Nathan Daschle

📰 🚨 💷 Localis responds to Spending Review 2025 💷🚨📰 https://lnkd.in/emZ6smxX Local government and the local state will take some initial heart from the central thrust of the spending review, especially the promised land of multi-year settlements, improved needs assessments and simplified funding landscape to return local government to a sustainable financial position. This will provide the sector with greater certainty in long-term financial planning it has been yearning for. Looking at the settlement itself, attention must focus on the implications of day-to-day revenue expenditure on frontline services, the promise of a £113bn uplift in capital expenditure for regional infrastructure projects and how changes to welfare provision through annual managed expenditure (AME) totals will impact localities. The review promises an increase in funding available for adult social care of over £4 billion in 2028-29 compared to this year, but until we have some fix on long-term funding of social care upon completion of Dame Louise Casey’s review, we will have to reserve judgment on the sustainability of local public services. Certainty is a virtue but does not in itself plug the funding gap local government finance directors must hope to close nor the expectation gap of residents paying more each year in council tax for fewer visible benefits. Indirectly, revenue limitations on other departmental areas such criminal justice and police, flood defences and transport, will also have a direct knock-on impact on place across the spending review period. Angela Rayner has secured a big win for affordable and social housing with a £39bn funding boost over the next decade. The quantum is not big enough on its own to make the sort of generational shift in housing provision we saw in the immediate post war era, but in the circumstances, and with an extra £10bn for financial investments through Homes England to crowd in private investment, it is a highly creditable bit of spending review negotiating by MHCLG. Beyond this, and as Localis’s recent report ‘New Stable’ suggested, there is a similar amount available from surpluses in the Local Government Pension Scheme, some of which could be safely directed to invest in critical local and regional infrastructure, which should by rights also include affordable housing. In respect of the new changes to the Treasury ‘Green Book’ and place-based investment cases, again we will have to pay attention to how many billions of projected capital expenditure escape from the pages and into the wild to help pump up and provide long-neglected regional infrastructure, energy and housing schemes. The revised ‘Green Book’ will favour investment in particular parts of the country rather than where it is easiest to secure return on investment, and is potentially bad news for place leaders in London and the greater South East.

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Lobbying terminology can be confusing when you're just starting out, but knowing these terms helps you stay compliant across all 50 states!

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Lobbying terminology can be confusing when you're just starting out, but knowing these terms helps you stay compliant across all 50 states.

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If you want a better handle on what is happening right now between Anthropic and the Department of Defense, follow the detailed reporting from Madison Alder at FedScoop.  The latest, below. 

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Institutions Should Prepare Now for Unprecedented OMB Shutdown Guidance As the funding deadline looms and the political climate is looking ripe for a government shutdown, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has instructed agencies to prepare not only for furloughs, but also for reductions-in-force (RIFs): • When programs lose discretionary funding on Oct. 1, • When no alternative funding is available, or • When programs are not aligned with stated priorities. This is a break from past practice. The inclusion of a “priority alignment” test could affect federal research programs, universities, and grantees in new and lasting ways. What institutions can do now: • Assess exposure: Map out which grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements may fall into one of the three categories. • Prepare continuity plans: Identify bridge funding options, internal reserves, or collaborative supports that could sustain critical work. •Communicate early: Inform staff, partners, and stakeholders about possible scenarios to reduce uncertainty. • Document impact: Keep records of affected projects and staff to support advocacy and future funding restoration. If a shutdown happens, it may not look like those we’ve seen before. Institutions that prepare today will be in a stronger position to manage risks and protect their mission. ➡️ DM me here if you’d like to discuss strategies for assessing your risk exposure and positioning your institution for continuity. #GovernmentShutdown #OMB #FederalFunding #ResearchFunding #PublicPolicy

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This news is a win-win for city and state governments, STARs, and the communities they serve. 👏🏾 The 15 state and local public sector employers joining this cohort are sending a clear message to their constituents: if you can do the job, you can get the job. Cities and states engaged in this work can become more agile, skills-first employers of choice, and build an economy that works for emerging industries and STARs - who typically represent half of the region's skilled workforce.

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Carolina Journal's Donna King asks: Should NC reform its primary system? The case to return to the 40% threshold of years ago. https://lnkd.in/eXPTiYCa

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I occasionally notice legislative policy tools (bill trackers, toolkits, and more) that ask users to name the “region” they want to influence. I get the temptation to cordon off “the northeast” or “western part of the state” or what have you. The problem is that doesn’t square with reality. Policy maps to jurisdiction, not region. I’m talking federal, state, agencies, and municipalities. People have to pass and manage the policy. They work in governments, not general locales. “Region” just obscures the target, and worse, can undercut policy goals. Every jurisdiction is its own precious pearl, idiosyncratic, and contextualized. If your region is the Midwest, good luck making a policy agenda that fits and works for, say, Illinois and Indiana at the same time. They’re quite different. Or: If you see such a policy agenda for said region, it’s likely more a wishlist with no realistic expectation of legislative passage. You might, nevertheless, be compelled to cover or speak of policy per a region for other reasons. Cool, cool. In that case, I might recommend just breaking it down per each jurisdiction within that region, then share trends (risks and opportunities) that span them. (It might be worth asking whether the “region” makes sense for your goals, though. E.g., does it make sense to cover “the south” or to cover “big states” for whatever it is you’re up to.) Or: just say no thank you, and share this post with the requester. 

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Lobbying terminology can be confusing when you're just starting out, but knowing these terms helps you stay compliant across all 50 states 📚

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Public policy decisions rarely occur in isolation. They emerge from an ecosystem of elected officials, agencies, industry stakeholders, community leaders, and the broader public—all evaluating issues through different lenses and priorities. Understanding that ecosystem is often as important as understanding the policy itself. Effective government affairs work requires more than monitoring legislation. It involves listening carefully, identifying where interests align, anticipating where concerns may arise, and helping decision-makers evaluate policy in a practical, informed way. Experience across multiple levels of government has reinforced a simple lesson: durable policy outcomes tend to come from thoughtful engagement and a clear understanding of how decisions affect the people and institutions involved. #PublicPolicy #GovernmentAffairs #Leadership #Texas Texas Governmental Affairs, LLC

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Digital tools change policy influence, but they're just the start. At EPIC Policy Group, we pair tech with legislative expertise for precise advocacy that gets results. The right tools + right expertise = success. #epicpolicy Legible AI is a great tool. Check them out.

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Great update here from my colleague Kimberly Miller on what states are doing to regulate the use of AI-created simulations of an individual’s voice or likeness, known as "digital replicas."

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Commerce Secretary Lutnick's answers to the Senate Appropriations Committee's Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee on changes to Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) program should chill every person who cares about getting robust, affordable and future-proof broadband to rural America. While he was short on substantive specifics, we know that the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) will "soon" issue another Notice of Funding Opportunity and that states will have 90 days to respond. The NOFO will demand technology neutrality, putting satellite on an equal footing with fiber (writing language about "priority broadband projects" out of the bipartisan infrastructure law), and that NTIA wil approve those state plans that are most "efficient" and "cost-effective." Lutnick promised that the BEAD money would be disbursed by the end of 2025. We should also expect that requirements for affordable service, labor requirements and climate resiliency will be either eliminated or weakened. What this probably means is that most states will have to re-write their grant proposals and rerun their grant programs from scratch, and then NTIA will have to approve them. This makes disbursement in 7 months largely a fantasy. When he was a Commissioner, FCC Chair Brendan Carr was fond of talking about the "Biden BEAD clock," counting the number of days from the time the law was passed to show that not a dollar had been spent on building broadband networks. This of course was largely due to the numerous requirements that *Congress* placed in the law for the BEAD program, but no matter. Trump and Lutnick now own the program, and the clock is already at 135 days and counting. PS - I've watched and testified at many hearings, and have never seen a witness so arrogant and argumentative to everyone, regardless of party, as Howard Lutnick. But I guess being polite and deferential to Senators is quaint these days. Watch for yourself and see if you agree. https://lnkd.in/e9MDh-G9

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New CT bill would exempt ALPR data from FOIA: https://lnkd.in/dfpqddnx This is a very bad move for transparency. The bill specifically calls out sharing of ALPR data with ICE and other federal agencies, which was rumored to be one of the reasons lawmakers were bringing it forward. Government bad actors abusing data sharing is a real concern. But abuses can be reformed without permanently putting public information outside the scope of public scrutiny, which is what will happen if this passes. Here in CT and elsewhere, journalists have exposed extremely concerning practices of Flock Safety and other ALPR companies through public records requests. I'm currently fighting Manchester Police Department for access to their ALPR data. The public has a right to know what information is being collected through dragnet surveillance and how it's being used. This bill would make that watchdog function that journalists provide impossible. It might stop information from being shared with bad government actors, but it will also eradicate public oversight.

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Earlier this week, our American Oversight team, alongside Democracy Forward, secured a temporary restraining order from Judge Cobb on behalf of more than a dozen members of Congress – affirming their right to access ICE detention facilities and again preventing DHS policies that restrict oversight. It’s worth stating plainly - unscheduled oversight visits are far more effective than scheduled ones, because they limit an agency’s (or contractor’s) ability to control what picture overseers get. (A lesson I learned time and time again while at Project On Government Oversight.) When visits are scheduled in advance, agencies can manipulate conditions, staff, and documentation to present a version of compliance that may bear little resemblance to day-to-day reality. Unannounced oversight evens the playing field. Efforts to narrow or choreograph oversight should concern anyone who cares about accountability. Transparency doesn’t solve every problem, but restricting it almost always makes those problems harder to confront. That’s why we push back, to protect the very basic conditions that make accountability possible in the first place.

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President's FY26 Budget Proposal cuts $167 million for SBA entrepreneurial development programs; "ends 15 specialized and duplicative programs, leaving only the Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) program." Eliminated programs include:  🚫 Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) 🚫 SCORE 🚫 State Trade Expansion Program (STEP) 🚫 Veterans Business Outreach Centers (VBOCs) +++++ 💲 Does include a "$10 million increase to ensure there is not a disruption in business technical assistance services for veteran-owned small businesses." View budget details https://lnkd.in/gCqcw_nD #SmallBiz

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It's the Oligarch playbook: 1. Weaken public institutions through underfunding. 2. Continue underfunding until shortcomings become visible, and then claim the public institutions are "ineffective". 3. Use that claim to battle any attempt to reinvest in those institutions by taxing the uber-rich. 4. Privatize things like healthcare, education, infrastructure, etc into profit centers instead of public services (and, of course, pay no taxes on these new sources of wealth). The Oligarch class doesn't care what it does to Canada (despite their claims about wanting to unlock the economy or encourage innovation or whatever their line of the day is). They only care whether it lines their pockets. Any well intentioned political leader, media outlet, or citizen should treat them like the self-serving pariahs they are.

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Check out these three new model policies on artificial intelligence below that were just approved by the American Legislative Exchange Council as a framework to help state and federal lawmakers protect consumers from genuine threats, spur tech innovation outside of Silicon Valley, and respect fundamental liberties when it comes to AI. Some of these common-sense ideas are already gaining traction in the states! 1) Technology-Neutral Anti-Discrimination Clarification Act - Very simply clarifies that existing state civil rights and consumer protection statutes that prohibit discrimination against protected characteristics still apply no matter which technology is used - whether it's AI, machine learning, or a future technology. AI does not create a free pass for illegal conduct that existing law already prohibits. 2) Right to Compute - Expands state constitutional property rights to include the lawful use of technological tools and computational resources. Any government restrictions on the lawful use of AI and technological tools must therefore be narrowly tailored and demonstrably necessary to fulfill a compelling government interest. 3) Artificial Intelligence Tax Non-Discrimination Act - Prohibits discriminatory tax measures that unfairly target artificial intelligence, algorithms, and automated decision systems. This wouldn't ban any AI taxation, but prevents punitive taxes that single out end-use AI-related activities for differential treatment in the tax code not applicable to comparable technology sectors.

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