Water
Blog
High on Spending, Light on Stimulus: Legislative Democrats Propose $100 Billion Borrowing Plan
This week in Washington, Democrats and Republicans are squabbling over the next economic stimulus package. Republicans have proposed a roughly $1 trillion plan, while Speaker Pelosi is pushing a $3 trillion plan. The partisan haggling and negotiations via shuttle diplomacy have already begun. Upon returning from their summer recess, Sacramento ...
California
Newsom: Police And Firefighters Will Be Laid Off But We’ll Spend Millions To Enforce AB5
Gov. Gavin Newsom is leveraging the state’s $54.3 billion budget deficit. Give us what we want, he demands, or public safety programs will be cut. At the same time, he wants $20 million to enforce Assembly Bill 5, maybe the most damaging piece of legislation that ever became law in ...
Blog
Assembly’s Festivus-Style ‘Airing of Grievances’ Does Not Disappoint
In my last blog post, I previewed the Assembly’s unusual “Committee of the Whole” hearing on the state budget, comparing it to Seinfeld’s Festivus “Airing of Grievances.” Little did I know how clairvoyant I really was. Last Tuesday’s five hour session could charitably be called a “gripe fest” as lawmakers ...
Blog
What We’re Watching – May 29
Kerry Jackson – California: The Exodus from the Golden State Anyone who still doesn’t think California’s future is questionable at best, bleak at worst, needs to spend 10 minutes watching this video. Ben Smithwick – Protecting Your Right to Run a Business from Home In this video from the Goldwater Institute, ...
Agriculture
What We’re Watching – May 22
Rowena Itchon – A Memorial Day Tribute 2020 Kerry Jackson – This Doctor Won’t Take Health Insurance – and Charges Just $35 a Visit Meet the Pittsburgh doctor who doesn’t take health care insurance and charges only $35 for most office visits. That makes him a doctor from a different era. But ...
Blog
What We’re Watching – May Day Edition
Kerry Jackson – When Will California Reopen? Question asked: Some states begin re-opening from stay home orders – is California close behind? The bet here is California will be the last state to fully open. Rowena Itchon – Blue Angels Fly Over Philadelphia and New York A Cockpit View: The Blue ...
Blog
Can Taxpayers Afford a Big Spending Sacramento “Economic Recovery Plan”?
Speaker Pelosi and her allies in Congress received significant pollical pushback for using the COVID-19 crisis to enact their budget wish list in the $2 billion “phase 3” stimulus. Recently, Rowena Itchon wrote on Right by the Bay about tens of millions being spent on priorities for Democrats like propping ...
Agriculture
Proposition 13, Back On The Ballot, In A Sense, In California
Voters will likely have a chance in November to decide if Proposition 13 will remain as it has since its passage in 1978, or if it will turn it into a chimera that treats homes and businesses differently, bleeding the latter for tens of billions of dollars. Supporters of a ...
Blog
Do you believe in ‘Miracle March?’
This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the “Miracle on Ice,” one of the biggest upsets in history when the United States hockey team beat the USSR in the semi-final game of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Anyone who watched the Olympics live or saw the 2004 movie Miracle remembers Al ...
Blog
A Former Speechwriter’s View of the 2020 State of the Union
PRI is fortunate to be home to several former speechwriters for Presidents and Governors, including me. Anyone who has been a speechwriter watches a big public speech like this week’s State of the Union address or Gov. Newsom’s upcoming State of the State address on Feb. 19 with great interest ...
High on Spending, Light on Stimulus: Legislative Democrats Propose $100 Billion Borrowing Plan
This week in Washington, Democrats and Republicans are squabbling over the next economic stimulus package. Republicans have proposed a roughly $1 trillion plan, while Speaker Pelosi is pushing a $3 trillion plan. The partisan haggling and negotiations via shuttle diplomacy have already begun. Upon returning from their summer recess, Sacramento ...
Newsom: Police And Firefighters Will Be Laid Off But We’ll Spend Millions To Enforce AB5
Gov. Gavin Newsom is leveraging the state’s $54.3 billion budget deficit. Give us what we want, he demands, or public safety programs will be cut. At the same time, he wants $20 million to enforce Assembly Bill 5, maybe the most damaging piece of legislation that ever became law in ...
Assembly’s Festivus-Style ‘Airing of Grievances’ Does Not Disappoint
In my last blog post, I previewed the Assembly’s unusual “Committee of the Whole” hearing on the state budget, comparing it to Seinfeld’s Festivus “Airing of Grievances.” Little did I know how clairvoyant I really was. Last Tuesday’s five hour session could charitably be called a “gripe fest” as lawmakers ...
What We’re Watching – May 29
Kerry Jackson – California: The Exodus from the Golden State Anyone who still doesn’t think California’s future is questionable at best, bleak at worst, needs to spend 10 minutes watching this video. Ben Smithwick – Protecting Your Right to Run a Business from Home In this video from the Goldwater Institute, ...
What We’re Watching – May 22
Rowena Itchon – A Memorial Day Tribute 2020 Kerry Jackson – This Doctor Won’t Take Health Insurance – and Charges Just $35 a Visit Meet the Pittsburgh doctor who doesn’t take health care insurance and charges only $35 for most office visits. That makes him a doctor from a different era. But ...
What We’re Watching – May Day Edition
Kerry Jackson – When Will California Reopen? Question asked: Some states begin re-opening from stay home orders – is California close behind? The bet here is California will be the last state to fully open. Rowena Itchon – Blue Angels Fly Over Philadelphia and New York A Cockpit View: The Blue ...
Can Taxpayers Afford a Big Spending Sacramento “Economic Recovery Plan”?
Speaker Pelosi and her allies in Congress received significant pollical pushback for using the COVID-19 crisis to enact their budget wish list in the $2 billion “phase 3” stimulus. Recently, Rowena Itchon wrote on Right by the Bay about tens of millions being spent on priorities for Democrats like propping ...
Proposition 13, Back On The Ballot, In A Sense, In California
Voters will likely have a chance in November to decide if Proposition 13 will remain as it has since its passage in 1978, or if it will turn it into a chimera that treats homes and businesses differently, bleeding the latter for tens of billions of dollars. Supporters of a ...
Do you believe in ‘Miracle March?’
This year marks the 40th Anniversary of the “Miracle on Ice,” one of the biggest upsets in history when the United States hockey team beat the USSR in the semi-final game of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Anyone who watched the Olympics live or saw the 2004 movie Miracle remembers Al ...
A Former Speechwriter’s View of the 2020 State of the Union
PRI is fortunate to be home to several former speechwriters for Presidents and Governors, including me. Anyone who has been a speechwriter watches a big public speech like this week’s State of the Union address or Gov. Newsom’s upcoming State of the State address on Feb. 19 with great interest ...