In case you missed it…
Labor unions
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court handed down a massive win for employee freedom and worker rights. In a 5-4 ruling, the court ruled that union members who opt out of membership cannot be forced to continue paying fees to the union. In other words, every public sector worker in the nation now enjoys the same freedom Nevada teachers have enjoyed for years: The ability to fully opt out of union membership and keep the hard-earned money they would have otherwise spent on expensive dues. The Supreme Court’s timing is spot-on, given that July 1 through 15 is the short window of time within which Nevada teachers can reclaim significant dollars. (Indeed, teachers can click right here, during the next 14 days, to learn all about opting out.) The opt-out practice has become extremely popular among many education professionals, with over 40 percent of Clark County teachers having said “goodbye” to the union over recent years. (Read more)
Property taxes
In the 2017 Nevada Legislature, a bill was introduced to “reform” Nevada’s property tax structure. Of course, as is so often the case when tax-and-spend lawmakers use the word “reform,” the bill was really all about hiking property owners’ tax burden. Basically, the bill would have replaced the state’s current limits on property taxes with minimum increases. It would have revised “the formula for calculating the partial abatement so that the annual cap on increases of the property taxes on certain single-family residences and residential rental property cannot be less than 3 percent.” The bill ended up dying — but, depending on the outcome of the November elections, tax-happy politicians may try to revive the ill-advised proposal. (Read more)
Climate policy
It has been 30 years since a NASA scientist testified to the U.S. Congress about the looming perils of global warming — igniting a decades-long debate over environmental regulations, carbon emissions and energy production. So, how well have 30 years’ worth of climate- zealot predictions held up? The answer: Not well at all. (Read the WSJ opinion piece here.) But getting things consistently wrong for 30 years certainly hasn’t slowed down the gloom-and-doom climate alarmists. In fact, almost every metric we can see says that political agendas, not science, are increasingly driving the conversation over climate change. (Read more)
Privatization
The Trump Administration is ambitiously trying to restructure much of the federal government, and one specific proposal has caught the attention of libertarians: Privatizing the U.S. Postal Service. Despite the massive benefits privatization would provide, the change would be a massive political lift. Think of it: Postal unions, junk mail businesses and (of course) politicians have plenty to lose if the USPS fell into private hands. (Read more)
Educational choice
Opponents of educational choice often like to argue that choice programs only really help the upper-middle class and the “wealthy.” Reality, however, shows that precisely the opposite is the case. Latest official data from the Department of Education shows that Nevada’s Opportunity Scholarship program overwhelmingly helps Nevada children who, historically, have been underserved. Students receiving these scholarships are not only from low-income families, but are disproportionately from minority and other underserved communities. If Nevada is serious about making sure every student has the opportunity for a quality education, the state’s only funded educational choice program is showing us exactly how to do it. (Read more)