Policy
This coverage will look at how public leaders establish new policies in a range of crucial areas of government – health, education, public safety, for example – and how these policies impact people’s lives through better services, effective regulations and new programs. This will include stories examining how state and local government approaches policymaking around emerging areas, including artificial intelligence.
For the third straight year, efforts to crack down on low-performing programs have stalled, even as concerns about student outcomes persist.
When it comes to protecting their residents from environmental harms, lawmakers in red and blue states alike are making progress without waiting for Washington.
High school students’ math and reading proficiency levels are the lowest in decades. Only rigorous accountability and proven improvement strategies can turn that around.
Two big political blocs have different ideas when it comes to health.
Changing federal guidelines are creating uncertainty about access to the updated COVID-19 vaccination. Connecticut has found a way to bring clarity.
These programs are under relentless attack but there is no evidence that they’ve given Black Americans any disproportionate benefit.
President Donald Trump has taken aim at cashless bail, arguing it encourages crime.
The measure is a response to federal immigration officers wearing masks while on duty. It requires most officers to show their faces and identify themselves, with limited exceptions for SWAT and undercover work.
Legislators also agreed to boost domestic oil production through new drilling permits.
Michigan’s experience illustrates how challenging it can be to stop large numbers of people from inadvertently losing coverage,
The policy removes income limits, ensuring every family has access to free child care and strengthening the state’s early education system.
Average performance in both subjects has fallen to the lowest levels in nearly 20 years, with nearly half of seniors scoring below basic in math.
It’s one of the most robust paid leave laws in the country and has required the state government to build out a sprawling administrative apparatus.
State Reps. Cyrus Javadi and Tom Andersen aim to amend the state constitution to mandate visible identification for all law enforcement officers.
Modeled on a Texas law allowing civil lawsuits against abortion providers, individuals would be able to sue to block shipments of abortifacients into the state.
Mobilizing troops in L.A. against the governor’s wishes and deploying troops to D.C. to respond to crime tests new ground for how the Guard is used.
After Katrina, most of the city's schools became charters. Although the change brought results, the importance of accountability measures should not be forgotten.
States are spending a lot of their federal TANF money on things that don’t help families that need it the most, and work reporting requirements keep too many families from accessing benefits.
State law requires immunizations for a number of diseases such as measles and polio, but Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to introduce a “big medical freedom package” to end those rules.
Seeing an absence of strong national leadership on education reform, the Fordham Institute’s Michael J. Petrilli investigated the difference between red and blue state approaches.
Colorado will no longer allow donors of sperm or eggs to remain anonymous. Georgia recently guaranteed adoptees the right to see their original birth certificates.
At least 92 children have died or narrowly escaped death since the reform raised thresholds for removal from parents. Legislators are weighing policy changes to prevent further tragedies.
The new Education Freedom Scholarship provides $7,295 per student, compared to $7,023 through the state’s public school formula.
With the new law, patients and providers can opt into experimental treatments with reduced legal risks, access services via telehealth and e-consent, and secure pretreatment court protections.
One of the hurricane's most important lessons isn’t about storm preparations — it’s about injustice. Communities should build disaster resilience across the entire population, focusing aid where people need it the most.
With federal EV tax credits ending and emissions rules nullified, Gov. Gavin Newsom and state agencies are preparing new subsidies, incentives and regulations to keep climate goals on track.
About 478,000 inactive voters, making up 6 percent of the state’s rolls, face removal this week under Georgia’s “use it or lose it” law, raising concerns some eligible voters could be swept up.
In 2025, lawmakers in 25 states have introduced 67 bills ranging from licensing and insurance to testing mandates as driverless vehicles take to the streets in more cities.
It’s happening more and more. But while the initiative process could use some reforms, it's a legitimate element of the democratic process.
State policymakers must ask: Is our system creating real value for students? A growing number of states are pointing the way.
This would be the first coal leasing application accelerated thanks to the new federal law, which aims to cut red tape for energy production.
