U.S. State Policy

State and local courts hear more than 95% of all cases filed in the United States, covering matters that directly affect the safety, well-being, and stability of millions of people and their communities. Many of these cases can have profound...

Each year, people throughout the United States suffer from millions of preventable illnesses and hundreds of thousands of premature deaths, with a combined cost of more than $730 billion. Underlying this tragic reality is the insufficient use of...

More than 2 million people with mental health conditions—including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and severe depression—are jailed each year, often for misdemeanor crimes. Three-quarters of these individuals have co-occurring substance use...

Pew’s retirement savings project studies the challenges and opportunities for increasing retirement savings. The initiative, which fosters policy discussion on how best to ensure that everyone can save a sufficient amount for retirement, examines...

Managing a state’s finances—whether working to erase a budget deficit or reaching consensus on what to do with a surplus—is challenging. But planning for fiscal threats beyond the immediate budget cycle is not only far more complex, it’s often...

The energy modernization project works with state and federal policymakers to modernize the transmission grid and accelerate adoption of large-scale energy generation and local, distributed energy, such as home solar and batteries....

Broadband connects communities to an increasingly digital world. It has transformed industries, changed the way we access goods and services, and become an indispensable part of modern life. Yet despite more than two decades of public and private...

The Pew Charitable Trusts’ evidence project works with funding organizations, researchers, policymakers, and others to transform how research and evidence are generated, valued, and used....