The State of Local Lobbying

Cities are some of the oldest lobbying organizations in the United States. Because states enjoy such high levels of fiscal and administrative authority over their local units, the vast majority of these advocacy efforts are aimed at state governments rather than at the federal level. This chapter draws from original lobbying disclosure data, interviews, city council documents, and other sources to paint a detailed descriptive picture of the current municipal lobbying landscape in the United States. How did city lobbying emerge in its current form? What are local officials hoping to achieve when they lobby, and how do they allocate their efforts? When do cities lobby as individuals as opposed to coalitions? This chapter introduces expansive new data to provide initial answers to these questions.

Determinants of farmland prices and their local variation

The setting of farmland prices in the market not only reflects existing agricultural activities but also expected potential for development. This study decomposes farmland prices into values representative of current agricultural production and the prospective development potential at the county level in South Korea. The income value of farmland is derived by analysing agricultural revenue and production cost, and the sale value of farmland is estimated by reviewing transaction prices filed with the administrative authority. The difference between income value and sale value is adopted as the development value in this study. The results of the estimation show that the proportion of development value in the price of farmland is remarkably high, with a median proportion of 0.78, indicating that the threat of converting land to non-agricultural use is non-trivial because it remains a financially attractive alternative. In addition, the magnitude of the portion of the development value in the price of farmland varies considerably across counties depending on the distance to nearby metropolitan cities. This implies that agricultural policy should be designed in a locally optimised manner to effectively restrain the conversion of farmland for urban use.

Category of time limit in administrative procedural law

Administrative procedural law is full of numerous and varied procedural time limits which, as time-related categories, define the temporal boundaries of the administrative process and can act as an effective regulator of administrative procedural legal relations. The article examines the concept of time limit in administrative procedural law from the standpoint of integrativeness. It notes that the studied issue was not thoroughly elaborated in science, which appears to result from the young age of administrative procedural law as a separate branch. The research identifies substantial characteristics of the administrative procedural time limit. It reveals the temporal content of time limit in administrative procedural law. A conclusion is reached that the administrative procedural time limit results from the impact of temporal categories on the administrative procedural legal regulation when administrative cases are settled by a public administrative authority and a court. The administrative procedural time limit is recognised as a tool used for temporalizing the administrative process and aimed at ensuring the dynamism of administrative procedural activities through duration, speed, rhythm and cyclicity. The article identified the trend towards the legislative refinement of the administrative procedural time limits. In an integrative sense, the attributes inherent to the administrative procedural time limit reveal the versatility and rich inner content of the concept of time limit in administrative procedural law, which results from the legal synthesis of temporality and authoritative procedural activities of public administrative authorities and courts in settling administrative cases. The article proposed the definitions for the category of time limit in administrative procedural law both in a narrow and broad sense, as well as with an emphasis on the temporal side of the examined category.

Is the Provision of Art. 301 of the Bulgarian Code of Administrative Procedure Just Legislative Logorrhea?

Logorrhea (from Ancient Greek λόγος logos ‘word’ and ῥέω rheo ‘to flow’) is a communication disorder that causes excessive wordiness and repetitiveness which can lead to incoherence. The article justifies the assumption that, without legal guarantees, Article 301 of the Bulgarian Code of Administrative Procedure (CAP) could be a meaningless flow of words. When the administrative act is revoked after commencement of the enforcement, the administrative authority should restore the violated right within one month, or satisfy the injured party in another legal manner when this is possible. Insofar as there are no legal mechanisms to oblige the authority to perform its public duty, the person concerned is entitled only to compensation, which is not always an effective remedy. Based on the litigation, conclusions and recommendations are made for improving the restoration and compensation measures of Art. 301 of the CAP.

Through the Lens of Networks: Health Promotion Policy Implementation for the Elderly at the Local Level in Thailand

<p>The Thai government has included health promotion in its national policies and strategies to directly address the health of the elderly. Multiple government organisations at various levels are involved in this health promotion policy and its related efforts. With an emphasis on ensuring that the elderly in the community benefit from national health promotion policies, and have access to health promotion services, the policies directed government organisations to work together as a network to implement the health promotion policy for the elderly at the local level. The Local Administrative Organisations (LAOs), decentralised government organisations, acted as the centre of the networks in each sub-district across the country. Networks play a role as an essential mechanism in the health promotion policy implementation for the elderly and in reaching out to the smallest unit of the community: individual older people. However, there are known gaps in the functioning of the decentralised governance arrangements and in coordination between organisations to implement the health promotion policy. Policy implementation can be improved to ensure that key goals and objectives are met. The objective of this research was to analyse the ways in which the LAOs and other government organisations together implement the health promotion policy for the elderly at the local level in Thailand. Using a network perspective, the governance structure and governance characteristics, including relationships and the functioning of the policy implementation network, are identified and analysed. How the observed network characteristics affect network collaboration, policy outcomes, and actors’ capacity in policy implementation are then explored. Within an interpretivist perspective, the research employed multiple network analysis approaches and mixed methods data collection such as network mapping, non-participant observation, interviews, and questionnaire surveys, across two case study sites. A combination of thematic analysis and constant comparative methods were employed to analyse the data. The networks in this study were found to have a hybrid governance form, being a combination of lead organisation-governed and shared governance. However, it is not possible to predict the likelihood of achieving good policy outcomes based on the form of network governance alone; other networks characteristics must also be studied. At the network level, influential factors indicative of policy outcomes were found to be the exchanges of political and cultural capitals between network actors, with the latter differentiating the policy outcomes across the two cases. To improve the network actors’ capacity in policy implementation, learning and resource exchanges between actors were found to be important. Based on the study findings, an intervention to improve policy outcomes should be encouraged through financial capital exchanges between network actors as this is when administrative authority is most dominant. The research provides an empirical review to inform policymakers and practitioners that the most influential factors should be embedded during the funding process so that the policy implementation can better support health for the elderly and the aged society that Thailand is entering.</p>

Through the Lens of Networks: Health Promotion Policy Implementation for the Elderly at the Local Level in Thailand

<p>The Thai government has included health promotion in its national policies and strategies to directly address the health of the elderly. Multiple government organisations at various levels are involved in this health promotion policy and its related efforts. With an emphasis on ensuring that the elderly in the community benefit from national health promotion policies, and have access to health promotion services, the policies directed government organisations to work together as a network to implement the health promotion policy for the elderly at the local level. The Local Administrative Organisations (LAOs), decentralised government organisations, acted as the centre of the networks in each sub-district across the country. Networks play a role as an essential mechanism in the health promotion policy implementation for the elderly and in reaching out to the smallest unit of the community: individual older people. However, there are known gaps in the functioning of the decentralised governance arrangements and in coordination between organisations to implement the health promotion policy. Policy implementation can be improved to ensure that key goals and objectives are met. The objective of this research was to analyse the ways in which the LAOs and other government organisations together implement the health promotion policy for the elderly at the local level in Thailand. Using a network perspective, the governance structure and governance characteristics, including relationships and the functioning of the policy implementation network, are identified and analysed. How the observed network characteristics affect network collaboration, policy outcomes, and actors’ capacity in policy implementation are then explored. Within an interpretivist perspective, the research employed multiple network analysis approaches and mixed methods data collection such as network mapping, non-participant observation, interviews, and questionnaire surveys, across two case study sites. A combination of thematic analysis and constant comparative methods were employed to analyse the data. The networks in this study were found to have a hybrid governance form, being a combination of lead organisation-governed and shared governance. However, it is not possible to predict the likelihood of achieving good policy outcomes based on the form of network governance alone; other networks characteristics must also be studied. At the network level, influential factors indicative of policy outcomes were found to be the exchanges of political and cultural capitals between network actors, with the latter differentiating the policy outcomes across the two cases. To improve the network actors’ capacity in policy implementation, learning and resource exchanges between actors were found to be important. Based on the study findings, an intervention to improve policy outcomes should be encouraged through financial capital exchanges between network actors as this is when administrative authority is most dominant. The research provides an empirical review to inform policymakers and practitioners that the most influential factors should be embedded during the funding process so that the policy implementation can better support health for the elderly and the aged society that Thailand is entering.</p>

Occurrence of COVID-19 in Kolkata slums during second surge

Background: The clobber of COVID-19 brought a coup-de-grace to humanity in this modern era. New-norms of COVID-19 prevention although appear promising yet often adjunct with non-congruent compliance. The WHO has advocated house-to-house case-linked study to acquire facts on epidemiological and transmissibility traits of COVID-19 in low-income communities. Kolkata experienced the first wave of COVID-19 till November 20, expected second splatter in March 21. Aims and Objectives: Thinking through a probable upswing of COVID-19 in Kolkata, it was felt prudent to study the occurrence of COVID-19 among residents of two different slums inter-alia study allied factors, if any. Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in two different slums having 395 and 428 members, respectively, in South Kolkata from March 21 to August 21. Sanction was obtained from administrative authority as well from each individual. Questionnaire containing personal details, awareness, and observance of personal protective measures (PPM) on COVID-19 were sent to members through e-mode; those demurred, contacted in-person under new-norm. Data assembled was coded, tabulated and analyzed. Details of COVID-19 (RT-PCR+ve) cases confirmed by Government/private hospitals were incorporated as and when surfaced. Results: Communities studied had comparable socio-demographic attributes including education, employment, and economic stand. About 93% of subjects from each slum knew most of the facets of PPM and stated practiced the same. Occurrence rates of COVID-19 were 15.2 and 16.2 per 1000 people of respective communities during study tenure. Majority of indisposed were smoker male (92%) from the lowest SES (53.8%), educated to primary/middle school (46%), and worked as vegetable seller (53.8%). All afflicted stated followed PPM except social distancing (77%) and sanitizer use (53.8%). All affected were smokers/quid-users and shared tobacco sticks/hand-smothered quid for mutual use regularly. The study unveiled unequivocal heterogeneity of COVID-19 transmission in Kolkata slums because of certain unattended socio-graphics besides optimistic reflective of PPM awareness/observance. PPM proffers protection no doubt but its effective role necessitates consistent conformity in the background of certain contextual considerations. Conclusion: Further research in urban slums is contemplated to enhance the present effort to extricate facts that may lend a hand in COVID-19 prevention tomorrow.

Non-ruling forms of activity of public administration in administrative enforcement proceedings

The article contains an analysis of the issues related to the application of non-ruling forms of activity of public administration in the performance of public law obligations through administrative enforcement proceedings. In principle, as part of such proceedings, public law obligations, understood as orders or prohibitions within the area of administrative law and other branches of law applied by administrative authorities (tax law, financial law, labor law), are carried out. Non-ruling forms of activity play a major role in administrative enforcement proceedings. The implementation of an enforcement measure may be related to authorized entities taking not only ruling, but also non-ruling actions. In order to apply an enforcement measure (which constitutes an institutionalized form of administrative compulsion), an administrative authority, on occasion, has to take non-ruling activities. Considering, primarily, the significant severity of the compulsion measures that may be applied towards the party obliged under enforcement proceedings, this proceedings should be carried out with respect for the values of a democratic state and with due care for the good of an individual.

Composition of the Council of Ministers of ASSR at a time of reform of 1985–1991: changes and main features (on the example of Mordovia)

In the article the senior management of the regional executive and administrative authority as an example of the supreme body of State governance of an autonomous republic the Council of Ministers of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic is considered. The changes in the Council of Ministers in the last years of the existence of the USSR is analyzed. The reforms initiated by the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee M.S. Gorbachev affected practically all sectors of society, including the functioning of public administration. Meanwhile, the system of power in Mordovia had some peculiarities, largely associated with the conservatism and external cohesion of the regional elites, which have had to respond to processes in the country at the same time. In the chronological period selected in the article, there were two compositions of the Council of Ministers, which were formed on March 15, 1985 at the first session of the MASSR Supreme Council of the 11th convocation and on April 10, 1990 at the first session of the MASSR Supreme Council of the 12th convocation. The authors provide information about age, social origin, nationality, educational level, tenure for members of the MASSR Government. In preparing the article, materials from the funds of the Central State Archives of the Republic of Mordovia, the regional press, published memoirs of participants in the events, as well as biographical information about the Soviet, Party and economic leaders from open sources were used.

Hesitantly towards mutual recognition of “vaccination passports”. A survey on potential ubiquity in administrative law

The problem of potential ubiquity emerged in administrative law because of transboundary circulation of various certificates, licences and permits. These documents, approving certain facts, may appear before an administrative authority of another State. Thus, the applicable regime of public law must qualify the legal consequences of such documents in the realm of the applicable administrative law. This article aims to discuss this problem with regard to the challenges arising in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemics. Prospective introduction of “immunity certificates” and “vaccination passports” in various jurisdictions and the need to establish mutual recognition of such “passports” and “certificates” is the subject of attention. The article points out existence of several dogmatic approaches to the fact that foreign administrations have either approved a fact, or granted a right. Some of these dogmatic approaches have been reflected in the written law. However, at the same time, in theory, other solutions than those provided by the current legal framework would also be theoretically possible. The importance of these theoretical considerations is demonstrated regarding the very current discussions on the introduction of “immunity certificates” and “vaccination passports”.