February 7, 2025
Week in Review: February 7, 2025
American Council of Trustees and Alumni released the findings of its latest free expression survey of over 3,000 students at Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona. Concerningly, the survey revealed high rates of self-censorship and intellectual intolerance.
The Buckeye Institute’s Greg R. Lawson talked with The Giving Review’s Michael Hartmann about Buckeye’s report on how nongovernment organizations in Ohio present a unique regulatory threat disguised as an innocuous Trojan gift horse.
Empire Center released the findings of its latest poll which found that New Yorkers by a margin of more than two-to-one said they aren’t getting their money’s worth from taxes they pay in the state.
Idaho Freedom Foundation uncovered that despite pro-school choice speeches, Idaho Governor Little is funneling huge amounts of taxpayer money to a major anti-school choice lobby, Idaho Business for Education, through his STEM Action Center.
Liberty Justice Center President Jacob Huebert appeared on PBS’s Chicago Tonight to discuss President Trump’s recent executive order on DEI initiatives.
Mackinac Center released its Public Policy Recommendations 2025. With the Michigan Legislature narrowly split between Democrats and Republicans, this year’s focus is on issues that have a strong chance of gaining bipartisan support, including passing a sustainable state budget without tax hikes, making government more transparent, and reducing needless regulatory burdens.
Napa Legal launched the Napa Legal Podcast, which explores issues at the intersection of civil society and religious freedom. The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
Yankee Institute appointed Tim Anop as its new Director of External Affairs, overseeing the organization’s government affairs initiatives.
Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit against Mayor Brandon Johnson and the city of Chicago to challenge racial and sexual discrimination in an upcoming casino project.
Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty sued the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association and the Baraboo School District for wrongfully preventing a student from participating in school sponsored and funded athletic co-curricular programming. The Institute also filed a new lawsuit against the City of Chicago, the Illinois Gaming Board, and Bally’s Chicago Casino for an investment offering open only for “people of color” and “women.”
Minnesota: After three and a half weeks of shutting down state government, House Republican and Democrat Representatives made a compromise and announced they were getting back to work, showing that a 20,000 email campaign bore significant fruit (Center of the American Experiment).
The Buckeye Institute offered a brief with forward-looking policies that Ohio lawmakers should adopt in the next budget to better align fiscal, tax, and education policies with the economic realities of the 21st century.
Idaho Freedom Foundation posted a brief calling for increased cuts to the proposed Idaho budget, showing how this is the only solution to Idaho’s overspending problem.
Mackinac Center issued a brief presenting a Sustainable Michigan Budget, which holds state spending to the rate of inflation and population growth — a move that would enable the state to prepare for the future, reduce debt, and provide tax relief to residents.
Mountain States Policy Center released briefs that examine proposed legislation aimed to protect kids online, call for the repeal of Certificate of Need (CON) laws, illuminate ways that the government can prevent out-of-control wildfires, contrast the differing approaches to ranked choice voting in Wyoming and Washington State, and question the troubling latest nationwide math and reading scores for 4th and 8th grade students.
Nevada Policy released a brief examining the Corporate Transparency Act and the Networks efforts to protect small businesses from this federal overreach.
Sutherland Institute posted a brief examining the pros and cons of a proposed Utah app store bill.
Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty released a new brief titled The High Cost of Overregulation: How Excessive Government Control Threatens School Choice in Wisconsin. The report analyzes how burdensome regulations hinder the ability of choice schools to open and expand in Wisconsin.
Idaho: Representative Judy Boyle proposed a bill that would ensure that taxpayer money does not subsidize teacher union activities, ensuring that taxpayer funds meant for education focus of improving education. In addition, the House Revenue and Taxation committee introduced an updated version of the Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit, would provide a $5,000 tax credit to qualifying families for educational expenses including private school tuition. Finally, lawmakers proposed to use state funds to provide local property tax relief (Mountain States Policy Center).
Iowa: Legislators introduced and advanced out of committee a bill to combat politicized diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) requirements in public universities. This crucial legislation would prohibit mandatory DEI courses for students and protect academic freedom by preventing universities from dictating course content based on authors’ race, sex, or gender identity (Goldwater Institute).
Mississippi: Several school choice bills moved forward in the House through the legislative process — one step closer to giving children in Mississippi more education options (Empower Mississippi). Specifically, the House Education committee passed a bill to allow public to public school choice and a limited public to private school choice program (Mississippi Center for Public Policy).
Montana: Legislators introduced the Student and Teacher Advancement for Results and Success (STARS) Act that promotes additional freedom and accountability for budget decisions within the public school system and the Right to Compute Act, a bill that creates a new state policy framework for regulating the private use of emerging computational technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud Computing, and Data Centers (Frontier Institute).
New Hampshire: Two bills that would be steps towards alleviating the state’s housing shortage have moved out of committee and to a full House vote (Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy).
Ohio: Governor Mike DeWine unveiled his 2026-2027 budget proposal, which included The Buckeye Institute’s recommendations to better align K-12 education funding with where students are attending school, ensure schools provide students with comprehensive information about in-demand jobs, and better align Ohio’s higher education funding to outcomes for graduates.
South Carolina: After a third reading, the Senate passed a bill that would restore school choice in the state to the House with an “aye” vote of 31-9 (Palmetto Promise and South Carolina Policy Council).
Texas: The Senate passed a bill that would empower Texas parents with a universal Education Savings Accounts program. It now goes to the Texas House (Texas Public Policy Foundation).
Utah: A new proposal would grant property owners with at least 50 acres of agricultural land in smaller counties greater flexibility in how they use their land. In addition, Senator Daniel McCay proposed lowering the income tax rate from 4.65% to 4.55%, continuing the trend of easing the tax burden on Utahns (Libertas Institute).
Topics:
Fact Checking Claims on Education Freedom Scholarships
Beacon Center of Tennessee
Trump Executive Order Boosts School Choice — Will California Finally Catch Up?
California Policy Center
More School Choices Mean Better Opportunities for Oregon Students
Cascade Policy Institute
2024 NAEP Scores: Only a Little Progress in NC, as Troubling Trendlines Continue
John Locke Foundation
Voters Continue to Support School Choice, but Questions Loom
John Locke Foundation
Higher Spending, Lower Results: Why More Money Doesn’t Equal Better Schools
Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy
NAEP Scores Still Stink. Now What?
Kansas Policy Institute
Michigan Close to Last Place in Latest NAEP Results
Mackinac Center
School Choice is Winning
Mississippi Center for Public Policy
Amar Kumar, CEO of KaiPod: 70 Microschools and Growing
Pioneer Institute
Patriotic Education or Federal Overreach? With Chester (Checker) Finn
Show-Me Institute
School Choice: Second Time’s the Charm?
South Carolina Policy Council
What Do Academic Scores on the ‘Nation’s Report Card’ Tell Us?
Sutherland Institute
Virginia’s Low Education Standards Continue to Hide Low Student Mastery
Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy
CT Student Performance Still Not Recovered from Pandemic
Yankee Institute
California’s Mismanagement of Fire and Water
California Policy Center
When Will Gavin Newsom Stop Deflecting Blame for the Wildfires?
California Policy Center
Ten State Water Laws to Scrap
California Policy Center
Suddenly, Democrats Discover High Energy Costs
Center of the American Experiment
Climate Innovation Finance Authority: The Only Innovation Is in the Grift
Center of the American Experiment
Pennsylvania Democrats Must Stop Playing Politics and Unleash American Energy
Commonwealth Foundation
Work With the President on Energy, Governor
Commonwealth Foundation
Proceed with Eyes Wide Open on VC Summer Reboot
Palmetto Promise Institute
South Carolina Voters Want Energy Grid Modernization
Palmetto Promise Institute
More State Control Will Mean Less Catastrophic Wildfire
Sutherland Institute
Biosolids in Agriculture: The Strife not with Mother Nature, but Man-Made Chemicals
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Making the Virginia Clean Economy Act More Expansive, Expensive and Onerous
Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy
Chum Salmon “Kaboomed” Last Year. But One Story About Why Leaves Out Key Facts.
Washington Policy Center
What Wyoming Must Know About Nuclear Waste Storage
Wyoming Liberty Group
Trump Taps Peter Nelson for Top Health Insurance Oversight Position
Center of the American Experiment
The Worst Time for Georgia to Expand Medicaid
Georgia Public Policy Foundation
Fighting for His Life—Elijah’s Story & the Right to Try
Goldwater Institute
The Long Wait for a Safer Way to Quit Smoking
Goldwater Institute
Medicaid’s Check-Up: Part 3
Show-Me Institute
Meeting the Doctor Demand: How Texas Can Optimize Physician Licensing Pathways to Attract International Talent While Supporting U.S. Graduates
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Medical Debt Bill: A Dangerous Gamble with Unintended Consequences
Washington Policy Center
Property Taxes Could Skyrocket if Supreme Court Overturns Act 10
Institute for Reforming Government
Market-Oriented Housing Reforms Gaining Traction in Illinois
Illinois Policy
The First Four Housing Reform Bills of 2025
Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy
Why Housing Is So Expensive
Mackinac Center
A Free-Market Approach to Maine’s Housing Crisis: A Response to the State’s Latest Report
Maine Policy Institute
Burnt Wiener Sandwich
California Policy Center
Connecting Paradise: BEAD and the Sunshine State
James Madison Institute
A Look Back at BEAD Program: What Worked and What Didn’t
Libertas Institute
Is Employment Exploitation?
Mackinac Center
Abusive Lawsuits Stifling Oklahoma Economic, Job Growth
Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
Reining In Oklahoma’s Administrative State
Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
Point Reyes Settlement a Tragic Misstep
Pacific Research Institute
Why Are So Many South Carolina Restaurants, Venues, and Bars Closing?
Palmetto Promise Institute
Taxpayer Dollars Going to State ‘Green Bank’ Program
Center of the American Experiment
Will Shapiro Address the $3.6 Billion Elephant in the Room?
Commonwealth Foundation
Most New Yorkers Aren’t Getting Money’s Worth From Taxes: Poll
Empire Center
As Minnesota House Stalemate Continues, How Much Are Legislators Being Paid?
Freedom Foundation of Minnesota
Proposed ‘Green Fee’ a Reason for Red Flag
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Franchise Tax: Antiquated from Antebellum
John Locke Foundation
Clawback Provisions Don’t Insulate Corporate Welfare Failures from Cost
John Locke Foundation
Targeted Public Investments Won’t Make Grass Grow
Mackinac Center
Sustainable Michigan Budget Would Strengthen Lawmakers’ Hands
Mackinac Center
Stitt Shows How to Cut Taxes During ‘Down’ Year
Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
Congestion Pricing: Bold Experiment or a Money Grab?
Pacific Research Institute
An Update on Land Banks in Missouri: From Bad to Worse
Show-Me Institute
Guard the Gains
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Yankee Institute Calls on Gov. Lamont to Keep the Fiscal Guardrails in His Budget
Yankee Institute
Chicago Teachers Union Moves One Step Closer to Going on Strike
Illinois Policy
Chicago Teachers Union Favorability Down To 29% Amidst Potential Strike
Illinois Policy
Cruz Bill Would End the CFPB’s Secret Money Pipeline
Foundation for Government Accountability
U-Pitt.’s Marcus Rediker on Amistad Slave Rebellion & Black History Month
Pioneer Institute
In Talk Business & Politics, the Arkansas Policy Foundation’s Greg Kaza shows how Northwest Arkansas stakeholders are using some market-based reforms to expand affordable housing supply.
In The Wall Street Journal, The Buckeye Institute’s Andrew M. Grossman and the International Women’s Forum’s Kristin A. Shapiro write that the next step in restoring meritocracy is to reject the theory that proportionate outcomes equal fairness.
In the Pioneer Press, Center for the American Experiment’s John Phelan explains why tariffs on Mexico and Canada are a bad idea.
In The Daily Wire, the Freedom Foundation’s Aaron Withe highlights the disconnect between union leadership and rank-and-file members.
In The Federalist, the Goldwater Institute’s Timothy Minella notes Trump’s executive orders are only the first step in defeating DEI.
In the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois Policy Institute’s Micky Horstman asks why the Chicago mayor has yet to cut the red tape on affordable housing.
In the Chicago Tribune, the Illinois Policy Institute’s Paul Vallas notes the Dexter Reed settlement shows how criminal justice reform has become a moneymaking enterprise.
At RealClearEducation, the Kansas Policy Institute’s Dave Trabert argues local school boards must act to improve student outcomes.
In the Federalist, the Liberty Justice Center’s Dean McGee discusses the future of educational opportunity in the US as well as President Trump’s recent executive order prioritizing school choice.
In The News Tribune, the Mountain States Policy Center’s Jason Mercier highlights how Washington is considering ranked choice as Wyoming moves to ban it.
In The Center Square, the Mountain States Policy Center’s Madi Clark notes out-of-control wildfires are preventable if the government allows and focuses on prevention.
In The Center Square, the Mountain States Policy Center’s Jason Mercier highlights a new grocery tax credit bill in Idaho.
In The OC Register, the Pacific Research Institute’s Sally Pipes highlights how insulin prices are falling due to market forces.
In Governing, the South Carolina Policy Council’s Sam Aaron discusses South Carolina’s relatively modest income tax reductions compared to neighboring states.
In his recent column, Jonathan Small notes a recent court ruling is a warning for state pensions.
