Browsing: Licensing and Regulation

Unlike many places in Wisconsin, there is no housing crisis in the Village of Hobart because its leaders have done something developers say is exceedingly rare — making it as easy and predictable as possible for them to do business there.

One year after the passage of a Badger Institute-backed law allowing dental therapy in Wisconsin, the first practitioners are now licensed, and aspiring students will soon be able to pursue a degree at one of the state’s technical colleges.

Direct primary care bills being considered in Madison provide a solution that could make Wisconsin healthcare cheaper and more accessible.

Wisconsin’s biggest metropolis enjoys the third-highest concentration of manufacturing jobs in the country. The EPA’s redesignation, dropped with little warning in early December, could kill that.

Wisconsin ought to show mercy to families struggling with childcare costs by re-examining which cost-escalating regulations actually matter for kids.

Healthcare spending continues to grow. Fortunately, a bill being considered in the Wisconsin Legislature, SB905, provides a solution that could make it both cheaper and more accessible via direct primary care. 

The Jones Act, protecting the American maritime industry and driving free trade champions crazy for more than 100 years, is both a boon and a bane to Wisconsin businesses, workers and consumers. 

“This is a long-awaited, great day for potentially hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites, including a lot of poor kids, who suffer from toothaches and cavities and poor health,” said Badger Institute President Mike Nichols.

Wisconsinites who bake food at home for sale in their communities could find their incomes dramatically curtailed under legislation recently introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature.

And it came to pass that the whole world should be taxed (or charged a fee) — unfortunately When it…

It’s common to describe capitalism as “dog-eat-dog,” but entrepreneurs win by being more appealing to others, serving them better. That surely is something we all can celebrate, especially during the ramen-for-dinner pre-profit stage, when entrepreneurs could use some encouragement.

It’s common knowledge that Wisconsin has way too many poor kids with terrible dental care and not enough dentists to treat them.

It is imperative for disadvantaged children, veterans, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable populations that dental therapists be allowed to train and practice in Wisconsin.

Despite all of the millions of dollars, time spent and inconveniences imposed, it’s nearly impossible to determine if Wisconsin’s emission testing program meaningfully decreases exhaust emissions that form ozone and damage air quality.

Healthcare innovators are our best chance for better healthcare, as long as well-intended but stifling government regulations or laws, or an increasingly anti-competitive marketplace, don’t get in their way. The current reimbursement-driven system both creates roadblocks for innovators and simultaneously drives up costs. Direct pay removes these roadblocks.

Legislative reforms mesh with recommendations in Badger Institute paper Sometimes, the most helpful thing a government can do is to…

The Legislature appears ready to confront one of the primary factors driving up childcare costs in Wisconsin: overregulation. Failing to confront this reality would miss an opportunity to improve the affordability and accessibility of childcare without adding to the budget. Eliminating unnecessary or unverifiable regulations can reduce compliance costs for childcare providers without sacrificing quality — savings that they can pass on to families. Fewer regulations will increase competition among childcare providers, return authority to parents and ultimately make childcare more affordable for Wisconsin families.

Gov. Tony Evers, who has set as a goal that “all electricity consumed in the state be 100% carbon-free by 2050,” is making sure that state agencies and local governments are able to ban the use of fossil fuels to run cars and lawnmowers, heat homes and power stoves.

A wedding barn is nothing like a tavern — especially in ways that matter for liquor laws. The Badger Institute is happy to join an effort to fill in Wisconsin lawmakers on why.

The 2023-25 state biennial budget signed by Gov. Tony Evers did not include the most effective measure to address gaps in oral care access in Wisconsin — dental therapy.