Week in Review: March 20, 2026

Announcements
Success Stories
Freedom Through the Courts
This Week’s Policy Briefs
Tracking Positive Reforms

Jobs in the Network
Tracking Positive Reforms
Policy News from the States
The Network in the News

Announcements

American Experiment reported that homeschool enrollment in Minnesota reached a record-high of 32,024 students for the 2025-26 school year.

Illinois Policy Institute highlighted that Illinois ranks near the bottom for entrepreneurship and growth, citing high taxes and burdensome regulations.

The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) released a comprehensive Court Watch Spring Report, bringing together twelve research briefs examining how the Wisconsin Supreme Court shapes the state’s government, economy, and civil society.

The MacIver Institute highlighted how the American health insurance market evolved from direct payments to complex systems, affecting costs and coverage.

Mountain States Policy Center reported that Dana Perino headlined their Spring Dinner in Boise.

New Jersey Policy Institute announced the appointment of Dr. Christopher Young, economist and principal, to its Board of Directors.

The Platte Institute highlighted that Nebraska must aggressively cut income taxes and reform housing policies to capitalize on migration trends and become a top destination.

The Reason Foundation released its 29th Annual Highway Report, highlighting Virginia and Georgia as top performers while Alaska and California ranked worst in cost-effective highway quality.

Virginia’s new law mandating annual mental health screenings in public schools, Thomas Jefferson Institute warned, represents a shift from instruction to clinical surveillance.

Success Stories

Ohio: The governor signed House Bill 52 into law, which will help ease the state’s care provider shortage by allowing certified registered nurse anesthesiologists (CRNA) to practice to the full extent of their medical training. (The Buckeye Institute)

Montana: The Frontier Institute issued a statement celebrating the Montana Supreme Court’s decision upholding the 2023 housing reforms.

Freedom through the Courts: The Latest Litigation Efforts across the Network

The Freedom Foundation appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals after a district court dismissed its lawsuit challenging Oregon’s HB 3789, which restricts certain forms of online communication in the anti-impersonation law.

The Liberty Justice Center has filed an amicus brief in Kohls v. Ellison, urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to rehear the case en banc and protect the right to engage in political parody and satire.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty filed a Title VI civil rights complaint with USDOT, exposing four states that ignored the Trump Administration’s directive to eliminate DEI in highway projects.

Solutions from the States: This Week’s Policy Briefs

The Buckeye Institute released a policy memo urging lawmakers to preserve fiscal flexibility in the capital budget to address long-term obligations and federal cost-shifting for programs.

Empire Center for Public Policy released ideas for cleaning up New York Medicaid by addressing fraud, waste, and abuse amid increased federal enforcement.

The Independence Institute testified in favor of House Bill 26-1246, supporting the development of consumer-regulated electric utilities to serve new large electricity loads.

The Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy highlighted concerns over growing state taxes including a new battery tax proposal.

Kansas Policy Institute released a budget analysis showing Kansas’s fiscal issue stems from spending discipline, not revenue.

California’s homelessness challenges and repeated audit failures prompted Pacific Research Institute to argue that the state needs more oversight.

The Washington Policy Center found that Washington’s legislature passed an income tax to fund education, then approved cuts exceeding $1 billion, leaving over $700 million unclaimed in federal scholarship funding.

Concern over proposed changes to Connecticut’s regulatory review process led Yankee Institute to urge preserving the legislature’s longstanding bipartisan check on state agency regulations.

Policy Watch

Georgia: Legislators passed a new literacy bill aimed at helping children overcome reading challenges and support their academic development. (Georgia Center for Opportunity).

Georgia: Lawmakers advanced a series of targeted regulatory reform bills aimed at expanding legislative oversight and curbing administrative overreach (Georgia Public Policy Foundation).

Idaho: The Legislature advanced House Bill 730, which would require the state to verify income, track lottery winnings, and check citizenship status of SNAP recipients (Idaho Freedom Foundation and FGA).

Kentucky: Republicans vowed to override Gov. Beshear’s veto of House Bill 1, which would allow the state to participate in a federal tax credit scholarship program enabling private donations to benefit Kentucky students (Bluegrass Institute).

South Carolina: The Senate is considering H.3021, the Small Business Regulatory Freedom Act— which passed the House unanimously—that would require agencies to repeal two regulations for every new one created, add automatic expiration dates to rules, and end judicial deference to state agencies (Goldwater Institute).

Jobs in the Network

Video Producer & Editor — National Review Institute (New York, NY)

Communications & Executive Associate — Discovery Institute(Virtual)

Chief Operating Officer — Students For Liberty (Virtual)

SEE ALL JOBS

The Network in the News

In The OC Register, the California Policy Center’s Lance Christensen argues that UTLA’s strike for a 17 percent raise is indefensible given LAUSD’s $11.4 billion deficit and mounting liabilities.

In The West Virginia Record, the Cardinal Institute’s Jessica Dobrinsky notes that West Virginia’s nonprofit hospitals are failing to provide promised charity care despite generous tax breaks.

In Lebanon Local News, the Cascade Policy Institute’s John A. Charles points out Oregon’s worst-in-the-nation estate tax drives out retirees and wealth, urging voters to sign Initiative Petition 51 to repeal it.

In the Star Tribune, the Center of the American Experiment’s Katherine Kersten argues that Minnesota’s new K-12 ethnic studies standards, championed by Gov. Walz, are designed to indoctrinate students into an activist “resistance” mindset with national implications.

In the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Commonwealth Foundation’s Jay Stooksberry argues that Pennsylvania’s repeated cuts to cyber charter funding are hurting special-needs students who depend on online schools to thrive.

In The Billings Gazette, the Frontier Institute’s Kendall Cotton argues that Montana’s projected budget imbalance was engineered, not inevitable—and that taxpayers should demand evidence behind the savings rate eating into the state’s surplus.

In the Daily Journal, the Garden State Initiative’s Audrey Lane argues that New Jersey’s unfair school funding formula is shortchanging students and overburdening taxpayers.

At RealClearEducation, the Georgia Center for Opportunity’s Buzz Brockway and Eric Cochling highlight a proven fix for America’s reading crisis.

At Law & Liberty, the Independence Institute’s Rob Natelson considers Gorsuch’s take on the major questions doctrine.

In The Sentinel Echo, Liberty Justice Center Chairman Sara Albrecht notes social media is the new public square—and Kentucky’s laws are lagging behind.

In the Washington Examiner, the Pacific Research Institute’s Sally Pipes notes states are pushing Medicaid beyond its intended limits.