Publications -- Regulations

Jun 11, 1999

BA #295 – Making Medical Savings Accounts Better

In 1996 Congress created a demonstration project permitting small employers and the self-employed to establish tax-free Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs). However, congressional lawmakers imposed strict limits on who can purchase MSAs and undermined their ability to work properly.

Jun 11, 1999

BA #294 – Off Target with Gun Controls

In the emotional aftermath of recent school shootings, the Clinton Administration and Congress want to "do something" about these extremely rare events, even though preventing them is beyond the power of the federal government. The U.S. Senate passed S. 254, the Juvenile Accountability Act, last month and the House will consider similar legislation in June. The 648-page Senate bill includes a range of provisions, among them new controls on firearms. However, none of the proposed rules would have prevented the massacre in Colorado or any other past school shooting, nor would they do anything to prevent future incidents. Here is a look at some of the provisions.

May 20, 1999

BA #292 – Minimum Wage Teen-age Job Killer

Congress appears likely to raise the minimum wage again this year, probably from $5.15 per hour to $6.15 over three years. This will be the second minimum wage increase passed by the Republican Congress. The last increase was enacted in 1996, raising the minimum wage from $4.25 to $4.75 on October 1, 1996, and to the present $5.15 per hour on September 1, 1997.

Mar 24, 1999

BA #287 – The Truth about Urban Sprawl

Urban sprawl has sparked a national debate over land-use policy. At least 19 states have established either state growth-management laws or task forces to protect farmland and open space. Dozens of cities and counties have adopted urban growth boundaries to contain development in existing areas and prevent the spread of urbanization to outlying and rural areas. The Clinton administration has proposed to make urban sprawl a federal issue.

Mar 01, 1999

ST #223 – Suing Gun Manufacturers: Hazardous to Our Health

The lawsuits against gun manufacturers are not just bad public policy, they are also dubious as matters of law. The courts have recognized that firearms are no different from many other potentially dangerous products and have consistently held that legislatures should decide whether guns should be legal and widely available.

Oct 09, 1998

BA #282 – Sea Levels and Global Warming

The Clinton administration has committed to signing- but the Senate has yet to ratify - the Kyoto Treaty, which would impose legally binding, internationally enforceable limits on the production of greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2). Supporters of the treaty believe that human-caused gases are causing environmentally disastrous global warming and that only immediate government action can avert catastrophe.

Oct 09, 1998

BA #281 – Let States Manage National Forests

The United States Forest Service (USFS) is under fire from both fiscal conservatives and liberal environmentalists - two groups not often on the same side of issues. Fiscal conservatives decry the agency's spendthrift ways and money-losing programs. Environmentalists claim that its logging, mining and grazing programs damage the natural world. Both groups are correct.

Sep 04, 1998

BA #278 – Europe's Underground Economies

The underground economy also known as the second economy, parallel economy, unofficial economy, informal economy or just the black market is a phenomenon known throughout the world. It exists wherever governments excessively tax or unreasonably regulate economic activity. Although the underground economy also includes criminal activity, such as drug dealing, the overwhelming bulk of it consists of the provision of ordinary goods and services that in other times and other places would be perfectly legal and legitimate.

Aug 06, 1998

BA #276 – The Endangered Species Act: First Step toward Fixing a Costly Failure

Declaring that "The Endangered Species Act works," Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt has announced that within the next two years the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) will remove (delist) 33 species from the endangered species list. His claim comes as the ESA is being considered for renewal - the law authorizing it having lapsed in 1992. These 33 delistings will mean that a total of 60 species have been removed from the endangered species list.

Aug 06, 1998

BA #277 – Is the Global Warming Treaty a Threat to National Security?

Most environmentalists, some scientists, President Clinton and Vice President Gore have blamed global warming and all manner of natural catastrophes - hurricanes, floods and even El Niño - on rising levels of greenhouse gases, due primarily to fossil fuel use. On this theory, since most of the increased emissions come from energy use, we must use less energy to reduce the likelihood of environmental apocalypse. However, many scientists are skeptical of the theory that humans are causing global warming.