          |
February 08, 2007New York May Ban iPods While Crossing Street"New Yorkers who blithely cross the street listening to an iPod or talking on a cell phone could soon face a $100 fine.New York State Sen. Carl Kruger says three pedestrians in his Brooklyn district have been killed since September upon stepping into traffic while distracted by an electronic device. In one case bystanders screamed 'watch out' to no avail. Kruger says he will introduce legislation on Wednesday to ban the use of gadgets such as Blackberry devices and video games while crossing the street. 'Government has an obligation to protect its citizenry,' Kruger said in a telephone interview from Albany, the state capital. 'This electronic gadgetry is reaching the point where it's becoming not only endemic but it's creating an atmosphere where we have a major public safety crisis at hand.' Tech-consuming New Yorkers trudge to work on sidewalks and subways like an army of drones, appearing to talk to themselves on wireless devices or swaying to seemingly silent tunes. 'I'm not trying to intrude on that,' Kruger said. 'But what's happening is when they're tuning into their iPod or Blackberry or cell phone or video game, they're walking into speeding buses and moving automobiles. It's becoming a nationwide problem.'" Related from the Joint Center: The Impact of Driver Cell Phone Use on Accidents Robert W. Hahn, James E. Prieger Posted by the Joint Center on February 08, 2007 Bush Proposes New Fuel Economy Rules"The Bush administration proposed changing fuel economy standards for passenger cars Wednesday, starting a process that will bring close scrutiny from automakers, environmental groups and key members of Congress.The legislation would give the administration the ability to change the federal fuel efficiency system for passenger cars, which currently requires an automaker's fleet to have an average of 27.5 miles per gallon. President Bush was unsuccessful last year in seeking similar changes to the passenger car system, which has remained virtually unchanged for the past two decades. The administration wants to change the system to bring more flexibility and take into account the vehicle's attributes, such as its size. The approach would be similar to recent reforms to fuel efficiency rules for pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans, which sets standards based on the vehicle's dimensions. The draft legislation includes the creation of a 'credit trading' program, which would allow automakers the ability to buy credits from competitors to meet the new standards. The concept, which has received a frosty reception from the industry, would likely favor Japanese automakers such as Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., which have higher fleetwide fuel economy levels. The White House has outlined plans to reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent by 2017 by increasing alternative fuels and reforming fuel economy standards. The Bush administration has called for a 4 percent annual increase on gas-mileage requirements. Some members of Congress have been reluctant to give the Bush administration the right to change the system. Many lawmakers have called for a specific numerical increase in the fuel efficiency standards." Related from the Joint Center: Do Regulations Requiring Light Trucks To Be More Fuel Efficient Make Economic Sense? An Evaluation of NHTSA's Proposed Standards Randall Lutter, Troy Kravitz The Economics of CAFE Reconsidered: A Response to CAFE Critics and A Case for Fuel Economy Standards David Gerard, Lester B. Lave Posted by the Joint Center on February 08, 2007 February 06, 2007Orbiting Junk, Once a Nuissance, Is Now a Threat"For decades, space experts have worried that a speeding bit of orbital debris might one day smash a large spacecraft into hundreds of pieces and start a chain reaction, a slow cascade of collisions that would expand for centuries, spreading chaos through the heavens.In the last decade or so, as scientists came to agree that the number of objects in orbit had surpassed a critical mass -- or, in their terms, the critical spatial density, the point at which a chain reaction becomes inevitable -- they grew more anxious. Early this year, after a half-century of growth, the federal list of detectable objects (four inches wide or larger) reached 10,000, including dead satellites, spent rocket stages, a camera, a hand tool and junkyards of whirling debris left over from chance explosions and destructive tests. Now, experts say, China's test on Jan. 11 of an antisatellite rocket that shattered an old satellite into hundreds of large fragments means the chain reaction will most likely start sooner. If their predictions are right, the cascade could put billions of dollars' worth of advanced satellites at risk and eventually threaten to limit humanity's reach for the stars. Federal and private experts say that early estimates of 800 pieces of detectable debris from the shattering of the satellite will grow to nearly 1,000 as observations continue by tracking radars and space cameras. At either number, it is the worst such episode in space history." "Geoffrey E. Forden, an arms expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is analyzing the Chinese satellite debris, said China perhaps failed to realize the magnitude of the test's indirect hazards." Related from the Joint Center: Debris in Space Bruce Berkowitz Posted by the Joint Center on February 06, 2007 Moving Toward Greater Drug Safety"The Food and Drug Administration is making encouraging moves to strengthen its regulation of drugs that are already on the market. But the changes fall far short of what's needed to protect millions of unsuspecting patients whose adverse effects may show up only after years of use.The agency has traditionally focused on the drug-approval process to determine if a drug is safe and effective. Unfortunately, by that time a drug has typically been tested in only a few hundred or a few thousand patients -- too few for many kinds of adverse effects to become apparent. Once the drug is being used by millions, the agency has limited powers to halt sales that begin to look risky. Last September, the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, issued a report decrying the big imbalance between premarketing and postmarketing regulation. The report, which had been requested by the F.D.A., made some 25 recommendations for strengthening the agency. The F.D.A had already been moving to strengthen its safety assessments but now has developed a more comprehensive approach. One notable venture is a pilot program to assess the safety of a few breakthrough drugs about 18 months after they are marketed. The F.D.A. will collaborate with the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and other groups to track drugs in use. It will publish results on its Web site. Such steps should greatly improve the agency's ability to monitor the use of drugs in the real world. Even so, Congress needs to give the agency more money and more teeth: including explicit powers to impose conditions on drugs that begin to look risky, to require additional testing and even to yank drugs from the market." Related from the Joint Center: FDA New Drug Approval Times, Prescription Drug User Fees, and R & D Spending John Vernon, Joseph H. Golec, Randall Lutter, Clark Nardinelli Prescription Drug User Fee Acts Generate Significant Net Benefits John A. Vernon Posted by the Joint Center on February 06, 2007 January 31, 2007Bush Directive Increases Sway on Regulation"President Bush has signed a directive that gives the White House much greater control over the rules and policy statements that the government develops to protect public health, safety, the environment, civil rights and privacy.In an executive order published last week in the Federal Register, Mr. Bush said that each agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents providing guidance to regulated industries. The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the benefits of new rules and to make sure the agencies carry out the president's priorities. This strengthens the hand of the White House in shaping rules that have, in the past, often been generated by civil servants and scientific experts. It suggests that the administration still has ways to exert its power after the takeover of Congress by the Democrats. The White House said the executive order was not meant to rein in any one agency. But business executives and consumer advocates said the administration was particularly concerned about rules and guidance issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In an interview on Monday, Jeffrey A. Rosen, general counsel at the White House Office of Management and Budget, said, 'This is a classic good-government measure that will make federal agencies more open and accountable.' Business groups welcomed the executive order, saying it had the potential to reduce what they saw as the burden of federal regulations. This burden is of great concern to many groups, including small businesses, that have given strong political and financial backing to Mr. Bush. Consumer, labor and environmental groups denounced the executive order, saying it gave too much control to the White House and would hinder agencies' efforts to protect the public." Related from the Joint Center: An Analysis of the Ninth Government Report on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations Robert W. Hahn, Robert E. Litan Posted by the Joint Center on January 31, 2007 Lawmakers Push for Bank Ownership Limits"A group of House lawmakers on Monday renewed a push for legislation that would block commercial companies like Wal-Mart and Home Depot from owning a special sort of bank that has been proliferating in recent years.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s six-month halt on new approvals of companies' applications to establish or acquire the banks known as industrial loan corporations ends Wednesday, and the agency's directors are meeting that day to consider whether to extend it, lift it or take other action. Extending the moratorium -- at least for ownership by commercial, rather than financial, companies -- would give the new Congress a chance to consider the legislation. The House bill is sponsored by Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Paul Gillmor, an Ohio Republican. Similar legislation passed the House overwhelmingly last year, but has stalled in the Senate. This year, with Democrats in the controlling majority in the Senate as well as the House, proponents believe prospects for congressional passage are stronger for legislation to close what they see as a loophole in banking regulation. Current laws prohibit the mixing of banking and commerce, but an exception is made for the industrial loan corporations, or ILCs, allowing commercial companies to own a federally insured bank. There are now 61 ILCs with a total of about $141 billion in assets and $98 billion in deposits. Thirty-three are based in Utah, one of only seven states that grant charters for such banks. 'What had once been a minor exception is threatening to foster an unequal, parallel banking system with hundreds of billions of dollars in...deposits,' Gillmor said in a statement Monday. Last July, the FDIC imposed the six-month halt on new approvals after nearly 100 members of Congress from both parties asked the agency to give lawmakers a chance to debate the legislation. Under the moratorium, the FDIC has not made any final decisions on applications for ILCs or for changes in control of existing ones and has not accepted new applications -- giving it time to consider whether changes in law or regulations are needed with respect to the banks." Related from the Joint Center: Party Influence in Congress and the Economy Erik Snowberg, Justin Wolfers, Eric Zitzewitz Posted by the Joint Center on January 31, 2007 |
