Research and Commentaries

A new report shows Georgia has gradually fallen well behind its neighboring states in a nationwide education movement still building momentum.  According to the 2025 EdChoice Friedman Index—a new measuring system released in April by the titular education reform organization, which is designed to measure how much educational choice families in a particular state actually […]

Once the pioneering state in bringing choice to students and parents, Wisconsin is gradually falling behind in a nationwide education movement still building momentum.  According to the 2025 EdChoice Friedman Index—a new measuring system released in April by the titular education reform organization, which is designed to measure how much educational choice families in a […]

A Special Report released by the Heritage Foundation in April 2025 has found that New York’s decision to ban the process of hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as “fracking”) for natural gas in 2010 has had serious economic consequences for the residents of the Empire State living above the Marcellus Shale. It has resulted in a […]

Texas lawmakers are considering a bill that would speed and improve health care treatments by easing preauthorization requirements for physicians and providers delivering certain health care services. Senate Bill 1380 would establish “that certain health care services, including emergency care, intervention-necessary care, outpatient mental health treatment, and preventive services, cannot require preauthorization from health maintenance […]

A new Policy Study from The Heartland Institute details the major problems caused by the construction of industrial solar facilities and offers legislators solutions they should consider to prevent large scale solar development in their states.   In “How States Can Push Back Against the Destructive Expansion of Industrial Solar Power,” the authors relay how industrial […]

A new Policy Brief from The Heartland Institute offers a comprehensive evaluation of seven primary electricity generation sources: biomass, coal, hydropower, natural gas, nuclear, solar, and wind, and assesses each of them based on their affordability, reliability, and environmental impact.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Liquids Energy Pipeline Association (LEPA) have released the latest of their annual reports on pipeline safety showing how liquids pipelines have become significantly safer over the last five years. The analysis, 2024 Pipeline Performance Report, details how total liquids pipeline safety incidents impacting people or the environment have dropped by 13 […]

A study from researchers at Miami University in Ohio—recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Energy Economics—provides new evidence that the hydraulic fracturing (commonly known as “fracking”) revolution over the last 18 years has had a significant impact on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The researchers found that between 2007 and […]

Legislation in the Texas Senate would combat environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores by prohibiting lenders from discriminating against organizations based on social credit or value-based standards like ESG. ESG scores are essentially a risk assessment mechanism increasingly being used by investment firms and financial institutions that forces companies, entire industries, and society at large […]

Legislation in the Texas Senate would combat environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores by preventing insurance companies and holding companies from including political shareholder proposals in proxy statements and from implementing such politically driven shareholder proposals. ESG scores are essentially a risk assessment mechanism increasingly being used by investment firms and financial institutions that forces […]

Legislation in the Texas Senate would combat environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores by mandating that proxy advisory services based in Texas provide recommendations solely based on the financial interests of shareholders and exclude non-financial considerations such as ESG. ESG scores are essentially a risk assessment mechanism increasingly being used by investment firms and financial […]

Legislation in the Texas Senate would combat environmental, social, and governance (ESG) scores by mandating that public retirement systems in Texas, as well as their investment managers and proxy advisors, prioritize objective financial factors in investment decisions. ESG scores are essentially a risk assessment mechanism increasingly being used by investment firms and financial institutions that […]

Florida lawmakers are considering a bill that would empower health care providers to prescribe the best-suited medications for Floridians on Medicaid suffering from “serious mental illnesses” without having to initially prescribe possibly inferior, cheaper medications. The bill, SB 264, “would create an exception to what is known as ‘step therapy’ for a series of psychiatric […]

Through House Bill 67, North Carolina would join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC), which “offers a voluntary, expedited pathway to licensure for qualified physicians who wish to practice in multiple states,” as the IMLC websites states. The legislation would grant physicians licensed in North Carolina “the opportunity to apply for issuance of an expedited license to practice in Compact states, subject to the requirements and restrictions provided in the Compact,” the bill summary states. The bill establishes application procedures, provides for eligibility appeals, and mandates other processes to implement the compact in North Carolina.

North Carolina Senate Bill 370 and House Bill 455 would eliminate the certificate of need requirement for all health care facilities in the state. This CON reform would greatly improve access to health care in North Carolina while putting beneficial pressures on costs and quality by encouraging greater investment in new facilities and improvements of existing ones.

Legislation introduced in the Oregon House of Representatives would safeguard reliable electric power in the Beaver State so that it is not subject to blackouts and brownouts. The bill stipulates that the Public Utility Commission “may not authorize or approve a plan by an electric company to retire an electric power generating facility that provides […]

Tennessee lawmakers are considering legislation to remove Certificate of Need (CON) requirements for health care services across the state. Tennessee SB 853 and HB 970 would eliminate the certificate of need requirement for all health care facilities except for nursing homes. The bills are currently under consideration in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee and […]

Indiana lawmakers are considering legislation that would add a work requirement for enrollees in the state’s Medicaid expansion group. SB 2 would require able-bodied, mentally fit enrollees above the federal poverty level to work an average of 20 hours per week or meet other requirements to retain eligibility for Medicaid in the Healthy Indiana Program (HIP), which expanded Medicaid coverage to them under provisions in the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

Wisconsin lawmakers are considering legislation establishing that direct primary care agreements are not insurance. Combined with high-deductible, low-cost insurance against catastrophic health problems, direct primary care provides low-cost, high-quality, personalized care while the separate insurance provides protection from financial disaster. The main barrier to DPC is the complicated regulations imposed by state bureaucracies and consumer protection authorities that regulate insurance companies.

Senate Bill 2 would benefit Indiana Medicaid recipients by slowing the program’s movement toward insolvency as skyrocketing Medicaid costs threaten to devour all discretionary spending in the state. Nearly two million people in Indiana were enrolled in Medicaid at the end of 2024, in a state of just under seven million people. Indiana ran a Medicaid budget shortfall of more than $1 billion in 2023 and is still struggling to recover. The cost of Medicaid in the state increased by more than $5 billion in the last four years. Medicaid is forecast to cost Indiana taxpayers $10 billion over the next two years.

Tennessee lawmakers are considering legislation that would remove Certificate of Need (CON) requirements for acute care centers. Enactment of this legislation would increase Tennesseans’ access to acute care hospitals and raise the quality of care. The legislation is currently under consideration in the House Health Subcommittee and the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.

Texas lawmakers are considering legislation that would prevent state Medicaid administrators from automatically renewing recipients without contacting them to make sure that they qualify for the program. Senate Bill 921 would benefit Texas Medicaid recipients by slowing the program’s movement toward insolvency. More than four million Texans are currently enrolled in Medicaid. Skyrocketing Medicaid costs threaten […]

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 16, 2022, but the contents of the legislation are contradictory to its stated purpose. The real point of the IRA is the creation of an enormous renewable energy slush fund, paid for by deficit spending. The […]

HB 3015 would allow workers’ direct primary care fees to count toward insurance deductibles in coverage under the state’s Employees Retirement System. More than 548,000 people were enrolled in these plans in 2024.