In case you missed it…
Nevada Legislature
Despite repeated promises to fund Education Savings Accounts, Governor Sandoval and a handful of Senate Republicans yielded to ESA opponents by allowing the program to remain unfunded. After voting for a budget that had been the only leverage available to ESA supporters, legislative leadership refused to entertain the governor’s proposed ESA fix, SB506. “It is disheartening to see that, for many lawmakers, politics are more important than the needs of individual children,” said NPRI Communication Director Michael Schaus. (Read more)
Education
There’s a very simple reason corruption is so widespread in Clark County School District: Controls on bad behavior are almost nonexistent. One corner of the district’s central office demonstrates just how excessive this kind of corruption and abuse truly is. As news stories throughout 2014 and 2015 would detail, one administrator, while pulling down a significant district salary, was also operating a theft ring from behind her directorship of CCSD’s Adult English Language Acquisition Services (AELAS) program. Over the course of several years, she stole tax dollars from the district through bogus purchase orders, funneled public money into a hidden bank account and even used student fees to purchase a hair salon! But that was just the beginning. (Read more)
Government regulation
There is a reason that flying in modern America is frequently unpleasant. For starters, the federal government has a large footprint in the industry. Maybe this is why both corporate leaders and unions are cheering a move to privatize air traffic control. As Kevin Williamson explains in the National Review, “Privatization would not change the union’s status, and the FAA is so screwed up that even American union bosses shake their heads in dismay and disbelief at its incompetence.” (Read more)
Civil Asset Forfeiture
Nevada may once again have failed to reform the state’s civil-asset-forfeiture laws, but other corners of the nation are seeing more success. The Connecticut legislature has passed a bill that would require a criminal conviction before assets could be seized. “Civil forfeiture is one of the most serious assaults on Americans’ private property rights,” according to the Institute for Justice’s Lee McGrath. “The bill is a solid first step to ensure that innocent people do not lose their property to this appalling legal nightmare.” The bill is now awaiting the signature of Governor Dannel Malloy. (Read more)
Fiscal and taxes
Have you ever noticed that elected officials only seem to understand basic economics when it is politically expedient? As the American Enterprise Institute points out, “the same Seattle City Council that passed a $15-an-hour minimum wage ordinance a few years ago and assumed that a large increase in wages for low-skilled workers would have no negative employment effects, just approved a new large tax on sugary drinks such as soda pop assuming that it will reduce consumption of those beverages.” The Venn diagram accompanying the article says it all. (Read more)