This weekly round-up shares the latest news about what the Network is doing to promote state-based solutions that will improve the lives of families, workers, and local communities. If you are an SPN member and have an update you’d like us to include in next week’s round-up, please email us at updates@spn.org (all submissions are subject to SPN approval).

Success Stories

• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a finalized rule that prohibits states from skimming money from the Medicaid support checks of in-home caregivers and giving it to third parties. This means the money intended to help America’s sick, elderly, and disabled will no longer be cut short and diverted to unions. This rule represents years of hard work across the Network to highlight the injustice of state governments diverting funds from hardworking Americans to unions via the practice of dues skimming. CMS notes this scheme amounts to about $71 million per year that’s been taken from caregivers, but Freedom Foundation research suggests it could be up to $150 million lost annually by 350,000 in-home caregivers. Moving forward, parents like Pam Harris, Catherine Hunter, Miranda Thorpe, and Robert and Patricia Haynes will no longer be coerced into paying a union just to care for a loved one; rather, they can remain focused on providing expert care with all the money that is intended for them.
  • Center of the American Experiment: Family Caretakers Optimistic Federal Rule Changes Will Free Them from Unwanted Union Representation
  • Freedom Foundation: Trump Administration Finalizes Major Regulation to Stop Union Dues Skimming from Medicaid
  • Mackinac Center for Public Policy: Mackinac Center Applauds Federal Change Ending Dues Skimming
  • Competitive Enterprise Institute: Trump Administration to End Labor Union Medicaid Dues Skimming

Research & Initiatives

• Wisconsin’s Governor has proposed raising the state minimum wage to $15 to help residents; however, a new report from the Badger Institute indicates it may have the opposite effect. The report found 350,000 workers could lose their jobs. More than half of these workers are among the state’s poorest residents, with incomes in the bottom 10 percent of the income distribution.
• With the help of attorneys from The Buckeye Institute and the Liberty Justice Center, three Kent State University workers have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that union dues were illegally deducted from their paychecks. The three resigned their union membership and requested that Kent State stop deducting union dues from their paychecks in August 2018. 
• Nearly 1,900 Oxnard, CA employees were notified their jobs might be on the chopping block due to skyrocketing costs. California Policy Center found the city’s pension liabilities might be a primary factor — they are set to double in the next five years.
• The Empire Center‘s report that exposed outrageous overtime expenditures by New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority, and subsequent media coverage, has lead the MTA Chairman to call for an investigation.
• Last week, Oregon AFSCME 75 inserted provisions substituting union loyalty over workplace seniority in its new collective bargaining agreement. The new provisions would give newly hired union members first pick of holidays and vacation time over longtime employees who are not union members. The Freedom Foundation sent a cease and desist letter putting the Department of Corrections on notice, and threatening to file suit if they accept the agreement. Freedom Foundation also launched a peer-to-peer texting campaign last month in Oregon, sending out tens of thousands of text messages to public employees, informing them of their rights under Janus.
• “Never have so many spent so much for so long learning so little.” The Independent Institute’s new book Restoring the Promise: Higher Education in America explores the underlying problems in higher education and how to address them.
• Liberty Justice Center and National Right to Work Foundation have launched a federal class action lawsuit to force AFSCME to refund the fair share fees Illinois government workers were forced to pay from May 2017 to June 2018.
• Mississippi Center for Public Policy led a push this session to prohibit state licensing boards from revoking or repealing an occupational license because a borrower defaults on their student loans. The Center explains how this common sense change will help recent college graduates earn a living and pay off their loans. 
• Politicians in Nevada seem pretty eager to actually keep campaign promises—unfortunately, they’re counting on everyone else to pay for such political achievements. Nevada Policy Research Institute discusses how taxpayers are being expected to pick up the tab.
• The Virginia Institute for Public Policy and the Tuesday Morning Group coalition developed seven significant healthcare priorities focused on addressing the supply-side of the healthcare equation in Virginia—seeking to increase access to the growing telehealth market by removing licensing barriers and remote patient monitoring. Five of the seven priorities were signed into law at the beginning of April and the telemedicine model is informing legislation in other states.
• PraegerU for free-market policy perspectives? The Washington Policy Center has created a series of short animated videos to help Washington taxpayers better understand the policy issues impacting their state.

Think Tanks in the News

• Alabama Policy Institute walks through the key points and counterpoints surrounding Medicaid expansion in Alabama, recommending the state wait to see other states’ experiences before making such an expensive, and risky, decision.
• Texas has become an example of good economic policy at the state level, but Americans for Tax Reform highlights recent innovations in Tennessee that may help the state overtake Texas as a model for reform.
• When three think tanks with quite different outlooks agree on a list of tax loopholes to close, Ohio’s leaders should listen. It took nearly a decade, but they finally did. The Buckeye Institute reports the Ohio House has finally closed several loopholes including a film credit deduction and small business tax deduction.
• The Commonwealth Foundation participated in a workshop with Pennsylvania lawmakers and officials from the education, labor, and data departments to discuss how to prevent “brain drain” from 25 to 34-year-olds leaving the state.
• When it comes to subsidizing new stadiums, the only winner is the sports team. The Mississippi Center for Public Policy details how Biloxi taxpayers’ baseball investment is falling short of expected revenue.
• Louisiana spends more per student on education than neighboring states but isn’t seeing corresponding improvements in student results. The Pelican Institute calls for greater transparency in government spending so taxpayers can ensure their investment in education goes to rewarding teachers rather than higher administrative costs.
• The Texas Public Policy Foundation applauds Texas House representatives for passing a campus free speech bill that offers the “most robust protections of the First Amendment rights of Texas public university students, faculty, and staff.”
• Connecticut lawmakers’ attempts to redistribute wealth within the state may wind up hurting the poor most. The Yankee Institute encourages the state to look for ways to solve the problem of opportunity inequality instead.