The NASCIO Voices podcast on March 12 from the National Association of State Chief Information Officers focuses on a new publication from NASCIO on ways to improve RFP responses. Waldo Jaquith with the US Digital Response joins the podcast to discuss the new joint publication, Improving RFPs with User Research How “Summary Sheets” Can Improve Solicitations. According to NASCIO, “NASCIO and U.S. Digital Response collaborated to improve state technology RFPs by creating a “summary sheet” for software solicitations. The research showed that a well-designed summary sheet improved vendors’ ability to evaluate RFPs quickly and efficiently, reducing the time spent on unsuitable proposals.”
Amid the mass reduction of the federal workforce by the Trump administration, some states hope to recruit those federal workers. According to Governing on March 13, states still struggle to fill the many job vacancies that rose during the pandemic. In the last several weeks, some states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Hawaii, launched campaigns to recruit fired federal workers for state government jobs. For example, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order this month to create an “awareness and recruitment campaign” to entice these federal employees to pursue state employment. The order directed the Office of Administration to view their federal work experience as equivalent to state work experience. “We need to look at this as an opportunity to bring folks on board that have the expertise that we need,” says Neil Weaver, Pennsylvania’s secretary of administration.
Wisconsin ranks number 21 overall for all states and Puerto Rico in the 2024 State Occupational Licensing Index from the Archbridge Institute and the Knee Regulatory Research Center; the score places the state 21st among states for the highest occupational licensing burden. Besides the overall ranking, the report also features a state profile ranking that puts states in one of five quintiles. Wisconsin ranks three in the quintile system, with one the “most occupational licensing” and five the “least occupational licensing.” The quintile system reviews several factors, including barriers and licenses, along with universal recognition reforms. The licensing index, released in August, contains information on 284 occupations.
Other overall rankings include New Mexico at number 22.
See a listing of all state rankings in the latest edition of the State Occupational Licensing Index.
Oregon appeals court rules in favor of voter-approved gun control law Measure 114
Oregon’s second-highest court ruled in favor of Measure 114, the voter-approved gun control law, on March 12, potentially allowing the measure to take effect after years of being stalled due to a Harney County judge’s decision.
Is professional licensing a racket?
Freakonomics Radio talks to author Rebecca Allensworth about her new book, The Licensing Racket: How We Decide Who Is Allowed to Work, and Why It Goes Wrong; she calls licensing boards “a thicket of self-dealing and ineptitude” and says they fail to protect the public.
