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How can states combat brain drain and preserve—or grow—intellectual capital? What impact do civil rights laws and their enforcement have on a state’s demographic diversity?

Those were some of the challenging questions put forth at the 2019 Program on Law and State Government (PLSG) Symposium at IU McKinney School of Law on September 20, when PLSG Fellows Patrick Clark (left) and Tátiana Foote (right) presented “The Laws of Attraction: State Government Strategies to Influence Interstate Migration."

Both Clark and Foote, J.D. candidates graduating in 2020, reported on how state governments are responding to population movement between and among states, addressing the issue from distinct angles.

In his fellowship address, "Getting the EDGE on Competition: Offering Businesses Tax Credits to Hire Recent Graduates,” Clark examined state governments’ various strategies to combat brain drain, focusing on state government tax law to retain university graduates in the state and how various state tax credits offered to businesses and how such tax expenditures can succeed in keeping intellectual capital within state boundaries.

Foote’s research and symposium address, “Who is Protected? An Analysis of State Civil Rights Laws and State Demographics,” examined states’ civil rights laws regarding bias in housing and the workforce. In particular, Foote looked at connections between the demographic make-up of states in conjunction with the level of protection and enforcement of those states’ respective civil rights laws and enforcement structures.

The 2019 PLSG Fellows also introduced a variety of speakers and each led panel discussions. Those included:

• Munera Al-Fuhaid, Attorney, Center for the American Future at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Texas, who spoke on “Interstate Competition: State-Level Healthcare Policy and the Magnet of Freedom.”
• A panel discussion on "Indiana's Fiscal Policy for Interstate Relocation," moderated by Clark with speakers Chris Cotterill, Indiana Economic Development Corporation Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Paul Jones, Attorney, Paul Jones Law, LLC.; and John McDonald, Chief Executive Officer, ClearObject.
• Luncheon speaker Dr. Jack DeWaard, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota, Department of Sociology and Graduate Faculty, Minnesota Population Center, who spoke on "The Legal and Spatial Interconnectivity of Interstate Migration."
• A panel discussion on "Current Issues & Trends in Enforcing Civil Rights Laws," moderated by Foote with Doneisha Posey, Deputy Director and General Counsel, Indiana Civil Rights Commission; Samuel Anderson, Outreach and Education Coordinator, Colorado Civil Rights Division; and Barbara Archer Hirsch, Commission Counsel, Maine Human Rights Commission.
• A look a “Technology’s Effect on Discrimination,” with attorney Peter Romer-Friedman, Outten & Golden LLP, Washington, D.C.

“Together, Tatiana and Patrick made a great team in bringing together such a terrific group of scholars, lawyers, and public servants to explore how states are influenced by, and responding to, interstate migration,” said Cynthia Baker, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Program on Law and State Government and Director of Experiential Learning at IU McKinney.

“I applaud their dedication and their futures as lawyers at a time when our country, its states, their many local governments, and citizens everywhere, can benefit from their wisdom and work.”