California
Blog
Is California Turning on Outdoor Dining?
In July, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to make the city’s emergency outdoor dining ordinance permanent. Adopted in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program empowered restaurant owners to convert adjacent on-street parking spaces into “parklets” where they could serve pandemic-weary patrons. The city’s parklet initiative, and ...
M. Nolan Gray
January 18, 2022
Blog
Universal Health Care Back For Another Try
In some ways it’s shocking that California, the bluest, hardest left state in the union, still doesn’t have universal health care. Gavin Newson promised a single-payer system when running for governor in 2018, but all attempts have fallen short. Maybe it was something someone said, such as pointing out that ...
Kerry Jackson
January 17, 2022
Blog
America’s Cities in Decline
Go Downtown Things will be great when you’re — Downtown No finer place for sure — Downtown Everything’s waiting for you – Petula Clark, 1964 Perhaps I date myself, but I can still remember this 1960s song that captured the allure of the city. Back then, downtown, the proverbial “engine ...
Rowena Itchon
January 14, 2022
Blog
California Not Meeting Emission Reduction Goals by Doubling Down on Policy Mistakes
Download the PDF A recently released independent report says California isn’t going to meet its 2030 emissions goal. Those who have been paying close attention, and those who have immersed themselves in PRI research, won’t be even mildly surprised by this. They know the state has taken the wrong approach ...
Kerry Jackson
January 13, 2022
California
PRI All Stars on the Governor’s Budget – What Will the Governor’s Spending Plan Mean for You?
Governor Newsom this week released his 2022-23 state budget plan. The PRI All Stars – Wayne Winegarden, Lance Izumi, and Kerry Jackson – break down what the Governor’s proposed spending bill will mean for you and your family. They discuss its impact on taxes, debt, spending, pensions, education, health care, ...
Pacific Research Institute
January 12, 2022
Blog
Rebuilt Capitol Annex Will Expand Public’s Ability to Make Voices Heard
Elected officials and staff at the State Capitol are beginning a new legislative year in unfamiliar surroundings – new offices. They moved in November and December to a new “swing space” building a block from the Capitol, which will be their home for about five years as a new Capitol ...
Tim Anaya
January 12, 2022
Agriculture
Taxes Up, Roads Still Down, Nothing New
Almost five years ago, the California Legislature passed, and then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed, Senate Bill 1, hiking fuel taxes to raise $52 billion over 10 years for overdue road repairs. For all the revenue raised and spent, the condition of the state’s highway system continues to decline. Under SB1, state ...
Kerry Jackson
January 10, 2022
Commentary
Opinion: New burdens on entrepreneurs hurts minority economic advancement
By Wayne Winegarden and Kerry Jackson Florida’s nickname is the Sunshine State, but it could be the Entrepreneur State. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, no state had a higher rate of entrepreneurs starting new businesses. But that’s only part of the story. Only California (1.6 million) and Texas (1.1 million) have ...
Pacific Research Institute
January 9, 2022
Blog
California Continued to Shrink in 2021
In 2021, as in 2020, the Golden State only continued to shrink. According to new data from the Department of Finance, California lost a startling 173,000 residents last year. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, 55,000 of those lost residents were victims of the pandemic, while a further 53,000 ...
M. Nolan Gray
January 6, 2022
Agriculture
Opinion: Prop. 12 Limits Californians From ‘Bringing Home the Bacon’
2022 is a year in which San Diegans and all Californians will be allowed to do less than the year before, as a number of new prohibitions kicked in on Jan. 1, all of them aggravating, but none so irksome as the limits imposed by Proposition 12. It gives new meaning ...
Kerry Jackson
January 5, 2022
Is California Turning on Outdoor Dining?
In July, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to make the city’s emergency outdoor dining ordinance permanent. Adopted in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program empowered restaurant owners to convert adjacent on-street parking spaces into “parklets” where they could serve pandemic-weary patrons. The city’s parklet initiative, and ...
Universal Health Care Back For Another Try
In some ways it’s shocking that California, the bluest, hardest left state in the union, still doesn’t have universal health care. Gavin Newson promised a single-payer system when running for governor in 2018, but all attempts have fallen short. Maybe it was something someone said, such as pointing out that ...
America’s Cities in Decline
Go Downtown Things will be great when you’re — Downtown No finer place for sure — Downtown Everything’s waiting for you – Petula Clark, 1964 Perhaps I date myself, but I can still remember this 1960s song that captured the allure of the city. Back then, downtown, the proverbial “engine ...
California Not Meeting Emission Reduction Goals by Doubling Down on Policy Mistakes
Download the PDF A recently released independent report says California isn’t going to meet its 2030 emissions goal. Those who have been paying close attention, and those who have immersed themselves in PRI research, won’t be even mildly surprised by this. They know the state has taken the wrong approach ...
PRI All Stars on the Governor’s Budget – What Will the Governor’s Spending Plan Mean for You?
Governor Newsom this week released his 2022-23 state budget plan. The PRI All Stars – Wayne Winegarden, Lance Izumi, and Kerry Jackson – break down what the Governor’s proposed spending bill will mean for you and your family. They discuss its impact on taxes, debt, spending, pensions, education, health care, ...
Rebuilt Capitol Annex Will Expand Public’s Ability to Make Voices Heard
Elected officials and staff at the State Capitol are beginning a new legislative year in unfamiliar surroundings – new offices. They moved in November and December to a new “swing space” building a block from the Capitol, which will be their home for about five years as a new Capitol ...
Taxes Up, Roads Still Down, Nothing New
Almost five years ago, the California Legislature passed, and then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed, Senate Bill 1, hiking fuel taxes to raise $52 billion over 10 years for overdue road repairs. For all the revenue raised and spent, the condition of the state’s highway system continues to decline. Under SB1, state ...
Opinion: New burdens on entrepreneurs hurts minority economic advancement
By Wayne Winegarden and Kerry Jackson Florida’s nickname is the Sunshine State, but it could be the Entrepreneur State. In 2019, prior to the pandemic, no state had a higher rate of entrepreneurs starting new businesses. But that’s only part of the story. Only California (1.6 million) and Texas (1.1 million) have ...
California Continued to Shrink in 2021
In 2021, as in 2020, the Golden State only continued to shrink. According to new data from the Department of Finance, California lost a startling 173,000 residents last year. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, 55,000 of those lost residents were victims of the pandemic, while a further 53,000 ...
Opinion: Prop. 12 Limits Californians From ‘Bringing Home the Bacon’
2022 is a year in which San Diegans and all Californians will be allowed to do less than the year before, as a number of new prohibitions kicked in on Jan. 1, all of them aggravating, but none so irksome as the limits imposed by Proposition 12. It gives new meaning ...