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R Street Institute

@rstreet.bsky.social
2.6K followers 430 following 309 posts

We're a free market think tank advancing real solutions to complex policy problems. We work on tech, cybersecurity, clean energy, justice, occupational licensing, flood insurance, and more. Book our experts/media: PR@rstreet.org See our work: rstreet.org

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R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 25/01/2024
"[The bill] would prevent professional licensing boards from denying licensing applications based on applicants’ unrelated criminal records or vague character standards."
times-herald.com
Georgia criminal-justice reforms languish near finish line
Not long ago, Georgia was widely considered the criminal justice reform capital of the country. The Peach State enacted a series of landmark bills that began reorienting the state's antiquated
0121
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 24/01/2024
Just 6 commodities—corn, soy, wheat, cotton, peanuts, rice—account for 94% of FCIP support. Many of these are not used to provide affordable nutrition but are heavily processed into the fillers and sugars that are likely a large part of people’s health problems
washingtonexaminer.com
Government must stop subsidizing unhealthy foods
We are fortunate to have affordable food options in our grocery stores. This is partly thanks to a government program protecting farmers.
1114
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 23/01/2024
"Had the internet, personal computing, or e-commerce been burdened with such a contradictory and costly patchwork of technocratic state and local policies, it is unlikely the U.S. would have become the global leader in digital technology" @adamthierer.bsky.social
thehill.com
State and local meddling threatens to undermine the AI revolution
If the U.S. hopes to continue to be a global leader in AI and advanced algorithmic technologies, state lawmakers will need to adopt better policies to promote innovation and investment in a sector …
0122
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 23/01/2024
Rather than codifying unfounded fears about on-the-job fentanyl exposure, legislators and departmental decision-makers should promote science-based education and provide practical training.
rstreet.org
Florida’s Bad Samaritan Bill Won’t Protect First Responders, But It Will Endanger Overdose Victi...
Sen. Jay Collins (R-Fla.) just introduced a bill with a laudable goal: protecting first responders from the harms of fentanyl. In reality, though, Senate Bill 718 isn’t needed; fentanyl and other s...
040
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 23/01/2024
"The inaccurate narratives that underpin FL SB 718 have unfortunately driven very real fears and misunderstandings about safety among first responders."
rstreet.org
Florida’s Bad Samaritan Bill Won’t Protect First Responders, But It Will Endanger Overdose Victi...
Sen. Jay Collins (R-Fla.) just introduced a bill with a laudable goal: protecting first responders from the harms of fentanyl. In reality, though, Senate Bill 718 isn’t needed; fentanyl and other s...
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 22/01/2024
"Georgia law prevents a host of people from working in their preferred profession, but lawmakers should remember that 'Having a job [...] has been shown to reduce recidivism.'"
times-herald.com
Georgia criminal-justice reforms languish near finish line
Not long ago, Georgia was widely considered the criminal justice reform capital of the country. The Peach State enacted a series of landmark bills that began reorienting the state's antiquated
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 22/01/2024
"The inaccurate narratives that underpin FL SB 718 have unfortunately driven very real fears and misunderstandings about safety among first responders."
rstreet.org
Florida’s Bad Samaritan Bill Won’t Protect First Responders, But It Will Endanger Overdose Victi...
Sen. Jay Collins (R-Fla.) just introduced a bill with a laudable goal: protecting first responders from the harms of fentanyl. In reality, though, Senate Bill 718 isn’t needed; fentanyl and other s...
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 22/01/2024
Americans get 60% to 90% of their calories from highly processed foods and drinks
washingtonexaminer.com
Government must stop subsidizing unhealthy foods
We are fortunate to have affordable food options in our grocery stores. This is partly thanks to a government program protecting farmers.
030
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 11/01/2024
Congrats to R Street friend @benjaminwittes.bsky.social! www.dogshirtdaily.com/p/to-mock-po...
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 15/12/2023
By eliminating solitary confinement for juveniles in all but the most extreme cases, Pennsylvania has the chance to end what many psychologists have come to regard as a form of torture
rstreet.org
Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Justice Reform Moment Is Here - R Street Institute
In 2019, abuses at Pennsylvania juvenile detention facilities shook the collective conscience of leaders in the state’s capital and led them to form the Juvenile Justice Task Force. Members identif...
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 14/12/2023
"When it was discovered that many of these solar panels were made with slave labor and ought not to be imported, officials have slow-walked or skirted such restrictions since it would be harder to meet their "'clean energy objectives.'"
realclearwire.com
Policies Meant to Address Climate Change Can Worsen Human Suffering
Few people today would deny the negative impacts that pollution and climate change can have on human health and well-being. The challenge lies in tackling this given that there are almost always trade
021
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 13/12/2023
"Restorative justice alternatives reduce negative emotions and feelings of hopelessness among victims, improve participant self-esteem, reduce recidivism and save taxpayers’ money."
rstreet.org
Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November - R Street ...
November is National Restorative Justice Month and the third week of November is International Restorative Justice Week. Restorative justice is an alternative to incarceration and the typical legal p...
031
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 12/12/2023
"Florida tops lists with more than 20 percent of drivers uninsured, compared to the national average of about 12 percent."
rstreet.org
PIP, Lawsuit Abuse and the Uninsured: Why Your Florida Auto Insurance Is Out of Control - R Street I...
For years, Florida has topped lists of states with the highest auto insurance rates in the nation, averaging about $2,500 a year for full coverage. Ohio has the lowest rates at about $1,000 annually,...
011
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 12/12/2023
"Policymakers rarely want to reckon with what that might look like or be forced to admit that sometimes their policies got it wrong and made problems worse."
realclearwire.com
Policies Meant to Address Climate Change Can Worsen Human Suffering
Few people today would deny the negative impacts that pollution and climate change can have on human health and well-being. The challenge lies in tackling this given that there are almost always trade
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 11/12/2023
"For years, Florida has topped lists of states with the highest auto insurance rates in the nation, averaging about $2,500 a year for full coverage. Ohio has the lowest rates at about $1,000 annually"
rstreet.org
PIP, Lawsuit Abuse and the Uninsured: Why Your Florida Auto Insurance Is Out of Control - R Street I...
For years, Florida has topped lists of states with the highest auto insurance rates in the nation, averaging about $2,500 a year for full coverage. Ohio has the lowest rates at about $1,000 annually,...
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 11/12/2023
Reclaim AI would be liable if it moves meetings for terrorists on a calendar even if they don't know they're moving meetings for terrorists @senatorshoshana.bsky.social
rstreet.org
10 Favorite Tools the Blumenthal-Hawley AI Bill Would Destroy - R Street Institute
This analysis is based on breaking news and will be updated. To connect with the author, please e-mail pr@rstreet.org. R Street recently explained all the functional problems with S.1993, the bill pro...
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R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 08/12/2023
10 of your favorite tools that the Blumenthal-Hawley AI bill would destroy @senatorshoshana.bsky.social
rstreet.org
10 Favorite Tools the Blumenthal-Hawley AI Bill Would Destroy - R Street Institute
This analysis is based on breaking news and will be updated. To connect with the author, please e-mail pr@rstreet.org. R Street recently explained all the functional problems with S.1993, the bill pro...
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 08/12/2023
"The backlog is staggering; over 2,000 GW of capacity sits in interconnection queues currently, exceeding the installed capacity of the entire domestic generation fleet."
rstreet.org
Finishing Generator Interconnection Reform - R Street Institute
Regulatory barriers to power plant development create mounting cost and grid reliability concerns. They are also the prime determinants of energy emissions. In November, the CEO of the North American...
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 07/12/2023
"One study found that the propensity to re-offend was reduced by 32 percent after participating in a restorative justice program."
rstreet.org
Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November - R Street ...
November is National Restorative Justice Month and the third week of November is International Restorative Justice Week. Restorative justice is an alternative to incarceration and the typical legal p...
031
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 07/12/2023
🎧 "The good news is youth use has been declining since 2019 when it had peaked." — Mazen Saleh
rstreet.org
Red Tape Podcast, Episode 3 – Ban it All! - R Street Institute
Red Tape is the newest R Street podcast about the country’s biggest problems and the surprising ways that governments (and regular people) often get in the way of solving them. It was produced in p...
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 06/12/2023
"Project completion rates in the interconnection queue and the reliability value assigned to generator capacity vary by fuel type. Accounting for these, PJM’s firm generation capacity queue backlog is 69 percent renewables and 31 percent natural gas."
rstreet.org
Finishing Generator Interconnection Reform - R Street Institute
Regulatory barriers to power plant development create mounting cost and grid reliability concerns. They are also the prime determinants of energy emissions. In November, the CEO of the North American...
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 06/12/2023
"The average wait time in interconnection queues doubled from two to four years between the 2000s and 2010s. A typical generation project in 2022 spent five years waiting for interconnection approval, and the trend is worsening."
rstreet.org
Finishing Generator Interconnection Reform - R Street Institute
Regulatory barriers to power plant development create mounting cost and grid reliability concerns. They are also the prime determinants of energy emissions. In November, the CEO of the North American...
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 05/12/2023
"Project completion rates in the interconnection queue and the reliability value assigned to generator capacity vary by fuel type. Accounting for these, PJM’s firm generation capacity queue backlog is 69 percent renewables and 31 percent natural gas."
rstreet.org
Finishing Generator Interconnection Reform - R Street Institute
Regulatory barriers to power plant development create mounting cost and grid reliability concerns. They are also the prime determinants of energy emissions. In November, the CEO of the North American...
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 05/12/2023
"The term 'restorative justice' was coined in 1977 by Albert Eglash, who believed perpetrators gain a renewed sense of self-respect by admitting wrongdoing, apologizing, repairing the harm and creating space for forgiveness."
rstreet.org
Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November - R Street ...
November is National Restorative Justice Month and the third week of November is International Restorative Justice Week. Restorative justice is an alternative to incarceration and the typical legal p...
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 04/12/2023
"In 2009, it was estimated that 437,400 Americans died due to smoking-related disease and that number has changed little with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting 480,000 tobacco-related deaths in 2022."
rstreet.org
Impact of Missing Science on FDA-CTP Decisions - R Street Institute
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (FDA-CTP) was founded in 2009 in order to regulate the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of tobacco products as designate...
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 01/12/2023
"Policymakers should first take advantage of the extensive array of existing regulations being enforced by the federal government’s 434 different existing departments." @adamthierer.bsky.social
rstreet.org
Artificial Intelligence Legislative Outlook: Fall 2023 Update - R Street Institute
While artificial intelligence (AI) was barely on Washington’s radar screen a year ago, it has quickly become one of the hottest tech policy issues in Congress. A considerable amount of legislative a...
001
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 30/11/2023
"In a randomized controlled trial of a California program called 'Make-it-Right,' juveniles in the intervention group were 19 percent less likely to be rearrested 12 months post-program compared to their peers in the control group."
rstreet.org
Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November - R Street ...
November is National Restorative Justice Month and the third week of November is International Restorative Justice Week. Restorative justice is an alternative to incarceration and the typical legal p...
011
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 29/11/2023
Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November
rstreet.org
Spotlight on Criminal Justice: Observing National Restorative Justice Month – November - R Street ...
November is National Restorative Justice Month and the third week of November is International Restorative Justice Week. Restorative justice is an alternative to incarceration and the typical legal p...
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 22/11/2023
"AI is not inherently more polluting than other electric uses; in fact...it may be cleaner than average. Concerns about AI energy use should be directed at the environmental impacts of electric power generation in general."
rstreet.org
How To Productively Worry About AI Energy Use - R Street Institute
OpenAI launched ChatGPT on Nov. 30, 2022. Within five days, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot had one million users. Two months later, it had 100 million. The official ChatGPT website reached o...
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 22/11/2023
"Our kids are going to grow up to be adults in an information saturated world where computers and the internet are going to be central to their success in life."
rstreet.org
Red Tape Podcast, Episode 7 - It’s 230. Do you know where your children are? - R Street Institute
Red Tape is the newest R Street podcast about the country’s biggest problems and the surprising ways that governments (and regular people) often get in the way of solving them. It was produced in p...
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 22/11/2023
"In the future, we ought to see politicians focusing on the tangible environmental and human improvement under their watch, and not just a tally of how much has been spent on one industry over another."
realclearwire.com
Policies Meant to Address Climate Change Can Worsen Human Suffering
Few people today would deny the negative impacts that pollution and climate change can have on human health and well-being. The challenge lies in tackling this given that there are almost always trade
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 21/11/2023
Authors of some social media legislation claim it will prevent minors from viewing obscenity online. But these bills have no effect on obscenity in the vast majority of cases. @senatorshoshana.bsky.social
rstreet.org
Age-verification legislation doesn’t do what legislators say it will - R Street Institute
In multiple regards, age-verification bills do not reflect legislators’ aspirations as they are written. From promoting parental choice to restricting obscene content to curbing excessive video cons...
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 21/11/2023
"If Congress simply strikes down the DOJ’s rule, they betray the purpose of their legislative function to create and codify policies that preserve the health and welfare of the American people."
thehill.com
The Senate should codify — not reject— CARES Act’s home confinement policy
Thanks to an effort to force a vote on the matter in the Senate, nearly three thousand individuals who have remained law-abiding under home confinement for nearly three years could be ret…
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 20/11/2023
"Ultimately, having the government force users to verify their identities is a barrier to free speech and causes manifest security problems." @senatorshoshana.bsky.social
rstreet.org
Here's what is wrong with Nikki Haley's proposal to end online anonymity - R Street Institute
This analysis is based on breaking news and has been updated. To connect with the author, please e-mail pr@rstreet.org. Presidential candidate Nikki Haley recently received extensive backlash for a p...
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 20/11/2023
"It is easy to dismiss these practices, thinking, 'What would attackers even want from me?' But as the North Korean breach proves, even an innocuous job application can result in the compromise of an entire organization and any connected services" @ocregister.bsky.social
ocregister.com
Protect yourself from malicious actors on phishing expeditions
News outlets in early July reported that Chinese state-sponsored hackers breached over two dozen organizations worldwide, including several U.S. government agencies and institutions, gaining access…
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 17/11/2023
"Congress should set aside the most radical regulatory proposals. Massive new technocratic bureaucracies are a non-starter" @adamthierer.bsky.social
rstreet.org
Artificial Intelligence Legislative Outlook: Fall 2023 Update - R Street Institute
While artificial intelligence (AI) was barely on Washington’s radar screen a year ago, it has quickly become one of the hottest tech policy issues in Congress. A considerable amount of legislative a...
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 17/11/2023
"Of the 13,204 individuals sent to home confinement under this policy, only 27 have committed any new crimes. This is a less than 0.2% recidivism rate, which is less than 1/200th of the federal government’s overall self-reported recidivism rate of 43%."
thehill.com
The Senate should codify — not reject— CARES Act’s home confinement policy
Thanks to an effort to force a vote on the matter in the Senate, nearly three thousand individuals who have remained law-abiding under home confinement for nearly three years could be ret…
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 16/11/2023
Those outraged at Haley’s comments would do well to look at how Congress and the states are already violating our rights with similar proposals at this very moment.  @senatorshoshana.bsky.social
rstreet.org
Here's what is wrong with Nikki Haley's proposal to end online anonymity - R Street Institute
This analysis is based on breaking news and has been updated. To connect with the author, please e-mail pr@rstreet.org. Presidential candidate Nikki Haley recently received extensive backlash for a p...
0179
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 16/11/2023
"The amendment was not voted on, but if it had been adopted, it would make members of Congress 'at-risk individuals' who would be allotted privacy protections that many Americans would not have."
inkstickmedia.com
Privacy Should Be a Fundamental Right for All, Not Just for Elites
Congress needs to pass a comprehensive federal privacy law that protects all Americans.
020
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 15/11/2023
"My husband and I became first time homeowners a little over a year ago. When we were going to secure homeowner’s insurance, we genuinely could not find anyone who would provide insurance for us except for the state backed system."
rstreet.org
Red Tape Podcast, Episode 8 – Build high where it's dry - R Street Institute
Red Tape is the newest R Street podcast about the country’s biggest problems and the surprising ways that governments (and regular people) often get in the way of solving them. It was produced in p...
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 15/11/2023
The Senate should codify — not reject— CARES Act’s home confinement policy
thehill.com
The Senate should codify — not reject— CARES Act’s home confinement policy
Thanks to an effort to force a vote on the matter in the Senate, nearly three thousand individuals who have remained law-abiding under home confinement for nearly three years could be ret…
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 15/11/2023
"The Senate is currently only a few signers away from action to discard one of the most effective reintegration programs our federal system has ever witnessed."
thehill.com
The Senate should codify — not reject— CARES Act’s home confinement policy
Thanks to an effort to force a vote on the matter in the Senate, nearly three thousand individuals who have remained law-abiding under home confinement for nearly three years could be ret…
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 14/11/2023
In ACLU v. Mukasey, the Third Circuit found that COPA was impermissibly vague for various reasons, including not defining the standard of “knowingly.” A current federal proposal similarly does not define a “knowingly” standard. @senatorshoshana.bsky.social
rstreet.org
Current age-verification methods threaten our First Amendment rights beyond anonymity - R Street Ins...
Current conversations around age verification often forget that the United States has tried to mandate age verification several times in the past. Throughout these previous attempts, the Supreme Court...
043
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 13/11/2023
"A staggering 99.8% of those sent to home confinement under the CARES Act succeeded in establishing and maintaining law-abiding lives outside of federal brick-and-mortar custody."
thehill.com
The Senate should codify — not reject— CARES Act’s home confinement policy
Thanks to an effort to force a vote on the matter in the Senate, nearly three thousand individuals who have remained law-abiding under home confinement for nearly three years could be ret…
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 13/11/2023
"This policy paper explores the history, principles, methods, and outcomes of applying restorative practices to the juvenile justice system and offers key recommendations for implementing such programs."
rstreet.org
Justice for All: How Restorative Justice Mutually Benefits Victims and Youth - R Street Institute
Scholar Media Contact For general and media inquiries and to book our experts, please contact: pr@rstreet.org. Restorative justice has the potential to heal both the victim and the offender, offering ...
010
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 13/11/2023
Other research studies, including one by researchers at Yale, have asked what an ex-smoker would do if their preferred flavor of e-cigarettes was removed from the market. The most likely outcome would be to return to cigarettes. @ocregister.bsky.social
ocregister.com
The fruits of prohibition: California’s tobacco flavor ban backfires
Regardless of good intentions or political pressures, the current ban is not making California residents healthier.
000
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 12/11/2023
"Because the user would be representing their age to a federal agency, misrepresentation of age would constitute a violation of the federal false statements statute." @senatorshoshana.bsky.social
rstreet.org
Regimes that run age verification through the government would allow prosecutors to make children fe...
As already discussed in this series, the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act would create a pilot program, run by the U.S. Department of Commerce, for use by social media companies that opt in to ve...
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R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 10/11/2023
Current laws and proposals would endanger minors’ access to health information @senatorshoshana.bsky.social
techdirt.com
Social Media Was Useful For Me, As An Ill, Nerdy Teenager
Lately, concerns about allowing minors to use social media have been front and center in the public discourse, but ways in which they use it productively have been absent from the conversation. My …
112
R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 09/11/2023
"Even accounting for a history of nuclear accidents, it is one of the safest sources of energy at about 0.03 deaths per terawatt-hour, or more than 800 times safer than coal energy."
rstreet.org
Low-Energy Fridays: Why Aren’t We Using More Nuclear Energy? - R Street Institute
Nuclear energy is amazing. It is mostly produced from the chemical element uranium. A one-kilogram piece of uranium (a cube about 1.5 inches per side) has as much energy content as 20 metric tons of c...
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R Street Institute @rstreet.bsky.social · 08/11/2023
"The policies that come out of Congress and the administration ought to be focused on reducing harm, not simply favoring producers that are popular among their constituents."
realclearwire.com
Policies Meant to Address Climate Change Can Worsen Human Suffering
Few people today would deny the negative impacts that pollution and climate change can have on human health and well-being. The challenge lies in tackling this given that there are almost always trade
000