Research and Commentaries
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Research & Commentary: FCC Set-Top Box Regulation
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Section 629 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 authorized the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the television hardware market. -
Research & Commentary: Higher Education Regulations, State Authorization
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The U.S. Department of Education will begin implementing two new regulations on for-profit colleges in July 2011. -
School Choice Is Back
Publication -Research and Commentaries -School vouchers, like the Republican Party, are back in a big way. The question for vouchers, as for the GOP, is: Have they learned their lesson?Just a few years ago, the smart people were declaring vouchers dead. -
Research & Commentary: School Vouchers Are a Cost-Saver for Taxpayers
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The evidence is in: If your goal is efficiency and saving tax dollars, K-12 education voucher programs are an astounding success. -
Research & Commentary: Airline Passenger Tax
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Congress is considering an increase in the airline passenger facility tax from $4.50 to $7.00 per takeoff and landing. In total this would be a massive $2 billion tax increase on consumers. -
Research & Commentary: The Build America Bonds Program
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The federal government’s Build America Bonds program is controversial. -
Parents should have choice in education
Publication -Research and Commentaries -A vast majority of Tennesseans believe their public school system needs changing, as found by a recent Vanderbilt University poll. -
Research & Commentary: Parent Empowerment in K-12 Education
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Many states—including Indiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—are considering significant education reform initiatives. The Parent Trigger, allowing parents to petition for school-wide reform, is quickly spreading across the nation. -
Research & Commentary: Indiana Parent Trigger
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Schools in Indiana are failing to make the grade, and parents are afforded virtually no recourse when their children fall victim to a failing school. -
Research & Commentary: Nebraska’s Telecommunication Taxes
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Nebraska state Sen. Deb Fischer (R) of Valentine is proposing a law to phase out the municipal service occupation tax on telecommunication services and require voter approval before municipalities can impose higher telecommunication taxes. -
Research & Commentary: Medicaid and State Budgets
Publication -Research and Commentaries -As many legislators are now learning, perhaps the greatest impact President Barack Obama’s health care regime will have on state budgets comes from the dramatic expansion of Medicaid to cover millions of additional Americans. -
Research & Commentary: Auto Accident Response Fees
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Local governments around the nation continue to make new proposals to create accident response fees, or “crash” taxes. These tax proposals are likely to become more common as local governments struggle to balance their budgets. -
The Blob That Ate the Schools
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Here’s an eye-opening school statistic for you: Only half of Oklahoma’s public education employees are teachers. The bureaucracy is now so big, it takes up half the system. It’s the blob that ate the schools. -
Are Oklahoma’s Noncompliant School Districts Violating Civil Rights Laws?
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Oklahoma public schools that violate the civil rights of students risk losing federal education funds, U.S. Department of Education official Jim Bradshaw told CapitolBeatOK recently. -
Research & Commentary: Flood Mitigation, Levees, and Flood Maps
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Flood insurance maps inform owners of property on U.S. coastlines and riverbanks of flood damage risks their properties might face. -
Research & Commentary: Idaho’s Tobacco Tax Advantage
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Idaho is expected to face a budget deficit in fiscal year 2012 of approximately $350 million. Idaho House Revenue and Taxation Committee Chairman Dennis Lake (R-Blackfoot) says he wants to increase the state’s cigarette tax by more than $1. -
TN should say no to ObamaCare
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Nine months ago, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, ushering in the largest-ever government intrusion into American’s health-care decisions. -
Research & Commentary: Georgia’s Tobacco Tax Advantage
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Georgia state Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Savannah) wants to raise the state’s cigarette tax by a dollar per pack in order to help close the state’s $1.5 billion budget deficit. -
Research & Commentary: EPA Guidance on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed guidance for regulating greenhouse gas emissions was released in mid-November and is set to go into effect on January 2, 2011. -
Research & Commentary: A Federal Balanced Budget Amendment
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The current public outrage over bailouts, excessive spending, and a staggering national debt are helping fuel the push for a federal balanced budget amendment. -
Research & Commentary: Jobs and the Health Care Law
Publication -Research and Commentaries -There is little question that the key issue for most voters in November’s election was the economy. -
How Higher Tuition Translates into More Debt for State Universities
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The S.C. Budget and Control Board recently announced a moratorium halting construction at four-year public institutions that raised tuition by 7 percent or more for the 2010-2011 school year. -
Research & Commentary: The Problem with ‘Fat’ Taxes
Publication -Research and Commentaries -States are increasingly looking to soda, candy, and other so-called “fat” taxes as a way to shore up their budgets. -
Research & Commentary: Advantages of Net Diversity
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Many economists and Web experts say a “non-neutral” Internet has a host of significant advantages. Network diversity encourages growth and variety of services and is a requirement for a host of exciting new technologies.
