Transportation
Blog
Worker Freedom No More
Love it or hate it, for a variety of reasons when California enacts public policy the impact is felt across the country. And so, it has been again with the January 1st implementation of California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), the so called “gig employment” law that changes the worker status ...
Bartlett Cleland
February 26, 2020
Commentary
Bernie’s Math Problem
Anyone in earshot of a television set, or a smart phone, is undoubtedly aware that the undisputed front-runner in the Democratic Primary wants to spend more money – a lot of it. And, while these policies are economically flawed, Senator Sanders also has a fundamental math problem. Reviewing his website, there ...
Wayne Winegarden
February 24, 2020
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: Will California’s Ban on Freelance Work Lead to Blue State Turnaround?
The backlash over California’s Assembly Bill 5, legislation that robs workers of their freedom, was likely not expected by lawmakers. They’re accustomed to an electorate that agreeably goes along with whatever policies they impose, no matter how invasive. The response to AB5, which outlaws, with a few exceptions, freelance and ...
Kerry Jackson
February 10, 2020
Commentary
China Catches Cold from the Wuhan Coronavirus—and the World Sneezes.
The outbreak of infections from a novel virus that appears to have originated in Central China has elicited a storm of commentary, much of it uninformed. Opinions have ranged from predictions of a worldwide apocalypse to dismissal of quarantines and “social distancing” as a kind of public relations stunt by ...
Henry Miller, M.S., M.D.
January 27, 2020
California
Assembly Bill 5 is already destroying jobs and opportunities
With Assembly Bill 5, lawmakers not only came up with a solution for which there is no problem, they created hardships where there were none before. The bill was peddled as means to establish fairness for California freelance and independent contractors. No longer will they be “exploited” by businesses. The ...
Kerry Jackson
December 31, 2019
Blog
What We’re Watching – December 13
Rowena Itchon – Brexit and this week’s UK Election If you’re following the British elections and Brexit, here’s a terrific interview with Dan Hannan, Conservative Member of the European Parliament by Nick Gillespie of Reason. Kerry Jackson – How Los Angeles is Spending Homeless Dollars Inefficiently Cities, counties and the ...
Pacific Research Institute
December 13, 2019
California
Gig Economy Firms Fight California Overreach with $110 Million Initiative
In a rational response to Assembly Bill 5, which in effect outlaws the gig economy, ride-share and delivery companies have proposed a November 2020 ballot measure aimed at protecting their businesses. But it wouldn’t repeal the law. Shouldn’t that have been the goal? AB 5 doesn’t leave businesses much time to adapt. It becomes law ...
Kerry Jackson
December 4, 2019
Blog
California’s Assembly Bill 5 Is A Virus Moving Across the Country
The flood of lousy legislation that has poured out of Sacramento for the last two decades or so truly astonishes in its volume. As fourth-rate as the lawmaking has been, though, nothing has been worse than Assembly Bill 5, an existential threat to both jobs and businesses because it requires ...
Kerry Jackson
December 2, 2019
California
California’s AB 5 will kill the gig economy and force more companies to leave
Proposition 13 was called the political equivalent of a sonic boom by economist Art Laffer. In limiting how much local governments could drain from Californians through property taxes, fed-up voters changed the political landscape with the 1978 ballot measure in a way that few state policies have, before or since. ...
Kerry Jackson
October 14, 2019
Blog
Is the Gig Up After Signing of AB 5?
Now that dust has settled after the signing of perhaps the hottest bill this legislative session – Assembly Bill 5 – what’s next for those who work in the gig economy? A panel of free-market advocates and subject matter experts recently got together to discuss the bill’s aftermath at Pacific ...
Evan Harris
October 9, 2019
Worker Freedom No More
Love it or hate it, for a variety of reasons when California enacts public policy the impact is felt across the country. And so, it has been again with the January 1st implementation of California’s Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), the so called “gig employment” law that changes the worker status ...
Bernie’s Math Problem
Anyone in earshot of a television set, or a smart phone, is undoubtedly aware that the undisputed front-runner in the Democratic Primary wants to spend more money – a lot of it. And, while these policies are economically flawed, Senator Sanders also has a fundamental math problem. Reviewing his website, there ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Will California’s Ban on Freelance Work Lead to Blue State Turnaround?
The backlash over California’s Assembly Bill 5, legislation that robs workers of their freedom, was likely not expected by lawmakers. They’re accustomed to an electorate that agreeably goes along with whatever policies they impose, no matter how invasive. The response to AB5, which outlaws, with a few exceptions, freelance and ...
China Catches Cold from the Wuhan Coronavirus—and the World Sneezes.
The outbreak of infections from a novel virus that appears to have originated in Central China has elicited a storm of commentary, much of it uninformed. Opinions have ranged from predictions of a worldwide apocalypse to dismissal of quarantines and “social distancing” as a kind of public relations stunt by ...
Assembly Bill 5 is already destroying jobs and opportunities
With Assembly Bill 5, lawmakers not only came up with a solution for which there is no problem, they created hardships where there were none before. The bill was peddled as means to establish fairness for California freelance and independent contractors. No longer will they be “exploited” by businesses. The ...
What We’re Watching – December 13
Rowena Itchon – Brexit and this week’s UK Election If you’re following the British elections and Brexit, here’s a terrific interview with Dan Hannan, Conservative Member of the European Parliament by Nick Gillespie of Reason. Kerry Jackson – How Los Angeles is Spending Homeless Dollars Inefficiently Cities, counties and the ...
Gig Economy Firms Fight California Overreach with $110 Million Initiative
In a rational response to Assembly Bill 5, which in effect outlaws the gig economy, ride-share and delivery companies have proposed a November 2020 ballot measure aimed at protecting their businesses. But it wouldn’t repeal the law. Shouldn’t that have been the goal? AB 5 doesn’t leave businesses much time to adapt. It becomes law ...
California’s Assembly Bill 5 Is A Virus Moving Across the Country
The flood of lousy legislation that has poured out of Sacramento for the last two decades or so truly astonishes in its volume. As fourth-rate as the lawmaking has been, though, nothing has been worse than Assembly Bill 5, an existential threat to both jobs and businesses because it requires ...
California’s AB 5 will kill the gig economy and force more companies to leave
Proposition 13 was called the political equivalent of a sonic boom by economist Art Laffer. In limiting how much local governments could drain from Californians through property taxes, fed-up voters changed the political landscape with the 1978 ballot measure in a way that few state policies have, before or since. ...
Is the Gig Up After Signing of AB 5?
Now that dust has settled after the signing of perhaps the hottest bill this legislative session – Assembly Bill 5 – what’s next for those who work in the gig economy? A panel of free-market advocates and subject matter experts recently got together to discuss the bill’s aftermath at Pacific ...