GAO Warns on Federal Fiscal Outlook
Back in December, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a fairly dire long-term fiscal outlook for states and local governments, finding that they will continue to face long-term...
View ArticleA Long-Term Solution for Sarasotaâ??s Traffic Congestion
Sarasota Observer Everyone knows there is a major clot in the roadway arterials of Sarasota. But Sarasota city engineer Alex DavisShaw says, “You can’t build your way out of congestion. It’s going to...
View ArticleGAO Warns on Federal Fiscal Outlook
My latest commentary discusses the GAO's latest Federal Fiscal Outlook, which as one might expect is not bullish on our fiscal future:Back in December, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)...
View ArticlePrivatization & Government Reform Newsletter #17 (April 2015 edition)
The April 2015 edition of the Privatization & Government Reform Newsletter is now online. Topics covered in this issue include:FEDERAL: GAO Warns on Federal Fiscal OutlookREGULATION: Legalize...
View ArticlePublic-Private Partnerships Hedge Managed Toll Lane Risks
Public Works Financing Greenfield express toll lane projects are still relatively new in the public-private partnership (P3) concession world. Besides the original SR 91 Express Lanes that opened in...
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Implementing Best Value Procurement in Oklahoma
Innovators in Action 2015 In recent decades, governments have increasingly adopted “best value” procurement as a more nuanced approach to purchasing goods and services, compared to the traditional—and...
View ArticleInnovators in Action (May 2015 edition): Implementing Best Value Procurement...
The latest interview in Reason Foundation's Innovators in Action 2015 series focuses on the state of Oklahoma's use of a type of best value procurement known as the Performance Information Procurement...
View ArticlePrivate Transit Services Vital to Improving U.S. Transit Options
Since World War II, most cities have taken over private bus services and run them as monopolies. But with the steady expansion of the private sector bus industry in recent years it is time for...
View ArticleReforms Needed to Combat Mistreatment of Special-Needs Students in California
Orange County Register Some special education students in California elementary schools are being tied to chairs in classrooms, being left alone while locked in small rooms at school and being harshly...
View ArticleBRT Better Solution than Purple Line for Maryland Suburbs
A cloud of uncertainty has been hanging over the Purple Line since Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s election in November 2014. During the run-up to the election Hogan publicly spoke out against the...
View ArticlePrivatization and Public-Private Partnership Trends in State Government
Annual Privatization Report 2015 This section of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2015 provides a comprehensive overview of the latest on privatization and public-private partnerships in...
View ArticleFederal Government Privatization Update
Annual Privatization Report 2015 This section of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2015 provides an overview of the latest on privatization and public-private partnerships in the federal...
View ArticlePrivatization of Airports, Air Traffic Control and Airport Security
Annual Privatization Report 2015 The Air Transportation section of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2015 provides an overview of the latest on privatization and public-private...
View ArticlePrivatization of Toll Roads, Managed Lanes, Highways, Bridges
Annual Privatization Report 2015 This section of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2015 provides a comprehensive overview of the latest on toll roads, managed lanes and other news on...
View ArticleDevelopments in Transportation Finance and Infrastructure Investment
Annual Privatization Report 2015 This section of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2015 analyzes major developments in the financing of surface and air transportation infrastructure....
View ArticleDevelopments in Criminal Justice and Corrections
Annual Privatization Report 2015 This section of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2015 provides a comprehensive overview of the latest on criminal justice reform, public-private...
View ArticleImproved Accountability System Can Help Texas' Failing Schools
The Texas system of accountability allows underperforming schools to settle for mediocrity. To obtain the state’s Met Standard rating a school has to perform adequately on four performance indices that...
View ArticleMoney Alone Canâ??t Buy School Equity
Years of legal, political, and bureaucratic wrangling have left Texas with a convoluted school finance system that fails to provide students with equitable funding. Proposed legislation during the...
View ArticleAnnual Privatization Report Examines How Public-Private Partnerships Are...
Reason Foundation’s Annual Privatization Report chronicles trends and developments in public-private partnerships, competitive sourcing, and infrastructure investment across the world. The report...
View ArticleIt's Time for Congress to Separate Air Traffic Control From the FAA
Orange County Register In March, more than six million passengers passed through Los Angeles International Airport, and John Wayne Airport handled over 832,000 passengers. The uptick in passengers and...
View ArticleSpecial Interests Use Amtrak Accident to Push for Unneeded Solutions
After a tragedy, the knee-jerk reaction is to take some action. It does not matter if that action actually fixes the problem, as long as something is done. As a result of the Amtrak train derailment in...
View ArticleLawmakers Should not Speed-up Positive Train Control Deadline
Trains are among the safest form of transportation but on rare occasions when crashes occur, the death toll is often high. The crash earlier this week of a Northeast Regional train en route from...
View ArticleGive Privately Funded Texas High Speed Rail Line a Chance
Ever since Japan, in 1964, built the first high-speed rail line in the world linking Tokyo to Osaka, U.S. policymakers have researched how they might build such a system in the U.S. In 2009, President...
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Mitch Daniels Receives Reason Foundation's 2015 Savas Award for...
On May 5, 2015, Reason Foundation presented its inaugural Savas Award for Public-Private Partnerships to Purdue University President and former two-term Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels at an event in...
View ArticleMitch Daniels Receives Reason Foundation's 2015 Savas Award for...
On May 5, 2015, Reason Foundation presented its inaugural Savas Award for Public-Private Partnerships to Purdue University President and former two-term Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels at an event in...
View ArticleThe Probability of Fulfilling Pension Promises: Pennsylvania's Illustration
A recent study by Erick Elder and Gary Wagner at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University, examines the nexus between investment returns and pension funding levels for Pennsylvania’s two largest...
View ArticleLongevity Assumptions Affect Pension Funding
Accurate estimates of lifespans play an important role in pension funding. As longer lifespans mean larger pension benefits, underestimation of workers’ life expectancy may cause insufficient funding....
View ArticleResearch Groups Launched Comprehensive Public Plans Data Resource
Looking for pension data may often be arduous and time-consuming. Fortunately, a recently launched website provides easy access to comprehensive data on 150 state and local pension plans in the US. The...
View ArticleMarket-Driven Solutions Can Help Create Affordable Housing in Sarasota
Sarasota Observer As former City Commissioner Eileen Normile told the Observer, “I don’t know how we understand the term ‘affordable housing’ without defining what that term is. What’s affordable to...
View ArticlePrivatization & Government Reform Newsletter #18 (May 2015 edition)
The May 2015 edition of the Privatization & Government Reform Newsletter is now online. Topics covered in this issue include:PRIVATIZATION: Annual Privatization Report 2015STATE GOV: Reviewing the...
View ArticleProposed I-710 Tunnel Would Reduce Southern California's Traffic Congestion
Orange County Register Why would Orange County commuters care about a tunnel being debated 50 miles away in Pasadena?For the past 30 years, the biggest hole in the Southern California freeway network...
View ArticleNew California Pension Initiative Announced: Voter Empowerment Act of 2016
A bipartisan coalition of politicians and business people, led by former San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and former San Diego Councilmember Carl DeMaio, filed a pension reform ballot initiative with the...
View ArticleCulture Is Key to Fixing Air Traffic Control
Aviation Week In the current debate on air traffic control reform, just about everyone agrees that uncertain and unstable funding is a problem that must be fixed. The Air Traffic Organization is in...
View ArticleSchool Choice, Funding Portability, and Trends In Educational Privatization
Annual Privatization Report 2015 This section of Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report 2015 provides a comprehensive overview of the latest on school choice, charter schools, school funding...
View ArticleAnnual Privatization Report 2015
Now in its 28th year of publication, Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report is the world's longest running and most comprehensive report on privatization news, developments and trends.Annual...
View ArticlePrivatization Can Help Cover Costa Mesa's Rising Pension Costs
Orange County Register As the Register’s Editorial Board recently noted, Costa Mesa’s Pension Oversight Committee presented data to the City Council showing that the city’s total annual payments to the...
View ArticleAustralia's Drought Strategy Would Work for California
Orange County Register California is in the midst of a water crisis that threatens to do enormous damage to the economy and ecology of the state. In response, Gov. Jerry Brown recently signed an...
View ArticleSchool Districts Go Lean: Denver Edition
Large school districts across the country are trying to reduce their bureaucratic footprint on schools. Over 45 cities are working to implement portfolio management, a strategy in which many...
View ArticlePedicab Market in Siesta Key, FL Doesn't Need to Be Regulated
Sarasota Observer Pedicabs, tricked-out golf carts and even Volkswagen Things are a hot form of transportation for tourists and others. You’ve seen them around Sarasota and the local Keys. They are...
View ArticleEnter to Win the Bastiat Prize for Journalism and Reason Video Prize
Reason Foundation is accepting entries for the 2015 Bastiat Prize for Journalism and the 2015 Reason Video Prize. The submission deadline for both prizes is July 31, 2015. Winners will be honored at...
View ArticleTraining Police How to Interact With the Mentally Ill Can Save Lives
Orange County Register Four years ago in July, Kelly Thomas, a schizophrenic homeless man, died days after being beaten and tased by two Fullerton police officers. They were tried and acquitted of any...
View ArticleTSA's Failure to Discover Fake Weapons Epitomizes Agency's Problems
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) recent failures to detect fake weapons and explosives were worse than first reported. Not only did the TSA fail 67 out of 70 tests conducted by the...
View ArticleAllow Airports to Raise Passenger Facility Charges, but Consider Requiring...
Currently, U.S. airports coordinated by trade associations Airports Council International—North America (ACI-NA) and the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), and the airlines coordinated...
View ArticlePrivately Financed High-Speed Rail Line Could Be Good for Texas
Star-Telegram Texas Central Railway proposes to privately finance, build and operate a high-speed passenger rail line between Houston and Dallas.Opponents mistakenly claim that taxpayers will be stuck...
View ArticleHow Will State Courts Rule on Pension Reforms? Pension Law Map Gives Guidance
The New Jersey Supreme Court recently upheld payment reductions to the state's pension fund. A month before, the Illinois Supreme Court rejected the state's pension reform efforts. Both states have...
View ArticleHow Congress Can Fix the Highway Trust Fund
My name is Robert Poole. I direct the transportation policy program at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank with offices in Los Angeles and in Washington, DC. I’m a graduate of MIT with two...
View ArticleSeven Critical Factors to Improving Student Outcomes with Student-Based...
Education Resource Strategies has worked extensively with several districts in implementing student-based budgeting. Through these partnerships they’ve concluded that equitable funding and autonomy...
View ArticleFunding Follows Results for Charter School Facilities Bonds
Charter schools now serve five percent of all public school students and continue to grow in popularity. There are an astounding one million students on waitlists nationwide. Despite this demand most...
View ArticleDonâ??t Determine California Teacher Evaluation Criteria Through Collective...
A pair of new California state bills that would grant teacher unions the power to negotiate various aspects in job performance evaluations made their way through Congress this past week. The bills are...
View ArticleLimit Regulations on Autonomous Vehicles
Autonomous vehicles are no longer a fantasy that appears only in science fiction movies. In theory, the ongoing investments and research should allow many driverless cars to transition out of...
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