The Heartland Institute

With transportation coffers barely able to maintain highways, let alone adding new capacity to relieve congestion, many transportation economists and urban planners have concluded that the best solution to U.S. freeway congestion is to implement variable pricing on all congested freeways. At the same time, many political scientists ...

With transportation coffers barely able to maintain highways, let alone adding new capacity to relieve congestion, many transportation economists and urban planners have concluded that the best solution to U.S. freeway congestion is to implement variable pricing on all congested freeways. At the same time, many political scientists ...

Hydraulic fracturing has enabled profitable extraction of oil and gas in diverse areas of the country. As a result, many states sitting atop the country’s shale formations are reconsidering the way they tax these resources, to fill budget holes. Many of these debates are occurring in states with unconventional deposits and where ...

The recent discovery of vast deposits of oil and natural gas trapped in shale rock formations has revolutionized our nation’s short-term, mid-term, and long-term energy outlook. For example, proven natural gas reserves in the United States rose by 40 percent between 2004 and 2009. At the same time, new technological advancements ...

For the past year, we’ve been warning you about the evidence that Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges will be larger, and far more costly, than the administration originally claimed. The subsidies within the exchanges are simply too appealing, and it makes all too much mathematical sense for employers to shed coverage and ...

The current economic environment of low—virtually zero—interest rates has hit savers hard, but the US Federal Reserve’s accommodative monetary policy is actually having a stabilizing effect on the economy. Abruptly raising interest rates could harm economic growth and the housing market. Until the economy stabilizes enough that ...

This one-page overview of Arkansas education from the American Legislative Exchange Council report considers the broad state policies on school choice, teacher quality, and online learning, as well as its per-pupil spending and national testing outcomes. It grades the state as a C, and ranks it 45th compared to the other states ...

Executive Summary Following the passage of “Chemicals of Concern” legislation in Maine, Washington, and California, several states are considering adopting similar statutes. Although everyone supports reasonable measures aimed at protecting human health and the environment, these particular efforts are ill-considered and unnecessary ...

This report is the summary of extensive research that examined the criticism that has been leveled over the past three years at the national efforts to improve intercity passenger rail and introduce true high-speed passenger rail in the United States. In the course of this research it has been heartening to discover that there ...

As states across the nation wrangle with the challenge of choosing whether to comply with President Obama’s health care law, legislators, governors, and advisory boards are making key decisions with major ramifications in advance of the verdict from the Supreme Court expected in the spring of 2012. Michigan Haggles Over Timing ...

In the face of widespread opposition from top Republicans in the House and five other lawmakers, Arkansas Democrat Gov. Mike Beebe has declined the Obama administration’s $3.8 million grant to research how to establish a new health insurance exchange. Opposition from Lawmakers A health care exchange is essentially a state-run ...

After testing 71 water wells near hydraulic fracturing natural gas production sites, the U.S. Geological Survey reports no signs of any water pollution. The tests were conducted in Van Buren County, Arkansas after local residents expressed fears hydraulic fracturing— known as fracking—might be polluting local water resources. Seventy ...

At least eight states have implemented de facto regulations on chemicals they deem “hazardous” by creating “chemicals of concern” lists. Proponents claim the lists are necessary to protect consumers from potentially hazardous chemicals in products, and they argue a lack of federal regulations means states must step in. Opponents ...

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe has reversed plans to seek a federal health insurance exchange grant after encountering strong opposition from Republicans in the state legislature. Although the Democrat Beebe’s late-September decision could be viewed as a nod toward bipartisanship, some legislators characterize it as a political ploy to ...

The U.S. Geological Survey reports no signs of pollution in 71 water wells tested near hydraulic fracturing natural gas production sites in Van Buren County, Arkansas. The tests were conducted after local residents expressed fears that hydraulic fracturing – otherwise known as fracking – might be polluting local groundwater. The ...

Record high levels of unemployment and record low reserve funds have placed great pressure on the federal-state unemployment insurance (UI) tax and benefit system. Between 2008 and 2011, $174 billion was paid in unemployment taxes while $450 billion was paid out in benefits, a gap of $276 billion. In 2011 alone, employers and ...

For the vast majority of Americans, confidence in government comes down to one question: how close it is to you. The confidence Americans have in local government outpaces all other forms, and that’s likely always to be true. We trust government when the people who work within it view us as a neighbor, not a number. Yet ...

Problem: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), sometimes referred to as "Obamacare," requires states to establish and operate health insurance exchanges by 2014. States that create their own exchange must comply with federal requirements, and the exchange must be approved by the secretary of the Department of ...

Perhaps the biggest state challenge recently has been whether to set up a health insurance exchange as required by President Obama’s health care law. States are all over the map—both literally and figuratively. Moving Forward Arkansas Arkansas Surgeon General Joe Thompson is urging the legislature to add consideration of a health ...

The Gould, Arkansas city council has banned a citizens group from “doing business” there and has further decreed “no new organizations shall be allowed to exist in the City of Gould without approval from a majority of the City Council.” The council banned the Gould Citizens Advisory Council from the city because it was ...