Many American families have few options outside of their residentially assigned schools, but it doesn’t have to be this way. One way policymakers can put parents in the driver’s seat is through a form of public school choice that everyone …
Aviation Policy News: St. Louis Airport Lease, Airport Funding, Remote Towers, and More
In this issue: St. Louis mayor cancels airport P3 lease U.S. getting further behind on remote towers RAND report suggests airport funding reforms FAA Metroplex still dealing with problems Fresh thinking on airport slots in Europe Consensus emerging on airline/space-launch …
Redesigning Cost of Living Adjustments Would Improve PERA Sustainability
Cost-of-living adjustments are designed to protect retirees against inflation. When the Public Employees Retirement Association’s cost-of-living adjustment is untied from inflation it serves more as an annual pay raise for retirees—at the expense of active and future employees. Pension Debt …
Why PERA Being Only 71 Percent Funded Is Not Enough
As of 2018, the New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), the largest public pension system in New Mexico, reported having about $0.71 cents for every dollar it needs to fully fund pension benefits promised to municipal and county employees. …
Tackling the Federal Government’s Spending and Financial Mismanagement
Taxpayers and businesses send almost $4 trillion to the federal government every year. As the $23 trillion national debt illustrates, federal spending isn’t constrained in any meaningful way. Nothing ensures taxpayers’ money is spent responsibly or effectively. Laws do not …
Gov. Newsom’s Much-Needed Call to Simplify California’s Marijuana Taxes and Regulations
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new budget summary proposes much-needed efforts to “improve access to licensing and simplify regulatory oversight of commercial cannabis activity” and “simplify tax administration for cannabis.” The onerous red tape and costs of California’s marijuana regulations and …
Why New Mexico Needs to Reform the Public Employees Retirement Association Now
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) Pension Solvency Task Force released policy recommendations aimed at improving PERA’s solvency and eliminating over $6 billion in unfunded liabilities over the next 25 years. Implementing the task force’s recommendations would …
What Would Actually Convince the Surgeon General Vaping Is Better Than Smoking?
The Surgeon General just released a comprehensive report on smoking cessation in the United States. At a mammoth 700 pages, the report covers everything from tobacco use patterns to nicotine replacement therapies to menthol cigarette bans to tax increases. But …
Study Finds Minnesota’s Taxes on E-Cigarettes Led to an Increase in Smoking of Traditional Cigarettes
A new study of the e-cigarette tax in Minnesota has verified the first rule of economics: the more something costs, the less people buy. The study’s authors, mostly National Bureau of Economic Research economists, found Minnesota’s tax levied on e-cigarettes “increased adult …
Instead of Vaping Bans, States Should Incorporate E-Cigarettes Into Long-Term Public Health Strategies
The Michigan Supreme Court recently declined to reintroduce Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency ban on flavored e-cigarettes, which had been blocked by lower courts. With the federal government targeting e-cigarettes in recent weeks, a lot has changed since Whitmer’s original ban …
USPS Has $120 Billion in Pension and Other Post-Employment Unfunded Liabilities
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) recently closed its books for the 2019 fiscal year, and things aren’t looking so good as it heads into 2020. USPS has a whopping $120 billion in pension and other post-employment unfunded liabilities. That’s an …
How Cities Often Overstate the Economic Impact of Events and Facilities
When Visit Sarasota reported at the end of 2019 the claim that the Nathan Benderson Park rowing center generated a $34 million dollar economic impact for the county in fiscal 2018, we thought that would be amazing — if true. …
