CEI Daily Update

Issues in the News

1. LEGAL

The city of Washington, D.C. asks the Supreme Court to review a recent federal court verdict that struck down a ban on handgun ownership.  

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Special Projects Counsel Hans Bader on the implications of the ruling:

Earlier this year, its gun ban was struck down under the Second Amendment by a federal appeals court — the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals — in Parker v. District of Columbia. Washington is now asking the Supreme Court to review that ruling. Ironically, the law remains in force even after being declared unconstitutional because Washington, D.C., has two parallel court systems that don’t hear appeals from each other.

2. CONGRESS          

The House Agriculture Committee considers a farm bill that would increase subsidies for sugar growers.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith on the problem with sugar subsidies:                                                                                                                             

…the increased [price] support would encourage surplus production by domestic sugar producers, which would aggravate the Sugar Program’s negative impact on the environment, especially in ecologically fragile areas. For example, the Everglades ecosystem in Florida is already polluted with phosphorous and other contaminants due to excess production in adjacent sugar plantations. The increased prices would also lead to significant job losses in industries in which large amounts of sugar are used for production.

3. BUSINESS

Politicians in Florida add to the state’s hurricane insurance “catastrophe fund”.

CEI Expert Available to Comment: Senior Fellow Eli Lehrer on the mistakes Florida’s governor has made when it comes to insurance:

While Gov. Charlie Crist and the Legislature have approved many new insurance laws over the past year, they’ve done little to protect the infrastructure that represents the state’s most valuable asset. Instead, at immense potential cost to taxpayers, the Legislature has let quasi-public Citizens Property Insurance Corporation compete directly with private insurance companies to write homeowners’ policies, while placing dozens of new restrictions on the private market.

Blog feature: For more news and analysis, updated throughout the day, visit CEI’s blog, Open Market.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

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