Announcements

• AFFT CEO, David Osborne joined Made in America with Neal Asbury to discuss how unions are taking the Democrats farther left.

• The Mississippi Center for Public Policy launched America Explained, a collection of short videos aimed at a young audience that explain why America is an exceptional country, founded on principles that have enabled the free market to thrive and help elevate the condition of all of humankind.

• Sutherland Institute announced the addition of Nic Dunn as vice president of strategy & communications.

• The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty led an informative webinar about WILL’s latest project: Restoring American Education. The project aims to close a critical gap by engaging parents, school board members, and teachers with an understanding of certain concerns, trends, and of the alternative resources available.

• Something Extra: Check out the website, Principles of Government—a site that provides an introduction to the wealth of excellent material that is available for a basic understanding of political philosophy and of how good and bad types of government develop and are structured. 

This Week on SPN.org

American’s reject Biden’s regulatory push

No, America is not on the verge of a new civil war

Solutions from the states: This week’s policy briefs

• The Mississippi Center for Public Policy released a report on the failure of the Kemper County energy facility in Kemper County, Mississippi, how its consequences affected residents within the state and how utility companies use demand calculations. 

• A new report by the Palmetto Promise Institute considers how collaboration and competition in South Carolina could help lower some of America’s highest electricity bills.

• New research conducted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Reason Foundation reveals that Texas lags behind other states in allowing students to pursue open enrollment, a key component of the pursuit of better educational opportunities for parents across the country.

• The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty released a report that recaps some of the distributions and line items of Wisconsin ARPA spending so far while also providing some ideas for how Milwaukee in particular can spend ARPA money.

• WILL also considered the impact of college-level indoctrination on K-12 education.

Policy News from the States

Education

Alaska Parental Involvement in Education, Ranked (Alaska Policy Forum)

The Accountability Myth: Remarks on the Report (Alaska Policy Forum)

Educators Continue To Leave The Teachers’ Union (Center of the American Experiment)

Education Promise Scholarships Should be a Winning Issue (Georgia Center for Opportunity)

Education Savings Accounts Empower Families When Public Schools Fail Them (Goldwater Institute)

Parents Want Non-Traditional School Options (Libertas Institute)

Administrative Spending Soars At Largest Oklahoma School Districts (Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs)

Basic Literacy & Numeracy Should Be The Least We Expect From Our Public Schools (Pelican Institute)

Energy and the Environment

US Current Household Energy vs. DNREC’s Climate Action Plan (Caesar Rodney Institute)

Solar Panels in a Dark Room (Cascade Policy Institute)

Wildfire Needs Holistic Approaches To Be Extinguished Before It Begins (Washington Policy Center)

Political Rhetoric Is Poisoning The Well Of Effective Climate Action (Washington Policy Center)

Fewer Firefighters Due To Vaccine Mandate Should Make Us Hot Under The Collar (Washington Policy Center)

Free Market Solutions to Kansas’s Rising Electric Costs (Kansas Policy Institute)

Government Accountability

After 7 Years, Massachusetts Is Still One Of The Least Financially Transparent States (Pioneer Institute)

CHIPS: Governments’ Obsession with Corporate Welfare (Texas Public Policy Foundation)

Healthcare

States with CON Laws Give Patients Less Access to Adequate Healthcare Services (Beacon Center)

More States Adopt Full Practice Authority (Empower Mississippi)

How Right to Try Tore Up the Government Permission Slip & Put Patients First (Goldwater Institute)

Housing

County Code Cements Tension Between Regulators, Homebuilders (Georgia Public Policy Foundation)

Inflation/Gas Prices

Georgia’s Gov. Kemp Suspends Gas Tax Through Mid-September  (Alabama Policy Institute)

Tennessee’s Month-Long Grocery Tax Holiday Set To Begin Aug. 1; To Save Taxpayers $80 Million (Alabama Policy Institute)

$2,000 Stimulus Payments Will Drive Excessive Spending and Inflation (Commonwealth Foundation)

U.S. Gas Prices Drop Near $4 A Gallon, But Not In Illinois (Illinois Policy Institute)

Rising Prices Cost Illinoisans $522 More For Groceries This Year (Illinois Policy Institute)

Inflation Makes The Case For Lowering Colorado’s Income Tax (Independence Institute)

Limiting Gas Stations May Feel Good, but it’s Bad Policy (Nevada Policy Research Institute)

Inflation Reduction Act

Research Finds That Corporate Tax Rate Cuts Boost Income And Productivity (Center of the American Experiment)

More Evidence That The Inflation Reduction Act Will Have Almost No Impact On Inflation (Center of the American Experiment)

Research Shows The Inflation Reduction Act Won’t Reduce Inflation But Will Increase Taxes (Center of the American Experiment)

Statement From The James Madison Institute On The Proposed “Inflation Reduction Act Of 2022” (The James Madison Institute)

“Inflation Reduction Act”: Tax Burden to Fall Heaviest on the Poor (John Locke Foundation)

The Inflation Reduction Act Would Do Nothing to Reduce Inflation (John Locke Foundation)

Inflation Recession Act: Higher Taxes, More Inflation, Deeper Recession (Texas Public Policy Foundation)

‘Inflation Reduction Act’ Will Hurt Americans’ Savings (Texas Public Policy Foundation)

Jobs And State Economies

Alabama Department Of Labor Overpaid Unemployment Recipients By More Than $164 Million In 2020-21 (Alabama Policy Institute)

MN Lawmakers Need To Loosen Licensing Rules For Barbers And Cosmetologists (Center of the American Experiment)

Mississippi Is The Most Regulated State In The Southeast (Empower Mississippi)

Fact Check: Illinois’ Economic Recovery Under Pritzker Among Worst In Nation (Illinois Policy Institute)

Illinois Still Missing 1 In 7 Jobs Lost During Pandemic (Illinois Policy Institute)

Make The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Permanent (Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation)

Worker Shortage Continues: Low Wage Sectors Hardest Hit (John Locke Foundation)

The Tides Have Turned On Occupational Licensing In Louisiana (Pelican Institute)

Where Are Massachusetts Residents Moving To? (Pioneer Institute)

Which Parts of Nebraska’s Jobs Market Have Recovered From the Pandemic? (Platte Institute)

Recession

Americans Believe We Are In A Recession (Center of the American Experiment)

What A Recession Would Mean For Illinois (Illinois Policy Institute)

Reducing State Income Tax A Counter To Recession (Independence Institute)

State Budgets and Spending

Chance to Enact Flat Tax Just Got a Whole Lot Bigger (Badger Institute)

Permanent Tax Reforms Trump Sales Tax Holidays (Beacon Center)

State Budget Back in the Red (Empire Center)

The Real Reason For Skyrocketing Property Taxes (Frontier Institute)

10 Illinois Pension Abuses Show Why Taxpayers Deserve Reform (Illinois Policy Institute)

July Revenue Figures Show Strength In Times Of Uncertainty (Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation)

Excess Tax Collections Are Not Good For Taxpayers (Kansas Policy Institute)

We Are Still Owed A Tax Cut: If Not Now, When? (Mackinac Center)

Oklahoma State Savings Reach Historic Level (Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs)

Workplace Freedom

Why Is Protecting Right-To-Work So Important? (Beacon Center)

Do Teachers Really Need A Union? (California Policy Center)

NEA, AFT Leaders Give Political Speeches, Boosting Democrats (Americans for Fair Treatment)

Unions Have Enough Power In Albany; Legislative Staff Shouldn’t Unionize (Americans for Fair Treatment)

The Sandstorm: Do Teachers Really Need A Union? (Americans for Fair Treatment cited at The Heartland Institute)

Other

As awareness of Jones Act grows, so does support for repeal, reform (Grassroot Institute of Hawaii)

Excluding Representatives From Policymaking Isn’t OK: Kreidler’s Rule Gets Overturned (Washington Policy Center)

As awareness of Jones Act grows, so does support for repeal, reform (Grassroot Institute of Hawaii)

Excluding Representatives From Policymaking Isn’t OK: Kreidler’s Rule Gets Overturned (Washington Policy Center)

Minnesota’s Child Care Crisis Is Government-Made (Center of the American Experiment in the Star Tribune)

Pennsylvania’s Losing Economically To Other States (Commonwealth Foundation in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Pennsylvania Avoids a Disastrous Green New Deal Policy—For Now (Commonwealth Foundation at Newsweek)

The Historic Expansion Of Tax Credit Scholarships Is A Win For Our Kids (Commonwealth Foundation at Penn Live)

Climate Council May Make Gas Price Problem Worse (Ethan Allen Institute in the Mountain Times)

Seeking A Middle Path On American Racial History (Ethan Allen Institute at VTDigger)

Newsom, Like Biden, Believes Selling out to Unions Is His Path to the Presidency (Freedom Foundation at RedState)

For Tax Relief, Reject Reckless Spending (Frontier Institute in Lee Newspapers)

Lawmakers At Critical Point With Economy (Georgia Public Policy Foundation in The Northeastern Georgian)

Education Savings Accounts Empower Families When Public Schools Fail Them (Goldwater Institute in The Federalist)

Speed Keeps Chicago’s Mayor Safe, But Speed Cameras Keep Her In Cash (Illinois Policy Institute in The Center Square)

Transit Solves Homeless Problem (Independence Institute in The Denver Gazette)

Herbert Hoover, America’s Forgotten Conservative (Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation in The Center Square)

Can’t Find A Therapist? Step One For Utah Is Expanding Telehealth Access (Libertas Institute in the Deseret News)

‘Regular Joes’ And Elites Should Team Up Against Special Interests (Mackinac Center in The Hill)

The High Cost Of The Inflation Reduction Act (Pacific Research Institute in Forbes)

Inflation Act Will Fuel Higher Insurance Premiums (Pacific Research Institute in the Washington Examiner)

‘Speak Out Act’ Hardly Pro-Women (Pacific Research Institute in Newsmax)

A Birthday Wish For Medicare And Medicaid: Less Waste And Better Care (Pacific Research Institute in Forbes)

Elected Officials Increasingly Demonstrate Contempt For Laws They Don’t Like (Show-Me Institute in The St. Louis Post Dispatch)

No, America Is Not On The Verge Of A New Civil War (State Policy Network in Governing)

Reject Biden’s Regulatory Push (State Policy Network in National Review)

Conservative Firm Raises Concern About Open-Records Ruling (WILL cited by AP)

‘Wokeness’ Overtakes ‘Three R’s’ In College Teacher Training (WILL cited in the Examiner)

I’m a Disabled Legal Immigrant and Can’t Bid on Government Contracts (WILL cited at RealClearPolitics)

Events and Opportunities

Please see SPN’s Network Calendar for a full list of events.