Free Cities

Newsom saves cities from bipartisan pension-hiking legislation by Steven Greenhut | October 9, 2026 Jerry Brown took his share of indefensible positions in his final two terms as governor, but even Republicans acknowledged that he was the last adult in Sacramento — a backstop against the zaniest ideas in the ...

Mandate Guaranteed Replacement Cost Instead of allowing insurance companies to underwrite an amount determined in advance, why not force them to sell insurance that guarantees replacement no matter what the cost? It is important to understand why this is a very bad idea that would make consumers worse off. The ...

LA Mayor Karen Bass revives the ‘free transit’ debate By Sal Rodriguez | October 2, 2026 Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has revived the conversation about “free” public transportation.  Upon assuming the role of chair of the Los Angeles Metro Board in July, the mayor declared her intent to “develop ...

In the aftermath of the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires, thousands of homeowners learned a terrible fact that compounded their tragedy. Although they had intended to insure themselves sufficiently to rebuild, their coverage was inadequate to the need. This hidden problem was brilliantly described and analyzed in the series, “Burned,” ...

In a recent piece for Works in Progress, “a magazine of new and underrated ideas to improve the world,” Zigmund Forrest and Maxwell Tabarrok noted that since “the completion of Battery Park City in 1976, there has not been a single major urban land reclamation project in the United States.” ...

California’s long-distorted insurance market reached a level of dysfunction in 2023 that had tangible consequences for average homeowners. Following a series of costly wildfires, they struggled to find insurance, faced soaring prices and, in many cases, had no choice but to turn to the overburdened, state-created insurer of last resort, ...

New Mexico’s ‘free’ childcare program is another costly disaster by Paul Gessing | September 18, 2026 National media outlets which rarely report on any news from New Mexico were eager to report on the big news this past November that the Land of Enchantment had become the first state to ...

One often-overlooked impediment to housing construction is something known as “inclusionary zoning,” which requires builders to set aside lower-income housing in order to gain a project’s approval — or pay a large fee to the local government. A July study from the University of California Irvine (UCI) finds that these ...

SACRAMENTO – Following the collapse of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push for legislation addressing wildfire liability, a new Pacific Research Institute booklet warns California policymakers against responding to the state’s continuing wildfire and insurance challenges by reversing regulatory reforms that are finally showing signs of restoring competition and coverage. The warning ...

Pensions devour California city budgets — and it’s likely to get worse by John Seiler | September 15, 2026 In July, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System announced a preliminary 14.8% return for fiscal year 2025-26, the 12-month period that ended June 30. It boasted, “The 2025-26 fiscal year return ...