In case you missed it…
Nevada’s 79th legislative session:
Senate Bill 384 aims to make the names of public employee retirees completely secret — exempting them from public record laws. As a recent Review Journal op-ed put it, “SB384 will gut accountability protections and breed further cynicism about our public institutions.” But, it’s actually worse than that. As written, the bill would make every single public employee’s name confidential. (Read more)
Supreme Court:
On Friday, the United States Senate confirmed Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court. The Senate voted 54-45 to seat Gorsuch on the high court after a 14-month vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016. Gorsuch’s appointment to the court means an end to the deadlock the court has seen recently on pivotal constitutional issues, including forced unionization and issues regarding regulatory overreach. (Read more)
Education:
Late Thursday evening, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed a law expanding his state’s Educational Savings Account program to every public school child. The change, making the state’s ESA program “universal,” means that almost any public school student in Arizona will be eligible to apply. The new rules cap the number of new entrants into the program to roughly 5,500 new students each year — but effectively eliminates most other enrollment restrictions. With Nevada’s neighbor expanding their successful ESA program, it is now up to Silver State lawmakers to decide if they will follow suit, or continue clinging to a failed status quo. (Read more)
Free speech:
When governments fear dissent, they often try to censor those who speak out. When censorship doesn’t work, or isn’t an option, government often just settles for simple harassment and surveillance. As the National Review points out, “This was true in the civil-rights era, when the state of Alabama tried to force the NAACP to divulge its membership lists.” More recently, the State of New York decided to channel the bully-tactics of segregation-era Alabama, and has taken aim at organizations bold enough to speak out about gun rights, tax reform, climate change and a number of other public policy issues. A new challenge to New York’s complex web of regulations, however, hopes to put an end to this state-sponsored attempt at regulating public-policy debates. (Read more)
Healthcare:
The GOP’s first attempt to supposedly “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act went down in flames. But why? Well, for starters, the Republican plan failed to attract enough Republicans to survive any substantial debate in the legislature. More importantly, however, is the fact that it didn’t actually repeal or replace the core tenants of Obamacare — in fact, it preserved them. (Read more)