Regulations aren’t just technical rules, they function like stealth taxes, often carrying real economic costs while being issued with limited public oversight. A local REINS Act would require city councils and county boards of supervisors to approve new department rules and include a public cost-benefit analysis before those regulations take effect. The goal is stronger checks and balances at the ...
Iowa’s Certificate of Need (CON) laws restrict when providers can build, expand, or add services, requiring state approval for major projects and expenditures. The process protects incumbent providers from competition. Recent proposals would significantly narrow CON requirements. Senator Kara Warme’s broad reform bill cleared the first legislative funnel by being passed out of Committee last week....
The need for more qualified workers is a bipartisan issue in Iowa. Regardless of a rural or urban setting, workforce is still a concern for many employers and communities. State policymakers have been responsive to this concern, and they have actively been easing regulatory burdens in recent years. This includes reducing barriers to employment and ensuring that unnecessary roadblocks do not deter ...
Abraham Lincoln’s legacy is most often framed around the Civil War and slavery, but his economic philosophy—particularly his support for protectionism and economic nationalism—is frequently overlooked. Influenced by the Whig and Federalist traditions and leaders like Henry Clay, Lincoln championed the American System, which emphasized protective tariffs, a national bank, and internal improvements ...
Regulatory reform is a structural issue of governance and accountability, centered on who makes the rules that shape Iowa’s economy and whether major policy decisions are made by elected lawmakers or unelected agencies. Large, costly regulations act as a hidden tax on Iowans, raising prices, slowing growth, and reducing opportunity—yet often take effect without the same scrutiny applied to major s...
A prediction of Supreme Court expansion sparks a deeper debate about whether sweeping institutional reforms align with or undermine the constitutional framework the Founders designed.
In November 1620, after arriving in Cape Cod, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact before setting foot on land. Though often overlooked today, the Compact remains a foundational document in the development of American constitutionalism and self-government. Constitutional scholar James McClellan wrote that by adopting the Compact, the Pilgrims brought a contractual theory of government to the ...