Research and Commentaries
-
Research & Commentary: Hydraulic Fracturing and Groundwater Contamination
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The Environmental Protection Agency’s release of its draft ”Investigation of Ground Water Contamination near Pavillion, Wyoming” in December 2011 has brought much attention to alleged risks hydraulic fracturing poses to groundwater resources. -
Research & Commentary: The Dangers of a Single-Payer Health System
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A common proposal for remedying the increasing cost of health care in the United States has been the call for a single-payer health care system. -
Research & Commentary: National Catastrophe ‘Backstop’ Update
Publication -Research and Commentaries -For more than a decade, members of Congress have proposed various bills to establish a federal “backstop,” “catastrophe fund,” or “guarantee mechanism” for private losses in cases of disaster. -
Research & Commentary: Florida Parent Trigger
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Florida legislators have proposed an education reform that is garnering significant national attention: the Parent Trigger. The legislation, first passed in California, is currently being drafted in a dozen other states. -
Research & Commentary: Ohio Health Insurance Exchange
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Uncertainty over the future of the federal health care law has led many states, including Ohio, to avoid implementation of health insurance exchanges. Recently state Sen. -
Research & Commentary: National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has been a political football in recent years, with Congress unwilling to commit to reform. -
Research & Commentary: Digital Textbooks
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The Obama administration has announced it wants every child in the nation to have an e-textbook by 2017. Several states, including California and Utah, already have made their way towards that goal. -
Research & Commentary: Louisiana Education Reforms
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In January 2012, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) proposed policies that would shift the state’s education system toward greater accountability, freedom, and choice. -
Research & Commentary: No-Fault Insurance and Personal Injury Protection Insurance Fraud
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Auto insurance fraud is a serious problem in Florida. -
Research & Commentary: Tobacco Harm Reduction
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Nearly 50 million American adults—more than a fifth of the nation’s adult population—smoke cigarettes. After vigorous efforts aimed at reducing that figure, the percentage of Americans who smoke has fallen by almost half in the past four decades. -
Research & Commentary: Idaho’s Tobacco Tax Advantage
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Idaho House Revenue and Taxation Committee Chairman Dennis Lake (R-Blackfoot) says he wants to increase the state’s cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack, to help curb smoking and raise revenue. -
Research & Commentary: Idaho’s Tobacco Tax Advantage
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Idaho House Revenue and Taxation Committee Chairman Dennis Lake (R-Blackfoot) says he wants to increase the state’s cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack, to help curb smoking and raise revenue. -
Research & Commentary: Ohio Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard
Publication -Research and Commentaries -On Wednesday, Ohio Senate Bill 216 will be up for consideration in the Senate Energy & Public Utilities committee. -
Research & Commentary: School Funding that Follows the Child
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The idea of education funding following the child has several names, such as weighted student funding, backpack funding, fair-student funding, student-based budgeting, and results-based budgeting. -
Heartland Institute Review & Commentary: Chemicals of Concern
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Executive Summary Following the passage of “Chemicals of Concern” legislation in Maine, Washington, and California, several states are considering adopting similar statutes. -
Research & Commentary: Civic Education
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Often lost in the attention rightly paid to students’ poor achievement in math and reading is that civic knowledge and participation have been sliding for decades in the United States. That undermines representative government. -
Research & Commentary: Early Childhood Education
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In November 2011, President Barack Obama restructured Head Start funding to require competitive grants for the least effective providers, to forestall congressional Republicans seeking to limit or repeal the program. -
Research & Commentary: Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund
Publication -Research and Commentaries -As in all states with significant hurricane risks, windstorm coverage is expensive for people in Florida. -
Research & Commentary: Race to the Top, Year One
Publication -Research and Commentaries -One-quarter of the states receiving part of the $4 billion in federal Race to the Top grants are in danger of losing those grants by failing to keep promises made to win them, said Education Secretary Arne Duncan while announcing the program’s first-year -
Research & Commentary: Michigan Safe Products Act
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The Safe Children’s Product Act, introduced by Michigan state Sen. -
Research & Commentary: Health Insurance Exchange Sunset Clauses
Publication -Research and Commentaries -States are becoming increasingly hesitant about complying with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) by implementing a health insurance exchange. -
Research & Commentary: The College Bubble
Publication -Research and Commentaries -U.S. student loan debt has increased 500 percent since 1999, and the cost of college has risen 400 percent since the 1980s. Both have far outpaced overall inflation and price increases on such items as homes, new cars, and prescription drugs. -
Research & Commentary: Online and Blended Learning
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Two million K-12 students in the United States are enrolled in online classes this year, and full-time virtual enrollment has increased 40 percent in the past three years. -
Research & Commentary: Colorado Health Insurance Exchange
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Though several states have rejected federal funding for health insurance exchanges required by President Barack Obama’s health care law, the state of Colorado has accepted an $18 million federal grant to begin implementation of an exchange.
