Indiana’s Senate yesterday passed—and Governor Mitch Daniels (R) signed—the state’s long-awaited right-to-work law, making it the 23rd state in the nation and the first state in the union-heavy Rust Belt to give workers the right to choose whether or not to pay union dues. Meanwhile, 1,700 miles away, Arizona is considering a bill that would restore voter control over government by, among other measures, stripping government unions of their collective bargaining power. Indiana’s move is a victory for the state’s workers—and the state’s economy. Now Hoosiers cannot be forced to …
Yesterday, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) spoke at The Heritage Foundation as part of National School Choice Week and to mark the release of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) Report Card on American Education. The report ranks America’s K-12 schools in terms of performance and progress over the past year, as well as reforms and education policies. Senator DeMint says that in seeking to improve education, policymakers could take some lessons from the free market — a system that has served America well: “We were the only country that was …
In a decision that should cheer those who believe in the rule of law and want to see our federal immigration laws enforced (despite all of the efforts of the Obama Administration to prevent that from happening), the Supreme Court today accepted Arizona’s petition for certiorari in the lawsuit filed against the state’s immigration law by the Justice Department. That means that the Supreme Court will make the final decision on whether Arizona’s law (SB 1070) is constitutional. SB 1070, which has served as a model for other states such …
Critics of state and local government action on immigration fail to keep in mind one simple but critical point: The states have these rights. It is preposterous to take the position that, short of federal action or the commission of a crime, governors and mayors are constitutionally powerless to deal with illegal immigrants within their states and cities. The argument that state and local governments must incur enormous fiscal and societal costs, asserting that all aspects of immigration (legal or illegal) are entirely the purview of the federal government, is …
For the residents of Arizona’s Vekol Valley—80 miles north of the border with Mexico—Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano’s claim that security at the border “is better now than it ever has been” must seem like a joke. The area is a veritable highway for illegal immigrants traveling to the United States, and it’s marked by evidence of their passage. If the bullet-ridden signs warning, “Danger: ‘Active drug and human smuggling area. Visitors may encounter armed criminals’” aren’t enough of a dead giveaway, the evidence strewn across the valley ought to be …
Arizona won a spectacular victory today in the Supreme Court in its ongoing efforts to do something about the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens who reside in the state and cost Arizona taxpayers an estimated $1.3 billion a year. In its ruling against the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Obama administration, the Court also disproved the breathless claims of liberals and the editorial pages of publications like the New York Times that the conservative justices on the Court are just the handmaidens of big business who always rule …
It sat on her desk for over a week, but yesterday Governor Jan Brewer (R–AZ) finally signed S.B. 1495 into law. The new law takes an important step and allows the governor to mobilize the Arizona State Defense Force (SDF) “for any reason” she sees fit. Arizona’s constitution has long allowed for the creation of an SDF. This latest law, however, removes many of the restrictions on mobilizing this force. No longer is the governor required to wait for the Arizona National Guard to be physically located out of state …
As states continue to face large deficits and budget cuts, Arizona has hit on a smart solution. On Tuesday, the Arizona House of Representatives passed S.B. 1495, a bill enhancing the power of the governor to create a state guard unit. These units, better known as State Defense Forces (SDFs), are today’s modern state militia. Unlike the images of rag-tag groups often associated with the term militia, these are professional forces authorized by the Constitution and under the command of their respective state governors.
It appears that Georgia Governor Nathan Deal will sign legislation passed by the Georgia House and Senate that adopts the Arizona SB 1070 framework for controlling illegal immigration. With the influx of 425,000 illegal immigrants into Georgia over the last two decades, this two-pronged legislation will help curb that flow. The two elements of the Georgia legislation involve permitting law enforcement to check the legal status of individuals they stop and requiring the use of the E-Verify system for businesses with more than 10 employees. Unlike Arizona’s SB 1070 “reasonable …
Arizona families won big last week when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state’s school choice program, the Arizona Private School Tuition Tax Credit program. This week, Arizona students and families have another reason to celebrate. Arizona just created education savings accounts (ESAs) for special-needs students, providing families with more options when it comes to educating their children. This groundbreaking reform, signed into law on Tuesday by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R), represents a bounding leap forward.
