By: Keri Anderson

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).

Announcements

Success Stories

  • Mississippi families who had been waitlisted for years hoping for a Special Needs Education Scholarship Account (ESA) received word this month that the wait is over. For the first time in the program’s history the number of available scholarships increased. In addition, families learned the ESAs will not be awarded by lottery but in order of application, with priority being given to those who have waited longest. Throughout the months leading up to the 2019 legislative session, Empower Mississippi told the stories of families on the waitlist (often for years), desperate for the funds to help them find the best education setting for their children.
  • Freedom Foundation of Minnesota’s biggest victory in the most recent legislative session was to stop some of the worst election law changes from becoming law. Minnesota lawmakers introduced proposals that included an unconstitutional requirement for nonprofit donor disclosure; awarding the state’s 10 electoral votes to the winner of the presidential national popular vote; allowing one registered voter to “vouch” for an unlimited number of new voters in their precinct; and, allowing every city in the state to host municipal elections based upon a ranked-choice vote. Much of the opposition that defeated these proposals was due to the Foundation’s education and outreach to inform the public about the impact these pieces of legislation would have on the state.
  • Thanks to the efforts of the Institute for Justice, state-based economic protectionism took a hit this year. The Supreme Court struck down a Tennessee law that had required anyone seeking a retail liquor license to first reside in the state for two years—and 10 years before they could renew it. This marks the Institute for Justice’s second US Supreme Court win this term.
  • The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty in its recent lawsuit, Koschkee v. Taylor, deciding the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) does not have the constitutional power to make laws. The Superintendent and the Department of Public Instruction have historically been hostile to school choice and K–12 education reform. This decision provides the executive and legislative branches with critical oversight authority over DPI rulemaking to ensure that laws are made in the interests of all Wisconsin children.

Research & Initiatives

  • In March, the South Dakota State Legislature passed an act to promote free speech and intellectual diversity at public institutions of higher education. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni was invited to speak on the positive strides made with this bill, as well as to advise the Board on how to properly measure intellectual diversity on their campuses.
  • Earlier this year, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a controversial law regulating online auctions, an interesting move since the state specifically exempted online auctions from needing an auctioneer’s license in 2006. The Beacon Center’s legal team has filed a lawsuit, Will McLemore v. State of Tennessee, challenging the constitutionality of this law on the grounds of restricting free speech and burdening interstate commerce.
  • Citizens Against Government Waste released its 2019 Congressional Pig Book of pork-barrel earmarks, which exposes 282 earmarks costing taxpayers $15.3 billion. Highlights from this year include a number of absurd nature-related earmarks: $65 million to help recover Pacific Coastal Salmon; $13.8 million to manage wild horses; $9 million to quarantine fruit flies; and $863,000 to eradicate brown tree snakes  . . . in Guam.
  • The aftermath of Empire Center for Public Policy’s release of MTA payroll data continues as the agency scrambles to find solutions for problems like vandalism and timekeeping, even as the Center suggests the problem lies in the union contracts. 
  • The Fraser Institute convened its fifth annual EFNA Network conference in Dallas. The theme of this year’s conference was “Communicating Economic Freedom to the Public, Press, and Policymakers.” EFNA Network members from The Buckeye Institute, and Mackinac Center led the keynote session, which focused on best practices in promoting economic freedom in the policymaking sphere. If your organization is interested in joining, please contact EFNA Managing Director Alan Dowd here. 
  • The Freedom Foundation filed a federal class action suit against the Oregon Education Association (OEA) on behalf of three educators who have been denied their right to leave the union (unless they do so during the month of September, only). The Foundation also intervened in a lawsuit brought by California, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, and Connecticut to block repeal of the Obama-era rule allowing union dues skimming from Medicaid payments.
  • Senator Marsha Blackburn and FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips participated in the Free State Foundation’s seminar, “Privacy Regulation: Why, What, and When?” The panel discussion addressed potential new privacy regulation, whether by Congress, the FTC, or other federal agencies, or the states.
  • A Goldwater Institute report explains why pension spiking, a practice of sharply increasing employees’ salaries in the last few years before their retirement, and union release time, under which union members are paid a government salary to work for their union, not the government, violates the Arizona Constitution’s gift clause. Other states with anti-subsidy constitutional provisions should consider similar arguments as a means of curtailing this practice.
  • Critics had warned for many years that worsening conditions across California were increasing the risk of a “perfect storm” of cataclysmic wildfires. The failure to heed those warnings has prompted the Independent Institute to award its eighth California Golden Fleece® Award to a group of public agencies—led by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). The Golden Fleece is a dishonor given quarterly to California state or local agencies or government projects that swindle taxpayers or break the public trust.
  • The latest publication from the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, “University of North Carolina System 2019 Fact Sheet,” provides information on enrollment, tuition, graduation rates, student debt, and more for schools in the UNC system in an “at-a-glance”-style brochure. The fact sheet also examines significant trends in tuition rates, funding, and faculty, administration, and staff employment.
  • The Jesse Helms Center has launched an app for Free Enterprise Now. This customized app features the Free Enterprise Now digital learning curriculum for students as well as leadership resources, and it can be downloaded for free on Google Play and the Apple App Store.
  • As North Carolina farmers find their livelihoods threatened by environmentalist lawsuits targeting the state’s $70 billion-per-year agriculture industry, the John Locke Foundation is asking pointed questions about flawed agri-business regulatory policies, shining a light on costly new requirements imposed by regulators on animal feed operators—rules negotiated by special interests behind closed doors.
  • The Kansas Policy Institute published its 2019 Green Book, which explores the relationship between economic growth and the size of government and demonstrates the impact state and local government decisions have on all facets of our economy.
  • The Maine Heritage Policy Center, in partnership with Mackinac Center,  launched “My Pay My Say Maine,” a new education and awareness campaign that aims to inform public sector workers in Maine of their rights under the Janus decision.  
  • The Mississippi Center for Public Policy has launched a new weekly podcast and video series “Unlicensed,” which will cover state and local policy as it works to advance the founding promise of liberty…without permission.
  • The Reason Foundation reports on a new study that finds adopting best practices from abroad would help US public pension funds improve the nation’s infrastructure, diversify their portfolios and improve returns.

Think Tanks in the News

  • The Alabama Policy Institute makes the case for why the Census is more than an arbitrary headcount and how it will shape how billions of federal dollars every year are allocated to states for Medicare, SNAP (food stamps), highway construction, and more. They also point out the irony in presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ decision to cut his staff’s hours so they will make a $15 minimum wage.
  • Former Senator Joe Lieberman and American Federation for Children Board Member appeared on Neil Cavuto’s Fox Business show to discuss school choice.
  • Some lawmakers are considering a federal bailout of failing state pension systems. The Bluegrass Institute details why this would be unjust, particularly to states that already made tough tradeoffs to reform their failing pension systems.
  • The California Policy Center examines California’s pensions and why public employees’ unions would be better off encouraging their members to opt into defined contribution plans.
  • Portland’s one-percent clean energy tax will have a bigger impact on wallets and good works than the public anticipates. The Cascade Policy Institute points out that since only groceries, medicine, and health services are exempt, the  tax will affect public works projects and construction equipment wholesalers, as well as disability insurance plans and insurance policies.
  • “The minimum wage is put forward as an anti-poverty program, and if you look at the impacts of it, it’s really not.” The Civitas Institute challenges support for another federal minimum wage increase.
  • Oklahoma’s House of Representatives members all voted against raising the minimum wage to $15. The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs points out this rare show of bipartisan opposition shows how detrimental an increase could be to both the labor force and businesses in each state.
  • Healthcare is important, but Medicare for All could cripple doctors and hospitals instead of improving the public’s access. The Pacific Research Institute details how government-run healthcare will result in fewer good options.
  • The Pelican Institute for Public Policy is encouraging Louisiana citizens to educate themselves and support the candidates who are going to take a stand for the average citizen.
  • In a recent John Stossel video, the Washington Policy Center highlights the unintended consequences a $15 minimum wage has had on Seattle’s workforce, helping some while hurting even poorer people.

Other Noteworthy Resources

  • The Legatum Institute has created a United States Prosperity Index which assesses, for the first time, the development, growth and extent of prosperity across the 50 states of the United States and the District of Columbia, and how that prosperity has evolved over the past decade. The website offers a state level interactive map allowing the user to explore the Index and its components and download a deeper analysis of each state.