This year, the Rose Institute is proud to release an online preview of the 2011 Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey Executive Summary. The annual Survey uses comprehensive data about fees, taxes, and economic incentives to analyze the relative cost of doing business in 421 cities across the country. The nine-page Executive Summary preview offers an overview of the Survey’s Highlights, discussion of the 20 Most and Least Expensive Cities, a sample of the Executive Summary’s in-depth individual county analyses and useful GIS maps, and excerpts from its big-picture analysis.
Author Archives: Rose Institute
Arizona Redistricting: The Commission’s Final Map and Its Implications for November
On January 17th, Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) officially approved the state’s new Congressional districts. The vote was a major milestone in this year’s particularly tumultuous redistricting process. The Commission split along party lines, with the two Democratic members supporting the redistricting plan and the two Republican members opposing it. Independent Chairwoman Colleen Mathis cast her swing vote in favor of the plan, making the final vote 3-2.
Supreme Court Rules on Texas Redistricting Cases
On January 20th, the United States Supreme Court ordered a federal court in Texas to reconsider the maps it had drawn for the state’s legislative districts. The Court unanimously held that the lower court may not have used “appropriate standards” in drawing the new maps. Instead, the lower court had “substituted its own concept of the collective public good for the Texas legislature’s determination of which policies serve the interests of the citizens of Texas.” The Court remanded the case to the district court to draw new maps, this time starting from the plan created by the state legislature last year. Please see this earlier coverage by the Rose Report for a more in-depth analysis on the background of the case.
Minnesota Parties Debate Redistricting plans
Attorneys representing Minnesota’s Republican and Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) parties spoke before a special panel of the Minnesota Supreme Court on January 4 in a hearing concerning the placement of Minnesota’s new legislative boundaries.
Supreme Court Hears Perry v. Davis Oral Arguments
The Supreme Court on Monday held 70 minutes of argument for three cases on the new state legislative and congressional districts Texas will use in 2012 and beyond. The three cases under review are Perry v. Perez (11-713) on redistricting the state house, Perry v. Davis (11-714) on redistricting the state senate, and Perry v. Perez (11-715) on redistricting the U.S. House. At issue is whether the San Antonio federal court had the authority to impose a new legislative district plan on Texas when the state legislature’s plan had not obtained the “preclearance” required under Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The cases focus on Section 5 issues, but have broader implications for the division of power between state legislatures and federal courts in redistricting.
Nesting not an easy option for California Supreme Court- Updated
On January 10th, the California redistricting process moves to the State Supreme Court. The Court faces a question it would undoubtedly prefer to avoid: the degree of involvement it will have in redistricting the State Senate.
Washington’s New Districts: Looking Ahead
New Years Day looms ever closer for the state of Washington’s independent redistricting commission. Constitutionally, the five-member committee must pass plans for both legislative and congressional districts by January 1st, but as of the end of the business day Friday, the commission remained deadlocked. Committee members vowed to continue working into the weekend to try to reach a compromise before the deadline, but for candidates and voters looking forward to November, the new district lines in Washington are still very much up in the air, despite months of work.
New Jersey Redistricting: Implications for 2012 and Beyond
On Friday, New Jersey’s bipartisan redistricting commission officially approved the state’s new congressional districts. The commission, which convened on June 15, finished the redistricting process well in advance of the January 17 due date. Overall, the commission’s plan favors the GOP, likely reducing the number of Democratic districts while strengthening Republican districts in the southern… Continue Reading
A history of California’s tax initiatives
On December 5th, Governor Jerry Brown filed an initiative with the California Attorney General’s office which, if passed, would impose a variety of new taxes with the aim of raising nearly $7 billion in revenue. This money would be dedicated funding for education and public safety programs, which have seen enormous cuts as a result of the recent and ongoing budget crisis. If approved by the voters, the initiative would institute two new taxes. First, individuals making $250,000 or more would pay up to 2% higher income taxes for five years, and second, the state sales tax would be temporarily increased by 0.5%, up to 7.75%, through 2017.