Thursday, July 2, 2015

FREEDOMWORKS 07/02/2015


1. Ding Dong, the EX-IM Bank is Dead! - by Logan Albright
It seems like the liberty movement has taken a bit of a beating lately, with the Supreme Court defending ObamaCare subsidies, the FCC expanding its regulation of the internet, and budgets continuing to spend beyond our means and rack up more national debt. But it’s not all bad news, and at times like this it’s more important than ever to celebrate victories where we can find them. The end of the United States Export-Import Bank is one such victory.
At midnight tonight, the Bank’s charter will expire for the first time since its creation 80 years ago. This means it won’t be issuing taxpayer-backed loans to big companies with political clout. It won’t be granting special favors to green energy companies to satisfy the president’s personal preferences. It won’t be handing out your money to foreign and corrupt corporations. The expiration of Ex-Im is a blow against the cronyism and corporate favoritism that gives “pro-business” Republicans a bad name, and that’s something we should celebrate. Read More here...

2. Montana Teachers' Union Halts Much Needed Education Reform - by Remso Martinez
While Montana parents are celebrating the new access to education tax credits, there is a giant upset over the still limited school choice in the state. This year, the Montana legislature proposed a whole slew of education bills during its session, ranging from Common Core repeal to greater school choice for parents. Yet, of the numerous bills introduced this year, only two education bills made it to Governor Steve Bullock's desk.
Bullock vetoed one and the other became law after the designated waiting period without objection or real input from the governor. In a state that was pushing to expand school choice, end Common Core, and reform student internet privacy, how was so little passed? Republican Senator Chris Hansen recently blamed the incredible power that teachers' unions hold over state politics: Read more here... 
3. SayNoToSCOTUScare.com 
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4. Reforms to protect innocent property owners from government overreach awaiting action in the Michigan Senate - by Jason Pye
In February, just after the start of the 2015 legislative session, Michigan House Republicans rolled out their action plan for the year. Among the issues included in the action plan was reform of the Wolverine State's civil asset forfeiture laws to promote transparency, accountability, and protect innocent people whose property may be wrongly seized by overzealous law enforcement.
Michigan's current civil asset forfeiture laws earned a "D," according to a recent FreedomWorks publication, Civil Asset Forfeiture: Grading the States. The standard of proof to forfeit property -- "a preponderance of the evidence," or a 51 percent likelihood that property seized is connected to a crime -- is far too low. Law enforcement keeps 100 percent of the proceeds of forfeitures, creating a perverse profit motive. Read more here...
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5. Email Privacy: What's the Hold Up? - by Logan Albright
It’s rare when politicians in Washington can agree, and when they do, it’s usually bad news for liberty. But there’s an exception to every rule, and sometimes an idea is so obviously sensible that even the usual forces of reactionary partisanship aren’t enough to stand in its way.
Email privacy - the idea that the government should not have unlimited access to your inbox - should be a no brainer, and in fact, for many in Congress on both the left and right, it is. The Email Privacy Act, sponsored by Rep. Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) has garnered an amazing 284 cosponsors from both parties. That’s well over half of the entire House of Representatives, and yet leadership, in typical ineffective fashion, has still not brought the bill up for a floor vote. Read more here...
6. Empower Baltimore International Academy 
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7. Supreme Court States the Obvious: The EPA is Unreasonable - Michael Greibrok 
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the EPA was unreasonable when it did not consider costs when it decided to regulate mercury emissions from power plants. The Court, in an opinion by Justice Scalia, held that the EPA must consider costs, including compliance costs, when deciding whether a regulation is appropriate and necessary.
The EPA had decided to regulate under the authority of §7412 if the Clean Air Act. This section grants the EPA the authority to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants from certain stationary sources. The EPA may regulate power plants under the program only if it finds doing so to be “appropriate and necessary” and studying the hazards. Read more here...
Iris Somberg
Press Secretary, FreedomWorks

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