Criminal Justice Reform
HOPE for PA Corrections Reform
Launched in 2004, Hawaii’s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) is an innovative supervision strategy that provides swift, predictable sanctions on substance-abusing probationers. Research shows the program has reduced probationers’ positive…
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Read More: HOPE for PA Corrections ReformRegulation
Reform Bills Would Begin to Reduce Fiscal Fire
While the fiscal fire is raging across Pennsylvania, Rep. Eli Evankovich’s pension reform proposal begins to extinguish the flames that threaten to consume the commonwealth. We’ve been on record…
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Read More: Reform Bills Would Begin to Reduce Fiscal FireState Budget
Good April Tax Collections, but State is Spending More Than Revenue
Two new reports show that Pennsylvania’s fiscal crunch for the current year is not a dire as previously thought. Pa. Department of Revenue monthly reports on tax collections shows…
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Read More: Good April Tax Collections, but State is Spending More Than RevenueEducation
Philadelphia School District Faces the Budgetary Music
It doesn’t take an advanced degree to figure out that something’s rotten in the school district of Philadelphia—or that school choice is the antidote. More than half of…
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Read More: Philadelphia School District Faces the Budgetary MusicEducation
Big Government and the Higher Education Bubble
This past weekend I participated with some middleschoolers in a 30 hour famine to raise money for starving families. As we discussed poverty and debt the leader motioned to me…
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Read More: Big Government and the Higher Education BubbleRegulation
States Tap Public-Private Partnerships in 2011
Public-private partnerships aren’t just for roads anymore. Reason’s Annual Privatization Report, released this week, is packed with diverse examples of states leveraging the private sector to stretch tax dollars. In California,…
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Read More: States Tap Public-Private Partnerships in 2011State Budget
GAO Sounds the Fiscal Alarm on State Medicaid Costs
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has a new report on state and local government finances. Of greatest concern are the expected increases in Medicaid spending and health care for…
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Read More: GAO Sounds the Fiscal Alarm on State Medicaid CostsPublic Union Democracy
Prevailing Wage Pummels Another School District
We’ve reported before about how Pennsylvania’s outdated prevailing wage law imposes needless extra construction costs on local governments and school districts across the commonwealth, hurting taxpayers. The law requires…
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Read More: Prevailing Wage Pummels Another School DistrictTaxes & Economy
Feds Tackling Long-Term Unemployment Georgia Style
The Federal Government is taking a page from the Peach State and looking for 10 states to participate in a new unemployment program modeled off of “Georgia Works.” The program…
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Read More: Feds Tackling Long-Term Unemployment Georgia Style