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• Buses, Tolls, Tunnels and Technology: Think Tanks $700 Billion Plan to Target Southern Californias Bottlenecks and Reduce Traffic Congestion

• Best Practices for Setting Public Sector Pension Fund Discount Rates

• Sage Grouse Conservation: The Proven Successful Approach

February 20, 2016

Top Story

Arizona Enacts Groundbreaking Public Safety Pension Reform

Collaborative process yielded consensus on wide-ranging reforms

Leonard Gilroy, Pete Constant, Anthony Randazzo

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has signed into law comprehensive pension reform legislation that will put Arizona’s beleaguered public safety pension system on a path to financial solvency. Arguably more notable than the reform itself is the process used to achieve stakeholder consensus on the reform package, as it avoided the adversarial dynamic of pension reform policy debates that typically pit employers/taxpayers against employees and labor interests. Reason Foundation was a key player from the beginning of the process, with its Pension Integrity Project team providing education, policy options, and actuarial analysis for all stakeholders. We also facilitated the development of consensus among stakeholders on the conceptual design and framework of the reform.

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Evaluating the Proposal to Convert FAAs Air Traffic Control Organization Into a Nonprofit

Testimony at the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure's Hearing on Review of Air Traffic Control Reform Proposals

Robert Poole

There are several factors that make the United States unique among countries when it comes to air traffic control. It has by far the largest airspace jurisdiction and the highest level of flight activity, both commercial and non-commercial. It has a larger and more- diversified general aviation community than any other country, which is valuable not only for recreation but for providing transportation access to numerous rural areas and small towns not served by commercial airlines. The United States also has the world’s largest aerospace and avionics industries, with potential that is likely not fully tapped on a global basis, because our ATC system has lagged behind others in modernization.

These factors all need to be taken into account in considering corporatization.

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Air Traffic Control Newsletter #130

House bill calls for Nav Canada type nonprofit corporation | Inspector General on failed FAA reforms

Robert Poole

In this issue:

• House bill calls for Nav Canada type nonprofit corporation
• Inspector General on failed FAA reforms
• Dissembling Delta
• Should conservatives support ATC reform?
• Controller misallocation documented by Inspector General
• Ideological opposition to ATC corporation
• News Notes
• Quotable Quotes

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Fixing Our Pension and Infrastructure Problems at the Same Time

Toll-financed replacement and modernization of major highways via P3 concessions would significantly assist under-funded pension funds to increase their returns.

Robert Poole

Two of America’s largest public-sector problems are the massive underfunding of state and municipal employee pension systems and serious under-investment in transportation infrastructure, especially our aging highway system. 

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Elementary and Secondary Education Act Takes Some Good Steps, But Falls Short of What Is Needed

State and local governments have far more incentive to improve the education system than Congress and federal bureaucrats ever will.

Adrian Moore

Congress finally did it. The much beloved or much vilified, depending on your point of view, No Child Left Behind Act is dead. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, or ESEA, has replaced it. The new federal education law is a mixed bag that takes some steps in the right direction, but falls well short of empowering state and local innovations and the kinds of education reforms that have proven most successful. 

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Airport Policy and Security News #109

Aviation security after 2015 | Time to modernize the Airport Privatization Program

Robert Poole

In this issue:

• Aviation security after 2015
• Time to modernize the Airport Privatization Program
• Fixing TSA's chronic screening failures
• Amazon may revive Wilmington cargo hub
• Cross-border terminal opens in San Diego
• News Notes
• Quotable Quotes

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Would You Pay to be Able to Skip Red Lights

Managed arterials provide a cost-effective way to improve mobility for drivers and transit users

Baruch Feigenbaum

Orange County residents can pay a toll to use the SR 91 express lanes and avoid congestion. However, no such option is available for surface streets. The managed arterial concept provides the same choice of paying a toll to bypass the most congested intersections. 

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New Mexico's Growing Problems with the Endangered Species Act

Brian Seasholes

New Mexico is experiencing an unprecedented expansion of the federal Endangered Species Act. This 2-page brief outlines the nature of the problem and offers a quick overview of ways to address it.

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