Announcements
American Experiment announced the rescinding of a 2009 rule that justified regulating greenhouse gas emissions, stating that all such regulations for motor vehicles and engines would be nullified if finalized.
The Caesar Rodney Institute examines how Project Washington, a proposed 6‑million‑square‑foot data center, could double Delaware’s electricity demand.
The Idaho Freedom Foundation highlighted the need to curb Idaho’s spending growth at the recent Idaho DOGE Task Force kickoff, emphasizing their Spending Index as a crucial tool to measure agency appropriations and legislative votes since 2019.
Illinois public education employees see only 15% to 26% of union spending directed towards representing them in 2024, noted the Illinois Policy Institute.
Independence Institute’s PowerGab cohosts Amy Oliver Cooke and Jake Fogleman explored the EPA’s regulatory reach over one of Colorado’s coal-fired power plants.
The James Madison Institute reflected on an extraordinary year for liberty in Florida in The Messenger Spring 2025.
The Mackinac Center highlighted 12 reasons corporate welfare fails to foster prosperity.
Mountain States Policy Center examined how transportation taxes impact economies across the region.
New Jersey Policy Institute appointed Unity Bank executive George Boyan as a new board member, bolstering their leadership with his extensive financial expertise.
Texas Public Policy Foundation reported that Congress recently eliminated the three largest subsidies for electric vehicles, despite continuation of wind and solar subsidies.
Washington Policy Center explored whether the Big Beautiful Bill’s school choice provision could unlock free school choice in Washington state.
Success Stories
North Carolina: Overriding a veto by Governor Josh Stein, the General Assembly passed S.B. 416—the Personal Privacy Protection Act—into law. Based on a model policy by People United for Privacy Foundation, the law creates penalties for state officials who violate nonprofit donors’ right to privacy. The John Locke Foundation applauded the measure, noting it’s designed to safeguard the constitutional rights of donors to nonprofit organizations.
North Carolina: The John Locke Foundation also commended the General Assembly for overriding Governor Stein’s vetoes of both the Power Bill Reduction Act, which protects residents from rising utility costs driven by energy mandates, and the REINS Act, which restores legislative oversight of costly, unelected regulatory actions.
Utah: Libertas Institute highlighted how, on July 1, a new law took effect in Utah barring collective bargaining for all public employees across the state, including teachers, firefighters, transit workers, and police.
Freedom through the Courts: The Latest Litigation Efforts across the Network
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reaffirmed the constitutional right to seek just compensation when the government takes private property in Fulton v. Fulton County Board of Commissioners, an important 5th Amendment case in which the court specifically requested a brief from The Buckeye Institute.
The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in Diemert v. City of Seattle, urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to look to Justice John Marshall Harlan’s dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson and his expansive view of the 14th Amendment to end discriminatory workplace equity initiatives, which violate the U.S. Constitution and the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Liberty Justice Center filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Todd v. AFSCME because a lower court’s prior ruling in the case violates Supreme Court precedent.The Mackinac Centerfiled a lawsuit on behalf of Michigan home caregivers to stop a forced unionization attempt by the SEIU. The suit was filed on July 30 in the Michigan Court of Claims.
Solutions from the States: This Week’s Policy Briefs
Georgia Public Policy Foundation’s latest report, Short Supply: How Many More Homes Does Georgia Need?, mapped out the state’s growing housing shortage.
The Illinois Policy Institute released findings showing Illinois has the nation’s worst public pension crisis.
The ITR Foundation argued that sales and excise taxes should not be a blank check for government spending, emphasizing the need for responsible budgeting in Iowa.
Pacific Research Institute noted flaws in healthcare regulations are obstructing drug competition and driving up pharmaceutical costs.
Pacific Research Institute noted that teacher shortages plague urban and rural areas—with California facing significant challenges despite high per-student spending.
Pioneer Institute highlighted lessons from military-run schools.
Texas Public Policy Foundation examined the readiness of the Texas State Guard following severe flooding in Kerr County, which exposed critical response deficits.
The Pelican Institute for Public Policy emphasized urgent reforms needed in nuclear energy policy following a U.S. House oversight hearing on regulatory constraints.
Thomas Jefferson Institute outlined a vision for Virginia’s education policy, emphasizing state control as federal education shifts under new governance.
Washington Policy Center revealed that most of Washington’s Climate Commitment Act revenue is funneled back into government bureaucracy, not climate projects.
Tracking Positive Reforms: Updates from Network Affiliates
Delaware: Lawmakers are considering a bill that strengthens digital privacy protections, reinforcing Fourth Amendment rights in today’s online world (Caesar Rodney Institute).
Policy News from the States
Topics:
K-12 Education
Declining enrollment in traditional schools highlights California’s need for alternatives
California Policy Center
Vallas: Hunger strike saved school, but academic neglect starves students
Illinois Policy Institute
Congress wants largest teachers union to pick kids over politics
Illinois Policy Institute
Over 150,000 Kansas students may be functionally illiterate, yet the adults in charge won’t take action
Kansas Policy Institute
Michigan schools should go back to basics
Mackinac Center
Wyoming parents shouldn’t lose hope about paused education choice funds
Mountain States Policy Center
Understanding the Decline in Student Test Scores with Jim Wyckoff
Show-Me Institute
Legal Limits: The ABA’s Stranglehold on Legal Education
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Coalition of WI Parents Encourage Court of Appeals to Protect Young Girls at School
Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty
Energy and Environment
The man from Cameroon
American Experiment
UN court warns that rich nations could face climate reparations
John Locke Foundation
From the City on a Hill to a Shrouded Statehouse: Massachusetts’ Push for Government Accountability
Pioneer Institute
Healthcare
Let’s talk about medical debt
Pacific Research Institute
How Price Controls Make a Healthy Drug Market Sick
Pacific Research Institute
Feds right to curtail California’s Medicaid scam
Pacific Research Institute
I Spoke with Three Health Care Experts About the One Big Beautiful Bill, Here’s What They Said
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Jobs and State Economies
State government salaries have grown 57% faster than private sector since 2021
Illinois Policy Institute
Texas Calls Special Session for Property Tax Relief
ITR Foundation
Paying people not to leave
Mackinac Center
Is Government Truly Limited in Louisiana?
The Pelican Institute for Public Policy
State Budgets
Why the LEFT is FURIOUS with Sydney Sweeney
American Experiment
Governor Newsom’s Redistricting Plan Would Not Be Cheap
California Policy Center
Poll shows NYC voters willingly heading toward cliff
John Locke Foundation
Delayed infrastructure boondoggles cost $163B
John Locke Foundation
Policymakers approve interim spending plan amid stalled budget talks
John Locke Foundation
Job Licensing Reviews: Health and Human Services Committee
Platte Institute
The Cost to Build
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Workplace Freedom
Defending the Free Speech Rights of Employers Against the Administrative State
Goldwater Institute
Other
Fraud is bad
American Experiment
What’s behind the GDP numbers (revisited)?
American Experiment
Minnesota’s Tim Walz mulls a third term while Wisconsin’s Tony Evers says “no thanks”
American Experiment
We’re hiring! Data and Policy Analyst
American Experiment
Walz halts payments to HSS providers
American Experiment
First Principles Series: Protecting Property Rights
Beacon Center of Tennessee
First Principles: When the Government Takes Your Land
Beacon Center of Tennessee
Can San Francisco Be Saved From Itself?
California Policy Center
Metro’s Ballooning Bond for Road Diets
Cascade Policy Institute
Baked to order: new cottage food rules
Grassroot Institute
Illinois revenue $717M more than expected, but politicians still raise taxes
Illinois Policy Institute
McGowan: Social Justice
Indiana Policy
Franke: Family Farms or Agribusiness?
Indiana Policy
Good Policy Starts with Good Questions—Here’s Where to Begin
ITR Foundation
Jasmine Crockett’s ‘foul’ character nothing new for Dems
John Locke Foundation
Obama’s ‘bruised ego’ played role in attempted Trump takedown
John Locke Foundation
WaPo departure points to end of fake ‘fact checks’
John Locke Foundation
NPR shows it hasn’t learned its lesson
John Locke Foundation
Democrats, media deserve poor reviews
John Locke Foundation
Unclassified docs show Obama’s role in Russia hoax
John Locke Foundation
Left-wing Media Matters spin machine faces crisis
John Locke Foundation
Attacks on judges are nothing new in American history
John Locke Foundation
What is the budget dispute about?
Mackinac Center
7 questions to ask about any policy proposal
Mackinac Center
Mississippi or Milei? America’s Magnolia state is a better example of what the free market can do
Minnesota Policy
Exploring transportation taxes and their impact in the Mountain States
Mountain States Policy Center
Newsom’s misguided threat to gerrymander congressional districts
Pacific Research Institute
Thank Obamacare for America’s insurance fraud boom
Pacific Research Institute
California’s flawed budgeting causes routine deficits
Pacific Research Institute
A Conversation with Mayor Willie Brown
Pacific Research Institute
Watch the Free Cities Center Interview with Mayor Willie Brown
Pacific Research Institute
U-MD’s Vincent Carretta on Phillis Wheatley Peters, Slavery, & Poetry
Pioneer Institute
Trump’s immigration reset is lifting wages and forcing real economic reform
Texas Public Policy Foundation
The College Board has too much control over AP classes
Texas Public Policy Foundation
The Network in the News
In National Review, The Buckeye Institute’s Rea Hederman highlights how Ohio has joined the flat tax revolution.
In Newsweek, the Georgia Public Policy Foundation’s Brett Kittredge notes replacing corn syrup with sugar won’t be easy—or cheap.
At USA Today, FGA’s Hayden Dublois notes Trump isn’t gutting Medicaid and food stamps—he’s fixing our broken welfare system.
In The Daily Signal, the Freedom Foundation’s Aaron Withe notes if public sector unions provided value, they wouldn’t need schemes.
In his recent column, the Independence Institute‘s Jon Caldara argues that taxpayers shouldn’t even consider funding a new Broncos stadium until Denver cleans up its streets and gets serious about public safety.
The Mackinac Center’s Patrick Wright authored an op-ed in National Review, highlighting the Mackinac Center’s latest lawsuit aimed at preventing the forced unionization of Michigan home caregivers.
In The Center Square, the Mountain States Policy Center’s Marta Mossburg argues Wyoming parents shouldn’t lose hope about paused education choice funds.
In Forbes, the Pacific Research Institute’s Sally Pipes highlights Medicaid’s 60th birthday and points out that the safety net program is in serious need of repair.
In the Tallahassee Democrat, The James Madison Institute’s William Mattox argues Florida’s K-12 scholarship students can help solve public school budget woes.
In the CT Mirror, the Yankee Institute’s Andrew Fowler highlights Connecticut’s affordability problem.
