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

  • After more than four years of hard-fought legal battles, the Freedom Center of Missouri has now firmly established in Missouri that even multi-jurisdictional drug task forces must comply with the state’s open records laws. In addition, government entities throughout the state know that they can no longer count on using the prospect of costly litigation to discourage citizens from pursuing their rights to transparency.
  • The Mackinac Center for Public Policy praised Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and lawmakers for enacting a new law that will protect individuals’ property and due process rights by requiring law enforcement to convict a person in a court of law prior to permanently keeping their property through civil asset forfeiture. The 2019 bills would require a criminal conviction before someone could lose their assets via civil asset forfeiture. The reforms would also speed up the process by which a person can get their assets back if they were seized by law enforcement.
  • The Mississippi Justice Institute, the legal arm of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, successfully challenged regulations that limited who can provide emergency telemedicine in Mississippi. Last week, the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure adopted a new proposed rule that will expand telemedicine services in the state by allowing additional providers to offer telemedicine in the emergency room, expanding access to rural hospitals and bringing more choice and competition to healthcare.

Research & Initiatives

  • The Civitas Institute‘s latest statewide survey of North Carolina voters revealed public opinions on the state of the nation as well as North Carolina, and found the majority are concerned about the environment and education spending.
  • The Commonwealth Foundation is urging lawmakers and the governor to build on Pennsylvania’s previous criminal justice reform and address the state’s inefficient probation and parole systems.
  • The Empire Center announced the roll out of a new guidebook, “Dues & Don’ts,” which helps public employers talk to their employees about their rights under Janus. There is a website dedicated to the project with downloadable materials, an orientation video, and FAQs.
  • The Fraser Institute has launched the Essential Scholars website to educate new generations about key free-market thinkers throughout history. Each page dedicated to a free-market thinker contains videos, overviews, and other resources helpful in understanding their impact on economics and society.
  • With legal representation from the Freedom Foundation, a California home caregiver has sued the United Domestic Workers union in federal court after forging her signature on a union membership form five years ago and deducting dues from her Medicaid payments ever since.
  • The Institute for Free Speech is representing a coalition of media associations, trade associations, a nonprofit advocacy group, and a former South Dakota resident in a new lawsuit to defend First Amendment rights. The plaintiffs are challenging a South Dakota law that will ban Americans from other states from contributing to South Dakota ballot measure campaigns.
  • The latest findings from the Maryland Business Climate Survey, a joint partnership between the Maryland Public Policy Institute and the University of Baltimore’s Jacob France Institute, found the majority of Maryland businesses remain optimistic about the economy and poised for future growth.
  • The Sutherland Institute’s “Innovation in Education” symposium brought together state officials, policy analysts, and educational leaders to discuss reforms in Utah and elsewhere.
  • Truth in Accounting has released the City Combined Taxpayer Burden report analyzing the finances of the 10 largest US cities, as well as their counties, states, and underlying government units. The report provides residents and taxpayers in these cities with a more accurate and holistic view of their respective city’s finances by including obligations not included in standard financial reports.
  • Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty proposes seven healthcare solutions for Wisconsin, many with bipartisan support, that aim to lower the cost of healthcare and increase access. The solutions include increased access to direct primary care, short-term limited duration health plans, dental therapy licenses, and repealing a minimum markup law that increases prescription drug prices.

Think Tanks in the News

  • Alabama Policy Institute‘s recent video highlighting the need for commonsense occupational licensing reform is making headlines.
  • The Center of the American Experiment points out prosperity in the US economy is a positive sum game, and an increase in one person’s wealth does not need to, and shouldn’t, come from a decrease in someone else’s.
  • Citizens Against Government Waste addresses the misguided attempts at 5G nationalization: “The race to 5G should be won the American way, with private investment and private competition, like every other generation of telecommunications technology.” 
  • You may think it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to chemical regulations, but the Ethan Allen Institute provides a cautionary tale of how being overzealous about which chemicals are banned and which are legalized may lead to science being crushed by political power.
  • Garden State Initiative’s second annual Economic Policy Forum covered “some uncomfortable truths” of doing business in New Jersey.
  • Georgia’s thriving economy is bringing more people to the state, but the Georgia Public Policy Foundation points out how government regulations and mandates are hurting housing affordability and negatively impacting low-income residents.
  • Medicare is set to go broke by 2026, and the Goldwater Institute offers ideas on how the feds could fix it.
  • The Illinois Policy Institute points out that infrastructure spending reform would make it possible for Illinois to afford another $10 billion in infrastructure projects without requiring a tax hike.
  • Why is socialism so popular among young people? The Libertas Institute offers insights.
  • The Mackinac Center for Public Policy discovered Wayne County, Michigan has seized more than 2,600 vehicles and received more than $1.2 million in total revenue from civil asset forfeiture in the last two years. Michigan’s new law requiring a conviction in order to seize assets will protect county residents from government overreach in the future.
  • MacIver Institute finds that opponents of Wisconsin’s four-year-old right-to-work law are ready to take advantage of a new administration to circumvent worker freedom in the Badger State.
  • The Nevada Policy Research Institute calls out Reno, Nevada for their outrageous fees to cover public records requests.
  • The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs examines why a move by Maine legislators to do away with the Electoral College would diminish the state’s voice and increase the partisan divide.
  • Pioneer Institute’s 2019 Better Government Competition, which will award $10,000 to whoever can solve Boston’s congestion problem, is making headlines.