September 13, 2024
Week in Review: September 13, 2024
Alabama Policy Institute announced a new strategic partnership campaign with the organization, Christians Engaged.
America First Policy Institute published a model executive order for governors to enforce state election laws and ensure the integrity of their elections. The Institute also released a guide to prosecutor removal processes in all 50 states, indicating which states permit citizens to launch a recall election if a prosecutor is serving more as a political activist than an unbiased enforcer of the law. Just over half of states provide a recall process in law, and the Institute will also release model policy empowering the citizens of other states to do so.
James Madison Institute announced that Logan Padgett has been promoted to Senior Vice President in a statement that recognized Padgett as a “major part” of the Institute’s growth and success over the past eight years.
Kansas Policy Institute’s investigative journalists showed that job gains are much lower than claimed by the governor’s administration.
Mississippi Center for Public Policy launched “Move Up, Mississippi!” — a state-wide advertising campaign that will run until the end of the year. “Move Up, Mississippi!” messaging is designed to educate key audiences about the need for school choice reform ahead of the 2025 legislative session.
South Carolina Policy Council issued a statement expressing disappointment about the recent state supreme court ruling that found that that a new state program using public funds for scholarships to allow students to attend private schools was unconstitutional and urged the state Department of Education and state Treasurer’s Office to appeal the decision. The Council also released the findings of an internal survey of readers showing that the areas of highest concern are taxes and spending.
Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty announced its newest addition to the education policy team — Daniel Buck, who will serve as a senior visiting fellow, writing and advising on projects related to K-12 education policy.
Goldwater Institute is helping an Arizona woman sue the city of Payson to put a stop to spending that will put local taxpayers in debt for 25 years—a move that comes after city decided to take on $70 million in debt without voter approval.
Liberty Justice Center announced that a California court has issued a ruling in the Chino Valley parental notification policy lawsuit, upholding a preliminary injunction that prevents the District from enforcing elements of its old parental notification policy. The ruling also holds that section 1.c of the policy—which requires staff to notify parents about changes to their minor child’s official or unofficial records—is constitutional and should not be enjoined. The Center also announced that on September 16, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral arguments in the combined legal challenges to the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act”—a federal law that would effectively ban TikTok within the US. President Jacob Huebert will be available to media to discuss the Liberty Justice Center’s lawsuit, which argues that the proposed federal TikTok ban violates the First Amendment rights of over 170 million Americans who use the app.
Mackinac Center for Public Policy and Michigan Rising Action filed a lawsuit fighting back against clear abuses of transparency and accountability by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, on behalf of a high school girl who suffered an egregious privacy violation while in the girls’ locker room at her high school, filed an amicus brief in a case currently before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that challenges the new Title IX rule by the Biden-Harris Administration. The brief urges the Court to consider the harm the rule will cause to girls like the Institute’s client.
Arkansas: Applications for Education Freedom Accounts have surged to over 17,000 this school year—more than triple last school year’s enrollment. Thanks to efforts educating families about the transformative power of education freedom, more Arkansas families than ever are now able to access the funds they need to secure a better education for their children (Opportunity Arkansas).
Illinois: Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed laws expanding remote access to dental care and physical therapy—a good first step that still leaves plenty more to be done to remove barriers to healthcare access in the state (Illinois Policy Institute).
New York: July 2024 marked New York’s best month ever for union opt-outs, only to be outdone by August. These back-to-back record months prove that now, more than ever before, public employees are taking action to keep union dues in their own pockets instead of funding Big Labor’s ideological agendas (Freedom Foundation).
The Buckeye Institute issued a policy memo outlined the failures of government-owned broadband networks (GON). Buckeye encouraged local governments to utilize public-private partnerships with cutting-edge technology companies to deploy adequate broadband for customers. Buckeye also urged lawmakers to help Ohioans struggling with debt and adopt policies to improve debt resolution options and increase “consumer access to all available debt management and settlement options.”
Empire Center released briefs showing how the New York State Energy Planning Board has violated the state’s Open Meetings Law by failing to post necessary documents online 24 hours prior to their meeting and examine documents that show evidence of harm to nursing home patients due to policies that required nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients.
Frontier Institute posted a brief exploring how Montana can become the new home for crypto innovations and why that is important to Montanans.
Kansas Policy Institute published a brief on the impact of tariffs on the Kansas economy.
Mountain States Policy Center released briefs that show why Obamacare patients suffer limited networks of doctors, expose how state worker contract secrecy benefits no one, and model what Idaho’s education choice plan should entail.
Washington Policy Center issued briefs that highlight the fact that Washington — while claiming money from the CCA is helping the environment – is tracking nothing, expose Washington’s return of racist policy in housing, and fact check statements on the ballot regarding I-2117.
North Carolina: The Senate and House approved legislation to provide additional funding for the thousands of new applications which flooded the state’s Opportunity Scholarship Program this spring. The bill now moves to Governor Cooper who is expected to veto the legislation. Stay tuned for more (The John Locke Foundation).
Oregon: Senate Republican Leader Daneil Bonham is “demanding accountability and transparency” from the Oregon Education Association, the state’s largest teacher union, after reports of the Association’s partnership with the Democratic Socialists of America came to light (Freedom Foundation).
Topics:
Stephanie Smith & Sheila Banister Talk School Choice on “Bama Knows Education” Podcast
Alabama Policy Institute
Should California Take on More Debt for Schools?
California Policy Center
State Education Leaders Committing to Reducing Chronic Absence
Center of the American Experiment
Rocket Learning Launches New Education Option in Southwest Mississippi
Empower Mississippi
ABCs of School Choice: Point | Counterpoint
Empower Mississippi
Unregulated School Choice Works Best for Children and Private Schools
Idaho Freedom Foundation
Here’s What to Know About Chicago’s 31 School Board Candidates
Illinois Policy
Reactions to SC Supreme Court ESA Ruling
Palmetto Promise Institute
South Carolina’s Top Education Leader Vows to Defend ESA Program after State High Court Strikes It Down
Palmetto Promise Institute
AI+: How AI Is Transforming Classrooms
Pelican Institute
From Stress to Success: How Daniella Transformed Her Son’s Learning with ESA Funds
Pioneer Institute
AFC’s Denisha Allen on School Choice & Black Minds Matter
Pioneer Institute
A Report Card on DESE’s Report Card
Show-Me Institute
We Can All Take a Breath Now
Show-Me Institute
Simple Reforms to Make School District Websites Better for Parents
Sutherland Institute
U.S. Needs More Nuclear Engineers
Center of the American Experiment
County Board Doubles Down on Opposition to Xcel Power Line
Center of the American Experiment
Who Knew Water-Fixture Rules Could Be Such a Big Problem?
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Illinois Bans Fluorescent Lighting Starting in 2026
Illinois Policy
How One New England Gas Terminal Exposes Terrible US Energy Policies
Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy
Climate Council Should Learn from EV Debacle in Developing Maine’s Next Climate Plan
Maine Policy Institute
Keeping Politics Out of State Pensions: A Multi-State Survey of Proxy Voting Practices
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Yankee Institute Calls for Transparency in Securing Unaffordable Offshore Wind
Yankee Institute
New England Short Circuit: Distorted Incentives Drive Energy Prices Up and Reliability Down
Pioneer Institute
Lamont and Dykes Silent on Offshore Wind: What’s the Secret?
Yankee Institute
Kansas Should Reject Medicaid Expansion
Kansas Policy Institute
Expanding Medicaid to Able-Bodied Adults Costs Taxpayers $2.5 Billion
Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
Tax Rollback Wording Hurts Aim of Long-Term Rentals Bill
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Ease Adaptive-Reuse Rules to Encourage Homebuilding
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
Why Certain Wisconsinites Feel Particularly Poor (or Rich)
Badger Institute
Delaware’s Top Revenue Sources: A Decade of Change
Caesar Rodney Institute
Minneapolis and St. Paul to Raise Minimum Wages Though Their Research Shows This Costs Jobs
Center of the American Experiment
How the Shapiro Administration Doubled the Cost of Broadband
Commonwealth Foundation
Another Victory Over Municipal “Prevailing Wage” Overreach
Goldwater Institute
Government Intervention in the Marketplace of Ideas
John Locke Foundation
Let’s Rethink Chicken Ownership in Cities
Libertas Institute
Put Down the Pitchforks and Dig into Frankenfoods
Mackinac Center
Where High-Earning Households Are Moving: It Ain’t Michigan
Mackinac Center
Oklahoma’s Legal Climate Harms Economic Growth, Job Creation
Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
The Hidden Cost of Tariffs: Louisiana’s Economic Challenges in a Global Economy
Pelican Institute
API Continues Push to Eliminate the Grocery Tax
Alabama Policy Institute
Minnesota and Illinois Losing Billions in Income as Residents Flee High Taxes
Badger Institute
It’s Always Budget Season in Local Government
California Policy Center
Good News! Ramsey County Abandons Pointless, Expensive Streetcar Project
Center of the American Experiment
FY 2025 Real Local Budgets
Frontier Institute
Illinois Sales Taxes 7th Highest in US
Illinois Policy
Lucas Oil Stadium: A Big Hole in the Roof
Indiana Policy Review Foundation
September 10th Special Election: More Property Tax Increases on Ballots
Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation
Funding Our Future: A Study of School Finance in North Carolina
John Locke Foundation
Rare Opportunity Emerges to Reduce Spending Without Making Cuts in Next State Budget
MacIver Institute
Get Serious About Tax Cuts!
Mississippi Center for Public Policy
Oklahoma Business Owners Say Income-Tax Cuts Needed
Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
STL Should Come Clean about Leadership Conflicts
Show-Me Institute
Welcome to the Party, Pal
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Oregon Senate Demands Answers after Freedom Foundation Exposé
Freedom Foundation
Back-to-Back Opt-Out Milestones Suggest Record Year in New York
Freedom Foundation
A Golden State Birthday
California Policy Center
Ballot-O-Rama: A Guide to California’s 2024 Ballot Propositions
California Policy Center
The Basic Economic Mistake Both Candidates Make
Commonwealth Foundation
Federalism Is the Answer
Georgia Public Policy Foundation
Goldwater’s Know Your 2024 Arizona Ballot
Goldwater Institute
2024 Florida Amendment Guide
James Madison Institute
Civil Asset Forfeiture: Explanatory Stories and Essential Sources
Palmetto Promise Institute
The Role of American Institutions in Shaping Culture with Crosby Kemper III
Show-Me Institute
Five Bygone Elections that Echo into 2024
Sutherland Institute
Phil Williams, policy director for the Alabama Policy Institute, in an op-ed for the Trussville Tribune says that thought policing is becoming the norm and that’s suicide.
Patrick V. Bailey, director of healthcare policy at Goldwater Institute, in an op-ed for the Las Vegas Review Journal says, to save lives, lawmakers should modernize the drug-approval process.
William Mattox, director of the J. Stanley Marshall Center for Education Freedom at the James Madison Institute, in an op-ed for Florida Politics says Florida State University is protecting free speech more so than most colleges and universities in the country.
Robert McClure of the James Madison Institute in an op-ed for the Orlando Sentinel says Floridians worry ‘a great deal’ about the impact of inflation.
John Hood, board member at John Locke Foundation, in a column for the Stanly News and Press says ‘Campus peace is best for everyone.’
David Iglesias, state government affairs associate at Libertas Institute, in an op-ed for Yahoo via Deseret News says geofence warrants are the ‘modern-day general warrant.’
Michael J. Reitz, executive vice president of the Mackinac Center, in an op-ed for the Detroit News explains what the ‘Reagan’ film tells us about leadership.
Douglas Carswell, president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, in an op-ed for Town Hall says Mississippi needs to create a tax climate that’s friendly to business and families.
In the Wall Street Journal, Mountain States Policy Center’s Amber Gunn looks to Argentina for proof of how rent control is a destructive idea.
In The Spokesman-Review, Mountain States Policy Center’s Jason Mercier, Washington Policy Center’s Elizabeth New, and Citizen Action Defense Fund’s Jackson Maynard show how state worker contract secrecy benefits no one.
In The Center Square, the Washington Policy Center’s Paul Guppy fact checks claims on the capital gains income tax in Washington state.
