Welfare programs should be designed to be temporary and targeted to benefit those most in need, but helping individuals move from dependency to self-sufficiency should be the primary focus of safety-net programs. As taxpayer funded services, such government programs must have accountability and oversight to ensure efficiency and integrity, with performance metrics that discourage fraud and determine that programs are, in fact, reducing poverty and encouraging self-sufficiency.
Georgia’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) is an optional 1 percent county sales tax used to fund local capital projects for a county and participating municipalities. Thirty-two years after lawmakers passed the…
By Gerard Robinson
“Reading is fundamental” was a popular slogan when I was an elementary student in Los Angeles during the 1970s. Today, parents, teachers and tutors stress the importance of literacy to public, private, home and virtual school students. Reading…
By Megan May
Drug overdoses, mainly opioid-affiliated, have surged in the United States in recent years. According to recent health data, deaths from drug overdose will soon surpass the number of deaths due to motor vehicle accidents each year in Georgia.…
By Kelly McCutchen
The chart below breaks down Georgia’s 1.38 million uninsured residents based on Census Bureau data for 2016.
The vertical axis represents income as a percent of the federal poverty level, which is about $12,000 for a single person. The…
The use of drones has exploded over the last several years, with the (mostly) flying robots so ubiquitous that it is easy to forget that even as recently 10 years ago, no consumer-grade versions of the devices were even available.…
The topic of civil asset forfeiture, the practice of law enforcement seizing and holding property even if the owner is never charged with or convicted of a crime, has made the news recently both in Georgia and nationally.
The Georgia Public…
Global warming, simplified: Burning fossil fuels generates carbon dioxide into the air, trapping energy radiated from the globe. The earth is made warmer because this energy is prevented from escaping into outer space.
But then there are air pollutants…
By Benita M. Dodd
March 12-18 is Sunshine Week. Launched in 2005, the initiative promotes open government and pushes back against “excessive official secrecy.”
Sunshine Week is promoted by the American Society of News Editors and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the…
By Ross Coker
The popularity of consumer-grade multi-rotor or quadcopter devices, the unmanned aerial vehicles commonly referred to as “drones,” has skyrocketed over the last several years. While previously a niche product for aviation and remote controlled vehicle (“RC”) enthusiasts, the…
NEWS RELEASE For Immediate Release February 10, 2017
Contact: Benita Dodd, Georgia Public Policy Foundation benitadodd@georgiapolicy.org | (404) 256-4050
Foundation Welcomes Tom Price as HHS Secretary
Atlanta – Kelly McCutchen, president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, had the following response to today’s Senate confirmation and swearing in of Tom Price as…
The Georgia Public Policy Foundation participated in the annual Justice Day Initiative in Atlanta on February 2, 2017, at which hundreds of attendees from numerous organizations aligned around the common cause of criminal justice reform.
The event was inspiring in uniting…
