R Street Institute

R Street Institute is a Washington, D.C.-based American think tank and policy advocacy organization. It describes its mission as using policy research and public outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government. The institute works across domestic policy areas rather than operating as a conventional commercial brand, and its output consists primarily of research, commentary, coalition activity, legislative engagement, and public education. R Street was established in 2012 after the Washington-based Center on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate separated from the Heartland Institute. The split followed a dispute over Heartland's public communications on climate change, particularly a billboard campaign that compared belief in global warming with figures associated with murder, terrorism, or authoritarian politics. The departing staff wanted to form an organization that retained a market-oriented and limited-government outlook while rejecting climate-change skepticism as an institutional position. The new organization adopted the name R Street Institute, referring to a Washington, D.C., street that the institute uses as a metaphor for the meeting point between policy institutions and the everyday lives of citizens. The institute's work has included insurance regulation, catastrophe insurance, environmental policy, federal spending, entitlement and Social Security reform, criminal justice, public health, cybersecurity, emerging national-security issues, tobacco harm reduction, credit-union regulation, and tax policy. Its insurance research has been particularly prominent. The annual Insurance Regulation Report Card evaluates state insurance systems using measures related to market structure, solvency oversight, fraud regulation, regulatory transparency, taxes and fees, and insurers' ability to price risk. R Street has also participated in SmarterSafer.org, a coalition that brings together environmental organizations, taxpayer advocates, and insurance companies around fiscally sound and environmentally responsible approaches to natural-catastrophe policy. Environmental and budget work has included participation in the Green Scissors project with Friends of the Earth and Taxpayers for Common Sense. That project examines federal programs and tax expenditures that the participating organizations regard as environmentally harmful or economically wasteful. R Street has also addressed conservation conditions attached to crop insurance and the treatment of coastal insurance subsidies. Other research programs have examined harm-reduction approaches to tobacco policy, credit-union member business lending, federal budgeting, and technology and cybersecurity. The organization has maintained a national presence through branch offices and policy staff working on federal and state issues. Its personnel and affiliated scholars have included former government officials, academics, lawyers, insurance specialists, and public-policy advocates. Founding personnel included Eli Lehrer, R. J. Lehmann, Christian Cámara, and Alan Smith. The institute has also been associated with figures such as Mike Godwin, Alex J. Pollock, James Wallner, James A. Baker, and Jillian Snider, although roles and affiliation status can change over time. During the COVID-19 pandemic, R Street received a federally backed Paycheck Protection Program loan in the range of $1 million to $2 million, according to the cited reference material. The organization said the assistance supported the retention of 61 jobs and argued that government intervention was appropriate in the exceptional economic circumstances created by the pandemic. R Street remains an active U.S. policy organization whose identity is defined by center-right, market-oriented research and cross-ideological coalition work, especially where regulatory, fiscal, insurance, environmental, and public-safety questions overlap.

R Street Institute emerged from a 2012 institutional dispute within the Heartland Institute. Heartland's Center on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate had developed research on insurance regulation, catastrophe policy, and related environmental and fiscal questions. In May 2012, Heartland drew intense criticism after launching a Chicago-area billboard campaign featuring Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, alongside a question about belief in global warming. Heartland said the campaign was intended to associate prominent climate-change advocates with violent or authoritarian figures; it withdrew the campaign within roughly a day after public backlash. The campaign also caused concern among staff associated with Heartland's Washington-based finance, insurance, and real-estate center. The center's personnel said they had not been consulted about the campaign and believed it damaged the credibility of their policy work. Heartland subsequently announced that the center would spin off as an independent organization effective at the end of May 2012. Contemporary reporting identified the new group as R Street Institute and quoted R. J. Lehmann as saying that the organization would not promote climate-change skepticism. R Street's initial staff came from the former Heartland center. The founding group included Eli Lehrer, R. J. Lehmann, Christian Cámara, and Alan Smith. The institute positioned itself as center-right and market-oriented, but sought to distinguish its policy program from Heartland's climate messaging. Its name was explained through the geography of Washington, D.C.: R Street separates major institutional corridors from residential neighborhoods and thus symbolizes the organization's ambition to connect public-policy debate with practical life. In its early years, insurance regulation became one of R Street's defining areas. The institute developed the Insurance Regulation Report Card, an annual state-by-state assessment of insurance regulatory environments. The evaluation considered market concentration, residual-market size, insurer solvency and fraud oversight, regulatory transparency, tax and fee burdens, and the degree to which insurers could set risk-based rates. The 2012 edition ranked Vermont highest and Florida lowest among the states assessed. This work helped establish R Street within insurance-policy circles while reinforcing its broader argument that regulation should be limited, transparent, and effective rather than merely extensive. The institute also expanded into environmental and federal-budget questions. Through Green Scissors, conducted with Friends of the Earth and Taxpayers for Common Sense, it examined spending programs and tax provisions that the participating groups viewed as environmentally damaging or fiscally wasteful. Later work included an online database of subsidies directed toward polluting industries, proposals connecting crop-insurance support with conservation compliance, and criticism of certain coastal insurance subsidies. These projects reflected R Street's preference for market-compatible environmental policy and spending reductions over broad regulatory expansion. Other policy programs developed around public health, tobacco harm reduction, credit-union lending, tax reform, criminal justice, entitlement and Social Security reform, cybersecurity, emerging threats, and federal budgeting. R Street became involved in SmarterSafer.org, a coalition that included environmental groups, taxpayer organizations, and insurers. The coalition promoted approaches to natural-catastrophe policy that sought to combine public safety, environmental responsibility, and fiscal discipline. The institute's network broadened beyond its founding insurance specialists. Referenced affiliated or senior personnel included Mike Godwin, Alex J. Pollock, James Wallner, James A. Baker, and Jillian Snider. Its scholarly and advisory network also included academics, attorneys, former elected officials, and state legislators. The organization therefore developed as a research and advocacy platform with both federal and state reach rather than as a membership-based commercial enterprise. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 economic crisis, R Street received Paycheck Protection Program assistance backed by the federal government. The reported loan amount was between $1 million and $2 million, and the institute stated that it supported the retention of 61 jobs. R Street defended the use of the program and argued that the pandemic represented an appropriate circumstance for government intervention. This episode illustrated the organization's stated position that limited government does not mean government must have no role during extraordinary economic emergencies. R Street continues to operate as an American policy institute headquartered in Washington, D.C., with a research agenda spanning regulation, markets, public finance, insurance, environmental policy, technology, public health, and criminal justice. Its institutional identity rests on center-right policy analysis, free-market principles, and efforts to build coalitions across conventional ideological boundaries.

• 2020

  Paycheck Protection Program assistance

  [1]R Street Instituteen.wikipedia.org

  R Street received federally backed pandemic assistance and said it would use the support to retain 61 jobs.

• 2016

  Green Scissors subsidy database

  [1]R Street Instituteen.wikipedia.org

  Green Scissors released an online database identifying federal spending programs and tax expenditures that the participating organizations characterized as wasteful and environmentally harmful.

• 2012

  Heartland billboard controversy

  [1]R Street Instituteen.wikipedia.org

  Heartland's climate-related billboard campaign triggered public criticism and intensified disagreement among staff of its finance, insurance, and real-estate center.

• 2012

  R Street Institute is established

  [1]R Street Instituteen.wikipedia.org

  Heartland's Washington-based Center on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate spun off, forming the independent R Street Institute.

• 2012

  First referenced Insurance Regulation Report Card

  [1]R Street Instituteen.wikipedia.org

  The institute's state-by-state report assessed insurance regulation using measures including market structure, solvency oversight, transparency, fees, and risk-based pricing freedom.

A center-right, free-market policy institute that combines limited-government principles with pragmatic research and cross-sector advocacy. R Street emphasizes effective regulation, fiscal responsibility, individual choice, and policy solutions that connect institutional decision-making with everyday public concerns.

• Policy research publication · 2012

  Insurance Regulation Report Card

  An annual comparative study of U.S. state insurance regulatory systems. Its framework has examined market concentration, residual markets, solvency and fraud regulation, regulatory transparency and politicization, taxes and fees, and insurers' ability to use risk-based information in setting rates. The publication presents insurance regulation as a question of institutional quality and market function rather than simply regulatory volume.

• Environmental and budget policy project · 2012

  Green Scissors

  A collaborative research project examining federal expenditures and tax preferences that participating organizations regard as environmentally harmful, economically inefficient, or both. R Street's participation reflects its emphasis on reducing wasteful subsidies while pursuing environmental improvements through spending reform and market-oriented policy.

• Policy coalition

  SmarterSafer.org participation

  R Street has participated in a coalition bringing together environmental organizations, taxpayer advocates, and insurance companies. The coalition promotes natural-catastrophe policies intended to improve public safety while remaining environmentally responsible and fiscally sustainable.

• 2012Green Scissors

  United States

  R Street participated with Friends of the Earth and Taxpayers for Common Sense in research advocating the reduction of federal spending and tax provisions viewed as wasteful and environmentally damaging.

  Outcome. The project produced reports and, later, an online database of targeted subsidies and spending items.

  Source
• SmarterSafer.org

  United States

  R Street joined environmental, taxpayer, and insurance organizations in advocating fiscally sound and environmentally responsible approaches to natural-catastrophe policy.

  Source

• 2020

  Accept Paycheck Protection Program assistanceOther

  Background

  The COVID-19 pandemic created an exceptional economic disruption and threatened nonprofit employment.

  Action taken

  R Street accepted a federally backed PPP loan and said the assistance would help retain 61 jobs. The institute also supported making PPP applicants public.

  Aftermath

  R Street used the episode to explain that its limited-government position still permits intervention during extraordinary economic emergencies.

  Paycheck Protection Program loan. $1 million-$2 million (2020)

  Source

• 2012

  Separate from Heartland and reject climate-change skepticismStrategy

  Background

  The founding staff disagreed with Heartland's public climate-change messaging, especially after its controversial billboard campaign.

  Action taken

  The finance, insurance, and real-estate center became an independent organization named R Street Institute, which stated that it would not promote climate-change skepticism.

  Aftermath

  R Street developed an independent center-right policy identity while retaining a strong focus on insurance, regulation, fiscal policy, and market-oriented environmental research.

  Source

1. 1R Street Instituteen.wikipedia.org
2. 2R Street Institute official websiterstreet.org