communication between agencies and project sponsors— and several related secondary goals. The success of the process was measured through a survey of 54 key people who had been directly involved with the process. Those surveyed included federal and state agency staff, local agency managers, corporate officers, private consultants, and environmental leaders. All groups, with one exception, “agreed” that the process achieved its primary goals and that it should be retained. Environmental leaders were “neutral” about whether the process enhanced public participation and about retaining the process. The report concludes with a review of recommended improvements to and applications of the CJRP.

Indicators of development in Wisconsin counties: 1970

This research focused on the problem of measuring economic and social ‘development’. Existing theories of economic and social change were used to select important indicators of development. For each indicator, principal components analysis was used to collapse several related variables into a single index. The indexes were labeled economic base, economic growth, personal economic opportunity, health inputs, health status, educational inputs, and educational attainment. In each case, selection of variables and indexes were constrained by two factors: (1) the data had to be available from secondary sources; (2) the selection of the indicators, and the procedure, had to be easily understood and cheaply and quickly repeatable by state or local agency personnel. In general the indexes were consistent with each other and the variables enter into the indexes with the expected sign. The high correlation among the indexes suggests that they may indeed measure some underlying attribute, development. There is no rigorous or absolute measure of development against which to check the validity of the indexes. However, the results have been judged ‘reasonable’ measures of development by the state agency staff and local development groups which have utilized the indexes.