There Oughta Be a Law: Campaign Finance Reform Must Encourage Competitive...
The Institute salutes the many reporters and editors who promote the public’s right to know. The ninth annual Sunshine Week runs this week, March 10-16, 2013. The 2012 elections were preceded by...
View ArticleFracking Industry Steps Up Lobbying in California
California is one of 31 states that sit atop significant shale deposits that could be made available by hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a method of injecting water, sand, and chemicals into the...
View ArticleThe Sweet Taste of…Taxes
On February 22 of this year, California state Sen. Bill Monning introduced SB 622, legislation that would levy a 1-cent-per-ounce tax on sweetened beverages, including sodas. According to the Los...
View ArticleStipulations on Wellness Programs Stalled in California State Legislature
On May 2, 2013, California lawmakers considered a bill, introduced by Senator Bill Monning, to keep employers from charging more for health care if employees don’t meet certain workplace wellness...
View ArticleCalifornia Senate Just Says No to Increased Tobacco Tax
On the heels of the narrow defeat of Prop 29 by California voters last June, State Senator Kevin de León introduced a bill in February to increase taxes on cigarettes to fund the state’s tobacco...
View ArticleAre Big Donors about to Get Even Bigger? The Potential Trickle-Down Effect of...
Three days ago, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in McCutcheon v. FEC, the case being called the next Citizens United. Currently, federal law limits the money that individuals can...
View ArticleIt’s Here, It’s Gone. Wait! It’s Here…
Arizona has countless natural wonders carved by millennia of slow change, but you can’t count their campaign finance system among them. More than a decade after Grand Canyon State voters first...
View ArticleStates Grapple with Disclosure by Nonprofits
The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) recently filed a challenge to Washington state’s campaign disclosure law. The case exemplifies one of the many puzzles facing states in the wake of...
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Tennessee “Brew”haha
Is all the whiskey distilled in Tennessee actually Tennessee whiskey? Not according to a Tennessee law enacted in 2013, which set strict parameters for the production process of any spirits hoping to...
View ArticleGold’n Giving
Although it may be a bust for shareholders, the acrimonious breakdown of merger talks between Barrick Gold Corporation and Newmont Mining Corporation may prove to have a silver lining for the Nevada...
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