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California's Teacher-Quality Masquerade
Capital Ideas
By: Lance T. Izumi, J.D.
4.28.2004
SACRAMENTO, CA - Ample research confirms that teacher quality has a large effect on student performance. Good teachers raise student achievement levels, while poor ones keep them down. California's recent efforts to ensure high-quality teachers in the classroom, however, have been misguided and deceptive.
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Giga-Fretting over Gmail
ePolicy
4.23.2004
What do you get when you cross a posse of anti-corporate "consumer advocates" with an innovative new email service that most beta testers enjoy? Trouble, as evidenced by the recent hysterics over Google's new Gmail service.
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Higher Taxes by Ballot?
Capital Ideas
By: K. Lloyd Billingsley
4.22.2004
SACRAMENTO, CA - The California Teachers Association had been up to their usual business of resisting reform, and plotting to raise taxes through yet another ballot measure, the "Improving Classroom Education Act.'' Then on April 8 the CTA withdrew its initiative, to the benefit of both students and taxpayers.
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Index of Leading Environmental Indicators: 2004 Report
PRI Study
By: Steven F. Hayward, Ph.D, Joel Schwartz, Michael De Alessi, Holly Lippke Fretwell, Brent Haglund, Ryan Stowers, Samuel Thernstrom
4.21.2004
The ninth annual Index of Leading Environmental Indicators, released today by the Pacific Research Institute and the American Enterprise Institute, shows that the environment continues to be America’s single greatest policy success. Environmental quality has improved so much, in fact, that it is nearly impossible to paint a grim, gloom-and-doom picture anymore.
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Women’s Business Month – Every Month
By: Sally C. Pipes
4.15.2004
On some calendars, March was Women’s History Month. But according to “Key Facts About Women Business Owners and Their Enterprises,” from the National Women’s Business Council, every month could be dubbed Women’s Business Month.
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A Taxing Meditation
Capital Ideas
By: K. Lloyd Billingsley
4.14.2004
This year, tax freedom day, the day Americans cease working for the government and begin working for themselves, came on April 11, the earliest it has been since 1967. While a welcome change, that is still not early enough.
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Invited Testimony to CA Assembly Committee on Health: AB 1957
PRI Health Care Testimony
By: Sally C. Pipes
4.13.2004
The bill before the committee today consists of two substantial parts. One calling for a state-sponsored web site to facilitate illegal importation of pharmaceuticals from Canada. The other calls on the state to mimic other jurisdictions in actually importing such pharmaceuticals directly for state-sponsored programs. The state-sponsored web site was addressed in my testimony on SB 1149. The issues in this importation debate are safety, the impact of price controls on research and development, and intellectual property.
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Invited Testimony to CA Assembly Committee on Health: ARJ61
PRI Health Care Testimony
By: Sally C. Pipes
4.13.2004
With all due respect to the committee, its staff, and the time, effort, and taxpayer money that must have been expended in putting together this resolution, I must say that the facts collected don't support the conclusion that massive importation of pharmaceuticals from Canada will "pose no additional risk to the public.s health and safety and will result in significant reduction of cost of prescription drugs to the American consumer."
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Lawsuit Abuse Choking California Economy
Capital Ideas
By: Lance T. Izumi, J.D.
4.7.2004
According to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, excessive litigation against businesses has contributed to California's poor business climate. The governor's argument was recently buttressed by a U.S. Chamber of Commerce report that ranked California's legal system 46th out of the 50 states in terms of fairness to business.
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"The West has no soul left...''
Capital Ideas
By: Steven F. Hayward, Ph.D
4.1.2004
When news came several weeks ago that France was banning head scarves--often worn by devout Muslims--in its public schools, I thought it may be a sign that France was taking a stand over its European culture and heritage. But it turns out the ban was motivated by secularism, not particularism. The French are against any personal expression of religious identity: crosses and yarmulkes are banned as well.
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Taxing Times: How California's Steep Income Tax Stifles Economic Growth
PRI Study
By: Russell S. Sobel, Robert A. Lawson, Joshua C. Hall
4.1.2004
Individual income taxes are the single largest source of tax revenue in California. In 2002, individual income taxes provided nearly $10 billion more revenue than the state.s second largest source, the general sales tax. The individual income tax in California accounts for nearly 42 percent of state tax revenue, slightly higher than the national average of around 35 percent.
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