Policy Archives · Policy Print https://policyprint.com/tag/policy/ News Around the Globe Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:15:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://policyprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/cropped-policy-print-favico-32x32.png Policy Archives · Policy Print https://policyprint.com/tag/policy/ 32 32 E.U. launches probes into Meta, Apple and Alphabet under sweeping new tech law https://policyprint.com/e-u-launches-probes-into-meta-apple-and-alphabet-under-sweeping-new-tech-law/ Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:15:55 +0000 https://policyprint.com/?p=4181 The European Union on Monday began an investigation into Apple, Alphabet and Meta, in its first probe under the sweeping new Digital…

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The European Union on Monday began an investigation into AppleAlphabet and Meta, in its first probe under the sweeping new Digital Markets Act tech legislation.

“Today, the Commission has opened non-compliance investigations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) into Alphabet’s rules on steering in Google Play and self-preferencing on Google Search, Apple’s rules on steering in the App Store and the choice screen for Safari and Meta’s ‘pay or consent model,’” the European Commission said in a statement.

The first two probes focus on Alphabet and Apple and relate to so-called anti-steering rules. Under the DMA, tech firms are not allowed to block businesses from telling their users about cheaper options for their products or about subscriptions outside of an app store.

“The way that Apple and Alphabet’s implemented the DMA rules on anti-steering seems to be at odds with the letter of the law. Apple and Alphabet will still charge various recurring fees, and still limit steering,” the E.U.’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, said Monday at a news conference.

Apple has already fallen foul of the E.U.’s rules. This month, the company was fined 1.8 billion euros ($1.95 billion) after the European Commission said it found that Apple had applied restrictions on app developers that prevented them from informing iOS users about alternative and cheaper music subscription services available outside of the app.

In a third inquiry, the commission said it is investigating whether Apple has complied with its DMA obligations to ensure that users can easily uninstall apps on iOS and change default settings. The probe also focuses on whether Apple is actively prompting users with choices to allow them to change default services on iOS, such as for the web browser or search engine.

The commission said that it is “concerned that Apple’s measures, including the design of the web browser choice screen, may be preventing users from truly exercising their choice of services within the Apple ecosystem.”

Apple said it believes it is in compliance with the DMA.

“We’re confident our plan complies with the DMA, and we’ll continue to constructively engage with the European Commission as they conduct their investigations. Teams across Apple have created a wide range of new developer capabilities, features, and tools to comply with the regulation,” an Apple spokesperson told CNBC on Monday.

The fourth probe targets Alphabet, as the European Commission looks into whether the firm’s display of Google search results “may lead to self-preferencing in relation to Google’s,” other services such as Google Shopping, over similar rival offerings.

“To comply with the Digital Markets Act, we have made significant changes to the way our services operate in Europe,” Oliver Bethell, director of competition at Alphabet, said in a statement.

“We have engaged with the European Commission, stakeholders and third parties in dozens of events over the past year to receive and respond to feedback, and to balance conflicting needs within the ecosystem. We will continue to defend our approach in the coming months.”

Alphabet pointed to a blog post from earlier this month, wherein the company outlined some of those changes — including giving Android phone users the option to easily change their default search engine and browser, as well as making it easier for people to see comparison sites in areas like shopping or flights in Google searches.

Meta investigation

The fifth and final investigation focuses on Meta and its so-called pay and consent model. Last year, Meta introduced an ad-free subscription model for Facebook and Instagram in Europe. The commission is looking into whether offering the subscription model without ads or making users consent to terms and conditions for the free service is in violation of the DMA.

“The Commission is concerned that the binary choice imposed by Meta’s ‘pay or consent’ model may not provide a real alternative in case users do not consent, thereby not achieving the objective of preventing the accumulation of personal data by gatekeepers.”

Thierry Breton, the E.U.’s internal market commissioner, said during the news conference that there should be “free alternative options” offered by Meta for its services that are “less personalized.”

“Gatekeepers” is a label for large tech firms that are required to comply with the DMA in the E.U.

“We will continue to use all available tools, should any gatekeeper try to circumvent or undermine the obligations of the DMA,” Vestager said.

Meta said subscriptions are a common business model across various industries.

“Subscriptions as an alternative to advertising are a well-established business model across many industries, and we designed Subscription for No Ads to address several overlapping regulatory obligations, including the DMA. We will continue to engage constructively with the Commission,” a Meta spokesperson told CNBC on Monday.

Tech giants at risk of fines

The commission said it intends to conclude its probes within 12 months, but Vestager and Breton during the Monday briefing stressed that the DMA does not dictate a hard deadline for the timeline of the inquiry. The regulators will inform the companies of their preliminary findings and explain measures they are taking or the gatekeepers should take in order to address the commission’s concerns.

If any company is found to have infringed the DMA, the commission can impose fines of up to 10% of the tech firms’ total worldwide turnover. These penalties can increase to 20% in case of repeated infringement.

The commission said it is also looking for facts and information to clarify whether Amazon may be preferencing its own brand products on its e-commerce platform over rivals. The commission is further studying Apple’s new fee structure and other terms and conditions for alternative app stores.

This month, the tech giant announced that users in the E.U. would be able to download apps from websites rather than through its proprietary App Store — a change that Apple has resisted for years.

The E.U.’s research into Apple and Amazon does not comprise official investigations.

Source: NBC News

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US says its Israel policy unchanged after report on leveraging weapon sales https://policyprint.com/us-says-its-israel-policy-unchanged-after-report-on-leveraging-weapon-sales/ Sat, 17 Feb 2024 16:11:29 +0000 https://policyprint.com/?p=4150 The White House said on Sunday there was no change in its Israel policy after NBC News reported…

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The White House said on Sunday there was no change in its Israel policy after NBC News reported the United States was discussing using weapon sales to Israel as leverage to convince the Israeli government to scale back its military assault in Gaza.

“Israel has a right and obligation to defend themselves against the threat of Hamas, while abiding by international humanitarian law and protecting civilian lives, and we remain committed to support Israel in its fight against Hamas,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said. “We have done so since Oct. 7, and will continue to. There has not been a change in our policy.”

NBC News reported earlier on Sunday that at the direction of the White House, the Pentagon has been reviewing what weaponry Israel has requested that could be used as leverage. The report cited sources and said no final decisions were made.

The report added that the U.S. is considering slowing or pausing the deliveries in hopes that doing so will make the Israelis take actions such as opening humanitarian corridors to provide more aid to Palestinian civilians.

“There has been no request from the White House for DoD (Department of Defense) to slow down weapons deliveries to Israel,” a White House official said when asked about the NBC News report. “And not aware of any request to review weapons to potentially slow walk deliveries either.”

Among the weaponry the U.S. discussed using as leverage, the NBC News report added, were 155 mm artillery rounds and joint direct attack munitions (JDAMs), which are guidance kits that convert dumb bombs into precision-guided munitions.

The heavy death toll from Israel’s war in Gaza has led to much international alarm. President Joe Biden has previously referred to Israeli bombing as “indiscriminate, opens new tab” but Washington has not called for a ceasefire, saying such a measure would benefit Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which governs Gaza.

Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, over 1% of the 2.3 million population there, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Many are feared buried in rubble.

Source: Reuters

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Quantifying financial stability risks for monetary policy https://policyprint.com/quantifying-financial-stability-risks-for-monetary-policy/ Mon, 05 Feb 2024 16:54:22 +0000 https://policyprint.com/?p=4162 When inflationary pressures started intensifying in 2022, the world’s major central banks faced a dilemma. They could rapidly…

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When inflationary pressures started intensifying in 2022, the world’s major central banks faced a dilemma. They could rapidly tighten monetary policy at the risk of fuelling financial distress after years of ultra-low interest rates and balance sheet expansion, potentially amplifying the intended effects of the policy move on the real economy and inflation. Or they could take a more gradual approach to fighting inflation that would protect the financial system, but risk high inflation becoming entrenched. While severe financial instability may be an unlikely event (or “tail risk”), it can have devastating macroeconomic consequences. Quantifying financial stability trade-offs therefore requires a way to gauge the three-way interaction between monetary policy, financial stability conditions and tail risks to the economy.

Assessing tail risks to the euro area economy

In Chavleishvili, Kremer and Lund-Thomsen (2023), we develop a novel approach to gauge the potential short- to medium-term costs and benefits of alternative policy actions when monetary policy faces trade-offs between financial and macroeconomic stability. The structural quantile vector autoregressive (QVAR) model – introduced by Chavleishvili and Manganelli (2023) – provides a flexible way of estimating the dynamic interactions between our main variables of interest: real GDP growth, inflation, short-term interest rates and financial stability conditions.[2] The “flexible” attribute refers to the fact that the estimated interactions can be weaker or stronger in the centre and in the tails of the “joint probability distributions” of the model variables. Financial stability conditions are captured by two summary indicators measuring financial imbalances and system-wide financial stress, respectively. Using quantile regression allows us to uncover non-linearities in the dynamics of the model variables like in the seminal “growth-at-risk” paper by Adrian et al. (2019), which documents a much stronger impact of financial distress on the left tail of the growth distribution. By considering the entire probability distribution of our variables of interest, we can evaluate policy options not just in terms of their most likely outcomes, but also in terms of the tail risks associated with particularly undesirable states such as systemic crises. The quantification of tail risks thus lends itself to a risk management perspective on financial stability considerations in monetary policy (see Kilian and Manganelli, 2008), a perspective that focuses on the balance of upside and downside risks to inflation and economic activity rather than on the mean forecasts of both variables.

To operationalise financial stability, our model includes two measures widely used in ECB analysis. The first one is the Systemic Risk Indicator (SRI), which measures the financial cycle and, by extension, system-wide financial imbalances (see Lang et al., 2019). The second is the Composite Indicator of Systemic Stress (CISS), which quantifies systemic stress in the financial system (see Holló et al., 2012, and Chavleishvili and Kremer, 2023). Conceptually, one may think of the former as systemic risk ex ante, i.e. the risk of a future financial crisis, and of the latter as systemic risk ex post, i.e. materialised systemic risk. A typical financial boom-bust cycle would then see an elevated level of the SRI followed by a steep rise in the CISS as the bubble bursts and the system deleverages, with the Great Financial Crisis being a prominent example. The risk of such a boom-bust pattern poses an intertemporal financial stability trade-off for monetary policy: it can try to curb the financial boom by keeping interest rates higher than they would otherwise be, at the cost of weaker economic growth over the short run and at the benefit of a financial crisis being less likely and less severe over the medium term. In this article, however, we focus on another: the intratemporal financial stability trade-off for monetary policy, in which monetary policy itself may trigger more immediate financial instability.

The intratemporal financial stability trade-off in 2022

The circumstances prevailing in 2022 in the euro area and in many other places in the world, marked a stark turning point in the monetary policy stance. At the time, surging inflation called for a sharp tightening of monetary policy, even though economic growth was slowing after the post-pandemic rebound and financial stress was increasing on the back of the Russian aggression in Ukraine. In addition, the financial system at the time was vulnerable to a policy reversal because after a decade of accommodative monetary policy, the yield curve was flat and risk premia were at historically low levels, implying elevated risks to the profitability of banks and other financial intermediaries from a sharp rise in short-term interest rates.

To quantify the intratemporal financial stability trade-off in the euro area, we forecast the full distribution of our model variables over a period of four years, starting with the fourth quarter of 2022 (Q4 2022). In the baseline scenario, we fix the path of interest rates to the expected short-term market rates from the September 2022 Survey of Monetary Analysts (SMA) conducted by the ECB. In the baseline, we also require the mean forecast of real GDP growth, HICP inflation and commodity prices between Q4 2022 and Q4 2024 to reflect the ECB’s publicly available macroeconomic projections. This approach allows us to replicate the context in which policymakers were deciding on the path forward at the time while still considering macro-financial tail risks.

In addition to the baseline scenario, we also consider two alternative policy scenarios with different paths of short-term interest rates. The first one is “front-loading”, whereby policy rates are hiked more quickly. This helps prevent inflation from becoming entrenched, but it can also hurt systemically relevant banks and other financial intermediaries that have become particularly vulnerable to interest rate risk. The March 2023 banking turmoil in the United States and elsewhere provides a clear example of how monetary tightening may induce, or expose, financial fragility (see, e.g., Jiang et al., 2023, and Acharya et al., 2023). The second scenario considers a gradual monetary tightening. This may alleviate strains on financial stability, but at the cost of making high inflation more persistent, thereby creating the risk of long-term inflation expectations becoming de-anchored from the ECB’s 2% target. All three interest rate paths are illustrated in Chart 1.

Chart 1

Counterfactual paths for short-term interest rates in the euro area

Sources: ECB, LSEG and authors’ calculations.
Notes: We use the three-month euro area overnight index swap (OIS) rate to capture short-term interest rates in our model. “Gradual tightening” considers an interest rate path in which the interest rate hikes in Q4 2022, Q1 2023 and Q2 2023-Q3 2023 are 50 basis points, 25 basis points, and 12.5 basis points lower than the baseline path. The gap to the baseline is then linearly closed over the subsequent four quarters. “Front loading” considers a path where interest rates are raised by an additional 50 basis points in Q4 2022 and Q1 2023 compared to the baseline, after which the gap is closed over the period Q3 2023-Q4 2023. In both cases, the initial deviation from the baseline path thus totals 100 basis points.

Chart 2 plots the projected paths of the mean as well as the 10th and 90th percentiles of the forecast density of real GDP growth and the CISS using the three interest rate paths above. As previously noted, in the case of real GDP growth, the dotted line is restricted to meet the ECB’s growth projections at the time. The 10th and the 90th conditional percentiles represent the downside and the upside tail risks around these mean projections, respectively.[3] Looking at the chart, we see that downside risks to real GDP growth (blue lines, left chart), as well as upside risks to systemic stress (red lines, right chart) are amplified by the interest rate front-loading in the short term compared to the baseline, and that the effects are larger compared to the respective opposite tails. Tightening monetary policy above market expectations increases the probability of realising a high level of systemic stress, in turn feeding into downside risks to growth. In contrast, a more gradual tightening has the opposite effects.

Chart 2

Forecast distributions of euro area real GDP (left) growth and the CISS (right) in the three policy scenarios

Sources: ECB and authors’ calculations.
Notes: For real GDP growth, the mean baseline projection equals the ECB staff projection from September 2022 up to and including Q4 2024.

Overall, when comparing the short- to medium-term costs and benefits of the scenarios vis-à-vis the baseline forecast, the results generally do not support a more aggressive tightening path than what was expected by market participants in the autumn of 2022. The elevated downside risks to growth may outweigh the only modest gains in lower predicted inflation. That said, a policymaker who is particularly concerned about inflation expectations becoming de-anchored from target inflation may still be inclined to favour tighter policy. On the other hand, if policymakers were more concerned about the risk of causing severe financial distress by front-loading policy, the scenario could be modified to resemble, for example, the so-called “taper tantrum”, an episode of severe financial stress that occurred in 2013 when the Federal Reserve hinted at tapering its bond-buying programme.

Another consideration is that we have modelled monetary policy rather simplistically, with short-term rates being the only instrument. Today, monetary policymakers have several tools available, some of which can be used to separately target price and financial stability concerns, potentially mitigating the intratemporal financial stability trade-off. Still, a policymaker may prefer to avoid sparking financial stress to begin with, even if it can be contained with the right combination of tools.

Monetary policy from a risk manager’s perspective

In this article, we sketched a novel empirical approach to quantify the macroeconomic costs and benefits of monetary policies which take financial stability considerations explicitly into account. The approach has the distinct advantage that financial stability considerations are not introduced ad hoc or as pure “side effects” of monetary policy. In contrast, financial stability trade-offs enter the policy calculus through their direct effects on future inflation and economic activity. Our approach allows monetary policymakers to adopt a risk management perspective when confronted with elevated macroeconomic tails risks associated with certain risks to financial stability.

Source: ECB Europa

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UCLA Center for Health Policy Research Study Finds Despite Stronger Fears of Being a Victim of Gun Violence https://policyprint.com/ucla-center-for-health-policy-research-study-finds-despite-stronger-fears-of-being-a-victim-of-gun-violence/ Sun, 14 Jan 2024 03:29:49 +0000 https://policyprint.com/?p=4147 By Venetia Lai – Among Latinos and Asians living in California, immigrants are less likely than citizens to…

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By Venetia Lai – Among Latinos and Asians living in California, immigrants are less likely than citizens to own a firearm and more likely to report being afraid of becoming a victim of gun violence, according to a new study from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

While gun ownership among both groups of noncitizens was in the single digits, more than half of Latino immigrants and nearly three-quarters of Asian immigrants surveyed said they were worried about becoming a gun-violence victim.

“This study shows that the immigrant population’s concern about gun violence is significant,” said Ninez Ponce, director of the Center for Health Policy Research and principal investigator for the California Health Interview Survey, or CHIS.

Firearm ownership

Prior research showed 17.6% of all California adults own a firearm. However the number is just 6.0% among immigrants, according to 2021 CHIS data in the new study. The authors included naturalized adult citizens in the “citizens” category, as firearm access among naturalized citizens more closely mimics that of citizens than immigrants.

The study, which builds on the earlier research, examines firearm ownership, fears of being a victim of gun violence and firearm storage practices among adults in the two largest immigrant populations in California — Latino and Asian — and compares these with Latino and Asian citizens’ practices.

“The United States has the highest gun ownership rate per capita in the world, yet we know very little about ownership rates across different populations of interests, including immigrants,” said Clarissa Iliff, a doctoral student at UC Irvine and co-author of the study. “We need to analyze how citizenship, fear of victimization and firearm ownership among immigrant populations change over time.”

Study findings show Asian immigrants are more likely than Latino immigrants to own at least one firearm. The rate of gun ownership among Latino citizens was more than four times that of Latino immigrants, at 18.1% versus 4.1%, while ownership rates among Asians were more consistent at 12.6% for citizens and 7.2% for noncitizens.

Fears of gun violence

Yet, 74.9% of Asian immigrants and 53.2% of Latino immigrants said they are “very worried” or “somewhat worried” about being a victim of gun violence. Latino immigrants in that category own more firearms on average compared with Latino immigrants who report being “not too worried” or “not at all worried.”

Among Latino citizens, however, the opposite is true: Those least worried about being a victim of gun violence own more firearms on average than those who are most worried.

Firearm storage practices

Overall, immigrants in California are more likely than citizens to store guns locked and unloaded, at 76.5% versus 45%. Among citizens, 6.1% reported storing at least one gun unlocked and loaded; comparable data for immigrants were unavailable.

The finding that immigrants seemingly take safe firearm storage seriously deserves more attention, the authors said.

“Storing a firearm safely decreases the likelihood of its being used in an accidental shooting in the home, as well as of having the gun stolen and used in a subsequent crime,” said George Tita, professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at UC Irvine and co-author of the study. “Understanding why the safe storage message resonates more strongly with immigrant groups might help us craft more effective messaging to the broad population of gun owners.”

The authors recommend that future research be undertaken to understand the difference in gun ownership rates across all racial, ethnic and citizenship groups. “We need to continue collecting data on gun violence attitudes and issues to help develop policies that benefit all Californians, whether immigrants or citizens,” Ponce said.

Source : Sierra Sun Times

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Via Rail’s New Baggage Policy: a Burden on Passengers and Workers Alike https://policyprint.com/via-rails-new-baggage-policy-a-burden-on-passengers-and-workers-alike/ Sat, 13 Jan 2024 03:23:30 +0000 https://policyprint.com/?p=4144 VIA Rail Canada’s new baggage policy and reservation system introduces sweeping changes that are catching passengers and workers…

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VIA Rail Canada’s new baggage policy and reservation system introduces sweeping changes that are catching passengers and workers off-guard as rail travel gears up for the holiday season.

“Instead of making train travel more accessible VIA Rail’s new policy only complicates it,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National President. “It’s unfortunate to see passenger rail become more cumbersome at a time when ease and affordability in green public transportation is more important than ever.”

VIA Rail’s new baggage and reservation policies launched on November 18, 2023 and are already having a negative impact on passengers’ wallets and travel experience. Travelers will now encounter seat selection and baggage fees similar to budget airlines, directly leading to higher travel costs. Particularly affected are students and economy class passengers, with students losing their previously entitled second free bag and economy travelers facing stricter luggage size limits. Additionally, Sleeper and Prestige class passengers will face revised cabin baggage allowances and checked baggage limits.

“These changes hit hard when people are already stretched thin and we’ve moved so far away from VIA Rail’s original mandate of providing an affordable service to Canadians,” Jennifer Murray, Atlantic Regional Director. “Our members are on the front lines, witnessing first-hand how such policies inconvenience travelers and complicate our working conditions.”

Unifor’s Get Canada Back on Track campaign advocates for an expansion of publicly-owned passenger rail in Canada. The campaign stresses the need for a public transport system that caters to environmental sustainability, safety, and the well-being of Canadian travelers and workers.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

Source : CISION

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Report Aims to Plug ‘Vital’ Information Gap for Scottish Land Reform Policy https://policyprint.com/report-aims-to-plug-vital-information-gap-for-scottish-land-reform-policy/ Fri, 12 Jan 2024 03:17:48 +0000 https://policyprint.com/?p=4141 “BUY land,” American wit Mark Twain famously quipped, “they’re not making it anymore.” That investment advice would have…

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“BUY land,” American wit Mark Twain famously quipped, “they’re not making it anymore.”

That investment advice would have proven wise in Scotland in 2020, according to a report published earlier this week.

Compiled by the Scottish Land Commission (SLC), the report found that prices for farmland in north east Scotland had risen by 58% between 2020 and 2022, 42% in the south west, and 25% in the Highlands and Islands.

Asked if investors in Scottish land could expect to continue to see such returns, SLC chief executive Hamish Trench said: “We don’t know. That’s the short answer.”

He said the skyrocketing prices were a result of “a match of very high demand and low supply”, but added that the incomplete picture we have of land transactions in Scotland makes analysing patterns very difficult.

“Getting a fuller picture of how the rural land market is working in Scotland is important, vital, to informing some of the changes in law and policy that we’re looking at in terms of land reform,” Trench said.

“What we’re trying to do here is to bring more information, a better picture, better transparency to the way the rural land market is working.”

The SLC chief said there had “long been a challenge in relation to Scotland’s land in terms of the openness and transparency of information”, raising concerns that sometimes communities were not even made aware that local land was on the market until it had already been sold.

“We know that there’s quite a number of transactions that actually have off-market, where they aren’t brought to public sale,” Trench (below) said.

The National:
The National:

“Over the last two years, we’ve started to develop new reporting approaches for the rural land market precisely because there’s been very little information giving an overview of this.

“What we see regularly, of course, are sector reports from agents operating in the market, for example, companies like Savills or Strutt & Parker.

“Inevitably, agents’ reports will focus on the parts of the market that they’re operating in. So you get different reports that focus on different sectors, for example, forestry, farmland or estates, and different sizes of transactions.

“Our report is really trying to capture all of that in a single approach that gives a better picture of what’s happening across the market.”

The SLC report published earlier in the week covered the years 2020-2022. Moving forward, the publication is set to become an annual date on the land commission’s calendar.

The National: SLC is dedicated to bringing 'positive change' to how land is owned and managed in Scotland
The National: SLC is dedicated to bringing ‘positive change’ to how land is owned and managed in Scotland

“We’re trying to do this work regularly, year on year, so that we can actually track a pattern of what is happening,” Trench said.

The SLC chief explained that one “significant driver” of rising prices had been an increase in demand for commercial forestry land, while one of the “newer factors” was companies looking to buy land for carbon investment and offsetting.

“This new report shows that although it may not be adding up to a large percentage of sales, it’s certainly significant,” Trench said. “Particularly in upland Scotland and in the estates market, where we’re seeing a new motivation of nature- and climate-driven acquisition.

“We’re seeing some corporate buyers, for example, wanting to buy land essentially to offset their own emissions within a business, examples like Brewdog or [investment firm] Abrdn.”

Trench said that data in SLC reporting could help inform work on “stronger regulation to manage those markets”.

The Scottish Government has previously said it will introduce a land reform bill “by the end of 2023”.

Asked in Holyrood in September about the bill’s progress, Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said the Government was “committed to introducing a land reform bill to further improve transparency of land ownership [and] to help ensure that large-scale land holdings deliver in the public interest.”

The Scottish Government has proposed a limit of 3000 hectares, above which land sales will trigger a public interest test.

Campaigners have called this “timid” and called for a 500-hectare trigger, while the SLC and others have suggested the trigger could be linked to “whether the holding controls key local infrastructure”.

This is one of the areas where the SLC’s work could inform policy. Trench said: “What’s helpful is understanding from this report that 93% of sales are under 500 hectares, and there are relatively few sales over 3000 hectares [some 1.1%]. So it helps provide some context to think about how that kind of measure would work.”

Source : Yahoo

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EV Infrastructure and State Policy: Cart Before the Horse https://policyprint.com/ev-infrastructure-and-state-policy-cart-before-the-horse/ Thu, 11 Jan 2024 03:08:24 +0000 https://policyprint.com/?p=4138 Nepal Electricity Authority and the private sector have been setting up charging stations amid the country’s rising demand…

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Nepal Electricity Authority and the private sector have been setting up charging stations amid the country’s rising demand for electric vehicles (EVs).

But Nepal still lacks a plan for how and where to set up charging stations, and developments in the EV industry have outpaced government policy.

The Water and Energy Commission Secretariat of the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation has selected a bidder to prepare the Master Plan for Public Charging Infrastructure for electric vehicles on major national highways.

On November 28, the commission issued a letter of its intent to award a contract to a joint venture—of Shrestha Consultant Pvt Ltd, the Cosmopolitan Consultant and Technical Education Centre, and the Rural Infrastructure and Management Consultant Pvt Ltd—to prepare a master plan after a thorough study. The master plan should be prepared within a year after the awarding of the contract, according to the commission.

“The master plan will make its recommendations based on the need and the availability of land, at the points on strategic roads where the charging stations can be set up,” Sushil Chandra Tiwari, secretary at the commission, told the Post. “As the government plans to promote the use of electric vehicles, we should have specific plans for mass installation of charging stations.”

He said that both the government and the private sector could install charging stations after probable locations are identified.

Even though the government has set an ambitious target on adoption of electric vehicles, little has been done in terms of policy support.

In December 2020, Nepal introduced its second Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for the 2021-2030 period in line with the Paris Agreement.

As per the NDC, sales of EVs in 2025 will be 25 percent of all sold private passenger vehicles, including two-wheelers, and 20 percent of all four-wheel public passenger vehicle sales.

By 2030, EV sales will make up to 90 percent of all private passenger vehicle sales, two-wheelers included, and 60 percent of all four-wheeler public passenger vehicle sales. The public passenger vehicle target does not cover electric rickshaws and electric tempos.

But insiders say lack of enough charging stations is a big challenge in promoting EVs as per the target. According to the NEA, 51 charging stations have recently been installed in various parts of the country.

“We have the target of installing an additional 500 stations across the country in the current fiscal year,” said Sagarmani Gyawali, chief of the charging station construction project at the NEA. “We are preparing to issue a tender within a month.” He said that the NEA would continue to increase the number of charging stations. “The private sector has so far installed around 200.”

These charging stations are being installed without any national plan at a time the government is yet to set any number target.

“Even though the national plan should have driven the effort to add charging stations, we are acting in view of the growing demand for EVs in the market,” said Gyawali.

According to the Department of Customs, the country imported a total of 4,050 assembled electric vehicles in the fiscal year 2022-23, which is more than double the units imported in the previous year. Nepal had imported 1,807 electric four-wheelers in 2021-22. In addition, 6,914 three wheelers were imported last fiscal year, according to the customs data.

In the first four months of the current fiscal year (2023-24), Nepal imported 2,787 units of EVs, up 174 percent year-on-year, according to the customs department.

“The demand for EVs is soaring. Market enquiries are beating expectations,” Dhurba Thapa, president of the Nepal Automobile Dealers’ Association, told the Post last week. According to him, the sales ratio of EVs to internal combustion engine vehicles is now 60:40.

Stakeholders said considering people’s interest in electric vehicles, the existing charging infrastructure is nowhere close to meeting demand. “There are only around 250 charging stations in the country, said Gyawali.

The government also acknowledges that many individuals are still reluctant to adopt electric vehicles citing reliability issues, which again has to do with the availability of reliable charging stations on the roads, among other reasons.

Studies show that lack of charging stations is a major barrier to adoption of electric vehicles. Most EV owners often have ‘range anxiety’. They are mostly anxious about limited battery capacity, the commission said in its Expression of Interest notice.

This master plan intends to bridge the charging infrastructure gap by establishing a robust network of fast charging stations along major highways, it said.

Source : The Kathmandu Post

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Miffed, Chandigarh Liquor Contractors Decide Not to Send Suggestions for Excise Policy https://policyprint.com/miffed-chandigarh-liquor-contractors-decide-not-to-send-suggestions-for-excise-policy/ Wed, 10 Jan 2024 03:01:42 +0000 https://policyprint.com/?p=4135 Upset over Chandigarh’s ‘rigid’ excise policy and the losses they have allegedly suffered due to neighbouring Punjab’s ‘flexible’…

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Upset over Chandigarh’s ‘rigid’ excise policy and the losses they have allegedly suffered due to neighbouring Punjab’s ‘flexible’ policy, the Chandigarh Wine Contractors Association has decided not to submit suggestions for next year’s policy.

“Throughout the year, we urged the administration to make necessary changes in its liquor policy but all fell on deaf ears. The result? At least 18 liquor vends out of 95 were not auctioned causing a loss of approximately Rs 150 crore to the state exchequer in the current financial year,” Darshan Singh Kaler, president of the association, said.

With the current excise policy set to end on March 31, 2024, the UT excise department had sought suggestions in the first week of November, with a submission deadline of November 30.

The Chandigarh Wine Contractors Association, an umbrella body of 77 liquor vend owners, decided on Saturday that it would not participate in the exercise even if the date was extended.

“We collectively decided not to participate in the formation of Excise Policy 2024-25, considering the experience of the last two years. The rigid excise policy of the UT administration contrasts with the flexible liquor policy in Punjab, where liquor contractors are not bound to pick a fixed quota of liquor cartons,” Kaler added.

“It is well known that the liquor contractors in Chandigarh are facing immense losses. Worse, the administration is trying to recover this loss from us by shifting the liquor quota of the non-auctioned 18 vends to us. Inviting suggestions from stakeholders like us is merely eyewash,” Kaler added.

Sanjeev Garg, a liquor contractor, emphasised the need for a cut in the liquor quota. “As liquor prices in Punjab are similar or lower than those in Chandigarh, liquor sales in Chandigarh have declined. We face penalties for falling short of picking a certain fixed quota of liquor cartons from distilleries. The penalty for not picking each IMFL and IFL carton from the plant is Rs 900 and Rs 3,500, respectively. In Punjab, there is no fixed quota and contractors pick stock based on their requirements. If VAT on liquor is 12 per cent in Chandigarh, it is merely 1 per cent in Punjab,” he said.

The UT excise department had set a revenue target of Rs 830 crore for 2023-24 but collected only Rs 600 crore. The main revenue comes from licence fees for the vends, which range from Rs 3 crore to Rs 15 crore, depending on their location.

A senior UT excise department officer acknowledged the limited suggestions from liquor contractors, saying the excise policy in Punjab was under consideration and all concerns were being taken into account.

The suggestions received include the installation of alcohol sensors in taverns or ahatas, prohibition of cooking non-veg items in open verandas outside taverns, and increasing the distance of liquor vends from educational institutes from 100 metres to 200 metres.

Source : The Indian Express

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Lobbying World: Ford Fuels Policy Team With Addition of Executive Branch, Capitol Hill Veterans https://policyprint.com/lobbying-world-ford-fuels-policy-team-with-addition-of-executive-branch-capitol-hill-veterans/ Tue, 09 Jan 2024 02:54:41 +0000 https://policyprint.com/?p=4132 Deanne Millison, Elizabeth “Liz” Kosobucki and Alec Rogers are joining Ford’s public policy and government affairs team.  Millison joins as a senior director…

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Deanne MillisonElizabeth “Liz” Kosobucki and Alec Rogers are joining Ford’s public policy and government affairs team. 

Millison joins as a senior director and was most recently chief economic adviser to Vice President Harris. She previously served as deputy chief of staff and legislative director to then-Sen. Harris and as director for the city of Chicago under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Kosobucki, the former director for Europe in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office of Europe and the Middle East, will be the director for trade policy strategy. Rogers, who served as the legislative director for former Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) and as Republican counsel to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, joins Ford as director of government affairs, tax and finance policy.

Alice Lugo, the former assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), will join the government relations practice at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as senior counsel. Before her time at DHS, Lugo worked on Capitol Hill as chief counsel and senior immigration adviser to Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and as counsel to former Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.)

Invariant added Melanie Harris as a senior director, where she will focus on artificial intelligence and technology policy. Harris was the United Kingdom digital policy lead for Amazon Web Services in London. She also worked on military modernization as a professional staff member for the House Armed Services Committee and served as a special assistant to the secretary of Defense and in the National Security Division of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Andrew Mueller is now vice president of government relations at Crowley. Mueller was most recently the senior director of policy and international development for General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems and served as an officer in the U.S. Navy for more than two decades.

John Jacobs joins the Alliance for Automotive Innovation as vice president of industry engagement and partnerships. He was most recently the nonprofit and association industry leader at Hartman Executive Advisors, and he was vice president of marketing, membership and business development at the Telecommunications Industry Association.

Source : The Hill

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Boebert Leans Into Environment Policy in Bid to Win Over Critics https://policyprint.com/boebert-leans-into-environment-policy-in-bid-to-win-over-critics/ Mon, 08 Jan 2024 02:48:06 +0000 https://policyprint.com/?p=4129 The Colorado Republican, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, has attracted controversy. She has alienated fellow…

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The Colorado Republican, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, has attracted controversy. She has alienated fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill and back home. And her reelection prospects are dimming.

President Joe Biden is targeting Boebert. He’ll travel to her district Wednesday to highlight CS Wind, a renewable energy manufacturing company in Pueblo.

Still, Boebert says she’s making a concerted effort to advance policy important to her district.

“Obviously, a lot of people see me as a fighter — I had to fight to get here,” she said in an interview. “But I do believe I have arrived to a position where I am taken seriously in this country as an effective legislator. And I’m very proud of that.”

Such talk might raise eyebrows, especially from someone whose brand has mostly revolved around media appearances, strong fealty to former President Donald Trump and calling those engaged in Covid-19 vaccination outreach “Needle Nazis.”

Infamously, she and a date were kicked out of a Denver theater in September for vaping and groping. Boebert has since apologized.

Boebert campaigned on water issues in her 2020 bid for the House and moved to act on her promises, but her early flirtation with QAnon conspiracy theorists — which she has since disavowed — and actions like calling Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) part of a “Jihad Squad” repeatedly overshadowed her work.

Now some fellow lawmakers and advocates are giving her at least some credit for digging in on policy.

“She’s a serious legislator,” said Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who sits with her on the House Natural Resources Committee.

Even some Democrats are offering grudging respect and have noticed a shift, though with caveats.

“I’m not ready to pronounce her a serious legislator,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said. “But I will say that I appreciate the fact that there’s been a noticeable reduction in the performative antics.”

A review of Boebert’s policy efforts shows she’s getting traction on several fronts.

She has secured amendments to freeze a Biden administration overhaul of oil and gas regulations on federal lands and remove endangered species protections for gray wolves.

Boebert has also secured funding for important district projects like water treatment facilities and irrigation projects. Those would-be successes have yet to be enshrined into federal law.

Some Democrats have noticed her willingness to work with them on certain issues.

“We might disagree on some things,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), who is working with Boebert on a bill — H.R. 8601 and S. 636 — to extend conservation protections in her district.

“But she hasn’t been obnoxious to work with in any way. … Obviously, she’s got a different take on energy than I do. But that’s whether you got spots or stripes,” he added.

The 36-year-old grandmother and former oil pipeline inspector faces a brutal reelection bid, after winning last cycle by just 546 votes.

Adam Frisch.
Colorado Democrat Adam Frisch. | David Zalubowski/AP

Democrat Adam Frisch, her 2022 opponent, wasted little time announcing he would seek a rematch.

Before taking on the Democrats, Boebert has to vanquish a competitor from within her own party, Grand Junction-based attorney Jeff Hurd.

Even though he agrees with some of Boebert’s policy positions — on addressing gray wolves, and permitting and regulatory reforms — he said the district deserves a “serious and credible and hardworking” candidate.

Boebert has waved off concerns about her tight race to represent Colorado’s 3rd District, even if she noted the busy congressional calendar has kept her in Washington longer than she’d prefer.

“I like to think I spoiled my constituents being in the district so much last Congress,” she said. “I certainly go home on the weekends and try to visit them as much as possible, but you know … the appearances aren’t going to be as frequent as they were in the first Congress just ’cause there is so much to do on the East Coast.”

Her campaign put a finer point on it.

“Congresswoman Boebert has passed more pieces of legislation out of House committees this year than anyone in Colorado’s House delegation,” campaign manager Drew Sexton said in an email.

“When this election takes place, Colorado’s 3rd District voters will clearly understand she has led the way to securing tens of millions of dollars for water, infrastructure and economic development projects for their communities.”

‘Trying to moderate myself’

Boebert showed up to Congress flaunting her gun and running her mouth, but some Democrats now say she’s figuring out how to holster both those weapons.

Huffman acknowledged that he’s “locked horns” with Boebert on Natural Resources, notably over her gun advocacy and wanting to be armed on Capitol Hill. During an interview this summer, Huffman said he has noticed a change in attitude.

“Hey Lauren!” Huffman yelled over to her. “I just got asked if you have reached out to any Democrats about any bipartisan legislation. Is there anything you would like me to work with you on?”

Boebert had a ready-made list.

“I would like you to help me with my ‘CONVEY Act’ and my Dolores River bill,” she told him, referring to measures that would transfer 31 acres of Bureau of Land Management land to a local county for economic development and the bipartisan conservation effort, respectively.

“These are all natural resources, and I’m currently working on revamping my forestry legislation. And I’m trying to moderate myself with that a little bit so we can get some agreement on it.”

She also has a water bill that would protect the sucker fish.

“It’s Endangered Species Act, you love that,” she told him. “Those are all my top priorities, and I would love to work with you on those.”

As she walked away, Huffman said, “So yeah, you can certainly notice the effort.”

Still, he said, she continues to introduce bills that are “wildly controversial and just terrible policy, and probably terrible politics, too.”

He pointed to her “Trust the Science Act,” H.R. 764, which would require the Interior Department to remove protected status for the gray wolf.

“We had a recent election of both her and the wolf in Colorado,” he said, referring to the state’s 2020 vote on Proposition 114 to reintroduce the gray wolf, which passed by a margin of just 57,000 votes out of more than 3.1 million cast statewide. “The wolf’s more popular. So I question some of the battles she picks.”

‘A serious legislator’

In the recent debate over the fiscal 2024 Interior-Environment spending bill, Boebert succeeded in adding eight amendments to the bill.

Her wins focused on a host of issues popular in her rural district.

Among those was a proposal to shift $5 million from EPA to hazardous fuels reduction in national forest lands, as well as language to halt the BLM’s proposed Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process rule.

Boebert also had some red meat for her conservative base. She floated a proposal to slash the salary of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Liz Klein to $1, calling her a “radical, partisan extremist.” It failed overwhelmingly.

“She’s doing what’s right for her constituents,” said fellow Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, who co-sponsored the gray wolf legislation with Boebert. “She’s doing what’s right for the environment. She’s doing what’s right for wildlife management. She’s principled.”

Another Republican who sits with Boebert on Natural Resources offered high praise.

“I think she’s actually very smart,” said Luna, the Florida Republican. “And she’s been very effective. Oil and gas is a major component of her district so she’s advocating [for her constituents].”

Luna pointed to Boebert scoring six amendments in the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs spending bill.

“That was incredible. She’s a serious legislator. I know the media tries to paint her as not, but she is,” Luna said.

‘Not just all throwing grenades’

Within her district, Boebert has also won praise for her active support of the “Dolores River National Conservation Area and Special Management Area Act,” H.R. 1534.

The bipartisan effort, backed by both of the state’s Democratic senators, would include 52,000 acres of BLM lands and 15,000 acres of Forest Service lands across three counties in the southwest corner of the state.

Those lands would be managed “to conserve, protect, and enhance the native fish, whitewater boating, recreational, scenic, cultural, archaeological, natural, geological, historical, ecological, watershed, wildlife, educational, and scientific resources.”

The proposal is the result of more than two decades of negotiations among local residents and stakeholders to protect the region while avoiding a more restrictive Wild and Scenic River designation.

“The counties have been working on that for a lot of years, so by the time she got elected it was a little late to be a driving force, but she’s definitely been a contributing force,” said Shak Powers, who works for the nonprofit Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest Colorado, which serves local communities and the Southern Ute and the Ute Mountain Ute Indian tribes.

Powers, who previously worked as Montezuma County’s administrator, which is not an elected position, praised Boebert’s attention to the district, both in terms of constituent services and her legislative efforts.

“She has been very attentive,” Powers said, pointing to Boebert’s work on the Dolores River as well as on drought mitigation projects.

Boebert has been an advocate for both state and federal funds — supporting local grant applications and pursuing a U.S. Forest Service pilot program — for removing invasive species like Russian olives and tamarisk, or salt cedars.

He also credits Boebert for her attention to increasing broadband access in the region, pointing to ongoing efforts by her office to pursue unallocated Federal Communications Commission funds designated for that purpose.

“I think she’s got a lot of political opposition that would just as soon highlight her being far-right and not give her credit for any of the things she does well,” Powers said.

He added: “It’s not just all throwing grenades across the aisle in Congress; she’s doing what she can for the 3rd District.”

Earlier this year, Boebert also began embracing earmarks — funding for specific projects in a district, which was revived by Congress in 2021.

She submitted 10 requestsfor more than $34 million in funds for her sprawling district. She did not request any funding in fiscal 2023.

The projects would bolster reservoirs, address drinking water quality, and build new roads and a bridge. The congressional stalemate on spending, however, could endanger those efforts.

A matter of style?

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) with her grandson.
Boebert holds her grandson, Josiah Boebert, as she departs a vote at the Capitol on Nov. 14. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

A sprinkle of bipartisanship may not be enough to secure Boebert’s return for the 119th Congress.

Despite her seat’s Republican advantage — the Cook Political Report gives the GOP a 7-point edge in the district, which spans the entire Western Slope and most of the state’s southern border — observers also see the seat as one of the most competitive of the 2024 cycle. Cook rates the race a toss-up.

That’s in part due to Boebert’s narrow victory in 2022 to Frisch. The former Aspen City Council member has been talking up his prospects in 2024, telling the Guardian last month that people are “sick and tired” of the “circus.” His campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

As for the primary challenge, Hurd in October rolled out a major endorsement from former Gov. Bill Owens, the last Republican to lead the state, as well as nabbing the backing of key officials from Delta and Mesa counties.

In an interview, Hurd acknowledged that Boebert has targeted some important issues for the district — including delisting the gray wolf to allow ranchers to protect their livestock — but asserted that she has failed to pursue economic policies that would benefit the rural district.

“We’ve been suffering because of our incumbent’s inability to advance that kind of legislation in a meaningful, bipartisan way,” Hurd said. “I think it’s critical that we have somebody that is principled, but also pragmatic and who recognizes the need to work across the aisle to advance economic issues.”

Hurd noted that even on issues that should be a win for the district, Boebert’s bid for attention stands to derail progress.

He pointed to Boebert’s name for the gray wolf legislation, the “Trust the Science Act,” suggesting that the title could be off-putting to would-be co-sponsors.

“I agree with the policy goal, I think it’s critical that we delist the gray wolf,” Hurd said. “But we need to make sure that if we actually want to get this passed into law, that we can do it in a way that will encourage getting as much support as we can, including from folks on the other side of the political aisle.”

Hurd, who has represented electric cooperatives in his work with the law firm Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe, added: “I think I would stylistically approach this in a different way.”

Boebert herself expressed little concern that her theatrics could undermine her efforts, even after she introduced articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden, claiming he failed to uphold immigration laws. The effort fizzled on the House floor and angered many Republicans.

Her campaign was unfazed by political attacks of any kind.

“As expected, Congresswoman Boebert’s opponents are flat-out misrepresenting her strong legislative accomplishments,” Sexton said.

Moreover, Boebert said that gender may play a role in how she’s perceived. “I think women do have to prove themselves a little more to be taken seriously,” she said.

Ultimately, she said she’s unconcerned about the year ahead and will continue to fight.

“Democrats are going to try everything they can to buy this seat,” she said. “I am not worried about that.”

Source : E&E News

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