For decades, the Goldwater Institute has stood at the forefront of America’s freedom movement. From expanding school choice and dismantling DEI in public universities to expanding the Right to Try and protecting the right to build better lives and prosper, our mission has always been to turn bold ideas into lasting reforms that empower every American.
Do you want to work with us in your state to help advance these reforms? Email us at info@goldwaterinstitute.org to get connected. Here are some of the highlights of how we win.
Partnering for Victories Across the States
We recognize that freedom is never won alone. From rooting out radical DEI in higher education, to opening new educational opportunities for millions of families, from taking on the administrative state to ensuring patients can access lifesaving treatments without bureaucratic obstacles, the Goldwater Institute has been proud to work alongside our state-based partners from the State Policy Network.
The Goldwater Institute’s success is inseparable from the dedication of our partners across the states. This past year, we joined with the Beacon Center of Tennessee to enact the Right to Try for Individualized Treatments Act, ensuring that Tennesseans with rare and ultra-rare diseases can access investigational individualized treatments. This bill is a major step forward to getting the right treatment, to the right patient, at the right time, and a massive win for the rare disease community.
We also teamed up with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy to advance judicial deference reform in Louisiana. This law restores fairness to the judicial system and ensures that everyday Americans get a fair shake in court against government agencies, which can no longer rewrite laws from behind closed doors.
Together with Cardinal Institute of West Virginia, Goldwater helped pave the way for number of groundbreaking victories, giving hardworking West Virginians greater freedom to work and building a movement to help the most vulnerable. Universal license recognition was signed into law, a major step for West Virginians to continue working in their chosen field without unnecessary regulatory interference. A home-based business bill was also signed into law, allowing local economies to flourish by removing burdensome regulations. The new law lets business owners operate from their homes without being forced to rezone, install unnecessary sprinklers, or obtain a special license.
These victories prove that when we stand united, freedom wins.
Our Priorities for 2026
As we look ahead, our fight remains focused on the principles that have guided us since our founding:
Education Freedom And Transparency
The Goldwater Institute is reshaping education by putting parents in control. Education Savings Accounts and tax credit scholarships let families direct state dollars to private schools, tutoring, or home-based learning. Nationwide, more than a million students now benefit from school choice programs.
Recognizing that parents deserve to know what’s happening in their children’s schools, Goldwater has developed The Academic Transparency Act, which requires schools to post instructional materials online, giving parents visibility into what their children are taught without dictating curriculum.
At the university level, reforms target the spread of politicized programming. The Freedom From Indoctrination Act bans mandatory DEI and CRT courses, protects faculty from compelled content, and restores civic education grounded in America’s founding texts.
Together, these measures advance a clear principle: education should empower families and safeguard free inquiry, not enforce conformity.
Free Enterprise And Economic Liberty
The Goldwater Institute’s Breaking Down Barriers to Work reform protects the public without punishing skilled workers for moving into the state and has already opened new opportunities for millions of Americans.The push continues with a renewed focus on licensing laws and regulatory rules that restrict innovation and entrepreneurship.
Key measures also include the Right to Earn a Living Act, which requires agencies to justify restrictions on trades by proving genuine risks to public health or safety, and the Permit Freedom Act, which sets deadlines, clear standards, and fair hearings for permit approvals. Both aim to limit bureaucratic abuse and restore predictability for workers and businesses.
Together, these reforms underscore a central principle: Americans don’t need permission to work hard and make their lives better.
Healthcare Freedom
Across the country, patients with rare conditions often face a cruel barrier: life-saving treatments trapped behind regulations never meant for individualized care. By enacting the Right to Try for Individualized Treatments, state lawmakers can restore the right of patients and doctors to pursue hope when no other options remain.
This reform builds on the success of the original Right to Try law by creating a lawful pathway for patients with rare diseases, in consultation with their doctors, to access individualized investigational treatments whenall other approved treatment options have been considered. . It restores patient autonomy and physician discretion without imposing costs on taxpayers or insurers—manufacturers may only recover the direct cost of treatment, not profit from it.
Since 2022, sixteen states have enacted the policy, allowing families to decide whether a therapy is worth the risk rather than leaving that judgment to distant regulators. Supporters argue it reclaims a basic principle: the right to fight for one’s own life should not require the government’s permission.
Administrative State And Constitutional Limits
Through its Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation and the American Freedom Network—a coalition of nearly 1,000 pro bono attorneys—the Goldwater Institute continues to push back against government overreach in its many forms: unlawful taxation, the coercive reach of unions, threats to free expression, and violations of property rights.
Alongside this litigation, the Institute has advanced reforms designed to secure constitutional limits on state power, including the Judicial Deference Reform Act, to ensure fair treatment when citizens challenge state regulators and the Constitutional Accountability Act, which reaffirms the legislature’s exclusive lawmaking role and stops agencies from imposing major policies without explicit statutory authority.
Work With Us
The Goldwater Institute was founded on the belief that liberty is worth fighting for—and that belief guides us still. We welcome the opportunity to partner with you in your state, whether that means providing model legislation, expert testimony, litigation support, or research tailored to your needs.
If you are ready to join us in advancing the cause of freedom, email us at info@goldwaterinstitute.org to get connected.
