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Budget & Tax
Millennials Must Recognize Need for Public Pension System Reform
After the midterm elections, there has been a lot of talk about the young people who didn’t turn out to vote. In this Heartlanderarticle, Lance Christensen, director of the Reason Foundation’s Pension Reform Project, states, “Although public pension reform needs to eliminate unfunded liabilities placed on future generations, millennials won’t be the only losers if our elected officials do not have the courage to reform California’s broken pension systems.” Read more
Energy & Environment
Kansas, Nebraska Fight EPA’s Rule on Ethanol Emissions
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning have joined the Energy Future Coalition and the Urban Air Initiative in a lawsuit challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s new regulations changing how ethanol emissions are monitored. Read more
Education
Research & Commentary: Minnesota Higher Education
Minnesota starts the 2015 legislative year with a $1 billion surplus, but Gov. Mark Dayton (DFL) reports he has already received $3 billion in spending requests. One of these is from University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler.Heartland Institute Policy Analyst Taylor Smith says higher education should be getting less public support … and greater institutional autonomy in exchange. That has worked successfully in Michigan. Read more
Telecom
Study: Netflix More Valuable than Cable, Broadcast Among Millennials
A new study from NATPE/Content First and the Consumer Electronics Association concludes millennials find Netflix subscriptions more valuable than broadcast and cable subscriptions. The study found “51 percent of millennials consider Netflix subscriptions very valuable, compared to 42 percent for broadcast channels and 36 percent for cable subscriptions. Young people are also more likely to stream a full-length TV program than watch it live on TV during its original air time or time-delayed on a DVR.” In this Heartlander article, Director of Research S.T. Karnick writes, “While providers are busy creating cheaper and more convenient ways to get video-based news and entertainment, and consumers are eagerly taking advantage of every opportunity, the national government is doing all it can to suppress this salutary revolution while claiming it is doing so in order to promote competition.” Read more
Health Care
Research & Commentary: Indiana Nursing Home Moratorium
While other states are considering repealing or rolling back parts of their Certificate of Need (CON) laws, an Indiana state Senator has proposed a three-year moratorium on new nursing home facilities and additional beds. In this Research & Commentary,Senior Policy Analyst Matthew Glans writes, “Government-imposed limits on competition harm consumers and increase the cost of health care. Moratoria on the construction of new health care facilities, just like CON laws, fail to achieve many of their stated goals and instead reduce the availability of health care services.” Read more
From Our Free Market Friends
Strong Roots Nebraska and LB357: Growing Nebraska with Sensible Tax Relief
Competition between states for new capital investment is one of the main drivers of tax reform. An initiative by the Platte Institute for Economic Research, “Strong Roots Nebraska,” proposes an incremental tax reform plan that will cut both the personal income tax rate and the corporate income tax rate. David G. Tuerck, Michael Head, and Frank Conte from The Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University note, “To remain competitive in the interstate race for new jobs and investment, the state of Nebraska should examine the strengths and weakness of its current tax system.” Read more
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