California

California

Kerry Jackson Talks California’s “Plastic-Phobia” on Trevor Carey Show

Listen to Kerry Jackson, fellow with PRI’s Center for California Reform, discuss California’s war on plastic – pushing to outlaw everything from plastic bags to hotel shampoo bottles – on the Trevor Carey Show on Power Talk 96.7 FM in Fresno.
Blog

Public Lands A Partial Solution To California’s Housing Crisis

When Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order “to address the shortage of housing for Californians,” he got it right, or at least halfway. The order directs “the Department of General Services (DGS) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to identify and prioritize excess state-owned property and ...
Agriculture

Does California Have a Future?

Republican California State Assemblyman Vince Fong recently tweeted about California’s 19 percent poverty rate, which he said “is driven by the extreme high cost of living here.” “Yet,” said Fong, “Sacramento continues to pass policies that make it even more expensive.” In a story illustrated by an artist’s rendering of a family in ...
Blog

April Showers Bring Higher Gas Prices

The old adage is April showers bring May flowers.  Well, after a very wet winter, it looks like spring has finally sprung in California.  As soon as the seasons change, Golden State drivers are typically hit with another unwelcome phenomenon brought on by spring – rising gas prices.  This year ...
California

California, Blinded By Plastic

California, the Los Angeles Times recently reported, is building a “non-plastic future.” The state has outlawed or restricted single-use plastic bags, plastic drinking straws, and plastic cutlery. Future targets: plastic detergent bottles, unattached caps on plastic bottles, and polystyrene containers (typically used to hold restaurant takeout orders), which more than 100 California cities ...
Commentary

Blocking Medicaid Work Requirements Is Unwise

Medicaid expansion in Kentucky and Arkansas could be on life support. Late last month, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the two states’ attempts to require able-bodied adults to work as a condition of receiving Medicaid coverage. Last week, the federal Department of ...
Blog

Rentonomics in California: It’s Worse than We Think

Right by the Bay has sounded the alarm on the affordable housing crisis, especially our colleague Kerry Jackson, who has written about it here, here, and here.  But until we get real reform, like Sam in Casablanca, we plan to play it again and again. A new study by Apartment ...
California

Private Rail is a Promising Alternative to California’s High-Speed Train Wreck

Two years ago, the Trump administration rated infrastructure improvement as one of its key goals. While not much has happened since then, the president did raise the issue again in his State of the Union address. This prompted Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to write, “to keep pace with the ...
Blog

CEQA Show Hearing Gets California Nowhere

The state Senate held a joint informational hearing last month that, on the surface, looked to be a step forward for those who believe the California Environmental Quality Act needs reform, if not a top-to-bottom overhaul. But apparently the hearing was anything but an effort to fix the law that ...
Blog

Is Push to Lower Local Tax Threshold About Funding Vital Projects or Funding Public Pensions?

Yesterday, my colleague Rowena Itchon wrote about Sacramento’s “taxfest” – the various proposals introduced this year to raise taxes on hard-working Californians.  That’s only part of the story.  A group of lawmakers wants to make it easier to raise local taxes. Thanks to Proposition 13, a two-thirds vote of the ...
California

Kerry Jackson Talks California’s “Plastic-Phobia” on Trevor Carey Show

Listen to Kerry Jackson, fellow with PRI’s Center for California Reform, discuss California’s war on plastic – pushing to outlaw everything from plastic bags to hotel shampoo bottles – on the Trevor Carey Show on Power Talk 96.7 FM in Fresno.
Blog

Public Lands A Partial Solution To California’s Housing Crisis

When Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order “to address the shortage of housing for Californians,” he got it right, or at least halfway. The order directs “the Department of General Services (DGS) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to identify and prioritize excess state-owned property and ...
Agriculture

Does California Have a Future?

Republican California State Assemblyman Vince Fong recently tweeted about California’s 19 percent poverty rate, which he said “is driven by the extreme high cost of living here.” “Yet,” said Fong, “Sacramento continues to pass policies that make it even more expensive.” In a story illustrated by an artist’s rendering of a family in ...
Blog

April Showers Bring Higher Gas Prices

The old adage is April showers bring May flowers.  Well, after a very wet winter, it looks like spring has finally sprung in California.  As soon as the seasons change, Golden State drivers are typically hit with another unwelcome phenomenon brought on by spring – rising gas prices.  This year ...
California

California, Blinded By Plastic

California, the Los Angeles Times recently reported, is building a “non-plastic future.” The state has outlawed or restricted single-use plastic bags, plastic drinking straws, and plastic cutlery. Future targets: plastic detergent bottles, unattached caps on plastic bottles, and polystyrene containers (typically used to hold restaurant takeout orders), which more than 100 California cities ...
Commentary

Blocking Medicaid Work Requirements Is Unwise

Medicaid expansion in Kentucky and Arkansas could be on life support. Late last month, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the two states’ attempts to require able-bodied adults to work as a condition of receiving Medicaid coverage. Last week, the federal Department of ...
Blog

Rentonomics in California: It’s Worse than We Think

Right by the Bay has sounded the alarm on the affordable housing crisis, especially our colleague Kerry Jackson, who has written about it here, here, and here.  But until we get real reform, like Sam in Casablanca, we plan to play it again and again. A new study by Apartment ...
California

Private Rail is a Promising Alternative to California’s High-Speed Train Wreck

Two years ago, the Trump administration rated infrastructure improvement as one of its key goals. While not much has happened since then, the president did raise the issue again in his State of the Union address. This prompted Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao to write, “to keep pace with the ...
Blog

CEQA Show Hearing Gets California Nowhere

The state Senate held a joint informational hearing last month that, on the surface, looked to be a step forward for those who believe the California Environmental Quality Act needs reform, if not a top-to-bottom overhaul. But apparently the hearing was anything but an effort to fix the law that ...
Blog

Is Push to Lower Local Tax Threshold About Funding Vital Projects or Funding Public Pensions?

Yesterday, my colleague Rowena Itchon wrote about Sacramento’s “taxfest” – the various proposals introduced this year to raise taxes on hard-working Californians.  That’s only part of the story.  A group of lawmakers wants to make it easier to raise local taxes. Thanks to Proposition 13, a two-thirds vote of the ...
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