Congress Could Fix This Now

By Rina Caballar, Arnold Ventures contributor
 
In celebration of Earth Day 2022, let’s remember the government just passed one of the largest clean energy bills in its history, ushering the country into a new era of clean energy research, development, and implementation.
 
With an industry-changing level of funding, the federal government is investing in clean energy technologies with the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The law supports electricity grid updates now as well as research and development to revolutionize the way we acquire, store, and transport energy in the future.
 
The $1.2 trillion legislation includes clean energy provisions that build on the efforts of the Trump Administration’s Energy Act of 2020, which also updated energy research and development programs across the Department of Energy (DOE) with a focus on driving down the cost of next-generation technologies needed to reduce emissions. 
 
Notably bipartisan in an era marked by stark political division, the legislation was supported by Senate leaders Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY); senators including Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) had a significant hand in the shaping of the bill, delivering benefits to their states as well as to key industries that will drive a clean energy future.
 
More than $62 billion has been allocated for clean energy, the largest investment by far in that area in American history. Clean energy, defined as energy that does not emit carbon into the atmosphere, ranges from nuclear energy to hydrogen power to renewables as well as efforts to decarbonize fossil fuel use using carbon capture and sequestration — literally containing carbon as it is emitted and using it or storing it underground.
 
Also significant in this law is the level of funding set aside for research and development, demonstration, and deployment across a variety of clean energy technologies. The aim of this historic investment is to create the energy generation, transmission, and use of the future, as well as to make current clean energy technologies more cost-effective and efficient. 

Commenting on the investment, Lindsey Baxter Griffith, federal policy director at the nonprofit climate organization Clean Air Task Force, said, “The provisions of the Energy Act of 2020 and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provide the foundation for building a decarbonized electricity grid and commercializing a full suite of critical carbon-free technologies.”
 
This investment, coupled with Congress’ recent appropriations bill and the Biden Administration’s fiscal year 2023 proposed budget, make steps toward the United States’ climate goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in 2030 and reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
 

Ames Grawert, senior counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program and co-author of a new analysis of
bail reform and crime rates in New York State.

"There has never been good evidence that the law contributed to rising crime
in New York," Grawert said. "What critics have claimed is that bail reform led to an increase in shootings and an increase in violent crime. When people have called them out on those claims and asked for evidence to back them, their claims have fallen apart."

Read the Q&A >

Criminal Justice

• The Transform 911 initiative is helping to link emergency health response to public health workers instead of diverting law enforcement from their community safety charge.
   
• Overuse of pretrial detention has no consistent public benefit, Jason Reed writes in International Policy Digest — referencing AV's Hidden Costs research.
  
  Related: Nicholas Turner of the Vera Institute writes in the Washington Post about how cash bail creates a two-tiered system that privileges the rich and punishes the poor, also citing AV research. 
   
• "The EQUAL Act is the latest effort to bring common sense to sentencing," writes The Times and Democrat in this editorial.
   
• Jessica Pishko has a piece in Bolts Magazine about how elected sheriffs face little accountability when caught promoting conspiracies about election fraud. 
   
• The Justice Department has appointed a former public defender to oversee the office responsible for vetting federal clemency applications, Reuters reports.
  
  Dive Deeper: Public defenders bring a unique and underrepresented perspective to the judiciary.
   
• Joyce Watkins was exonerated in the death of her niece after 35 years, thanks to the partnership of a prosecutor and defense attorney, reports CBS News. “District Attorney General Funk … is part of a growing number of prosecutors who believe they have to do more to uncover wrongful convictions – and to prevent future ones. ‘Our job is not to just seek convictions; our job is to seek to do justice.’ ” 
   
• Los Angeles police officers are deploying “less lethal” options meant to avoid killing, such as Tasers and projectile launchers, at the same time they are firing bullets, often with deadly results, reports The Los Angeles Times.
   
• “When is enough enough?” asks The Washington Post in this editorial on the killing of Patrick Lyoya, a Black man who was shot in the back of the head after an encounter with a Grand Rapids, Michigan, police officer.
   
• Three years into efforts to reform the Chicago Police Department, a new report from the federal monitor overseeing its consent decree takes aim at the department’s ability to engage in community policing and build trust, the Chicago Tribune reports.
   
• The U.S. attorney in Manhattan suggests the troubled Rikers Island jail may be in need of federal court control, The New York Times reports. (free link) 
   
• “More commonly, shootings, whether they are mass shootings or just one individual shot, you can often boil it down to something pretty basic. Grievances and guns.” The Washington Post examines the rise in gun violence and local efforts to stem it. (free link) 

Health 

•  Another example of why patient protections contained in the No Surprises Act are so incredibly important: “The Air-Ambulance Vultures: A search for why my flight cost $86,184 led to a hidden culprit: private equity,” via New York Magazine. 
  
  Related: Legal challenges by health providers threaten to undermine surprise billing protections. “ ‘We’ve Come So Far’: The No Surprises Act is a Law Worth Defending”
   
• States are watching Washington as they weigh offering stronger supports for long-term care needs, via KHN.
   
• A point well made by Arielle Mir, AV's VP of health care, in a Modern Healthcare piece breaking down Dual Eligible Special Needs Plans, which enroll people eligible for Medicare and Medicaid: “If a state does a really great job of providing robust Medicaid benefits like home- and community-based services and that keeps beneficiaries out of the hospital, who saves money? Medicare does,” Mir said. “We’d really like to see states be able to see that financial incentive to stand up these innovative products.”
   
• The Department of Veterans Affairs requests funding to remove copayments for contraception for veterans, in line with the Affordable Care Act. 

Higher Education

• The Education Department said it will be issuing one-time waivers and adjustments to millions of student borrowers to apply retroactively for federal loan forgiveness, especially for those borrowers under the Public Services Loan Forgiveness program and income-driven repayment plans, reports the The New York Times. (free link). 
   
• MDRC released an intervention return-on-investment tool for community colleges, showing the estimated costs and revenues associated with various interventions (such as student success interventions).

Also

•  An Atlantic essay by Jonathan Haidt  “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” offers an excellent history on how social media has fractured our communities, politics, and institutions, and offers solutions: harden democratic institutions — with reforms like open primaries, ranked-choice voting, and an end to gerrymandered districts — reform social media, and protect and prepare the next generation. 

“Searching for Justice: Life After Lockup,” a PBS NewsHour film that follows four people trying to rebuild their lives after incarceration. What makes this film so compelling are the stories that start before they ever land in prison, in young lives marked by poverty, trauma, and a system that often failed them. Sociologist Reuben Jonathan Miller, of the University of Chicago, puts these failures in a larger context: “We’ve legislated the conditions that produce crime, not that reduce crime.” Our criminal justice team watched the film together this week in honor of Second Chance Month, and Julie James, VP of Criminal Justice, noted “how beautifully and respectfully the journalist made space for those folks to be brave and tell their stories.” She says: “It was gut-wrenching and hit close to home for many of us, witnessing the struggles of trying to escape poverty and addiction and care for family once you have a criminal record. If we care about safety and second chances, we have a collective responsibility to make sure people have opportunities when they come home.”

“Broken Doors,” a six-part investigative podcast from The Washington Post hosted by Jenn Abelson and Nicole Dungca. It examines how no-knock warrants are deployed across the American justice system — and the sometimes fatal encounters that result — and raises questions about accountability at every level of the process.

On May 12, from 3-4:15 p.m. ET, join the National Association of Counties for the relaunch of the Data-Driven Justice initiative. It includes new tools and learning opportunities to better support the needs of individuals with complex health and behavioral health conditions who frequently cycle through jails, homeless shelters, emergency departments and other crisis services. Register here.

• Check out this high-res view of a Martian crater and a 40-second solar eclipse shot by NASA’s Perseverance from the red planet.
   
• To mark the 23rd anniversary of Columbine, young playwrights are confronting gun violence with art in the #Enough project.
   
• A 12-year-old woodworker raised more than $300,000 for Ukraine with just one bowl— after being told his hobby wasn’t cool enough. (As the wife of a woodworker, I can attest they are indeed the coolest.)
   
• There are definitely some weeks I need my boss to send me here: a cafe exclusively for writers on deadline. 

The Criminal Justice and Evidence-Based Policy teams at Arnold Ventures are teaming up to learn more about what works in criminal justice reform in an ongoing request for proposals for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that will test programs and practices. There is no deadline for submissions.

The Evidence-Based Policy team invites grant applications to conduct randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of social programs in any area of U.S. policy. Details are here.

View all of our RFPs here.