What's News From The Montana Policy Institute

- New Montana Renewable Portfolio Standards Study! Montana's RPS mandates will raise the cost of electricity by as much as 28%, hurting families and driving businesses out of the state. Our study, conducted with the American Tradition Institute, outlines the costs and fallacies of this destructive policy that's already in place in Montana. The two page Policy Note is here if you don't have time to read the whole study.

- State Employee Pay and School Spending Site: We've added state employee compensation to our school spending site and renamed it all www.OpenGovMT.org. Get full compensation, sortable by location, job, and more, for all state employees in one easy location! We've also updated BigSkySearch.info with more examples of states that "get it" and are providing true transparency for taxpayers.

- Our 2011 Legislature Resource Page has our studies, Watchdog highlights, and links to lots of other resources you can use to keep track of what's going on in Helena.

- Coming soon: Montana Medicaid Study: Montana's share of Medicaid spending has increased at nearly 9% per year since 1990, and Obamacare will increase our share of Medicaid spending by $80 million per year by 2019. By opting out of the federal system and its mandates, we could save as much as $109 million between 2013 and 2019, putting us on a sustainable path with a fair and equitable system under taxpayer control. We'll show you how in February.

- Pork Report: MPI members should have already received your Pork Reports in the mail. If you're not an MPI member, what are you waiting for? Join here and help pull the load!

- Montana Budget Studies: We want you to know how Montana got into this fiscal mess and how to fix it. Read the studies, or at least the short policy notes summarizing them to get informed:

State Spending Growth and Future Deficits explains how exploding budgets over a six year period resulted in unsustainable spending - with Department by Department breakdowns.
Budgeting for Fiscal Discipline explains the state's underfunded pensions and other liabilities, how we got them, and how to overhaul our state budgeting system to fix them for the long term.

- Tweet Montana: Keep up with what your elected officials are saying by automatically following their Twitter feeds

- Montana Watchdog: Make Montana Watchdog an everyday stop for the news you won't get from legacy media outlets. Our two investigative reporters are both in Helena during the 2011 session going beyond the headlines to give you information you can use. You can also get more perspective and analysis from the blog and Twitter feeds.

- Health Care Reform and Global Warming Resource Pages: We're continuing to update our health care reform resource page with analysis of the bill and news about initiatives across the country to oppose it. We're also helping you keep up with climate change news on our Global Warming Resources Page.