The Forum Archives | Georgia Public Policy Foundation

End of an Era: Georgia Begins to Close Parole Offices

posted 6 years ago on November 30th, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

By Mike Klein Georgia is moving quickly toward the end of an era as parole offices are being closed at a pace that will see most of them completely shuttered within the next calendar year. A handful already are closed, about another dozen will close within weeks and the remainder will close as the state moves away from real estate toward reliance on parole officer-friendly remote technology. “The day of the parolee reporting to a parole office is long gone,” said Michael Nail, executive director of the state board of Pardons and Paroles. Virtual offices – two-man parole teams in vehicles – will replace real estate. “Our officers will be in the community where parolees reside and work and it’s… View Article

Connecticut Revenue Commissioner Admits that “Amazon” Tax Has Raised Zero Revenue

posted 6 years ago on November 30th, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

From Joe Henchman at the Tax Foundation: A handful of states have enacted an “Amazon” tax. Named after their most visible target, these laws deem an out-of-state company to be an in-state company for sales tax collection purposes if the company receives commissioned referrals from in-state resident “affiliates.” The out-of-state company must then collect sales tax for the state. Our special report on the topic (and this California update) details these laws and their failure to achieve their goals (raise revenue and create a level playing field). Rhode Island’s revenue head has said the tax actually reduced revenue by causing the end of the state’s affiliate programs and Illinois has seen an outflow of Internet-related businesses. Add Connecticut… View Article

Friday Facts: November 30, 2012

posted 6 years ago on November 30th, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

It’s Friday! Quotes of Note “Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.” – Joseph Warren, Boston Massacre Oration, 1775 “An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation.” – John Marshall People Congratulations to Rogers Wade, the Foundation’s former president and CEO, who has been… View Article

Foundation in The News

posted 6 years ago on November 28th, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

The Effingham Herald published, “Only leadership will restore America,” a commentary by Foundation President Kelly McCutchen on the aftermath of the presidential elections, on November 8, 2012. “Leadership is not just about ideas and policy,” McCutchen wrote. “It’s about taking the initiative to bring people together for a common goal. This is important: America appears more politically polarized than ever.”… View Article

Checking Up On Health: November 27

posted 6 years ago on November 27th, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

Health Policy Briefs Compiled by Benita M. Dodd The Georgia Public Policy Foundation has been out and about for the past two weeks, but we’re back in the office with the latest news on health care regulations, policy, technology and biotech in today’s Checking Up On Health! Health care on a budget: How much is too much for a cancer drug treatment? Top health care experts meeting at the Institute of Medicine last month warned the nation’s 15,000 oncologists and their patients: Learn to deliver cancer care at lower costs or watch limits being imposed by the government and insurance companies. Merrill Goozner, senior correspondent for The Fiscal Times in Washington, D.C., reports that a top official from UnitedHealthcare, the… View Article

2012 Legislative Policy Forum

posted 6 years ago on November 25th, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

Program and Speaker Bios Pictures from the program Agenda and Video 7:15-8:00 – Continental Breakfast 8:00 – Welcome Jan Jones, Speaker Pro-Tempore, Georgia House of Representatives Rep. Edward Lindsey, Chairman, Conservative Policy Leadership Institute 8:10 – Breakfast Keynote: The Greatest Force For Good John Tillman, President and CEO, Illinois Policy Institute 9:00-10:00 Session One: Health Policy after the High Court: Reforming Medicaid, Rethinking Medical Malpractice and Reaching the Uninsured Grace-Marie Turner, Founder and President, Galen Institute (Powerpoint) Dr. Joanna Bailey, Emory University School of Law (Powerpoint) Moderator: Dr. Brian E. Hill, author of, “Stop the Noise: A Physician’s Quest to Silence the Politics of Health Care Reform” 10:15-11:15 Session Two: Policies … View Article

Friday Facts: November 16, 2012

posted 6 years ago on November 16th, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

It’s Friday! Quotes of Note “If we move in mass, be it ever so circuitously, we shall attain our object; but if we break into squads, everyone pursuing the path he thinks most direct, we become an easy conquest to those who can now barely hold us in check.” – Thomas Jefferson (letter to William Duane, 1811) “[T]he crisis is arrived when we must assert our rights, or submit to every imposition, that can be heaped upon us, till custom and use shall make us as tame and abject slaves.” – George Washington (1774) “We cannot build a free market health care system on this flawed structure of centralized government control, we must repeal all of it and start over… View Article

Friday Facts: November 9, 2012

posted 6 years ago on November 9th, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

It’s Friday! Quotes of Note “The most important political office is that of the private citizen.” – Justice Louis D. Brandeis “They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare. … [G]iving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which may be good for the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they would be the sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they… View Article

Physical Activity and Digital Learning: Two Peas in a Pod

posted 6 years ago on November 8th, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

By Michael Horn What’s digital learning got to do with physical activity? Quite a lot I believe. A couple weekends ago I had the privilege of presenting at TEDx Manhattan Beach where I heard another presenter, Dr. John Ratey, speak about the importance of physical exercise in increasing brain plasticity and boosting student learning. His book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, details the connection. Although I normally write about digital learning’s potential to transform our education, as a Crossfit enthusiast myself, I believe in the importance of living a healthy life with physical exercise. One of the biggest misconceptions about the rise of online learning is that a student’s schooling will be spent… View Article

Will the American Dream become the American Memory?

posted 6 years ago on November 8th, 2012 by admin Leave a Comment

By Mike Klein When he spoke recently in Atlanta former New York City Public Schools chancellor Joel Klein suggested, “The question we are discussing right now is whether the American Dream becomes the American Memory on our watch. That’s how serious I think this discussion is because the world is changing dramatically and our education system is not changing at all.” Georgia changed just a little bit this week when voters approved a path to state authorization for proposed charter schools that were turned down by local school boards. Washington state voters voted on charters, Indiana voters rejected their reformist state superintendent in favor of a union-backed candidate, unions were successfully able to roll back reforms in South Dakota and… View Article

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