A slew of city-wide vaccine mandates announced in 2021 across parts of the U.S. made virtually no difference in stopping the spread of COVID-19, newly released research found.
“These mandates imposed severe restrictions on the lives of many citizens and business owners,” the study, conducted through George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, says. “Yet, we find no evidence that the mandates were effective in their intended goals of reducing COVID-19 cases and deaths.”
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Republicans lawmakers will again tackle regulatory reform and the separation of powers in the new legislative session.
Previous efforts made some progress, but failed to become law.
The latest attempt is proposed Senate Bill 188 that would require legislative approval of “economically significant regulations.”
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The Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee unveiled a strategy Tuesday to whittle down the mass of regulations that burden businesses in the Volunteer State.
Beacon cites 2017 data from the National Small Business Association indicating that the total financial burden that regulations place on the average American business in its first year of operation surpasses $83,000. And while national regulations are famously onerous, even the generally free-market state government in Tennessee imposes a weighty regulatory regime.
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Two liberal Pennsylvania lawmakers on Friday proposed a law to force all landlords to accept housing vouchers.
In a memorandum describing their legislation, state Senators Katie Muth (D-Royersford) and Carolyn Comitta (D-West Chester) insisted that America’s current “public housing crisis” demands such a measure. They cited data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition indicating that a Pennsylvanian earning the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour in 2022 would need to work 94 hours weekly to pay for a one-bedroom rental or 115 hours to afford a two-bedroom apartment. A resident working 40 hours a week would, they asserted, need to earn $20.90 hourly (almost three times the state minimum wage) to pay for a typical two-bedroom apartment.
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Debate over the welfare state is once again making headlines. On Monday, the expanded unemployment welfare system was finally allowed to expire after more than a year. Originally created as a “short-term” measure authorized for a few months in March 2020 then repeatedly extended, these benefits paid many of the unemployed more than their former jobs, with benefits reaching up to $25/hour in dozens of states.
Dozens of Republican-led states chose to end the benefits early. This week’s termination of enhanced benefits was in the Democrat-run states that maintained the expanded payouts, and with their lapse, the debate over whether these benefits were disincentivizing work was reignited.
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U.S. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee defends fighting for more tax credits for electric vehicles, even as an expert with a Virginia-based think tank says this act “betrays taxpayers.” As The Tennessee Star reported this month, Alexander is co-sponsoring a bill that would extend tax credits for electric car manufacturers. This, despite Republican U.S. President Donald Trump wanting to do away with them. In an emailed statement to The Star Wednesday, Alexander was unwavering in his commitment. “Ten years ago, there were no mass produced electric cars on U.S. highways and, today, there are about one million automakers planning to make millions more,” Alexander said. “The all-electric Nissan Leaf that I bought in 2011 had a hard time getting me from the Capitol to Dulles airport and back. Its real range was about 70 miles. Today’s Nissan Leaf can travel 226 miles on one charge. Investing in American research and technology for better electric vehicles is one way to help our country and the world deal with climate change. I’m glad to cosponsor this important legislation, which will encourage even more production of electric vehicles, create good jobs and boost the economy.” In a new column, Veronique de…
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Two different organizations released good and bad news Tuesday about Tennessee’s fiscal health. The Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute called out Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Haslam for “substantial spending increases in recent years.” The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, meanwhile, ranked Tennessee in the top five of the 50 states for good fiscal health. Cato’s Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governor’s 2018 graded state executives on fiscal policies from a limited government point-of-view. Haslam scored a B on the 2016 report. This year, though, he earned a D, according to the report. “The state general fund budget rose 4.7 percent in 2017 and 9.8 percent in 2018. State government employment has been trending upwards since 2013,” the report said. The report mentioned how Haslam signed a bill increasing the state’s gas tax by 6 cents per gallon. He increased the diesel tax by 10 cents per gallon, all while increasing vehicle fees. The study, however, gave Haslam credit elsewhere. “In 2016, his big reform was repealing the ‘Hall tax,’ which was a 6 percent tax on dividends and interest,” according to the report. “Tennessee has no broad-based income tax, but it had this anti-savings levy. The reform reduces the…
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