National Conference of State Legislatures Our American States

Our American States While estimates vary, there is agreement that the U.S. is short several million homes. Many who study the housing situation in the U.S. have dubbed it a housing crisis. Housing has usually been seen as a local issue, but as the housing affordability situation has worsened, states are increasingly involved in the search for solutions. We asked three guests to join this podcast and share their perspectives. First up is Arica Young, the associate director of the Bipartisan

Legislatures: The Inside Storey Playing one of the Founding Fathers is not always the easiest gig. Just ask Clay Jenkinson, the guest on this podcast, who has played Thomas Jefferson, along with other famous figures, on stages in all 50 states. It’s a role he compares to a marriage, with all the ups and downs, pleasures and pitfalls. Jenkinson is also a presidential historian with particular interest in Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. He talks with podcast host Tim Storey about

Our American States Plurality voting is the most common system in the U.S. A voter picks one candidate in each race and the candidate that receives the most votes wins. Then Maine enacted a new system called ranked choice voting for the November 2016 election. Now Alaska has joined Maine, and will use ranked choice voting for the first time this year as well as a new open primary system in which the top four candidates advance to the general election. Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins (D) of Alaska

Our American States Our focus on this podcast is the prescription drug market and the role of pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs. PBMs play a major role in the drug supply chain. They are third-party administrators of prescription drug benefits for health plans, large employers and other payers, including state Medicaid programs. They process claims, review drug utilization, develop pharmacy networks, and create lists of covered drugs called formularies. They also negotiate rebates from

Legislatures: The Inside Storey Keith Allred, the executive director of the National Institute of Civil Discourse, has spent a lot of time thinking about partisanship and what it takes to bring together Independents, Republicans and Democrats. He’s also done it, during a five-year pilot project in Idaho. Along the way he picked up a Ph.D from UCLA and competed at the top level of cutting horse competition. Host Tim Storey talks with Allred about the CommonSense American project that