David R. Osborne
When crafting new laws or regulations, elected officials routinely consider âbest practicesâ from jurisdictions where similar policies have already been tried.
Learning from othersâ experience can avoid pitfalls and ensure policy change has its intended results.
Virginians, though, are about to find out what happens when policymakers take decades of âbest practicesââ garnered through trial and error in other states â and throw them out the window.
On May 1, a poorly conceived state law went go into effect that will predictably lead to disastrous results for public employees, local governments, and taxpayers.
Under the new law, public-sector unionsâ including the countryâs most powerful teachersâ unions â will gain formal entry into local governments for the first time in more than 40 years.