R Street Institute

Georgia criminal-justice reforms languish near finish line Not long ago, Georgia was widely considered the criminal justice reform capital of the country. The Peach State enacted a series of landmark bills that began reorienting the state's antiquated

"[The bill] would prevent professional licensing boards from denying licensing applications based on applicants’ unrelated criminal records or vague character standards."

Government must stop subsidizing unhealthy foods We are fortunate to have affordable food options in our grocery stores. This is partly thanks to a government program protecting farmers.

Just 6 commodities—corn, soy, wheat, cotton, peanuts, rice—account for 94% of FCIP support. Many of these are not used to provide affordable nutrition but are heavily processed into the fillers and sugars that are likely a large part of people’s health problems

State and local meddling threatens to undermine the AI revolution If the U.S. hopes to continue to be a global leader in AI and advanced algorithmic technologies, state lawmakers will need to adopt better policies to promote innovation and investment in a sector …

"Had the internet, personal computing, or e-commerce been burdened with such a contradictory and costly patchwork of technocratic state and local policies, it is unlikely the U.S. would have become the global leader in digital technology" @adamthierer.bsky.social

Florida’s Bad Samaritan Bill Won’t Protect First Responders, But It Will Endanger Overdose Victi... Sen. Jay Collins (R-Fla.) just introduced a bill with a laudable goal: protecting first responders from the harms of fentanyl. In reality, though, Senate Bill 718 isn’t needed; fentanyl and other s...

Rather than codifying unfounded fears about on-the-job fentanyl exposure, legislators and departmental decision-makers should promote science-based education and provide practical training.

Florida’s Bad Samaritan Bill Won’t Protect First Responders, But It Will Endanger Overdose Victi... Sen. Jay Collins (R-Fla.) just introduced a bill with a laudable goal: protecting first responders from the harms of fentanyl. In reality, though, Senate Bill 718 isn’t needed; fentanyl and other s...

"The inaccurate narratives that underpin FL SB 718 have unfortunately driven very real fears and misunderstandings about safety among first responders."

Georgia criminal-justice reforms languish near finish line Not long ago, Georgia was widely considered the criminal justice reform capital of the country. The Peach State enacted a series of landmark bills that began reorienting the state's antiquated

"Georgia law prevents a host of people from working in their preferred profession, but lawmakers should remember that 'Having a job [...] has been shown to reduce recidivism.'"

Florida’s Bad Samaritan Bill Won’t Protect First Responders, But It Will Endanger Overdose Victi... Sen. Jay Collins (R-Fla.) just introduced a bill with a laudable goal: protecting first responders from the harms of fentanyl. In reality, though, Senate Bill 718 isn’t needed; fentanyl and other s...

"The inaccurate narratives that underpin FL SB 718 have unfortunately driven very real fears and misunderstandings about safety among first responders."

Government must stop subsidizing unhealthy foods We are fortunate to have affordable food options in our grocery stores. This is partly thanks to a government program protecting farmers.

Americans get 60% to 90% of their calories from highly processed foods and drinks

Congrats to R Street friend @benjaminwittes.bsky.social! www.dogshirtdaily.com/p/to-mock-po...

Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Justice Reform Moment Is Here - R Street Institute In 2019, abuses at Pennsylvania juvenile detention facilities shook the collective conscience of leaders in the state’s capital and led them to form the Juvenile Justice Task Force. Members identif...

By eliminating solitary confinement for juveniles in all but the most extreme cases, Pennsylvania has the chance to end what many psychologists have come to regard as a form of torture

Policies Meant to Address Climate Change Can Worsen Human Suffering Few people today would deny the negative impacts that pollution and climate change can have on human health and well-being. The challenge lies in tackling this given that there are almost always trade

"When it was discovered that many of these solar panels were made with slave labor and ought not to be imported, officials have slow-walked or skirted such restrictions since it would be harder to meet their "'clean energy objectives.'"

Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November - R Street ... November is National Restorative Justice Month and the third week of November is International Restorative Justice Week. Restorative justice is an alternative to incarceration and the typical legal p...

"Restorative justice alternatives reduce negative emotions and feelings of hopelessness among victims, improve participant self-esteem, reduce recidivism and save taxpayers’ money."

PIP, Lawsuit Abuse and the Uninsured: Why Your Florida Auto Insurance Is Out of Control - R Street I... For years, Florida has topped lists of states with the highest auto insurance rates in the nation, averaging about $2,500 a year for full coverage. Ohio has the lowest rates at about $1,000 annually,...

"Florida tops lists with more than 20 percent of drivers uninsured, compared to the national average of about 12 percent."

Policies Meant to Address Climate Change Can Worsen Human Suffering Few people today would deny the negative impacts that pollution and climate change can have on human health and well-being. The challenge lies in tackling this given that there are almost always trade

"Policymakers rarely want to reckon with what that might look like or be forced to admit that sometimes their policies got it wrong and made problems worse."

PIP, Lawsuit Abuse and the Uninsured: Why Your Florida Auto Insurance Is Out of Control - R Street I... For years, Florida has topped lists of states with the highest auto insurance rates in the nation, averaging about $2,500 a year for full coverage. Ohio has the lowest rates at about $1,000 annually,...

"For years, Florida has topped lists of states with the highest auto insurance rates in the nation, averaging about $2,500 a year for full coverage. Ohio has the lowest rates at about $1,000 annually"

10 Favorite Tools the Blumenthal-Hawley AI Bill Would Destroy - R Street Institute This analysis is based on breaking news and will be updated. To connect with the author, please e-mail pr@rstreet.org. R Street recently explained all the functional problems with S.1993, the bill pro...

Reclaim AI would be liable if it moves meetings for terrorists on a calendar even if they don't know they're moving meetings for terrorists @senatorshoshana.bsky.social

10 Favorite Tools the Blumenthal-Hawley AI Bill Would Destroy - R Street Institute This analysis is based on breaking news and will be updated. To connect with the author, please e-mail pr@rstreet.org. R Street recently explained all the functional problems with S.1993, the bill pro...

10 of your favorite tools that the Blumenthal-Hawley AI bill would destroy @senatorshoshana.bsky.social

Finishing Generator Interconnection Reform - R Street Institute Regulatory barriers to power plant development create mounting cost and grid reliability concerns. They are also the prime determinants of energy emissions. In November, the CEO of the North American...

"The backlog is staggering; over 2,000 GW of capacity sits in interconnection queues currently, exceeding the installed capacity of the entire domestic generation fleet."

Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November - R Street ... November is National Restorative Justice Month and the third week of November is International Restorative Justice Week. Restorative justice is an alternative to incarceration and the typical legal p...

"One study found that the propensity to re-offend was reduced by 32 percent after participating in a restorative justice program."

Red Tape Podcast, Episode 3 – Ban it All! - R Street Institute Red Tape is the newest R Street podcast about the country’s biggest problems and the surprising ways that governments (and regular people) often get in the way of solving them. It was produced in p...

🎧 "The good news is youth use has been declining since 2019 when it had peaked."
— Mazen Saleh

Finishing Generator Interconnection Reform - R Street Institute Regulatory barriers to power plant development create mounting cost and grid reliability concerns. They are also the prime determinants of energy emissions. In November, the CEO of the North American...

"Project completion rates in the interconnection queue and the reliability value assigned to generator capacity vary by fuel type. Accounting for these, PJM’s firm generation capacity queue backlog is 69 percent renewables and 31 percent natural gas."

Finishing Generator Interconnection Reform - R Street Institute Regulatory barriers to power plant development create mounting cost and grid reliability concerns. They are also the prime determinants of energy emissions. In November, the CEO of the North American...

"The average wait time in interconnection queues doubled from two to four years between the 2000s and 2010s. A typical generation project in 2022 spent five years waiting for interconnection approval, and the trend is worsening."

Finishing Generator Interconnection Reform - R Street Institute Regulatory barriers to power plant development create mounting cost and grid reliability concerns. They are also the prime determinants of energy emissions. In November, the CEO of the North American...

"Project completion rates in the interconnection queue and the reliability value assigned to generator capacity vary by fuel type. Accounting for these, PJM’s firm generation capacity queue backlog is 69 percent renewables and 31 percent natural gas."

Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November - R Street ... November is National Restorative Justice Month and the third week of November is International Restorative Justice Week. Restorative justice is an alternative to incarceration and the typical legal p...

"The term 'restorative justice' was coined in 1977 by Albert Eglash, who believed perpetrators gain a renewed sense of self-respect by admitting wrongdoing, apologizing, repairing the harm and creating space for forgiveness."

Impact of Missing Science on FDA-CTP Decisions - R Street Institute The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (FDA-CTP) was founded in 2009 in order to regulate the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of tobacco products as designate...

"In 2009, it was estimated that 437,400 Americans died due to smoking-related disease and that number has changed little with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting 480,000 tobacco-related deaths in 2022."

Artificial Intelligence Legislative Outlook: Fall 2023 Update - R Street Institute While artificial intelligence (AI) was barely on Washington’s radar screen a year ago, it has quickly become one of the hottest tech policy issues in Congress. A considerable amount of legislative a...

"Policymakers should first take advantage of the extensive array of existing regulations being enforced by the federal government’s 434 different existing departments." @adamthierer.bsky.social

Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November - R Street ... November is National Restorative Justice Month and the third week of November is International Restorative Justice Week. Restorative justice is an alternative to incarceration and the typical legal p...

"In a randomized controlled trial of a California program called 'Make-it-Right,' juveniles in the intervention group were 19 percent less likely to be rearrested 12 months post-program compared to their peers in the control group."

Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November - R Street ... November is National Restorative Justice Month and the third week of November is International Restorative Justice Week. Restorative justice is an alternative to incarceration and the typical legal p...

Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November

How To Productively Worry About AI Energy Use - R Street Institute OpenAI launched ChatGPT on Nov. 30, 2022. Within five days, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot had one million users. Two months later, it had 100 million. The official ChatGPT website reached o...

"AI is not inherently more polluting than other electric uses; in fact...it may be cleaner than average. Concerns about AI energy use should be directed at the environmental impacts of electric power generation in general."

Red Tape Podcast, Episode 7 - It’s 230. Do you know where your children are? - R Street Institute Red Tape is the newest R Street podcast about the country’s biggest problems and the surprising ways that governments (and regular people) often get in the way of solving them. It was produced in p...

"Our kids are going to grow up to be adults in an information saturated world where computers and the internet are going to be central to their success in life."