Behavioral health package shifts responsibility to the courts
The New Mexico Senate Finance Committee questioned Administrative Office of the Courts Director Karl Reifsteck and Health Care Authority Cabinet Secretary Kari Armijo about their roles in a proposed overhaul of the state's behavioral health system on Feb. 11, 2025. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)
Ahead of an expected vote on Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday adjusted the package of legislation meant to rebuild New Mexico's behavioral health system.
Senate Finance Committee analyst Adrian Avila on Tuesday morning summarized changes to Senate Bills 1, 2 and 3, which taken together would shift much of the oversight of the state's behavioral health system to the state court system, but provide key roles for local government and the state's Health Care Authority.
The legislation requires the state Health Care Authority to provide an initial set of proper treatment standards and local gaps in services to the courts, Avila said.
But it makes the Administrative Office of the Courts responsible for making plans for what the specific behavioral health needs are in each region of the state, and for providing case management, Avila said.
He said this part of the bill 'speaks with' the crime package being debated in the House of Representatives by making clear which services are available to someone if they're committed into a locked psychiatric facility.
The committee's substitute for Senate Bill 3 would require the state court system, with HCA's help, to host regional meetings with experts to set priorities in their local areas to determine which services to deploy.
Experts for those 'behavioral health regions' would include public defenders, prosecutors, the Children Youth and Families Department, school districts, police, jails and local behavioral health providers, among others, Avila said.
'When the courts know what services are available, then they have an incentive to ensure those services are functional, because it can prevent people from ever going into the criminal justice system,' Avila said.
AOC Director Karl Reifsteck said his agency will take the Legislature's direction and try to do everything it asks, and it has some momentum from doing this kind of planning work in Santa Fe and Rio Arriba counties with the money lawmakers set aside during the special session in the summer.
'This is a huge expansion of what we do in terms of effort but we'll take it on because this is a big, important project for our state,' he said.
Senate Finance Committee Chair George Muñoz (D-Gallup) said the committee will vote on the bills on Wednesday morning.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Senate Bill 1 would create a $1 billion Behavioral Health Trust Fund that would pay out 5%, or $50 million, each year, in the form of grants to providers in each region, Avila said.
If a particular organization receives grant money from the regions and doesn't prove it's functioning well, the bill would allow the regions to take the money back and move it into another fund or priority in that local area, Avila said.
The legislation makes the state Health Care Authority responsible for tracking contracts and grants, and ensuring the plans at the local level do not jeopardize the state Medicaid system, Avila said.
The committee's substitute for Senate Bill 2 sets aside money for building out the infrastructure needed to use the state Medicaid program to pay for the behavioral health services to patients, Avila said.
Senate Majority Whip Michael Padilla (D-Albuquerque) and Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces) repeatedly asked for the legislation to include identifying some kind of project manager to be responsible for the behavioral health system's overall success.
Avila said ideally that responsibility would lie with the Behavioral Health Services Division at HCA. He said the draft legislation would be changed on Tuesday 'with some mechanism' to address the senators' concerns.
HCA Cabinet Secretary Kari Armijo said she isn't opposed to creating some kind of executive office to oversee these local behavioral health regions, and noted that the Behavioral Health Collaborative created by the Legislature more than 20 years ago 'hasn't really worked.'
Avila said the legislation repeals the state law which created the collaborative, because it 'hasn't met for a long time, has been very inefficient, there's very little, if any trust in it functioning.'
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
41 minutes ago
- Politico
Rate relief politics
Presented by Good morning and welcome to the weekly Monday edition of the New York & New Jersey Energy newsletter. We'll take a look at the week ahead and look back on what you may have missed last week. Driving the day RATE RELIEF POLITICS — Immediately after the Murphy administration unveiled its $430 million utility rate relief plan last week at a press conference flanked by Democratic lawmakers, Republican lawmakers who were not there began jumping on the plan as a kind of an election year political gimmick. But, reading between the lines of their statements, Republicans seemed not to actually oppose the plan, which will knock from $100 to $250 off electric bills in coming months, depending on a ratepayer's income. Senate Republican Leader Anthony Bucco said his criticism isn't of the plan, it's of the problem the plan is meant to address. 'They have to do something,' he said in an interview. 'But we shouldn't be in this position to begin with. And don't call it relief — it's really not relief — they are taking it from the taxpayers and giving it back to them.' What Bucco means is that money for rate relief package comes from charges and fees that utility customers have paid or will pay in some form or another. In a written press release the governor's office was clear about where the money is coming from — the state Clean Energy Fund, the state Board of Public Utilities' share of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative proceeds and the Solar Alternative Compliance Payment account, which is funded by payments from utilities that didn't buy enough solar energy credits. Normal customers might be forgiven for not knowing what any of that means, but the Republican criticism is that the rate relief plan is basically a rebate program, though that's the way many government aid programs work. From the Democrats' point of view, by using money that wasn't intended for rate relief — like RGGI and Clean Energy Fund money, in particular — the administration was able to cushion the blow of rising rates without drawing on general fund dollars that could soon be needed for other unexpected costs. 'We have larger issues coming up,' Senate President Nick Scutari said, specifically naming holes in the state budget that could come from cuts the Republican Congress is looking to make to Medicaid. In the near term, the fight over how the rate relief plan is paid for is a sub-fight in the larger one Republicans are itching to have with Democrats over the Murphy administration's clean energy policies, which relied heavily on decarbonizing the grid by boxing out natural gas and relying on an offshore wind industry that hasn't materialized. Murphy, Scutari and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin all acknowledged there is a supply-demand problem facing New Jersey and that the rate relief is only a short-term fix for long-term issues. Notably, when they asked about what to do, they talked about solar, nuclear and, in Murphy's case, offshore wind. Former Senate President Steve Sweeney, who is running for governor, put out a statement urging the state, and by implication his former colleagues still in government, to 'embrace all forms of energy,' including natural gas. Republicans have been saying this for a while, but Bucco said Democrats 'conduct their business in an echo chamber' and are not open to talking. Still, Sweeney is not alone among Democrats. Assemblymember Wayne DeAngelo, the Mercer County Democrat who oversees the chamber's utilities committee, has also talked about the need for gas. It's still an open question if New Jersey will go that route, and that is going to be another main tension as Republicans look to use energy policy and power prices in the general election to elect lawmakers and perhaps even a governor who could undo Murphy's clean energy policies. — Ry Rivard TRUMP FUNDING GATEWAY — The Trump administration is recommending $700 million in the 2026 budget for the Hudson River train tunnel, the $16 billion project to bolster the connection between New York and New Jersey. The funding recommendation by the Federal Transit Administration is a sign that President Donald Trump is no longer attempting to upend the Gateway program, as he did by slow rolling it during his first term. Elements of the tunnel project are already under construction and employing union workers. According to a recent Regional Plan Association report, the Gateway program could generate 'close to $445 billion in economic benefits' in coming decades. — Ry Rivard HAPPY MONDAY MORNING: Let us know if you have tips, story ideas or life advice. We're always here at mfrench@ and rrivard@ And if you like this letter, please tell a friend and/or loved one to sign up. Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. Around New York — Some Long Island residents oppose battery storage, Propel transmission project. — The Times Union takes on biosolids spread on farmland. — Canadian wildfire smoke worsens air quality. — Sen. Chuck Schumer raises concern about summer LI-HEAP benefits. — Trees are under threat from invasive species. What you may have missed TORRES TALKS: Rep. Ritchie Torres is keeping a close eye on the mayor's race as he mulls a run for governor in 2026 and promotes an 'abundance' agenda. And while he remains a steadfast supporter of Andrew Cuomo, he criticized the ex-governor's decision to shutter a nuclear plant during his Albany tenure. While Torres praised Cuomo as an effective governor and 'one of the greatest builders of infrastructure in the 21st century,' there's one major decision he says was a mistake: shutting down the Indian Point nuclear plant, which he said led to more greenhouse gas emissions. 'I feel like there's a growing recognition in the Democratic Party that we undervalued the role of nuclear in decarbonizing,' Torres said. Cuomo defended his decision, pointing to the safety risks of a terrorist attack or earthquake to the plant located near a major population center. 'Do you understand the danger that Indian Point poses? It would be catastrophic if anything happened at Indian Point,' Cuomo told reporters. Cuomo said he supported nuclear power upstate. The governor backed massive subsidies to keep those plants open. Torres said he had a 'bias' toward clean energy, although he didn't completely rule out gas power plants to maintain the reliability of the electric grid. Torres sees permitting as a major barrier for clean energy in New York. Earlier this week, he sent a letter to Hochul, Adams and Trump celebrating a Supreme Court decision limiting federal environmental reviews. 'As an abundance Democrat, there is a presumption against rules and regulations that inhibit the building of new clean energy, affordable housing and infrastructure,' Torres said. — Marie J. French $430M FOR NJ RATE RELIEF — POLITICO's Ry Rivard: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's administration is providing customers with $430 million in electric bill rate relief, a sum that the Democrat and his allies in the Legislature acknowledge is only a short-term solution for rising energy costs. The relief package includes $100 for all 3.9 million residential ratepayers in the state and another $150 for low- and moderate-income ratepayers. SLIMMED-DOWN GAS MEASURE — POLITICO's Marie J. French: Democratic lawmakers in New York are planning to include major changes to a gas transition bill that are aimed at addressing regional concerns and clearing the way for its passage. Planned amendments to the NY HEAT Act, which were obtained by POLITICO and are not yet final, include renaming the bill and allowing more flexibility for gas utilities to opt out of the transition. Limits on gas utilities expanding their service territory and language on a 6 percent affordability goal are also on the chopping block. 'There's still some changes as we speak,' said Democratic Sen. Liz Krueger, who's sponsoring the bill. SENATE MOVES MORE UTILITY BILLS: New York Senate Democrats passed another handful of utility measures aimed at reining in rate increases and expanding customer protections on Thursday. The push reflects mounting frustration with rate hikes, as another utility is expected to file a proposed increase in the coming months and several are pending before the Public Service Commission. The bills join several others on utility regulation the Senate passed in January that haven't moved in the Assembly. Only one from that earlier tranche is headed to the governor's desk — Sen. Michelle Hinchey's and Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson's measure to limit and standardize estimated billing by utilities. The package slated for passage on Thursday includes Sen. Leroy Comrie's expanded requirement for utilities to notify customers of proposed rate hikes. Currently, utilities are required to publish in local newspapers and send notices in bills. The Department of Public Service also posts on their website. This would require utilities to additionally text or email customers. That's moving in Assembly committees and is sponsored by Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, who is running for New York City mayor. The Senate also passed a bill allowing the commission to consider non-economic damages when penalizing utilities. Hinchey also shepherded through a measure to change the Public Service Commission by expanding it to eight members with another with consumer advocacy experience. An even number of commissioners raises the theoretical possibility of a tie vote. Her bill also bars utility employees from serving on the commission for two years. Hinchey also has a measure to require more reporting on planned capital expenditures by utilities, including specific details about projects. The rate case process includes substantial information about proposed utility capital spending, which is scrutinized by the DPS and other parties. That bill has already passed the Assembly and will head to the governor's desk. Sen. Shelly Mayer, who has slammed Con Ed's proposed rate hike, also advanced a bill to extend the time period for rate cases from 11 to 14 months. That could alleviate rate compression when utilities are entitled to recover revenues deferred during a lengthy settlement process. Mayer also proposed returning 100 percent of excess returns earned by utilities over their authorized return on equity to ratepayers. Currently, shareholders get to keep a portion while the rest is returned to customers. Policymakers view this as encouraging utilities to be as efficient as possible and preserving benefits for customers. Other bills advanced include notification requirements if customers exceed a certain cost of usage (S8062) and a 24/7 toll-free number to report outages, which utilities already maintain, according to the department (S6200). The package does little to address significant drivers of rate hikes cited by Public Service Commission members and utility officials including investments to maintain and upgrade the systems — in some cases driven by growing electrification supported by state policies — and local property taxes on new and existing infrastructure. Con Ed, the largest taxpayer in New York City, estimates that a third of customer bills go toward paying taxes. 'What we're saying is that we need transparency, we need accountability,' said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins. 'Until we get that, until we have the Public Service Commission work on consumers' behalf, not just listening to the utility, I think we'll be at a better point.' 'We're trying to save the planet as well as save access to utilities,' said Stewart-Cousins. Hinchey also noted that gas utilities are investing heavily in their systems, including expanding the system. 'We know a lot of this is also fossil fuel infrastructure,' she said. Mayer said a significant portion of Con Ed's proposed rate hike is improving their existing system, not moving to renewables. 'Obviously they need to upgrade their existing structure, but we're trying to strike a balance here with the investment in renewables at the same time,' she said. Utilities don't build renewable generation, but do have to upgrade their systems to accommodate growing amounts of distributed renewable energy and more electric demand from EVs and building heating. The PSC has also approved billions in transmission projects to support the climate law. Upstate United, a business group, criticized Senate Democrats for failing to acknowledge costs driven by the climate law. The group backs a bill sponsored by Comrie to break out costs from state policies on utility bills. ''While it may be politically convenient to obscure the cost of government mandates buried in a utility bill, what everyday New Yorkers need is a better explanation of the factors driving up the cost of energy supply and delivery. New Yorkers deserve transparency, not finger-pointing,' said Justin Wilcox, Upstate United's executive director. — Marie J. French ATLANTIC SHORES' 'RESET' — Atlantic Shores asked the Board of Public Utilities to terminate the formal project award it received in 2021. The offshore wind farm, a joint venture of Shell and French energy company EDF, was the first in the state to receive all the federal permits necessary to build but for several years it struggled to make its project pencil out, citing supply chain issues and inflation. A petition filed this week with the BPU blames the Trump administration for canceling a necessary permit and asks the state to considered the project canceled. But the company is not giving up on building a wind farm off the New Jersey coast and called the current era a 'reset period' after which it hopes a version of the project can be built. 'This filing marks the closing of a chapter, but not the end for Atlantic Shores,' CEO Joris Veldhoven said in a statement. The project was in trouble before Trump took office and then things got worse. Gov. Phil Murphy's administration decided in February not to provide financial backing to new offshore wind projects. Atlantic Shores had previously said it needed more money to make its project work; by closing that door, Murphy killed the project, a decision even some of the governor's environmental allies have questioned. Atlantic Shores' messaging contrasts with Danish energy giant Orsted's behavior in 2023, which was to abruptly kill two wind farms planned in the state and then try to get out of paying a fee for backing out of one of the projects. Atlantic Shores' arrangement with the state, which predated the one Orsted was fighting over, does not include a penalty for exiting. Indeed, it was inked in an era of exuberance about offshore wind that has proven at very least premature if not unfounded. As Atlantic Shores notes in its filing, every single offshore wind deal between 2019 and 2022 in New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts resulted in projects either being canceled or renegotiated. Even though the offshore wind industry is on shaky ground, Murphy still seems to be confident it will eventually happen. At an unrelated event on Thursday, the governor pointedly talked about the wind industry — where every project ever approved in New Jersey is dead or delayed — in the present tense. 'We have — still, I'm going to use the present tense because we haven't given up — we have the largest offshore wind program in America,' he said. — Ry Rivard REVENGE OF THE COWS: Republican lawmakers and dairy farmers are slamming what they call a 'crazy' idea to cap the number of cows allowed on dairy farms. The proposal, advanced by New York City Democrats and environmental groups, would prohibit new permits for dairy farms with more than 700 cows. 'We're going to force these folks out and force those cows to be relocated to other states,' said Republican state Sen. George Borrello, referring to the measure's potential fallout. Milk is big business in New York, which ranks fifth in the U.S. in production. Dairy is the largest part of the state's agricultural industry too, and the state is supporting new dairy processing facilities. But dairies have also been going out of business over the past decade, facing rising costs and thin margins. The number of cows in the state, meanwhile, hasn't dropped. Lawmakers and environmental groups supporting the bill, including Food and Water Watch and Third Act, say they want to protect family farms and the environment. 'These farms, known as CAFOs, prioritize profit over the well-being of animals and the health of our environment, cramming thousands of animals into confined spaces,' said Democratic Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, who's sponsoring the bill. CAFO stands for concentrated animal feeding operation. Assemblymember Chris Tague, a Republican from Schoharie, called it the 'most ridiculous bill' he's ever seen. Expanding dairy operations is often the only way for families to keep their operations financially viable, he said. The measure is also a non-starter for key upstate Democratic lawmakers. 'I am disappointed that a bill like this was introduced without consulting anyone involved in the dairy industry,' said Democratic Assemblymember Donna Lupardo, chair of the agriculture committee. 'These hard-working men and women are some of the best stewards of the land I know.' — Marie J. French ALL ELECTRIC EXEMPTION DEBATED: The 'reasonableness' of potential exemptions to New York's requirements barring fossil fuels in most new buildings is still being defined. The compromise on all-electric buildings, passed in 2023, required the Public Service Commission to decide how a utility could determine a building is exempt when 'electric service cannot be reasonably provided by the grid.' This caveat was key to getting utility buy-in and Assembly Democrats to sign off on the measure, but environmental advocates worried whether it would gut the effectiveness of the bill aimed at limiting the expansion of the gas system. Those worries are coming into sharper relief as advocates, utilities and others respond to the Department of Public Service's proposed exemption guidelines, which recommends an exemption if necessary grid upgrades are estimated to take more than 18 months longer than providing traditional gas and electric service. The law's mandate for buildings under seven stories is set to take effect at the beginning of next year. Environmental groups in comments filed Tuesday argue this 18-month exemption is too broad and not fully justified. The Environmental Defense Fund said the commission should instead consider the actual additional time beyond a customer's requested date of interconnection and require developers to use technology to reduce electricity demand that might drive longer timelines. 'Though it is important to allow utilities to maintain grid reliability, the Commission can adopt a reasonableness standard that is narrow in scope while ensuring stable grid capacity,' the group wrote in its comments. Gas-only utilities National Fuel, Corning and Liberty Utilities joined with the New York State Builders Association to say the state should also provide exemptions based on costs. If the cost of electric-only exceeds traditional gas and electric costs, then an exemption should be permitted, they argue. The utilities and builders cite concerns about the affordability and demand for housing. An 18-month delay is also too long, they argue. 'If timeline, cost and uncertainty of building in New York become too great, developers and builders may turn to other states where these issues are not present,' they warn. 'To help avoid these unintended but very real consequences, when determining reasonableness for purposes of the Grid Exemption the Commission should consider all relevant factors where full electrification could render a project infeasible, including cost burdens that would price homes out of the reach of New York households and timing concerns associated with the availability and installation of electric infrastructure and equipment.' The state's joint utilities — Con Edison, National Grid, Central Hudson and NYSEG/RG&E — support the 18-month criteria. They also ask that developers seeking an exemption bear all the costs of required studies. The joint utilities indicate a cost-based exemption would be difficult to implement given variation in costs across different utilities. It would also require evaluating costs of both types of hookups. 'Requiring new service requests to evaluate costs based on both all-electric connections and electric/fossil fuel connections would require more resources, extend project timelines, and increase costs,' the utilities wrote in their comments. There's no timeline for the commission to make a decision, although clarity will be needed before the end of the year. The state's building codes council has also not finalized the new requirements for the coming year. — Marie J. French PSE&G MOVES AHEAD — New Jersey's largest utility is rolling out billing changes aimed at protecting electric customers from worst-case scenarios caused by rising rates. PSE&G now won't shut off service to low-income and other qualified customers by extending existing winter shut-off protections to include summer months (now through the end of September). The company is also suspending reconnection fees. Both ideas were floated last month by Gov. Phil Murphy's office and don't require Board of Public Utilities approval. 'There is now widespread recognition that New Jersey needs more power generation to address the forecasted energy supply-demand imbalance,' PSE&G President Kim Hanemann said in a statement. 'PSE&G is not the cause of the 17 percent rise in electric rates, but we can support our customers by advancing critical solutions. These actions should help relieve a burden to families and communities just as the weather is getting warmer and electricity usage hits its peak. We encourage our customers to reach out to us if they are struggling to pay their bill so we can help them access the solutions available.' PSE&G and other utilities are still waiting for the BPU to take up a broader change that would cushion summer bill spikes by deferring parts of those bills and having customers pay them back throughout the year. The plan resembles existing 'level' billing options that customers can choose to get. All these measures are designed to help take the edge off the new rates that took effect Sunday and are expected to increase the average residential power bill by $25 per month — but more in the summer months for many customers. Republicans have blasted the deferred payment concept, first proposed by the BPU, as a political stunt to help Democrats when they face voters this fall. — Ry Rivard NYISO PUSHES GAS FOR RELIABILITY — POLITICO's Marie J. French: The state's grid operator has escalated its warnings that new renewables aren't coming online fast enough to meet growing energy demand, explicitly backing additional fossil fuel plants to keep the lights on. The New York Independent System Operator has for years warned about shrinking reliability margins — the cushion of available generation to keep ACs humming and factories running. With new economic development projects, data centers and other large loads hooking up to the grid, those warnings have taken on new urgency. 'We must consider all options for investing in the grid to provide for reliability and certainty at the most efficient cost,' wrote NYISO President and CEO Rich Dewey in the annual Power Trends report released Monday.
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Minnesota Legislature convenes today for a 21-hour special session. Here's what they plan to do.
May 15, 2025 at the Minnesota State Capitol. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer) Minnesota Lawmakers will gavel in at 10 a.m. Monday to begin a 21-hour-long mad dash to pass bills that fund state government for the next two years, including everything from schools to parks to services for people with disabilities. The Legislature adjourned on May 19 without finishing a budget, which is required to avoid a partial state government shutdown on July 1. Democrats and Republicans share control of the House, while Democrats hold a one-seat majority in the Senate, so every bill has to be bipartisan. This has proven to be difficult. Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders have been negotiating a budget agreement behind closed doors for the past few weeks and blew through several self-imposed deadlines. On May 15, Walz and leaders announced a budget deal, but it fell apart within minutes of its announcement. Democratic House and Senate members banged on the doors of the press conference, decrying the leaders' agreement to strip state-subsidized health insurance from undocumented adults. Walz and legislative leaders have agreed to a one-day special session in which they need to pass 14 mostly budget-related bills. The special session agreement suggests that leaders have whipped enough votes for the bills to pass. Lawmakers don't have a limit on how long they can speak on the floor for each bill, making it harder to contain the special session to one day. Here's an overview of the larger — and more contentious — issues included in the bills: A rollback of undocumented adults' eligibility in MinnesotaCare, the state's subsidized health insurance program for the working poor. A Department of Human Services budget bill that will cut $270 million over the next two years, mostly from nursing homes and home care programs. A commerce and consumer protection budget and policy bill, which includes the creation of an ombudsperson to mediate disputes between homeowners and their HOAs. An education budget bill that will hold K-12 funding steady for the next two years. It doesn't touch existing subsidies for private schools, a win for the GOP. A $700 million infrastructure package that mostly focuses on asset preservation. Infrastructure packages are known around the Capitol as a 'bonding bill' because they use borrowed money, requiring a three-fifths supermajority — i.e., robust bipartisan support — to pass. A repeal of aid generated from the tax on legal cannabis sales to local government and counties. This cut is expected to generate around $22 million over the next two years for Minnesota's general fund but is irking local governments. Increasing the sales tax on cannabis from 10% to 15%. Cannabis was legalized in 2023 but the state has yet to create a fully functioning legal marijuana market. Repealing an exemption on electricity used by data centers in Minnesota, which is expected to generate $140 million in revenue in the next four years. Capping the maximum payroll tax for the state's new paid leave program, which is scheduled to launch in January. The Legislature will reduce the payroll tax cap from 1.2% to 1.1%. The cap is moot for now; the state says the program will begin next year with a 0.88% payroll tax, which will be split between workers and their employer. Minor changes to the state's earned sick and safe time law that gives employers and their allies in the Senate a small victory. Lawmakers also plan to pass budget bills on health, children and families, higher education, energy, environment and natural resources.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Small colleges pursue endowment tax carveouts
Presented by National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities THE TAXMAN COMETH — The country's small, private liberal arts colleges are speaking out about what they want from the Senate's anticipated take on a revised college endowment tax. — College presidents, particularly those in states whose lawmakers work on the Senate's finance committee, of course would rather have Congress make no changes to the existing 1.4 percent tax on university investment income first adopted to finance President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts. — Another idea floated by a coalition of 24 small colleges in 17 states: Spare schools that enroll fewer students. — 'Have a different tax rate for schools under 5,000 students,' Anne Harris, the president of Grinnell College in Iowa, told your host of the coalition's proposals. 'That gets you to make that bright line of distinction between the financial model of a large research institution and the financial model of a small, liberal arts college.' — More complex proposals would be based on the percentage of annual school endowment distributions devoted to student financial aid — insulating schools that use more of their endowments on student aid from higher tax rates. Institutions have also proposed an exemption for schools with a religious affiliation. — Such ideas could also base endowment tax rates on the number of students who pay full tuition and favor schools with high proportions of students who are eligible for Pell Grants. The Wall Street Journal reported some of the country's wealthiest schools are also supporting a requirement to distribute 5 percent of their endowments' value annually. — 'The most fundamental perspective we're trying to offer is that the endowment tax is a burden on students,' said Douglas Hicks, the president of Davidson College in North Carolina. 'So, our first position is to not increase the endowment tax for anyone.' — Hicks added: 'Schools that are meeting those goals of affordability, low indebtedness, high achievement, and high graduation rates should receive breaks from this tax.' — The small schools are working with the OGR government relations firm, which was hired by the American Council on Education to lobby on endowment tax issues and is serving as a coordinator for the individual work of the coalition's members. Some schools have also hired their own lobbyists, including Davidson College, which is working with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. — 'This is a coalition that's nationwide, that's being represented by both Democratic and Republican senators and Congress folks — and who have very different communities that they're operating within,' said Harris, who said she has spoken with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) about the issue. — Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and other senators are pushing to reduce the proposed tax hike on university endowment earnings included in the Republican megabill, POLITICO's Brian Faler reported Thursday. Lankford declined to discuss details, saying 'we don't have consensus,' though he expressed confidence they would reach an agreement. IT'S MONDAY, JUNE 9. WELCOME TO WEEKLY EDUCATION. Russ Vought, the two-time director of the Office of Management and Budget, is just hitting his stride as his agenda to fundamentally remake government from the ground up remains in high gear. Reach out with tips to today's host at jperez@ and also my colleagues Becca Carballo (rcarballo@ Bianca Quilantan (bquilantan@ and Mackenzie Wilkes (mwilkes@ Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. Higher Education CAUGHT IN A VISE — President Donald Trump's campaign against two of the planet's best-known universities is laying bare just how unprepared academia was to confront a hostile White House. — Schools never imagined facing an administration so willing to exercise government power so quickly — targeting the research funding, tax-exempt status, foreign student enrollment and financial aid eligibility schools need to function. — 'Perhaps it's a failure of imagination on the part of universities,' Lee Bollinger, the former president of Columbia University, told your host. 'It feels now like there has been a naïveté on the part of universities. There's been no planning for this kind of thing.' — That leaves schools right where the president wants them. — Even as Ivy League schools, research institutions, and college trade associations try to resist Trump's attacks in court, campus leaders are starting to accept they face only difficult choices: negotiate with the government, mount a painful legal and political fight, or simply try to stay out of sight. — 'Every school has had an option to correct course and work with the administration, or stand firm in their violations of the law,' a senior White House official told your host. 'They have an option, they know very well what to do.' — The real question, according to Bollinger, is how far the White House will go and how much resistance the schools are willing to put up. — 'The power of government is so immense that if they want to destroy institutions, they can,' he said. 'What you do in that kind of environment is you stand on principle.' NCAA NEW ERA, OLD PROBLEMS — Welcome to the new, professionalized era of college sports. — U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken gave her final approval on Friday to a landmark legal settlement on college athlete pay that will rewrite the rules of the industry — and open a new period of congressional lobbying and litigation. — Athletic leaders will address the media today to discuss a newly-established College Sports Commission — an organization led by a longtime Major League Baseball executive — that will be responsible for implementing the settlement's terms on player revenue sharing, endorsement deals, and roster limits. Schools are racing to meet a set of looming deadlines needed to implement the deal in time for the coming academic term. — But again: The transformative settlement does not grant college overseers their desired protection from antitrust laws, nor does it ban classifying athletes as employees, or stop conflicting state laws. Expect more pressure from schools on Congress in the weeks ahead, NCAA President Charlie Baker said Friday. — 'The NCAA and college sports leaders have made tremendous, positive change in recent years, but only Congress can address these issues,' Baker said in a letter to schools. — A House commerce subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing Thursday to discuss the latest conservative-led legislative proposal for the industry. Education Department BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO — The Education Department is trying to determine if employees it decided to terminate have accepted other jobs in recent weeks. — The agency is setting out plans to 'reintegrate' workers cut during a massive reduction in force that sparked a federal court injunction that the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court on Friday. — Employees who were placed on administrative leave in March will not be formally separated from the department as planned this week, according to an email to workers sent Friday by the department's top human resources officer, your host reports. — Part of the plan also includes finding out how many employees are left to bring back to work. — The agency asked affected employees to voluntarily disclose any 'current outside employment or offers' they may have accepted since March, when the Trump administration announced it was cutting roughly half of the department's workforce. — Friday's announcement was prompted by a federal judge's order last month to block the administration from firing department workers, after ruling the announced terminations were a thinly veiled effort to dismantle the entire Education Department without congressional approval. — The Trump administration is pressing the Supreme Court for approval to carry out the firings. — 'We have all expectations to believe we'll be successful there, but until then we're complying with the court's ruling and abiding by the law,' department spokesperson Madi Biedermann told POLITICO. NEW HIRES — Meanwhile, a new set of political appointees are headed to the department. — Lindsey Burke, until now The Heritage Foundation's top education policy official, was tapped to serve as the department's deputy chief of staff for policy and programs. — Jeffrey Andrade, a former senior Republican staffer for the House education committee, will serve as a deputy assistant secretary for policy in the department's Office of Postsecondary Education. — Christopher McCaghren, who served as a department official during the first Trump administration, will be the agency's deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs. — Nicholas 'Nick' Moore, Alabama's workforce office director under Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, will serve as the department's deputy assistant secretary for career, technical, and adult education. — Jason Delisle, a widely-known expert on higher education finance and policy, will be the chief economist and a senior adviser, in the department's undersecretary office. Office of the Under Secretary. — Casey K. Sacks, a former department deputy assistant secretary for community colleges, will be a senior policy adviser on workforce and AI issues. — Meir Katz, a former senior counsel in the department's civil rights office, will be a senior civil rights adviser. Syllabus — Chinese students want an American education less than they used to: The Economist — The maker of ChatGPT plans to embed its tools in every facet of campus life: The New York Times — State Department tells consulates to resume processing Harvard visas: The Washington Post — College students are using 'no contact orders' to block each other in real life: The Wall Street Journal — Trump's NIH budget plan would make competing for grants much harder: POLITICO Pro
