Government Legislation

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Reconstructing Ukraine, Wildfires, Telehealth: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on reconstructing Ukraine, what to do about wildfires, virtual mental health care services, and more.

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State and Local Policy Is Changing for Psychedelics. What Will the Feds Do?

Psychedelics are attracting interest as a treatment for some mental health conditions. In response, some states and cities are changing their laws and policies on the supply and use of these mind-altering substances. But like cannabis, most psychedelics are federally prohibited—raising some tough questions for the federal government.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer, Rajeev Ramchand @RRamchand

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How Can Platforms Deal with Toxic Content? Look to Wall Street

Social media has a content problem. It's not the content itself, although the list of toxic material is long. The problem is the sheer volume of content. Instead of trusting in self-regulation, the United States could use its regulation of Wall Street after 2008 as a roadmap for regulating tech.

James V. Marrone

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Senate Bill 9's Underwhelming First Year Shouldn't Be a Surprise; It Was by Design

In 2021, the California state Legislature passed legislation allowing a streamlined pathway for homeowners to produce duplexes and split lots. But a year after the law took effect, the resulting housing production pipeline looks to be trivial. Why has the law that some were convinced would make the sky fall barely registered?

Jason M. Ward @jason_m_ward

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Cannabis Legalization in Europe: Planning Ahead

Since 2012, multiple jurisdictions have changed their laws to legalize the production, possession, and use of cannabis for nonmedical purposes. While most of these changes took place in the Americas, there are signs that the European legal landscape might be changing, too.

Mafalda Pardal @PardalMafalda

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What's Next After Biden's Announcement on Cannabis and Racial Equity?

Cannabis legalization isn't just a yes-or-no choice. There are many ways for state and federal policymakers to shape the market and tax it. With deliberations in Washington, D.C., beginning and more states set to vote on the issue in November, now is the time for lawmakers to take stock of how potential changes will or won't help communities of color.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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A New Era for Firearm Violence Prevention Research

Despite many remaining obstacles, the United States may soon have research that clarifies many of the unanswered questions about firearm violence and its prevention. Many critical research questions, neglected for decades, may now benefit from recent federal and private research funding that has supported a surge in research.

Andrew R. Morral @AndrewMorral, Rosanna Smart @RosannaSmart

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Facts Still Matter, Even If the Court Signals Otherwise

The Supreme Court's recent decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen threatens to render decades of scientific studies legally irrelevant. But there is still room for research to inform court decisions about firearm regulations.

Rosanna Smart @RosannaSmart, Darrell A. H. Miller, et al.

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State Gun Regulations Are a Messy Patchwork. The Supreme Court's Bruen Decision Won't Help

The Supreme Court's decision may not actually narrow the policy gap between states sharply divided over their approach to regulating guns. Rather, its result may not look very different than what we have today—a patchwork of laws that often reflect political and policy demands of individual states.

Andrew R. Morral @AndrewMorral, Rosanna Smart @RosannaSmart, et al.

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How Policies That Punish Pregnant Women Backfire

There is overwhelming evidence and consensus from the medical and public health communities that supportive approaches are what help pregnant women with substance use disorders. Unfortunately, the overturning of Roe v. Wade has opened the door for more policies that police and punish women rather than these solutions that can save lives.

Rachel Landis, Laura J. Faherty @LauraFahertyMD, et al.

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New Legislation May Not Be Enough to Counter Chinese Interference in British Universities

There is alarming evidence of growing Chinese espionage and influence in UK universities that could threaten UK national security and academic freedoms. Three complementary initiatives could increase university researchers' awareness of the potential risks of collaborating with certain Chinese partners.

Fiona Quimbre @FQuimbre

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The Gun Laws That Work, and the Gun Laws That Don't

Are certain gun laws and regulations likely to improve or worsen public safety? At a time when many Americans are searching for solutions to the country's intolerably high rates of gun violence, social scientists can help provide answers.

Andrew R. Morral @AndrewMorral

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A New Approach to Fighting Synthetic Opioids: Q&A with David Luckey and Jayme Fuglesten

The opioid crisis isn't just about drug policy or law. It involves national security, homeland security, intelligence, diplomacy, supply chain issues, and cryptocurrency. Drawing on RAND's expertise across all those areas, the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking delivered a plan, a call to action about what it's going to take to save lives.

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Exploring the Disagreement Among Gun Policy Experts

A survey asked gun policy researchers, advocates, and congressional staffers who work on gun issues for their views on policies ranging from weapon bans to stand-your-ground laws. Regardless of where they stood, they were not so dissimilar in what they thought gun policies should be trying to accomplish.

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Temporary Safety-Net Policies Prevented Mass Insurance Loss During the Pandemic

Although it provided a foundation, the ACA alone could not have absorbed the effects of the pandemic's sudden job losses on health care coverage. Temporary expansions to the safety net enacted by Congress also were necessary to stem coverage loss. As the pandemic continues, policymakers will want to keep safety-net provisions as available policy options.

Christine Eibner @Chrissyeibner, Jodi L. Liu @jodilliu

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Green Light for Cannabis Legalisation in Germany Is Not a Clear-Cut Decision

The new “traffic light” coalition in Germany recently agreed to regulate the sale of cannabis to adults for recreational purposes in licensed shops. International experience has shown that great care is needed in how cannabis policy is shaped.

Stijn Hoorens @StijnHoorens

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Nuclear Strategists Know How Dangerous the Debt Fight Is

Nuclear-war strategists' work offers a warning for Congress: The more times a game is played, the more treacherous it becomes, because when both sides believe catastrophe will always be averted in the end, each behaves more rashly. In the debt-ceiling dispute, the United States could end up defaulting precisely because each side keeps waiting for the other to blink.

Edward Geist @sovietologist

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Biden's Proposed New Health Agency Would Emphasize Innovation. Here's How It Might Work

President Biden has proposed a new health agency modeled on DARPA to work on groundbreaking research. This agency could pursue the kind of high-risk research that can lead to high-reward results and help get more medical treatments to market sooner.

Luke Muggy, Catherine C. Cohen, et al.

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Should Mothers Work? We've Been Asking the Wrong Question

As schools and day cares closed due to the pandemic, millions of women were driven from the labor market. What is it worth to the United States to have mothers in the workforce?

Kathryn A. Edwards

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A Bell That Can't Be Unrung: The CARES Act and Unemployment Insurance

The CARES Act broadcasted to everyone that Unemployment Insurance can do better by workers and employers. Congress can debate the hows of permanent reform, but its actions in 2020 proved the need.

Kathryn A. Edwards

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Unemployment Insurance and the Failure to Reform

Unemployment Insurance is the primary U.S. policy tool for sustaining workers during periods of high unemployment. But it has a history of being repeatedly neglected. Federal reform has been stalled for nearly 50 years.

Kathryn A. Edwards

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Don't Entangle COVID-19 Relief with Cannabis Legalization

Cannabis legalization is a multifaceted decision that has implications for health, safety, and social equity. Whether legalization could fund COVID-19 relief should not be a major focus of debates.

Beau Kilmer @BeauKilmer

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New Insights on Gun Policy in America

RAND's Gun Policy in America initiative aims to establish a shared set of facts about gun policies. Recently, researchers completed an update and expansion of their synthesis of all available scientific evidence on the effects of 18 classes of gun laws.

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The Christchurch Massacre Was Another Internet-Enabled Atrocity

Terrorism has become an internet-enabled abuse—incited, propagated, and sometimes organized and concealed by online activity. Who should be held accountable for abusive content, the author or the publisher? And what role should the government play in regulating it?

James Dobbins

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Freedom of the Internet 'Press'

The First Amendment protects the rights of companies such as Facebook and YouTube to publish what they choose. Arguing against this right could lead to government regulation over digital media. It could also further degrade the reliability of online information.

James Dobbins

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More Research Could Help Prevent Gun Violence in America

Both sides of the gun policy debate agree on what the objectives of any policy should be. But they disagree over which policies would best achieve those goals. Current evidence for or against most gun proposals is weak, contradictory, or nonexistent. Only research can show what does—and doesn't—work.

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How to Bring Facts into the Gun Policy Debate

As debate continues to rage over the causes and prevention of gun violence, it's worth asking how science can help lawmakers and the public resolve longstanding disagreements that have stood in the way of solutions.

Andrew R. Morral @AndrewMorral

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Reauthorizing DHS: Contemplating Major DHS Organizational Realignments

As Congress considers DHS reauthorization, having clear organizational realignment principles could help assess the degree to which expectations will be met. Those principles could examine whether mission effectiveness would improve and whether implemented changes would introduce new issues.

Daniel M. Gerstein @Daniel_Gerstein

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Reauthorizing DHS: Aligning Requirements, Research, Development and Acquisition

As part of the discussion about reauthorizing the Department of Homeland Security, Congress might want to consider how to improve acquisitions. Rather than focusing only on the steps in the acquisition process, that discussion could also include consideration of pre and post-acquisition activities.

Daniel M. Gerstein @Daniel_Gerstein

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Reauthorizing DHS: Improving Operational Control

One area of focus in the debate on reauthorizing the Department of Homeland Security should be its role in directing homeland security operations. The debate should include a comprehensive discussion of the future role for the department headquarters.

Daniel M. Gerstein @Daniel_Gerstein

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Reauthorizing DHS: The Case for Reauthorization

Reauthorization of the Department of Homeland Security is vital to clarifying responsibilities and setting expectations for the continued evolution of the department. Policymakers might also wish to conduct an external review, which could help inform a broader future reform bill.

Daniel M. Gerstein @Daniel_Gerstein

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'Better Regulation': Why Timmermans Should Go Beyond the Regulatory Scrutiny Board

Promoting the 'Better Regulation' agenda in the EU could be given a real boost by turning the proposed Regulatory Scrutiny Board into an impartial evidence and scrutiny centre, putting high-quality and objective impact assessment at the heart of the legislative process.

Stijn Hoorens @StijnHoorens

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Farsighted Leadership in a Shortsighted World: Looking Beyond the 2012 U.S. Election

As the U.S. presidential election draws close, there is increasing demand for simple answers to complex questions, immediate solutions to entrenched challenges, and ten-second sound bites to sum it all up. For nearly 65 years, RAND has focused on big, long-term, core public policy issues and has cultivated the farsighted perspectives required to address them.

Michael D. Rich @michaeldrich

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A Final Word on the NDAA

While I have no doubt of Levin's determination to protect the constitutional rights of American citizens, incremental adjustments and seemingly small compromises, each sensible under the circumstances, can have a cumulative effect that erodes the very liberty we are trying to protect, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.

Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins

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The NDAA Makes It Harder to Fight Terrorism

Much of the debate over this bill has focused on the political issue of executive authority versus rule of law. In doing so it has overlooked the indirect and insidious effects the new law may have on the United States' largely successful counterterrorist campaign, writes Brian Michael Jenkins.

Brian Michael Jenkins @BrianMJenkins

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How Whistleblower Rule Enables Corporate Compliance

The kerfuffle over Dodd-Frank conceals broad agreement that corporate fraud and misconduct are bad and that internal compliance mechanisms are intended to protect companies as well the community at large from bad behavior, write Michael Greenberg and Donna Boehme.

Michael D. Greenberg, Donna C. Boehme

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A House Divided: Polarization and Partisanship

Certainly, ideology should play a role in public policy decisions. But when many policies—regardless of their merits—are simply off-limits for ideological reasons, then the nation as a whole has a problem, writes James A. Thomson.

James A. Thomson @thomson0145