State lawmakers looking for good ideas to promote liberty and protect individual rights can find plenty of options from the John Locke Foundation, including the proposals put forward in the latest Agenda document.
Now the Cato Institute has developed its own 2011 Legislative Guide, available only online so that it can be updated easily. Cato says of its new guide:
New and veteran lawmakers alike are now facing critical issues: unfunded pension liabilities, ballooning Medicaid enrollment, massive budget gaps, and failing education systems, to name a few.
The Cato State Legislative Guide is designed to help state policymakers address these and other important issues and free their constituents from the burden of overextended government. Broken down into five core policy areas — education, transportation, tax and budget, health care, criminal justice — each section provides:
- Specific policy ideas from Cato Institute experts on how legislators can put their states back on a fiscally sustainable path that maximizes freedom.
- A “best of” list of Cato publications in each subject area, offering in-depth analysis and data in support of our recommendations.
- Contact information for the Cato scholars in each area of research.
Our hope is that the ideas in this guide will help state policymakers tackle the key issues facing their states in a manner that expands individual liberty, promotes free markets, and reduces the size of government.
