Badger Institute

New law levels the playing field
for aspiring Wisconsin chiropractors

Licensure reform signed by Gov. Scott Walker eliminates state’s arbitrary higher exam scores, which had fenced out many would-be chiropractors.

New tax law offers chance to infuse
private capital into distressed areas

Gov. Walker nominates 120 Opportunity Zones in 44 counties throughout Wisconsin, including 34 in the city of Milwaukee. By visiting fellow Jay Miller.

Badger Institute launches
Center for Opportunity

The Center will focus on public policies related to poverty alleviation, criminal justice, upward mobility and occupational licensing. The Institute also welcomes the first member of its new Visiting Fellows Program.

Private school principals say
federal funding process is flawed

Special education students are left behind because of inequitable allocation of federal resources, administrators say in Badger Institute survey. By Julie Grace.

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New federal tax law should prod Wisconsin to enact tax reform

Residents in high-tax states like ours are stung harder by cap on state/local tax deduction. There has never been a more opportune moment for tax reform in Wisconsin. By attorney and UWM adjunct professor Jay Miller, who joins the Badger Institute as a visiting fellow.

The impact and influence
of the Badger Institute

For over 30 years, the Badger Institute (formerly the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute) has had a major impact on Wisconsin by spearheading initiatives ranging from school choice to professional licensure reform to prevailing wage to corrections reform to reining in the growth of federal grants.

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What's new from the Badger Institute

Licensure reform levels playing field for aspiring chiropractors

Madison — A bill signed by Gov. Scott Walker on April 16 will allow aspiring chiropractors who pass the national board exam to secure a license in Wisconsin without having to attain an arbitrarily higher score set by the state. Read more here.

Institute launches Center for Opportunity

The Center will focus on public policies related to poverty alleviation, criminal justice, upward mobility and occupational licensing. The Institute also announces Visiting Fellows Program.

New federal tax law should prod Wisconsin to enact tax reform

Residents in high-tax states like ours are stung harder by cap on state/local tax deduction. By visiting fellow Jay Miller.

New Year's resolutions for Wisconsin policy-makers

Priorities should include tax reform, corrections, tolling, professional licensure reform and kicking the federal grant habit. By Mike Nichols and Michael Jahr.

Licensure reform helps barbers, cosmetologists

Madison — Barbers, cosmetologists and other beauty professionals will now be able to practice their professions with fewer regulatory burdens after Gov. Scott Walker on Nov. 27 signed into law reforms that will reduce complicated and costly licensing requirements. Read more here.

Government's love for licensure

Read our April 2017 report, “Government’s love for licensure,” which tells the real-world stories of Wisconsinites stymied by the state's burdensome licensure system. Reforms signed into law in November remove some of the regulations highlighted in the report.

The impact and influence of the Badger Institute

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Diggings Fall 2017

► Our frozen melting pot ... and who's responsible. By Aaron Rodriguez.
► Madison's goofy, divisive flag flap. By Mike Nichols.
► Act 10 savings torpedoed. By Dan Benson and Julie Grace.
► The shameless chase for federal money. By Dave Daley.
► The festering mess that is Illinois. By Jay Miller.
► Taking a seat: Profile of Daniel Kelly. By Dave Daley.
► The future of Foxconn. By Robert S. Anthony.
► The Age of Trump: View from a Never Trumper. By Charles J. Sykes.
► The Age of Trump: View from a Trump supporter. By Bruce S. Thornton.
► How times have changed for conservatives. By Richard Esenberg.

Webinar on Interstate tolling for Wisconsin

View our June 26, 2017, webinar featuring Robert W. Poole Jr. on the potential benefits of Interstate tolling as Wisconsin grapples with its perennial transportation funding dilemma. Poole is director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation and author of Rebuilding and Modernizing Wisconsin's Interstate with Toll Financing.

Rating YoungStar

How Wisconsin's child care quality rating and improvement system measures up. Wisconsin needs to continue YoungStar and make sure tax dollars do not flow to substandard providers.
By Rob Grunewald, Michael Jahr and Matt Snyder
June 2017

Policy resources for Wisconsin lawmakers

We compiled a list of resources for state policy-makers on issues ranging from professional licensure to transportation funding to corrections reform. This handy list includes reports, commentaries and videos designed to inform public discourse on issues that will affect Wisconsin residents for years to come.

Black Robes & Blue Collars

Report identifies policy changes to Wisconsin's expungement and sentence adjustment laws that could lighten the state's prison load, increase employment opportunities for ex-offenders and help employers find workers.

► Problems with Wisconsin’s Expungement Law: How the Law is Used and How to Make It More Equitable and Effective
► Sentence Adjustment Petitions: Are They Working?

Unlocking Potential

Report highlights strategies for reducing recidivism through investment in work, training and re-entry programs, and encourages the use of social impact bonds.
► Wisconsin's historical policy dilemma on corrections
► The state can't afford status quo
► Re-entry program offers Hope for Prisoners
► Alma Center: Breaking the cycle of abuse
► MATC program puts offenders on career path
► Private industry, prisons team up
► Skilled trades program offers a second chance
► Social impact bonds: A new way forward
► Video of event in Milwaukee featuring Jon Ponder

Project for 21st Century Federalism

The Project for 21st Century Federalism is the Badger Institute's multi-year investigation of the growth in federal grants and their effect on state and local governance. Stories in the project include: