March 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

PRI fellow Steven Hayward continued his influential work on urban sprawl with his March 17 testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in Washington, which also aired numerous times on C-SPAN. "Growth management schemes can easily become the machinery of negation by existing residents," Steve testified, showing from Portland, Santa Barbara, and other cities that models for enlightened growth management are "starting to show exclusionary effects such as high housing prices."

On March 22, Steve critiqued "smart growth" for members of the Pennsylvania legislature at the state capitol in Harrisburg as a guest of the Commonwealth Foundation and the American Legislative Exchange Council. Steve Hayward also authored "Suburban Legends," the cover story in the March 22 National Review. Steve’s work on urban sprawl has been recently cited in the Houston Chronicle, News Herald (Willoughby, Ohio), and other publications.

Terry L. Anderson’s Sovereign Nations or Reservations: An Economic History of American Indians is quoted on the Citizens Alliance website, www.citizensalliance.org.

Education

On March 19, Lance Izumi, co-director of PRI’s Center for School Reform, debated Bob Wells, executive director of the Association of California School Administra-tors (ACSA), on the issue of school choice. The debate was held at ACSA’s statewide conference and was moderated by Los Angeles Times education writer Richard Lee Colvin.

UC faculty’s proposal, endorsed by California Governor Gray Davis, to admit to the University of California the top 4% of each high school’s graduating class was the subject of a March 9 broadcast on KQED in San Francisco by Lance Izumi. The Davis plan was also the subject of a March 2 interview with Lance in the Boston Globe.

Lance discussed the governor’s other education proposals in a March 7 interview with K101FM in the Bay area. The Contra Costa Times interviewed Lance about the governor’s accountability plan on March 4. The Orange County Register interviewed Lance about anti-drug policies in school (March 3), Gov. Davis’ peer-review proposals (March 8), and the governor’s proposal to change UC’s admissions criteria (March 12).

On February 25, Lance spoke on his new education standards study to attendees at a PRI breakfast in Palo Alto.

On March 3, Renee Shilhab of Fox News in Washington, D.C. interviewed Sally C. Pipes and Lance T. Izumi about education bills in the Senate.

Pam Riley, co-director of PRI’s Center for School Reform, and PRI editorial director Lloyd Billingsley attended the annual conference of the California Network of Educational Charters (CANEC) in San Diego from March 25-27.

Freedom and Technology

The March 8th News Media Hotsheet, published by Phillips Business Information, covered the debut of E-Clips, a monthly commentary on technology policy, from PRI’s Center for Freedom and Technology. The March 1 E-Clips, about how U.S. encryption regulations harm domestic businesses and the economy, was also distributed by Knight-Ridder News Services and has appeared in the Fort-Lauderdale Sun Sentinel and Corning (NY) Leader.

The Internet privacy work of CFT director Justin Matlick was cited in "Creating Balance Between Safety and Enterprise," a March 21 Richmond Times-Dispatch article by J. Lefall.

Civil Rights

Lance Izumi was interviewed about affirmative action by the Christian Science Monitor on March 3 and the Chicago Tribune on March 4. On February 26, the Chicago Tribune interviewed Lance on the effectiveness of California’s tough anti-crime laws.

Health and Welfare

On March 30, Naomi Lopez, Director of PRI's Center for Enterprise and Opportunity, joined PRI fellow Mark Schiller in a breakfast briefing for Republican and Democratic staffers in Sacramento. Also in March, Naomi, released the Action Alert, "Are California Children Being Lured into Socialized Medicine?" and discussed Social Security reform with the "Mein Time" group at Meadowood. Naomi, Sally Pipes, and other PRI staff, made a presentation to the Republican Fiscal Association in Sacramento.

Notables

Justin Matlick has accepted an invitation to be the co-leader, along with UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh, of a discussion titled "Governing the Internet" at the August meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society. The discussion will explore the question, "Are we experiencing creeping socialism on the Internet?"

On February 26, Lance Izumi spoke at the Placer County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner. Lance focused on policy issues for the upcoming 2000 elections.

PRI editorial director Lloyd Billingsley received the 1999 Ronald Reagan Award For Heroism for his book Hollywood Party, published by Prima Publishing, which details Mr. Reagan’s role in fighting Communist Party initiatives in the film industry during the 1940s. The 1999 Ronald Reagan Awards were organized by Richard Nadler, editor of K.C. Jones newspaper; Jack Cashill, popular midwest talk show host; and the Zenith Boosters Club, a conservative/libertarian public affairs group centered in Kansas City, Missouri.

On March 8, PRI’s Lloyd Billingsley appeared on MSNBC’s "Hardball with Chris Matthews," discussing the controversy over an Academy Award for director Elia Kazan. The same day, Lloyd was interviewed along with Charlton Heston, Bernard Gordon, and Victor Navasky on the Oscars for "Which Way LA?," a program on National Public Radio’s Los Angeles affiliate. On March 19 he appeared on ABC News with Peter Jennings as part of ABC’s series on "The Century."

On March 4, USA Today published Lloyd’s "Does McCarthy-era Witness Deserve an Academy Award?" and his "Elia Kazan: Feted But Not Forgiven," appeared in the March 10 Christian Science Monitor. During March he also wrote on the Elia Kazan controversy for Detroit News, Toronto Globe and Mail, Investor’s Business Daily, and San Diego Union Tribune.

On March 12, the Orange County Register published Lloyd’s op-ed " ‘Innovate’ Some State Agencies into Oblivion’" as part of its "California Focus" series. The article dealt with the creation of a "special assistant for innovation in government" by California Governor Gray Davis. On March 23, the Washington Times published "Marines in Monterey," Lloyd’s op-ed about recent military exercises.

The Great American Gun Debate, a PRI book by Don Kates and Gary Kleck, was mentioned on February 18 in "Peace," by Kay Rudder Hasenohr in the Hiawatha Daily World.