Progress in 2019: A Year of Collaborative Work

Innovative Fishing Gear

In September, the Pacific Fishery Management Council unanimously decided to authorize deep-set buoy gear for use by California’s swordfish fleet as an alternative to indiscriminate large-mesh drift gillnets, which are suspended near the surface and kill and injure more whales, dolphins, and porpoises on the U.S. West Coast than all other types of commercial fishing gear combined. Deep-set buoy gear is an innovative method that drops hooks deep into the water—as far down as 1,200 feet—to where swordfish typically feed, then uses a strike indicator to relay when a fish is on the line. This promotes catching mainly the targeted species—swordfish—and also allows for any bycatch to be released more quickly. The gear has undergone more than eight years of research and testing, and
Pew helped to fund its development.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

• The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
• The Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation

Opioid Treatment

Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is the proven most effective intervention for patients with opioid use disorder, combining any of three Food and Drug Administration-approved medicines with behavioral health therapy. But it isn’t always available due to a lack of qualified providers, limited funding, or available resources. Pew has been working to prioritize MAT and expand access to it across the country. Last January, after a Pew study showed just 46 percent of state-licensed drug treatment slots in Philadelphia offered MAT, the city announced all 80 residential drug treatment programs would offer the treatment within a year. Delaware and Louisiana, after working with Pew to assess how to better expand access to evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder, approved bills to increase the number of providers offering MAT, boost the medications’ availability in residential treatment facilities, and encourage correctional facilities to offer these medications as well.

Flood-Prepared Communities

After enduring multiple floods in recent years, including those from Hurricane Harvey which inundated Houston and its suburbs, Texas lawmakers and Governor Greg Abbott in June enacted new legislation making the Lone Star State a national leader in planning for future floods—and investment in how to mitigate them. Pew’s flood preparedness team and state fiscal health project helped build support for two key bills that require Texas policymakers to develop the state’s first flood plan, using watershed-based strategies, and to set aside $800 million for mitigation, which is almost three times the amount the federal government appropriated in 2019 for those efforts for the entire nation.

Chilean Conservation

Made up of fjords, forests, wetlands, waters, and towering mountain peaks, Chile’s Kawésqar National Park and Kawésqar National Reserve are spread across southwestern Patagonia. In January, the Chilean government created these new protected areas, which total more than 13 million acres, furthering its reputation as a world leader in conservation. Pew, working with partners and local organizations, is seeking long-term protection of Patagonia, one of the world’s last largely intact natural areas.

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

• The J. M. Kaplan Fund

Retirement Savings

Pew research determined that only 53 percent of small- to mid-sized businesses offer a retirement plan. The analysis from Pew, which is studying the challenges and opportunities for increasing retirement saving, also showed that 37 percent of those small businesses cited cost as the reason. In July, the U.S. Department of Labor cited those findings when it issued a rule making it easier for small private-sector companies to band together and provide retirement plans to their workers. And in December, President Donald Trump signed legislation that says businesses no longer have to be in the same industry to band together in order to offer a retirement plan. Easing that restriction will allow larger plans available to all employers that proponents say will provide economies of scale and reduce administrative costs.

Immigration

Mexicans have declined to less than half of the unauthorized immigrant population in the United States, the Pew Research Center reported in June. Examining data through 2017, the center determined that 10.5 million unauthorized immigrants live in the U.S., including 4.9 million Mexicans. The decrease was the major factor driving down the overall population of unauthorized immigrants in the country, which in 2017 was 1.7 million below the peak of 12.2 million a decade earlier.

Public Health

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized a rule in September that requires all U.S. hospitals have an antibiotic stewardship program—a major step forward in the fight against superbugs. Stewardship programs help to slow the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and improve patient outcomes by ensuring that antibiotics are used only when necessary, and at the right dosage and duration. These programs promote the most effective treatment option for a given illness, which helps patients to recover as quickly as possible, and in doing so they help to reduce inappropriate antibiotics use, which contributes to the emergence of resistant bacteria. Pew, working with many stakeholders, has advocated for this rule since 2016.