Research and Commentaries
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Research & Commentary: The Louisiana Parent Trigger
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Louisiana 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: Cat Bonds for State-Run Catastrophe Insurance
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Catastrophe bonds are insurance-linked securities that offset major costs to taxpayers and insurers caused by natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Cat bonds, as they are known, work differently from other types of bonds. -
Research & Commentary: HHS Final Exchange Rules
Publication -Research and Commentaries -As states have been debating whether to implement a health insurance exchange, a key deterrent has been that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had released only draft rules. -
Research & Commentary: Special-Needs Vouchers
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Seven states currently offer special-needs students the opportunity to take their public funds to a private school, and at least 10 more states are currently considering similar legislation. -
Research & Commentary: Obama Administration Education Policies
Publication -Research and Commentaries -As the 2012 elections approach, it is an appropriate time to review the president’s record on education policy. Several prominent observers have done so recently. The president’s education policies seem to please no one extremely well. -
Research & Commentary: The Obamacare Individual Mandate
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The most heavily debated element of President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the constitutionality of the individual health insurance mandate, which requires every citizen, with few exceptions, to purchase health -
Research & Commentary: Repatriation of Foreign Earnings
Publication -Research and Commentaries -To avoid high U.S. corporate tax rates, U.S.-based companies operating internationally have kept their foreign earnings in subsidiaries overseas rather than bringing them back to the United States. -
Research & Commentary: PPACA and Medicaid Expansion
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requires states to expand Medicaid eligibility to all individuals whose income is less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level. -
Research & Commentary: Hydraulic Fracturing Impact Fees
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Hydraulic fracturing has enabled profitable extraction of oil and gas in diverse areas of the country. As a result, many states sitting atop the country’s shale formations are reconsidering the way they tax these resources, to fill budget holes. -
Research & Commentary: Workers’ Compensation Reform in Illinois (Update)
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Illinois has the third-highest workers’ compensation insurance rates of any state in the United States. In Illinois, provision of workers’ comp is compulsory for all employers, and the state government does not provide insurance through a state fund. -
Backgrounder: Hydraulic Fracturing
Publication -Research and Commentaries -The recent discovery of vast deposits of oil and natural gas trapped in shale rock formations has revolutionized our nation’s short-term, mid-term, and long-term energy outlook. -
Research & Commentary: Loosening Teacher Tenure
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Several states, including Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Nevada, New Jersey, South Dakota, and Virginia, are considering making teacher tenure more difficult to obtain or replacing it with rolling contracts. -
Research & Commentary: Insurance Price Controls and California Proposition 103
Publication -Research and Commentaries -In the mid-1980s, high premium costs and a tidal wave of auto insurance litigation led to vast public outrage against auto insurers. -
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.
