R Street Institute

"Cases are often delayed or even dismissed when witnesses, including police officers, fail to appear in court. In key hearings—such as evidentiary hearings or trials—prosecutors rely on officer testimony to meet their burden of proof." Lisel Petis #criminaljusticereform #policyresearch

"The expected benefits are substantial. A recent study estimated that a single West-wide RTO could save consumers $2 billion annually by 2030. Even if political differences lead to two separate RTOs, the savings could still reach $1.43 billion per year." Michael Giberson #electricity #energy #energypolicy

"Policy flexibility and forbearance should be lodestars of this revolution. America will not beat China by becoming China." Adam Thierer #cybersecurity #technology #publicpolicy

"Although tariffs as a policy would improve energy independence by reducing energy exports and imports, the overall effect is to make the United States less energy secure by increasing prices and reducing access to energy." Philip Rossetti #energy #energypolicy #tariffs

"As Congress considers the specifics of their proposal to require citizenship checks, they should follow Arizona’s lead, making it easy for American citizens to comply and difficult for non-citizens to vote." #governance #elections #congress

"Lawmakers have known for years that the system was headed for disaster and that the FAIR Plan wouldn’t be able to handle major wildfire events. Only recently have officials — in the midst of the spiraling crisis — finally approved some decent reforms that, say, let insurers include rising reinsurance costs in rate decisions, speed up the rate-review process, and allow insurers to use forward-looking catastrophe models to set prices. Then Los Angeles turned into a fireball, well before we had a chance to see if these changes would work." The American Spectator Steven Greenhut #wildfires #publicpolicy #California

On this episode of Investment Wars…Jerry Theodorou, Director of the Finance, Insurance, and Trade Policy Program at R Street Institute, and Joseph Halpern, Chief Investment Officer at Fountainhead Asset Management, discuss the complexities of insurance in relation to the LA wildfires. Topics Include: • How the insurance industry has coped historically with catastrophes. • The current state of insuring property in places with high risks of events like fire, hurricanes, and flooding. • The future of the insurance industry. #California #CaliforniaInsurance #CaliforniaWildfires #FAM #RSI

"Stopping the CFPB’s overreach is critical, but permanently reining in the agency will require Congress. One area that has been discussed as an avenue for such change is addressing its unique funding structure. The CFPB is essentially double insulated from congressional budget oversight and operates under special rules that allow it to determine its own budget and roll over funds from one year to the next, a perk not bestowed on other federal agencies. Given the actions by Vought, it appears, for now, that the agency will be reined in by setting the budget to zero, but the next director can simply request funding once again." Caroline Melear #congress #governance #DOGE

"Public safety is essential when considering second look laws, and individuals must meet rigorous eligibility criteria before any sentence modification is considered." Sarah Anderson Lisel Petis #publicsafety #criminaljustice

Prohibition may have driven down the number of drinkers, but it created a market characterized by poor quality control, increasingly potent alcohol, a lack of consumer awareness about what they were consuming, and increased criminal behavior. This has lessons for today's problems. Stacey McKenna #harmreduction #publichealth #policyresearch