Nine Key Changes at the Bargaining Table: A Policy Handbook for Colorado School Board Reform Leaders
Of Colorado’s 178 school districts, 41 have a formal bargaining relationship with one or more employee unions. Because Colorado has no defined public-sector labor law, the greatest opportunity to reform restrictive policies and interest group privileges comes at the school board level. Opportunity awaits local education leaders to enhance flexibility, fairness and fiscal responsibility at the bargaining table.
Obama decision also a rebuke of Ritter admin
President Barack Obama put a halt to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed air-quality standards just before the Labor Day weekend. The Wall Street Journal opined that the president cited the struggling economy as his main reason for not wanting to tighten ozone regulations at this time: Come January 2010, the Obama EPA said it […]
U.K. HSR Questioned
The venerable Economist has come out in opposition to a $52 billion plan to build high-speed rail from London to Manchester and Leeds. As the magazine-that-calls-itself-a-newspaper explains in an accompanying article, the new line would take two decades to build and produce questionable benefits for the nation. While rail proponents claim that new train lines […]
II Submits Brief Destroying Basis for Suit against Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights
The Independence Institute, through Dave Kopel as legal counsel, has submitted an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief opposing the lawsuit to overturn Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The brief destroys the plaintiffs’ claim that by allowing citizens to vote on tax increases, Colorado is violating the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that all states have […]
What’s the Opposite of a “Clean Extension”?
While the Antiplanner was in Montana, President Obama asked Congress to pass a “clean extension” of the surface transportation laws. By this, he meant that Congress should continue spending money like a drunken sailor the way it has been spending it for the past several years (more specifically, spending it faster than it has been […]
September ‘Tis Season for Colo. School Employees Who Want to Opt Out of Union Dues or Fees
In Colorado schools across the state are back in session, which puts us in the short time frame in which union members in several school districts can choose to opt out of a year’s worth of union dues (and in a few cases for non-union members to opt out of paying hundreds of dollars in union fees). You can find a complete list of membership revocation information for all teachers and school employees.
Government insurance exchanges drive out employer coverage, taxpayers pay more
The cost of the Obamacare health control law will cost taxpayers more than expected. Employers will drop coverage because the penalties are low. They will also drop coverage because mandates effectively eliminate insurance brokers who help employers find good deals.
