April 1999 PRI Ideas in Action
Policy Update and Monthly Impact Report

PRI continues to impact public policy in California, the nation, and abroad. The following is just a sample of PRI's recent contributions.

Environment

The Earth Day release in Washington D.C. of PRI’s 1999 Index of Leading Environmental Indicators gained immediate national attention. On Capitol Hill, Rep. Dick Armey praised the Index in a press release and sent a letter recommending it to his congressional colleagues as a source for environmental issues.

The Index was mentioned in editorials in the Washington Times, Dallas Morning News, Investor’s Business Daily, Orange County Register, Portland Oregonian, Birmingham Post-Herald, Abilene Reporter-News, Stuart News/ Port St. Lucie News, and San Angelo Standard-Times. Dave Reinhard of the Portland Oregonian dedicated his weekly column to the Index.

Prior to release, Index authors Steven Hayward and Erin Schiller discussed the publication’s findings with a variety of editorial page editors across the country, including the Chicago Sun-Times, Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News, Dallas Morning News, St. Paul Pioneer-Press, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Portland Oregonian, Orange County Register, Investor’s Business Daily, San Diego Union-Tribune, and the chief editorial writer for the Scripps Howard News Service. The San Diego Union-Tribune, Las Vegas Review-Journal, and Ventura County Star ran Erin’s op-ed summarizing the Index. The PRI fellows also conducted many radio interviews, including UPI, Business News Network, Voice of America, WCBS-New York, WZLX-Boston, WSJT-Tampa and St. Petersburg, KXL and KPDQ-Portland, KSFO-San Francisco, and KFWB-Los Angeles.

PRI president Sally Pipes spoke to the Atlas Economic Research Foundation on The Heated Debate, a PRI book by Dr. Robert Balling, as part of the Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Awards, April 25 - 27, 1999, in Philadelphia.

"Why ‘smart growth’ is such a dumb idea," by PRI fellow Steven Hayward appeared in the Detroit News on April 9. Steve’s "Earth Day ’99: Cause for celebration, not alarm," appeared in the April Environment News, which also listed PRI in its "Resourceful Earth Day." On April 29 Steve gave a presentation on growth to a bipartisan group of Senate staffers assembled by Utah Senator Robert Bennett and on April 24 he addressed the National Association of Realtors’ executive committee. Steve’s work on sprawl continues to be cited nationally including in Martin Nolan’s "The debate about sprawl," in the April 12 Boston Globe, Dori Meinert’s "Washington joins attack on suburban sprawl," in the Courier-News of Elgin, Illinois, "Farm Illinois: The last word," in the State Journal-Register, and "Research group contests sprawl," in the Daily Reporter of Columbus, Ohio.

In "Our hale and hearty planet," the April 22 Orange County Register mentioned Erin Schiller, whose article "Environment’s improvement will likely continue in future," appeared in several papers including the Las Vegas Review-Journal on April 14. On April 4, the Los Angeles Daily News published "Gas prices high? Just wait," by PRI editorial director Lloyd Billingsley. Lloyd’s article, "Believe it or not—some want gas prices to go much higher" appeared in the April 8 San Diego Union-Tribune.

Education

On April 23, PRI released Making School Choice Work for All Families, by John E. Coons and Stephen D. Sugarman. Floyd Flake, a former Democratic congressman from New York, who considers school choice a civil-rights issue, hails the PRI template as "the manual for people, organizations, and institutions that have sincere interest in the choice movement."

The March 30 Investor’s Business Daily interviewed Lance Izumi, co-director of PRI’s Center for School Reform, on testing issues and high school exit exams. On April 1, Lance was interviewed by the San Jose Mercury News on group learning versus teacher-led instruction, and was featured on "California Capitol Week" on KVIE-TV, the Sacramento PBS affiliate, where he debated the heads of the California Federation of Teachers and the California School Boards Association on Governor Gray Davis’ education reform proposals. The program aired statewide.

On April 4, KQED-FM in San Francisco broadcast Lance’s commentary on Gov. Davis’ education proposals. On April 20, Lance testified on educational standards to the Senate Education Committee in Sacramento and was interviewed by the San Jose Mercury News on the issue of requiring high school students to perform mandatory community service in order to graduate. Lance was also quoted by Anna Bray Duff in "The End of Social Promotion?", Investor’s Business Daily, April 6. "Unionizing Charter Sites a Leap Back," by Lloyd Billingsley appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News on April 18.

Health and Welfare

On April 9, PRI President Sally Pipes and Naomi Lopez, director of PRI’s Center for Enterprise and Opportunity, discussed "Are Liberals Using Children as Human Shields for Government Expansion?" at the Conservative Women’s Network Luncheon at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.

On April 21 in Sacramento Naomi Lopez was invited to testify to the Assembly Committee on Human Services about limiting assistance to 60 months and eliminating COLA for federal cash assistance. "There are ultimately no substitutes for the benefits of work, family, and personal responsibility," Naomi testified. Senate and Assembly staffers attended Naomi’s April 27 Sacramento policy breakfast on health-care measures.

PRI is mentioned in "California must rebuild its mental health care system," by Darrell Steinberg in the April 9 San Diego Union-Tribune.

Civil Rights

"Newswatch Journal," with Stephanie Hamilton, interviewed Lance Izumi and Sally Pipes about affirmative action and the media on April 8. On March 31, Lance was quoted in "Affirmative action challenged," by Patrice M. Jones and Ray Long, in the Chicago Tribune and "Getting around 209" in the Orange County Register. "Pay Equity Numbers Deserve Examination," by Naomi Lopez, appeared in the April 2 Sacramento Bee. PRI was quoted in "Putting the pieces toge-ther: The glass ceiling, shattered," in the March 28 Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, Colorado.

Naomi Lopez participated in an Independent Women’s Forum press conference on the pay gap at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on April 7th. On April 21, Investor’s Business Daily quoted Naomi in a story on the pay gap. The San Francisco Business Times published Sally Pipes’ April Contrarian on the Clinton Administration’s promotion of the wage-gap theory.

Freedom and Technology

On April 27, Sally Pipes gave a speech on encryption technology at St. Mary’s College in Moraga as part of a seminar, "Caught in the Web." "Justice case anti-consumer," by Justin Matlick, appeared in the News-Gazette of Champaign, Illinois on April 11, and the High Point Enterprise, High Point, North Carolina, on April 5.

Events

On April 8, a full house at PRI headquarters in San Francisco heard Amity Shlaes of the Wall Street Journal discuss her new and highly acclaimed book, The Greedy Hand.

Notables

On April 6, Lance Izumi spoke on Social Security to the Discovery Bay Republican women’s group. The April issue of the California Journal carried Lance’s column "Gray Davis: Walking in Jimmy Carter’s footsteps." Naomi Lopez received a scholarship from America’s Future Foundation to the Philadelphia Society meeting in Philadelphia, April 23-25th. Naomi also attended a meeting of the Resource Bank, sponsored by the Heritage Foundation.