“The private sector is focused on return on investment. Our return is public good.”

Jared Walczak, vice president of state projects for the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy group, regarding a proposed California bill that would give unemployment checks to striking workers while they picket for better pay and working conditions. The state’s unemployment benefits fund is filled by a tax that businesses must pay for each worker, but the tax only applies to the first $7,000 of employee wages and has not been changed since 1984. The state has only increased unemployment benefits twice since then, once in 1989 and once in 2001. Despite three years of record job growth, the state estimates that benefit payments will exceed tax collections by $1.1 billion. (Associated Press — Aug. 23, 2023)

St. Louis, Mo., Mayor Tishaura Jones, regarding proposed legislation that would prohibit “military-grade weapons” on city streets and make it a crime for “insurrectionists” and those convicted of hate crimes to possess firearms. The state’s attorney general is warning that such a law would violate the state constitution. (Associated Press — Aug. 23, 2023)

Erik Olson, a health and food expert at the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, regarding some states’ refusal of federal funds to remove lead pipes that can contaminate drinking water and damage brain development in children. Washington, Oregon, Maine and Alaska have all declined most or all of their funds in the first of five years that the federal grants and loans are available; some states are hesitant to pay for lead removal projects because they are uncertain if they want to take out loans to search for lead pipes. (Associated Press — Aug. 22, 2023)

Barry County, Mich., chief law enforcement officer Dar Leaf, regarding what he believes is the sacred mission of America’s sheriffs. Leaf is on the advisory board of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, which was founded in 2011 and teaches that elected sheriffs must protect their citizens from the overreach of an out-of-control federal government by refusing to enforce any law they deem unconstitutional or unjust. (Associated Press —Aug. 21, 2023)