The Heartland Institute

Maine legislators are considering an education reform that has garnered significant national attention: the Parent Trigger. The legislation, first passed in California, has been considered in approximately 20 other states, and legislators in five states have stated their intention to propose it in early 2013. A Parent Trigger would ...

James M. Taylor, senior fellow for environment policy at The Heartland Institute and managing editor of Environment & Climate News, talks with Jim Lakely about the future of energy and environment policy in a second term for Barack Obama. Taylor and Lakely cover the Interior Department’s decision to put 1.6 million ...

Ohio Gov. John Kasich detailed in a budget proposal his plans for expanding Medicaid eligibility as called for under President Obama’s health care law. Kasich, a Republican, faced pressure from liberal groups devoted to increasing the entitlement program, as well as from health care providers backed into a corner by Obama’s ...

Amicus Brief to the Supreme Court of the United States prepared by the American Soybean Association in support of the preservation of patent law for genetically modified soybeans. The brief argues doing so will support the development of new seed biotechnology that will enhance efficiency and profitability by controlling weeds ...

For governors who can’t just say no to the Medicaid expansion for political reasons, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s stance is going to be the guide: expansion into the exchanges, not the Medicaid program. Governor Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) announced Wednesday that Wisconsin will not accept federal funding under the Affordable ...

Standard & Poor’s is the only credit rating agency to have downgraded U.S. government debt, and now it is the only credit rating agency to be sued by the government over its ratings of housing-backed securities. Whether it remains the only one to be sued remains to be seen. The U.S. government and several states have announced ...

While Texas lawmakers have so far proposed relatively small school choice programs, more than that may happen in this legislative session, say local observers. Even with Republicans firmly in control of the governor’s office and both houses of the legislature, “advancing school choice in Texas has proven enormously difficult,” said ...

School choice advocates are optimistic Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s education proposals released February 18 will become law in some form, but they predict more protests in the state capitol before then. Walker’s proposals include expanding the Milwaukee and Racine voucher program statewide, developing an independent board to oversee ...