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June 17, 2012

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New Wisconsin Recall Poll: Reason-Rupe Finds Broad Support for Pension, Health Care Reforms

Emily Ekins

The Reason-Rupe poll finds voters overwhelmingly support many of the key changes Gov. Walker and the legislature implemented on public sector pensions and health care last year. Reason-Rupe finds 72 percent favor the change requiring public sector workers to increase their pension contributions from less than 1 percent to 6 percent of their salaries. And 71 percent favor making government employees pay 12 percent of their own health care premiums instead of the previous 6 percent. Taxpayers actually wish state lawmakers had cast an even larger net with their reforms. Police and firefighters were exempted from the pension and health care adjustments but 57 percent of taxpayers say they should not have been. The public supports asking government workers to pick up more of the tab for their own benefits because 65 percent say public sector workers receive better pension and health care benefits than private sector workers, 22 percent say benefit levels are about the same, and just 7 percent believe private sector benefits are better than those in the public sector.

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Join Reason On an Alaskan Cruise

Reason's Alaskan cruise will depart from Seattle on August 11, 2012. We'll visit Juneau, Glacier Bay, Sitka, and Ketchikan, Alaska, before visiting Victoria, British Columbia. Join Reason's Nick Gillespie, Matt Welch, Jacob Sullum and Peter Suderman, plus featured guests:

For more information about the Reason cruise, please click here.

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Privately Operated Zoos Now Considered the Standard

North Carolina, Los Angeles, Grand Rapids and Elsewhere Exploring Zoo Partnerships

Harris Kenny

North Carolina lawmakers are weighing a bill [House Bill (HB) 958] that would implement a public-private partnership (PPP) for operations of the state-owned North Carolina Zoo. The proposed management structure would reflect what’s already in place for a vast majority of zoos across the United States, three-quarters of which are privately operated according to some estimates. Meanwhile, similar agreements are being explored in cities like Los Angeles, California and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Creating a Culture of Competition to Improve Corrections

Interview with Gary Mohr, Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

Leonard Gilroy

In May 2012, Reason Foundation’s Director of Government Reform Leonard Gilroy interviewed ODRC Director Gary Mohr on the rationale behind the state's large-scale and historic privatization moves in 2011, how ODRC uses the private sector in corrections, and the role of privatization and competition in driving positive change throughout the state-run correctional system.

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Supreme Court Amicus Brief: Abigail Noel Fisher, Petitioner. v. University of Texas

Reason Foundation joins brief challenging the diversity rationale for race-preferential admissions policies

This amicus brief was filed on behalf of Reason Foundation, the California Association of Scholars, Connecticut Association of Scholars, Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, Individual Rights Foundation, and American Civil Rights Foundation. 

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