Bill Analysis, House Bill 2659, by Bill Peacock, Vice President of Research and Director of the Center for Economic Freedom.
HB 3015: A Violation of the Texas Constitution’s Gift Clause Bill Analysis — House Bill 3015 – by Bill Peacock, Vice President of Research, Director of Center for Economic Freedom
Testimony before the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations by James Quintero
Brushing Away Unequal Cosmetology Licensing Requirements Bill Analysis — SB 1087 and HB 2407 – by J.D. Rimann, analyst and Kent Cho, research assistant
Tax Lien Lending: Empowering Consumer Choice Bill Analysis — House Bill 2832 continued by Bill Peacock, Vice President of Research, Director of Center for Economic Freedom
Testimony before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Special Water Districts Committee on HB 3028 continued by Kathleen Hartnett White
The individual mandate survived constitutional challenge solely because it was a tax. The AHCA penalty doesn't have that option. Hopefully, the House's decision to delay the vote on the AHCA will give the GOP an opportunity to reconsider its mistake.
Courts should have the authority to punish intentional defiance of their orders. They should also have the authority to adjust costs and fines based on income. Instead, court and law enforcement resources are wasted prosecuting and incarcerating people for driving on a suspended license, and hundreds of thousands of other Virginians are needlessly pushed out of the labor market because they can’t drive to work.
But, as Obamacare itself has demonstrated, Washington does not represent the source and summit of all the accumulated wisdom in health care policy. States are desperate for the opportunity to innovate, and create new policies in the marketplace of ideas—not have more programs foisted upon them by Washington, as the Rules Committee amendment attempts to do.
If Congress is looking to promote real federalism and give states more control over health care, they should do it the right way—by affirmatively repealing all of Obamacare, including the Title I federal mandates and regulations that have taken such control out of their hands in the first place.
Kathleen Hartnett White testimony before the Senate Agriculture, Water, and Rural Affairs Committee on SB 225
The burning platform that is consuming health care is not made of venal insurance executives, uncaring doctors, or gouging pharmaceutical companies. The burning platform is federal control — Washington itself.