Pacific Research Institute

Agriculture

Prop 12 puts food security, animal health at risk

Livestock raising has long been a complex and misunderstood issue outside the agricultural community. Large communal pens often are considered the most humane by casual observers, but they do not tell the whole story. That is the case with California’s Proposition 12. The legislation created problematic perimeters for housing of ...
Business & Economics

California Migrating – Panel Discussion

This podcast is a recorded panel discussion from PRI’s annual Ideas in Action conference in February. Californians and California businesses have been moving out of the state in droves. This panel discusses the causes of outmigration and what we can do to stem the tide.
California

Chris Carr Featured in Nor Cal Record in Article on UC Berkeley Case

By Sarah Downey Last week’s legislative action to exempt the University of California at Berkeley from a long-standing state environmental law, is raising questions about how the statute could be further reformed to help not just schools but a host of infrastructure, housing, wildfire protection, and other projects. What’s clear ...
Commentary

Diversity Smokescreen

By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and Andrew I. Fillat The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two more cases challenging the use of race as a criterion in college admissions, as has allegedly happened at Harvard University (a private institution) and the University of North Carolina (public). On the ...
Business & Economics

The Problems with CEQA – with Chris Carr

The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, is a 50-year-old law responsible for holding up many projects in the state due to its labyrinthian process and its vulnerability to lawsuits. Across the state, housing developments, schools, hospitals, even bike paths and wildfire mitigation efforts have been stymied by CEQA. Chris ...
Business & Economics

PRI Panel of Former Speechwriters – Pres. Biden’s State of the Union Address

This special edition podcast features PRI’s panel of former speechwriters offering their perspectives on Pres. Biden’s first State of the Union Address.  On the panel: Lance Izumi, a former speechwriter to Gov. George Deukmejian and former Attorney General Edwin Meese, and now PRI’s senior director of the Center of Education; ...
Commentary

COVID-19’s ‘Unknown Unknowns’ Are What Should Worry Us

By Henry Miller and Melissa Hart We’re learning more every day about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but it will likely present surprises. The best strategy is still to prevent new infections. Donald Rumsfeld, the two-time secretary of defense (Gerald Ford and George W. Bush administrations), is perhaps best remembered for a ...
California

CEQA: The high cost of good intentions

By Chris Carr and Ken Broad California is in a quagmire due in no small part to the weaponization of CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. We are not providing the physical infrastructure befitting the world’s 5th-largest economy and leading crucible of innovation. Too often, critical projects don’t get built, ...
California

New Report Shows How “CEQA Gauntlet” Hinders Housing, School, Infrastructure, Climate Projects

With 3,000 prospective UC Berkeley students facing rejection due to a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit, the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute today released “The CEQA Gauntlet,” a new research project detailing how CEQA adds expense and delay to – and in some cases halts – critical California projects including ...
California

Watch Videos from 2022 PRI California Ideas in Action Conference

Conference Theme:  Saving California As PRI’s new book Saving California suggests, market-based reforms can help solve California’s biggest policy problems and even advance the goals of the state’s most progressive legislators. Come hear policy experts and real life changemakers discuss reforms that could push the state onto a better track and ...
Agriculture

Prop 12 puts food security, animal health at risk

Livestock raising has long been a complex and misunderstood issue outside the agricultural community. Large communal pens often are considered the most humane by casual observers, but they do not tell the whole story. That is the case with California’s Proposition 12. The legislation created problematic perimeters for housing of ...
Business & Economics

California Migrating – Panel Discussion

This podcast is a recorded panel discussion from PRI’s annual Ideas in Action conference in February. Californians and California businesses have been moving out of the state in droves. This panel discusses the causes of outmigration and what we can do to stem the tide.
California

Chris Carr Featured in Nor Cal Record in Article on UC Berkeley Case

By Sarah Downey Last week’s legislative action to exempt the University of California at Berkeley from a long-standing state environmental law, is raising questions about how the statute could be further reformed to help not just schools but a host of infrastructure, housing, wildfire protection, and other projects. What’s clear ...
Commentary

Diversity Smokescreen

By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and Andrew I. Fillat The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two more cases challenging the use of race as a criterion in college admissions, as has allegedly happened at Harvard University (a private institution) and the University of North Carolina (public). On the ...
Business & Economics

The Problems with CEQA – with Chris Carr

The California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, is a 50-year-old law responsible for holding up many projects in the state due to its labyrinthian process and its vulnerability to lawsuits. Across the state, housing developments, schools, hospitals, even bike paths and wildfire mitigation efforts have been stymied by CEQA. Chris ...
Business & Economics

PRI Panel of Former Speechwriters – Pres. Biden’s State of the Union Address

This special edition podcast features PRI’s panel of former speechwriters offering their perspectives on Pres. Biden’s first State of the Union Address.  On the panel: Lance Izumi, a former speechwriter to Gov. George Deukmejian and former Attorney General Edwin Meese, and now PRI’s senior director of the Center of Education; ...
Commentary

COVID-19’s ‘Unknown Unknowns’ Are What Should Worry Us

By Henry Miller and Melissa Hart We’re learning more every day about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but it will likely present surprises. The best strategy is still to prevent new infections. Donald Rumsfeld, the two-time secretary of defense (Gerald Ford and George W. Bush administrations), is perhaps best remembered for a ...
California

CEQA: The high cost of good intentions

By Chris Carr and Ken Broad California is in a quagmire due in no small part to the weaponization of CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. We are not providing the physical infrastructure befitting the world’s 5th-largest economy and leading crucible of innovation. Too often, critical projects don’t get built, ...
California

New Report Shows How “CEQA Gauntlet” Hinders Housing, School, Infrastructure, Climate Projects

With 3,000 prospective UC Berkeley students facing rejection due to a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) lawsuit, the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute today released “The CEQA Gauntlet,” a new research project detailing how CEQA adds expense and delay to – and in some cases halts – critical California projects including ...
California

Watch Videos from 2022 PRI California Ideas in Action Conference

Conference Theme:  Saving California As PRI’s new book Saving California suggests, market-based reforms can help solve California’s biggest policy problems and even advance the goals of the state’s most progressive legislators. Come hear policy experts and real life changemakers discuss reforms that could push the state onto a better track and ...
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