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

  • As the organization that first discovered the secret government storage of “Baby DNA,” and the only organization working to protect newborn citizens from unauthorized use of their genetic code, Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom celebrates the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recognition of the fundamental and Fourth Amendment rights of parents to protect their child’s DNA.
  • Pennsylvania school choice legislation caught the attention of The Wall Street Journal this spring—and they have championed the reform in three compelling and timely editorials. Using Commonwealth Foundation data and a study by EdChoice, the Journal challenged Governor Wolf’s veto of a bill that would expand Pennsylvania’s tax credit scholarships. Thanks to widespread media attention and public support, lawmakers found a way around the veto to increase tax credit scholarships in the state budget.
  • Empire Center’s government transparency site, SeeThroughNY.net, is celebrating its 11th birthday! The site is home to over 24 million public spending records and receives almost nine million page views a year. Through the site, Empire Center aims to show lawmakers, media, and the general public the true (and often astonishing) spending by state and local governments and agencies. By shining this light on government spending, SeeThroughNY is driving a different conversation about government spending—one that encourages policymakers to consider worthwhile reforms, thanks to engagement from more informed public and media.
  • In a landmark victory for religious freedom, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of First Liberty Institute’s clients, preserving the nearly 100-year-old Bladensburg WWI Veterans Memorial, along with memorials like it bearing religious symbols across the country. In American Legion v. American Humanist Association, the Court reaffirmed that the First Amendment allows people to use religious symbols and images in public.
  • This has been a banner year for insurance reform in states that need it most, and R Street Institute has been at the forefront of these efforts. After years of the Institute alerting states to the harmful impact of ill-conceived laws, Michigan and Florida finally enacted positive change that will help create a healthier insurance market and lower insurance rates.

Research & Initiatives

  • This summer, the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law is fighting for property rights in Ohio’s cities. It is litigating ticket taxes that fund private art, exactions that must be paid before a homeowners can use a home security alarm, prohibitions that forbid gardening in one’s own yard without a city permit, and conditions that forbid business owners from improving their land without first giving the city part of that same land.
  • America’s Future Foundation launched their 28th chapter, located in the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The launch event featured special guest and 2019 Buckley Award winner Aaron Rice of the Mississippi Justice Institute, as well as leaders from the Mississippi Center for Public Policy.
  • Years after tax cut opponents claimed rate reductions would lead to revenue shortages, Arkansas state government closed FY 2019 with a $231.2 million surplus—4.1 percent above the official forecast. The report confirmed Arkansas Policy Foundation research that shows state surpluses occur in economic expansions, with shortfalls occurring in recessions with a time lag.
  • In response to suggestions from lawmakers and other federal officials that international reference pricing would reduce drug costs for Americans, the American Consumer Institute Center for Citizen Research (ACI) released a white paper: “How International Reference Pricing for Prescription Drugs Would Hurt American Consumers.” The study found international reference pricing would actually have harmful effects for consumers and companies alike.
  • The College Fix’s student reporters conducted a massive investigation into the waste, fraud, and abuse of campus bias response teams. The investigation—facilitated through public records act requests—exposed how more than a dozen of these bias teams at public universities across the nation are essentially glorified tattle-tale repositories.
  • Regulations ruined dishwashers, and thanks to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the US Department of Energy is doing something about it.
  • Illinois lawmakers passed a progressive tax amendment in the final days of their spring legislative session. Voters will vote this fall on whether to eliminate Illinois’ flat tax protection and allow lawmakers to replace it with a progressive income tax system. In the meantime, Illinois Policy Institute is making sure voters understand the dangers of a progressive tax and the need for lawmakers to advance commonsense spending reforms instead.
  • One key takeaway from states’ 2019 legislative sessions was increased interest in donor privacy. Many states saw threats to privacy defeated while some states introduced, and two states passed, legislation bolstering privacy and First Amendment rights. The Institute for Free Speech has been tracking and analyzing these developments throughout the year.
  • National Review Institute celebrated the one year anniversary of Janus v. AFSCME by hosting a panel discussion on worker freedom and First Amendment rights featuring Mark Janus, Daniel Suhr, and Kevin D. Williamson in Dallas.
  • Ten Medicaid providers, with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, have moved to intervene in a federal lawsuit brought by AFSCME and SEIU that challenges a rule preventing union officials from illegally skimming union dues directly out of taxpayer-funded Medicaid payments to providers. Union officials have skimmed more than $1 billion in Medicaid funds intended for caregivers over the past 15 years.
  • The Pacific Legal Foundation and Liberty Justice Center are challenging a California Gag Rule statute that prohibits state government employers from talking to employees about their constitutional rights related to union membership and dues. Jackson v. Napolitano was filed on behalf of two University of California employees against the Teamsters union.
  • The Nebraska Legislature may have adjourned without taking major action on property tax reform, but the Platte Institute for Economic Research is keeping the conversation going with a series of property tax reform town halls.
  • Last month, Texas Public Policy Foundation’s General Counsel Robert Henneke presented oral arguments in State of Texas v. United States of America, a lawsuit on behalf of small business owners challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
  • The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, on behalf of three Wisconsin taxpayers, filed an original action to the Wisconsin Supreme Court asking the Court to review Governor Evers’ use of partial vetoes. WILL argues the governor unlawfully used his partial veto powers to, in effect, create new laws never approved by the legislature.

Think Tanks in the News

  • The Kentucky Educational Television’s Kentucky Tonight interviewed the Bluegrass Institute about the pros and cons of Kentucky’s new pension bill.
  • Perhaps the only sure things in life really are death and taxes, but taxes and the federal agency that collects them should not be the untimely death of small businesses. The Buckeye Institute looks at additional improvements to the Taxpayer First Act, an act which reformed IRS civil asset forfeiture rules, to further help small businesses.
  • The California Policy Center notes that despite teachers unions’ typically progressive stance, their record when it comes to serious education reform is spotty.
  • Oregon’s Farm-to-School program sounds like a good idea, but the Cascade Policy Institute highlights how the fresh food program may not be as nutritionally or fiscally beneficial to students as frozen foods.
  • Despite a record increase in tax credit scholarships this year, the Commonwealth Foundation research indicates many families’ applications will still be turned down. Fifty thousand families applied, but the increased funding will only allow for another 15,000 student scholarships.
  • The Georgia Public Policy Foundation uses the recent popularity of scooters to highlight how some government regulations are a direct result of insufficient personal responsibility.
  • Many presidential candidates are voicing strong, and in the case of South Bend, IN, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, religious support for a $15 minimum wage. But the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy calls out the apparent hypocrisy between the candidate’s views and the wages he offers his own employees.
  • The Pacific Research Institute explains why the Trump administration’s decision to axe a change to Medicare Part D will cost patients billions of dollars in savings. The new rule would have required insurers to share discounts they negotiate with drug companies directly with patients.
  • The Pelican Institute warns Louisianans that lawsuit abuse is making the state unattractive to employers.
  • Words matter. The Show-Me Institute highlights how the term capitalism has become co-opted and no longer communicates the positives of free markets.
  • As socialism continues to rise in popularity among Americans, the Sutherland Institute suggests we need to find a new approach to discussing the issue.
  • The Tax Education Foundation of Iowa highlights how the impending implementation of the “Cadillac Tax” will negatively impact Iowans by destroying employer-sponsored health coverage, stifling health care innovation, and has already wildly increased Americans’ out-of-pocket health care costs.

Events & Opportunities

  • On August 20, the Pelican Institute is hosting a Constitutional Convention Forum in Baton Rouge, LA.  The Forum will discuss the challenges, risks, and open questions about what can be accomplished at a state Constitutional Convention.