In a recent article – “We fact checked the most common claims about San Francisco crime”, the San Francisco Chronicle outrageously attempted to defend the state of crime in San Francisco as well as the recall facing District Attorney Chesa Boudin. ...
21 January, 2022 | Steve Smith
There has been much speculation on Right by the Bay and elsewhere about how Gov. Gavin Newsom will address surging state tax revenue to meet the requirements of the so-called Gann Limit. Newsom promised in his 3-hour marathon Jan. 10 budget press con...
20 January, 2022 | Tim Anaya
When Inside California Politics host Frank Buckley asked California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon whether he feels differently about the new attempt to bring single-payer health care to California (AB 1400) versus the last bill in 2017 (SB 562), Re...
19 January, 2022 | Rowena Itchon
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 ...
18 January, 2022 | M. Nolan Gray
A new proposal to continue high levels of funding for California school districts would, if enacted, remove incentives for the public schools to improve themselves. State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge), chair of the powerful Senate ...
18 January, 2022 | Lance Izumi
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. Mayb...
17 January, 2022 | Kerry Jackson
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14 January, 2022 | Lance Izumi
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 al...
14 January, 2022 | Rowena Itchon
What among the governor’s proposals will most advance students’ recovery from the pandemic and why? The governor proposes to significantly expand early childhood programs and says this spending can provide very young children “the skills and tools ne...
13 January, 2022 | Lance Izumi
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...
13 January, 2022 | Kerry Jackson
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...
12 January, 2022 | Tim Anaya
America’s current labor shortages have highlighted an important truth: we need more people with useable trade skills and less people with nearly worthless woke-laden diplomas and degrees. Students are beginning to understand this economic reality an...
11 January, 2022 | Lance Izumi
Listen to Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discuss his new book The Homeschool Boom on “The Bill Bunkley Show” on WTBN Radio in Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL. The interview begins at the 1:35:00 mark. ShareTwee...
10 January, 2022 | Pacific Research Institute
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...
10 January, 2022 | Kerry Jackson
A few days ago, I called my pediatrician to set appointments for my children. One child needed to be seen for a potential UTI, the infant needed the next round of standard vaccinations. However, because one child had symptoms related to Covid-19 (a s...
07 January, 2022 | McKenzie Richards
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 v...
06 January, 2022 | M. Nolan Gray
An end-of-the-year tradition among reporters, commentators, and more recently laptop pundits is the compilation of legislation that becomes law with the turn of the calendar. California being California, there is never a shortage of new rules to live...
05 January, 2022 | Kerry Jackson
Just before the pandemic struck, a new law infected California. Known as AB 5, the law upended 30 years of the freedom for people to work as independent contractors and reclassified millions as employees. The worst of legislative hubris, the law was ...
04 January, 2022 | Bartlett Cleland
Is it possible that there is a state more fixated on climate than California? An ever-lengthening series of state- and local-government prohibitions in an effort to cool Earth are both famous and infamous. But enough is never enough. Starting in the ...
03 January, 2022 | Kerry Jackson
What does the future hold for America? Roadblocks for choice in education? COVID mandates forever? Inflation through the roof? Socialist “Medicare for All” proposals, which would require brutal tax increases and discourage promising young men and wom...
31 December, 2021 | Sally C. Pipes
What do evergreen trees, ham, turkey, eggnog, and champagne all have in common? The holidays, yes, but also America’s agriculture — most notably the great agricultural states of the West. Let’s start with Thanksgiving dinner. Our colleague Pam...
29 December, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
There are many myths that surround homeschooling, but one of the biggest is that it is too difficult for parents to homeschool their children with special needs. However, the reality is that many parents homeschool their special needs children becau...
28 December, 2021 | Lance Izumi
A new study from the University at Texas, Austin documents the state of electricity competition in the U.S. with a state-by-state scorecard ranking the competitiveness of each state’s market. PRI’s Electricity Reality Report and accompanying study ha...
27 December, 2021 | Tim Anaya
The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced earlier this month that energy prices in the U.S. rose 33 percent for the 12 months ending November. In many regions of California, prices rose even higher. In the L.A.-Long Beach-Anaheim region, energy price...
23 December, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
An innovative project to squeeze water from the desert to help quench perpetually thirsty Southern California showed some promise – until the Biden administration decided to halt the plans. The courts might rule against the White House, but for now i...
22 December, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discusses the growth in homeschooling and his new book The Homeschool Boom on “The Chat” on KFDA-TV (CBS) and KGNC Radio in Amarillo, TX. ShareTweetPinShare...
21 December, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Last week, I wrote about the “key values” put forward by Senate Democrats for their approach to the 2022-23 state budget process. Assembly Democrats quickly followed up by releasing their own “budget blueprint,” which like their Senate counterparts,...
21 December, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Earlier this year, the American Medical Association (AMA) reported that in 2020, physician-owned medical practices are no longer in the majority. For the first time in American health care, over half of all U.S. physicians work for a hospital or heal...
20 December, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
By Lance Izumi and Wenyuan Wu After enacting a controversial bill mandating ethnic studies in high school, California is set to consider a woke math framework sometime in the new year. Surprisingly and importantly, key opposition to this proposal is...
20 December, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
A few months back, Gov. Gavin Newsom claimed Texas middle-class families “pay more taxes than middle-class families in California,” and he dared anyone to check him on it. We did, and he was wrong. Now he’s claiming that crime in Texas is worse tha...
17 December, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Through the brilliance of scientists, the ingenuity of the life sciences industry, and the mobilization of taxpayer dollars, COVID-19 vaccines have been developed and distributed in record time. By now, all American adults who want to be vaccinated h...
16 December, 2021 | Roger Bate
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced a zero percent water allocation on Dec. 1. The water agency said that the drought has forced state water regulators to prioritize “health and safety water needs” and that water deliveries a...
15 December, 2021 | Evan Harris
Shortly after the New Year’s holiday, Gov. Gavin Newsom will kick off “state budget season” when he releases his 2022-23 state budget proposal on January 10. In a sign that perhaps lawmakers won’t be ceding as much of the spotlight to Newsom in 2022 ...
14 December, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Despite assurances that California’s economy is a treasure to behold – “We are world-beating in terms of our economic growth,” says Gov. Gavin Newsom – the post-pandemic recovery has a gaping hole in it. State unemployment is the highest ...
13 December, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Well, it’s official: Southern California’s infamous traffic is back to pre-pandemic levels. Worse yet, according to one estimate for SR 91—connecting Los Angeles to her Orange and Riverside suburbs—it might actually be worse. While morning commutes h...
10 December, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
KMUW | By Suzanne Perez Published December 8, 2021 at 1:46 PM CST WICHITA, Kansas — Worried about safety, resistant to mask orders and troubled by a lack of confidence in public schools, thousands more Kansas parents are opting to teach their kids at...
09 December, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
No drum roll needed. The answer to the question “which state is the worst for drivers?” is obvious. It’s California. An analysis of “diverse datasets covering cost, safety, driving quality and weather” by Bankrate yielded the most unsurprising result...
09 December, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Our colleagues at Open The Books did a deep dive into the deep state with their outstanding new report: Mapping the Swamp: A Study of the Administrative State, FY 2020. This eye-popping report shows just how big and bloated — not to mention co...
08 December, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Several months ago, I received a call from my OB-GYN. They cancelled my upcoming appointment yet again, offering a new appointment in two weeks. It was their third cancellation in a row, and I had already not been seen in over a month. Sensing my......
07 December, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
Despite taking in record state tax revenue over the past year, California lawmakers proposed more than $236.4 billion in new taxes and fees in 2021, finds the annual “Tax and Fee Report” just released by the California Tax Foundation. Over the past t...
06 December, 2021 | Tim Anaya
With California losing a seat in the U.S. House because due to its flat population growth, maybe Sacramento should try to convince Washington to count robots as residents in the next census. Because they’re on their way. In the first nine months of 2...
06 December, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Under a headline that will alarm many, the Sacramento Bee covered the story of 2022 ballot proposals that would change the California Constitution and require the state to help parents with private school tuition. “Gut unions and boost private school...
03 December, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discusses his new book The Homeschool Boom with host Tim Gaydos on “Live from Seattle” on KGNW Radio in Seattle. ShareTweetPinShare...
03 December, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Recently, San Diego moved to eliminate minimum parking regulations for businesses near transit and in neighborhood commercial areas. As reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune, the measure—which ended the practice of local regulators telling certain ...
02 December, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
California seems to have become a plunderers’ paradise. Thieves have moved on from shoplifting with large garbage bags at drug stores to violent smash-and-run raids on retailers, some of them during the middle of the day. Neiman-Marcus, Nordstrom, Sa...
01 December, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Today marks Giving Tuesday—a global movement to inspire generosity around the world. At the Pacific Research Institute, we are grateful to all our donors who have generously supported our work to advance market-driven policies that fulfill our missio...
30 November, 2021 | Ben Smithwick
Listen to Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discuss his new book The Homeschool Boom on The David Webb Show on Sirius XM Patriot, Channel 125. ShareTweetPinShare...
29 November, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Late last month the Biden Administration finally got around to nominating a new commissioner to the Federal Communications Commission to replace Chairman Ajit Pai, who left the FCC at the beginning of the year. Also nominated was a current commission...
29 November, 2021 | Bartlett Cleland
Terry McAuliffe sank his Virginia gubernatorial bid with his condescension toward parents, typified in his claim that experts, not parents, were the only ones qualified to choose school curricula. “I love Billy and Jack McAuliffe, my parents, but the...
26 November, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Right by the Bay is proud to present our annual tradition – PRI’s 2021 holiday book list. Each year, we offer suggestions for the booklover on your holiday shopping list. This year’s selections include fiction, classics, books on history and sports...
25 November, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
All Californians traveling this Thanksgiving by automobile will be paying steep prices for gasoline. Those who have a little cash left over after filling up can indulge in a meager (compared to last year) turkey day meal. As of Nov. 22, California ha...
24 November, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Some years ago — not long after the debt crisis in Greece – I took a cruise around the Greek Isles. As we drove past rows of villas and yachts outside of Athens, our tour guide made this snarky comment: according to the country’s tax......
23 November, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
The San Francisco Chronicle recently asked if residents should “tolerate a high level of burglaries as a downside of city living, and focus on barricading their homes?” Or, if that’s not satisfactory, “should people who are repeatedly accused of st...
22 November, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Over the summer, the Los Angeles City Council Public Safety Committee approved a proposal to expand Fire District 1, an anachronistic planning overlay that would effectively ban wood-frame construction in much of the city. Superficially premised as a...
19 November, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
Listen to PRI’s Lance Izumi discuss his new book The Homeschool Boom on the nationally-syndicated Lars Larson Show. TheLarsLarsonShow · Lance Izumi – Parents pull kids from public school over demand to teach CRT ShareTweetPinShare...
18 November, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
By Wayne Winegarden and Celine Bookin Billionaire investor Mark Cuban’s pharmaceutical company, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, is hoping to disrupt the pharmaceutical benefit management (PBM) industry with a new venture that seeks to address ...
18 November, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Care to guess the last time the governor’s office issued a new fracking permit? It was February. Now that’s a meaningless fact without context, so let’s put it perspective: Even though “Newsom endorsed an end to fracking” while running for governor i...
17 November, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
The California State Legislature’s Assembly Select Committee on Ports and Goods Movement hearing recently gave us a 240-minute summary of where things stand with the supply chain backlog in California. It provided insight from executives at the port ...
16 November, 2021 | Evan Harris
DOWNLOAD THE PDF The recent record-breaking bomb cyclone that replenished depleted reservoirs and swelled shriveling rivers was not enough to break the drought. So parched is the state that Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency, a condi...
16 November, 2021 | Dana Beigel
Alicia Jessop, associate professor at Pepperdine University, sports industry leader, attorney, and journalist, discusses the massive changes to college athletics that have resulted from the change in name, image, and likeness regulations earlier this...
15 November, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
By Wayne Winegarden and Tim Anaya The last time we checked in on the debate over expanding federal electric car subsidies this summer, Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska) – citing PRI’s research showing they overwhelmingly benefit the rich – led the U.S. S...
15 November, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Book examines growing homeschool appeal to minority communities, special needs students, families fleeing conventional schools Examining the growth of homeschool enrollment in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonpartisan Pacific Research Instit...
15 November, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Inflation is worrying Americans, and for good reason. The latest inflation report, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released on November 10th, showed that prices were 6.2 percent higher in October 2021 compared to October 2020. More troubling, this was...
12 November, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
Recently, I spoke at a local military appreciation ceremony. My fellow speakers included leaders from each branch of the armed services, and we all touched on the ability of the military to transform people. In my speech I used the example of my wi...
11 November, 2021 | Lance Izumi
The scandal in Loudon County, Virginia, where the school superintendent and school board covered up the rape of a student, has made national headlines. National data indicates that such cover-ups may be occurring more frequently than the public reali...
10 November, 2021 | Lance Izumi
In its foolish rush to close every natural gas power plant in the state, officials forgot something: Californians still need power. Consequently, the AES generating station in Redondo Beach, which had been headed for the power plant equivalent of the...
09 November, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Governor Newsom let the cat of the bag recently in an interview at the Milken Institute’ annual conference – California is going to see another of what he calls a “historic budget surplus” next year. The Sacramento Bee reports that “in addition...
08 November, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Experts, scientists, and everyone in between are rushing to give their take on the recent “bomb cyclone” that dumped the most amount of rain in many parts of Northern California in nearly 150 years. Sacramento broke the single-day rain record, last s...
05 November, 2021 | Evan Harris
Been There, Done That on “Making it Rain” in High Tax, Big Spending States Democrats in Congress representing high tax, big spending states like California are pushing for restoration of the State and Local Tax (SALT) Deduction in the bud...
04 November, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
How about some gas facts? In late October, the highest price for gasoline in the country was a “mind-numbing $7.59 a gallon” for regular, $8.50 for premium in Gorda, on California’s central coast. The average prices for regular, mid-grade, and premiu...
03 November, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
The latest scheme to fund Pres. Biden’s multi-trillion social spending plan is to impose a 15 percent corporate minimum tax. Taxpayers might be wondering why it matters, since former Pres. Trump already lowered the corporate tax rate to 21 percent f...
02 November, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
In late September, something big happened: SB 9 was signed into law, effectively ending single-family zoning in California. Depending on where you get your news, it was big for one of two very different reasons. To some, it heralded the end of the su...
01 November, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
In a typical rant, Senator Sanders claimed in a September 15th press release that “at a time when the drug companies are charging us by far the highest prices in the world, Congress must demand that Medicare negotiate prices with this extremely greed...
29 October, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
From the teachers’ unions to the Biden administration, the apologists for the regular public schools have used a variety of myths to slam charter schools. A new study, however, busts these myths and undercuts Biden-supported anti-charter legislation...
28 October, 2021 | Lance Izumi
We’ve all heard about it by now – the supply chain crisis and the bottlenecks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Last month, the “dwell time” – the time a container stays on a terminal between unloading from a ship and removal......
27 October, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Like most Sacramentans on Sunday, I was out in the pouring rain raking leaves out of the street gutters, trying to keep water from coming into the house during our record day of rainfall. Every year during moderate to heavy storms, I like to joke......
26 October, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Much has become verboten in some form or fashion in California. Consumer-friendly items such as single-use plastic bags that had been customarily given to grocery store customers, plastic straws (unless asked for by patrons), and plastic water bottle...
25 October, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
The National School Board Association’s recent letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland warning about “threats of violence and acts of intimidation” by parents distracts from the much larger problem of violence and crime in schools. In its letter, ...
22 October, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Last week, the Biden administration announced the proposal to develop seven major offshore wind farms on the east and west coasts of the United States. Biden said he wants to build tens of thousands of wind turbines and generate 30 gigawatts of power...
22 October, 2021 | Evan Harris
Earlier this year, Congress enacted $350 billion in “state and local government aid” as part of the so-called American Rescue Plan. This is in addition to receiving $150 billion in relief in the first federal Coronavirus Relief Fund enacted in March...
21 October, 2021 | Tim Anaya
It was 35 years ago when Ronald Reagan said at a press conference, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” And for most of the last three decades, a majority of A...
19 October, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Not surprisingly, Gov. Newsom signed controversial legislation (Assembly Bill 1346) to ban the sale of gas-powered lawn equipment. The new law will be another costly burden on the estimated nearly 8,300 landscaping businesses in the state, many of wh...
18 October, 2021 | Tim Anaya
This week, President Joe Biden announced that California ports will operate non-stop to relieve the container ship bottleneck. Major companies like FedEx, UPS, Walmart, and The Home Depot, among others, also announced they will expand their hours unl...
15 October, 2021 | Evan Harris
It was recently uncovered that back in July, Sen. Joe Manchin outlined his views on the $3.5 trillion social spending package in a memo to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. In that document, Manchin specified that no funds should be distributed ...
14 October, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Listen to Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discuss the rise in homeschooling in California and his new book, The Homeschool Boom on the KFBK Morning News in Sacramento. ShareTweetPinShare...
14 October, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Fresh on the heels of his student vaccination mandate, Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law a requirement that all California high school students take a course in ethnic studies. Despite window-dressing language meant to reassure the public th...
13 October, 2021 | Lance Izumi
2021 can best be described as another year of progressive advancement in the once-Golden State. However, there were some notable free market policy achievements that are worth applauding, specifically two bills signed by Gov. Newsom in recent days. ...
12 October, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Roxana Janka of the new Good4U coalition and campaign discusses their mission to ensure every child has the individualized educational options necessary to meet the demands of the workforce and get a good paying job. She also discusses their new sta...
11 October, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
What do a man in a bear suit, a recall, and California Governor Gavin Newsom have in common? They are all part of a stranger than fiction story about the latest bill to fall victim to the Governor’s veto pen. This week, Governor Newsom vetoed......
11 October, 2021 | Evan Harris
Not quite a year ago, California voters rejected a ballot measure that would have partially unwound Proposition 13, the landmark initiative that set off an “entrepreneurial and commercial explosion” and “a second California gold rush.” Supporters of ...
08 October, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Small businesses have still not fully recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic. A new survey from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies shows that California minority-owned small businesses have been struggling most of all. According to the ...
07 October, 2021 | Tim Anaya
In Pres. Biden’s $3.5 trillion pork reconciliation package, there’s a line item that even we limited government-types can get behind — planting trees. The question is, should the Federal government really be taking the lead? The New York Post a...
06 October, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
The New York Times calls them an “unconventional weapon against future wildfires.” Some are known as “Fire Grazers.” To most of us, though, they’re just goats. But they provide a valuable service: eating the “type of vegetation (that) is known as the...
05 October, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Very late to the party, last month I made my first financial transaction using Venmo. It’s hard to write to the next line and not come off like President Bush 41 being wowed by seeing scanners at a grocery store, but I was amazed at......
04 October, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Windmills on the water. Get ready for them. They’re on their way, thanks to a recently signed bill. The new law requires the state’s Energy Commission “to evaluate and quantify the maximum feasible capacity of” offshore wind energy in federal waters,...
01 October, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
“Find a bad guy you can beat up in the stairwell.” That’s the main takeaway from a LinkedIn post I read recently on marketing. The post explained how big brands engage in witty ads to poke fun at competitors and try and make memorable marketing......
30 September, 2021 | Evan Harris
The COVID-19 pandemic may have been the crack in the dam that allowed parents’ building frustration with the regular public schools to burst forth. Public school enrollment is nose-diving across the country, with legions of parents everywhere choosi...
29 September, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Back in 2014, when I was in my past life working for elected officials, I found myself engaged in one of the more annoying parts of the job – “volunteering” on political campaigns. One day, my volunteer efforts took me to a neighborhood in San......
28 September, 2021 | Tim Anaya
I recently read an eye-popping article by business writer Andy Serwer, who reported that nearly one-third of working-age men in America “aren’t doing diddly squat. They don’t have a job, and they aren’t looking for one either.” All total, that’s nea...
27 September, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Watch Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discuss the growth in homeschooling enrollment and his upcoming book “The Homeschool Boom” with host Chance Seales on “Newsy Tonight” on Newsy. ShareTweet...
24 September, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Thousands of Afghans who escaped as the Taliban was overtaking their country are being relocated in the U.S. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, “proud,” he said, “of the fact that, over the last decade, the state has taken in more refugees than any ot...
24 September, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
In August, I detailed the $42 billion broadband grant program proposed in the $3.5 trillion infrastructure package. Not to be outdone, California is pursuing its own broadband grant program expansion. Connectivity to the internet is a must for educat...
23 September, 2021 | Evan Harris
In the coming weeks, nearly a million Californians will be returning to college campuses across the Golden State as in-person instruction resumes within the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems. Many students, f...
22 September, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
Been There, Done That on Broken Promises on Wildfire Prevention While touring wildfire damage in Northern California, President Biden touted billions in proposed federal dollars for wildfire resilience and forest management. But California dollars t...
21 September, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Lance Izumi joins NewsDay Amarillo on KFDA to talk about his new book, The Homeschool Boom. Izumi’s book examines why parents and students are pursuing homeschool options after school closures, ShareTweetPinShare...
20 September, 2021 | Lance Izumi
On January 1st, 2021, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid gifted the American people with a new rule requiring price transparency in healthcare. The federal rule requires hospitals to publish cash prices, prices with insurance plans, and minimum/ma...
20 September, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
On Wednesday, the day after millions of Californians cast ballots in the Newsom recall election, there was a common refrain in Sacramento. Prominent advocates of big government and perpetually increasing government spending were suddenly transformed ...
17 September, 2021 | Tim Anaya
When states claim to be first at something, it’s usually cause for pride. But in California, it’s often a signal to head for the hills – or rather, to other states. In another first in the nation, the California Legislature passed a bill last week.....
16 September, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
6,163,001 reasons for California voters to recall Gavin Newsom on Tuesday By Deroy Murdock There are 6,163,001 reasons for California voters to recall Gavin Newsom on Tuesday. That’s the number of K-12 students who largely are ill-served by the Golde...
15 September, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Californians who have been seen power supplies become more unreliable in recent years have increasingly turned to gas-powered electric generators to keep the lights on during “public safety power shutoffs.” According to the industry trade group, ther...
15 September, 2021 | Tim Anaya
When then-Gov. Ronald Reagan signed CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act, into law in 1970, it’s unlikely anyone thought it would eventually be equipped with a warhead and then used to harm business rivals, block development for political r...
14 September, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Our guest this week on PRI’s Next Round podcast is Lance Izumi, senior director of education. Lance discusses his upcoming book The Homeschool Boom: Pandemic, Policies, and Possibilities. There’s been a homeschooling boom during the pandemic, as pa...
13 September, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
The politics of “Not in My Backyard” (NIMBY) have helped to make California one of the most expensive states in the country by blocking the construction of much-needed housing. But did you know that the same impulses once imperiled one of the region’...
13 September, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
Twenty years ago, my day began fairly routinely for the middle of September. I was up early preparing to go to work for the final week of the legislative session – traditionally the busiest week of the year. I had the radio on while brushing......
10 September, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Toddlers are funny little creatures – simultaneously overly dependent and highly independent. With the newfound discovery of willpower, the tiny humans constantly experiment in testing boundaries. My toddler is characteristically sweet and obedient. ...
09 September, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
Voters wary of the deluge of campaign advertising related to recall election be warned. The next multi-million-dollar ballot fight is just around the corner. According to Politico, “major gambling players (including DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM) i...
08 September, 2021 | Tim Anaya
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT The following is a speech given by Lance Izumi, senior director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute, to The Parent Union on August 19, 2021. There is so much going on in education, both in California and ...
07 September, 2021 | Lance Izumi
PRI’s podcast guest this week is Corey DeAngelis, executive director of the Educational Freedom Institute, director of research for the National Federation for Children, and a fellow at the Cato Institute and the Reason Foundation. He is interviewed ...
06 September, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Who is going to be first in line to buy if Elon Musk is able to build a humanoid robot in the future? A best guess would be owners of the California companies whose businesses are threatened by the state’s steep minimum wage and other......
06 September, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Just a few months back, Petaluma in Sonoma County outlawed the construction of new gas stations, the first city in the nation to do so. Anyone who thought such an extreme measure would end there was being naive. Rather than a one-off event, the Petal...
02 September, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Three years ago, lamenting over the politicization of fashion magazines, Sally Pipes and I tried our hand as fashion editors and featured the Men of PRI in all their finery for PRI’s September Issue blog. Little did we know then of the origins of wom...
01 September, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
PRI’s Lance Izumi joins Newsday Amarillo in Texas to talk about the rise of homeschooling in education due to COVID-19 and the pandemic. ShareTweetPinShare...
31 August, 2021 | Lance Izumi
One of the Legislature’s jobs in the final month of the 2021 session is to make a high-speed rail funding decision. The question is how many more billions will be wasted this year on a project that sensible lawmakers would have abandoned long ago....
31 August, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
The results of the 2020 Census are out, and they aren’t pretty for the Golden State, with California set to lose a House seat for the first time in history. While states like Texas and Florida boomed over the past decades, the population of Californi...
30 August, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
At PRI, we can’t claim to be foreign policy experts or military strategists, but as Californians, we do know something about bureaucratic nightmares. All we need look to is the scandal at the Employment Development Department, which paid out more th...
27 August, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Fuel breaks are the latest battle ground between the state, environmental advocates who argue for “hardening homes for wildfire,” and state wildfire officials as California experiences another dangerous season of wildfires. If you are not familiar wi...
26 August, 2021 | Evan Harris
President Biden’s American Families Plan promises expansive benefits to families such as free universal preschool, two years of free community college, child tax credits, and a paid family leave program amongst many other attractive (but expensive) i...
25 August, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
Forgive us if we sound like a broken record, but the exodus of California businesses out of the state to more affordable and competitive economic climates grew worse last week. The Los Angeles Times reports that the latest corporate headquarters to a...
24 August, 2021 | Tim Anaya
I’ve been back in the office full-time for nearly three months now, but I still can’t get over how pricey everything has become. The chicken salad at the burger stand in our office building is $12.75. Add a Diet Pepsi ($2.75) and the tab becomes......
23 August, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Gov. Gavin Newsom made waves this week when he said that mandatory state water restrictions could be coming soon to a dry lawn near you. “At the moment, we’re doing great,” Newsom said. “But if we enter another year of drought – and as you......
20 August, 2021 | Tim Anaya
The EdChoice “Big Ideas” podcast interviewed Lance Izumi, senior director for the Center for Education at Pacific Research Institute, about his recent book A Kite in the Hurricane No More. Lance talks about Mia Giordano, a co-author and f...
19 August, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Of the Senate’s $1.1 trillion infrastructure bill, California expects to receive at least $39.4 billion over the next five years to help rebuild its roads and bridges, and to improve public transportation. The problem is, writes Reason’s Adrian Moore...
19 August, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Gov. Gavin Newsom, running for his political life, is right, not everything is grim in California. At the same time, a lot of damage has been done over the last 25 years. Don’t believe it? Take a look at any list that ranks the states......
18 August, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
In the controversy over the proposed “woke” California math curriculum framework, which has thankfully been shelved for at least the time being, proponents often pointed to San Francisco as an example where a similar math program supposedly improved ...
17 August, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Today, the Legislature reconvenes for the final month of the 2021 legislative session. For the next four weeks, lawmakers will be on a mad dash to finalize its work before the September 10 deadline. This year’s legislative session can best be descri...
16 August, 2021 | Tim Anaya
With uncertainty over the impact of the COVID-19 Delta variant on the start of the upcoming school year, new research shows the extent of learning loss and mental health problems experienced by students during the pandemic-caused school closures. No...
13 August, 2021 | Lance Izumi
You may have missed it amidst the “vote-a-rama” on dozens of amendments to the Senate Democrats’ $3.5 billion budget reconciliation bill being voted on early Wednesday morning, but a key bipartisan vote could put an end to what PRI has termed “costly...
12 August, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Watch Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discusses the push by states like Oregon to suspend high school graduation standards in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic with host Chance Seales on Newsy TV. ShareTweetPinS...
11 August, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Judging from the reaction to Larry Elder’s comment that the appropriate minimum wage is zero, one would think he had suggested harvesting California’s iconic giant sequoias or closing the Golden Gate Bridge. But what the radio talk show host an...
11 August, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
According to a recent study by real estate data firm CoreLogic, 2021 saw the highest annual growth in home values since 1979. Across high growth regions like the Mountain West and South, this has triggered a building boom as developers struggle to ke...
10 August, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
This summer, San Francisco’s politicians have likely endured their coldest winter ever. As we write, there are no less than four recall efforts underway – three school board members and the district attorney. If we throw in the statewide effort to ...
09 August, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
President Biden announced new federal action on Thursday designed to increase the role of government officials as car salesmen. Politico reports that Biden signed an executive order “setting a target that half of all new vehicle sales by 2030 will b...
06 August, 2021 | Tim Anaya
The public got a look at the 2,702-page federal infrastructure bill on Sunday, giving the country more details on how the Biden administration will tackle broadband infrastructure investment. The $65 billion being doled out to states for broadband co...
05 August, 2021 | Evan Harris
This year, the Supreme Court overturned 15 of the 16 cases originating from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The largest of the circuits, the Ninth encompasses California, Alaska, Arizona, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Northern Mariana Isl...
04 August, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
Voters will be given a chance next year to outlaw Styrofoam take-out food packaging. Is this a necessary step, or another instance of the California rush to ban yet another consumer convenience? The proposition, one of four statewide measures schedul...
03 August, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
These days, many of us have been glued to the screen, watching unfold the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. However, there is one human drama that’s getting little attention – Olympic fashion. I don’t mean the gold lamé cape worn by Angola...
02 August, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
At long last, it’s finally “Infrastructure Week.” On Wednesday, a group of Republican and Democrat senators resolved their final differences with President Biden and reached a long-elusive agreement on a bipartisan infrastructure bill authorizing $55...
30 July, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Recently, the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) at the California Department of Education decided to postpone the release of the controversial and ideological 2021 Mathematics Framework to December 2021 at the earliest. This unexpected retreat c...
29 July, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
The official word is that the videos of San Francisco shoplifters are not accurate representations of crime in the city. The San Francisco Chronicle recently reported that Police Chief Bill Scott and Mayor London Breed have “sought to tamp down growi...
29 July, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
COVID-19 launched a whole host of trends, from house remodeling to restaurant delivery to working from home. But who knew that tax relief would become in vogue? Thanks to revenue windfalls and the prospect of employees working from anywhere, state ...
28 July, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Local government ordinances in California often require that a portion of homes in new housing projects be made available to low-income buyers. One program in a Southern California city may not only fail to help low-income buyers, but it may actually...
27 July, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
A couple of weeks ago, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the White House was working with Facebook and other social media companies to target accounts spreading misinformation. Reaction to her comments and answers from reporters varied,...
26 July, 2021 | Evan Harris
Watch Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discuss the problems with politics in the classroom on “The Chat” on Newschannel 10, KFDA-TV, in Amarillo, TX. Click here to watch the interview ShareTweetPinShare...
23 July, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
DOWNLOAD PDF Two waves have rolled through California in 2021. One so hot that high temperature records were set throughout the state. The other so chilling that stores have shortened their hours and even closed altogether to avoid it. By now, the vi...
23 July, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
The wide funding gap between regular public schools and charter schools is often explained by charter opponents as due to the larger number of special-education students in regular public schools versus charter schools. A just released study, howeve...
22 July, 2021 | Lance Izumi
The state of California is in the midst of a Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) cycle. It happens every eight years, and with the sixth cycle currently underway, you’ve no doubt seen headlines about it. For the uninitiated, it probably seems li...
21 July, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
The same city that requires employers to pay workers at least $16.32 an hour, far more than twice the federal minimum wage, also limits how much some businesses can charge for their services. It’s enough to send some companies seeking relief from the...
20 July, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Mixed messaging continues to be a problem for the Newsom administration in its efforts to get more Californians to get vaccinated. Right now, roughly 61 percent of Californians are fully vaccinated, complicating efforts to reach its 70 percent plus g...
19 July, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Fracking is being phased out in California. Not for any rational reason. The process of hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas is in part responsible for the long-term drop in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But because fracking has been vilified...
16 July, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
After six years and no less than three amici filed by PRI, we are gratified that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Americans’ First Amendment right to make donations to charities such as PRI. The Court struck down as facially unconstitutional the Califor...
15 July, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
The wages of California city planning spare no man—not even George Lucas. As recently as late 2020, the filmmaker sued the California town of San Anselmo to clear up a “surveying error” that may revert a portion of his property to the heirs of its......
14 July, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
The latest Washington buzz has the Senate likely voting on the bipartisan infrastructure deal and the federal budget resolution that will fuel President Biden’s big spending plans by sometime in August. But the debate over the repeal of the state and...
13 July, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Paraphrasing President Reagan, “California’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” In this case, Governor Newsom wants electric vehi...
12 July, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
The 2020-21 school year has ended with failures across the education landscape. In the face of this education catastrophe, President Joe Biden earns a disappointing “D” on his end-of-semester report card. From still-not-fully-reopened sch...
09 July, 2021 | Lance Izumi
The Golden State’s high-speed rail project, moving slower than a handcar and carrying fewer passengers, seems to be losing the popularity it once enjoyed. On the same day the Legislature passed a budget with no money for the bullet train, we learned ...
09 July, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
President Biden has proposed $174 billion in federal electric car subsidies, which research shows have been little more than giveaways to wealthy car buyers. California Has “Been There, Done That” California is one of the nation’s leaders in o...
08 July, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
With multiple wildfires raging across Northern California, you would think Gov. Newsom would be in line for good headlines for his handling of the wildfire fighting and prevention efforts. Think again. The Governor is apparently burning bridges wit...
07 July, 2021 | Evan Harris
Necessity is the mother of invention – perhaps that’s why JP Morgan Chase recently bought OpenInvest, a San Francisco-based start-up that provides financial advisors the technology to customize a portfolio of ESG stocks. Rather than put their client...
06 July, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
A few weeks ago, a neighbor knocked on my door. “My windows were smashed last night, but nothing was stolen,” she explained, clearly stressed, “my Ring camera caught the crime on film, but I could not identify the man or see the vehicle he left......
02 July, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
Student athletes got a big win on Monday, June 21, 2021, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, cannot limit education-related benefits like graduate scholarships, computers, paid intern...
01 July, 2021 | Evan Harris
Watch PRI’s senior director of the Center for Education Lance Izumi talk to News Channel 10 Amarillo’s “The Chat” about Biden’s educational policies in 2021. Izumi grades the federal response to education with the loosen...
30 June, 2021 | Lance Izumi
The phrase “going green” is supposed to evoke images of bright, clear and clean skies; lush vegetation; the efficient and effective use of resources; and cheap, non-polluting energy. Yet it produces more darkness than light. With the arrival of inten...
30 June, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Lawmakers on Monday voted on what’s now commonly referred to as a “Budget Bill Jr.” Since the passage of Prop. 25, which enacted a majority vote budget and docked lawmaker pay if budgets were adopted past June 15, lawmakers have routinely passed on-t...
29 June, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Now and then during one’s work life, a colleague comes up with something so clever that your heart twinges with envy. This happened to me the other day when I stumbled upon the CalMatters “Spend the Surplus Game,” the brainchild of John Osborn D’Ago...
28 June, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Ronald Reagan famously remarked that “the most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” Eater San Francisco reports that the City by the Bay “became the first city in the country to pass a permane...
25 June, 2021 | Tim Anaya
A new state law in Colorado attempted to close gender pay gaps. Instead, the “Equal Pay for Equal Work Act” is excluding Colorado candidates from remote work positions. The main issue with SB 19-085, passed in the Colorado State Legislature in 2019, ...
24 June, 2021 | Evan Harris
In a budget hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Attorney General Merrick Garland assured Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, “I promise you, it will be at the top of my list.” Tops on the Justice Department’s To Do List pledged Garland, is t...
23 June, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
“Won’t you get hip to this timely tip: When you make that California trip, get your kicks on Route 66.” – Bobby Troup, “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” Coinciding with inflation rising faster than it has in 13 years, the cost of driving in......
22 June, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Gail Heriot, a law professor at the University of San Diego, was co-chair of both the campaign for California’s Prop. 209 in 1996 and the successful campaign to prevent its repeal in 2020. Editor of the new book A Dubious Expediency, she offers compe...
21 June, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
For those supporting colorblind policies that embody the 1964 Civil Rights Act’s directive against race-based discrimination, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to keep open the possibility of hearing the Harvard anti-Asian discrimination case ...
21 June, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Like a baby going goo-goo, Governor Gavin Newsom is gaga for state-funded preschool and has proposed a massive pre-K program in his recent revised budget. The evidence, however, shows that universal preschool will not improve student achievement and...
21 June, 2021 | Lance Izumi
California is in the grips of an unprecedented housing crisis, which has sent hundreds of thousands of Californians packing for affordable states like Arizona and Nevada. Here in Los Angeles, both home prices and homelessness have hit record highs, a...
21 June, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
Inspired by California’s high-speed rail debacle, the Biden Administration and liberals in Congress have proposed spending tens of billions of dollars to build new high-speed rail networks nationwide. California Has “Been There, Done That” California...
18 June, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
DOWNLOAD PDF Not too terribly long ago, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said that to meet demand, each year the state needed 100,000 new housing units in addition to the 100,000 to 140,000 that are expected to be built annually, an impossibility in ...
17 June, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
We were sixth in line when the banker came outside to address the long line which stretched down the street for half a mile. He spoke in Spanish, “we are all out of money, come back next week!” I shook my head in frustration, wondering......
16 June, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
The Queen Mary, docked in Long Beach since 1967, could sink “if something is not done soon,” the media reported last week. An overactive imagination isn’t needed to see this as a metaphor for California. “After years of neglect by a string of operat...
15 June, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
That sound you heard at the State Capitol last week was constitutional officers and state lawmakers running for cover. “Gov. Gavin Newsom, California legislators and other state elected officials were approved to receive a 4.2% salary increase this y...
14 June, 2021 | Tim Anaya
During my past life at the State Capitol, I had the pleasure to mentor many great interns. I would host one or two interns at a time, who would work for four months during summer break or during the semester while attending college. My former......
11 June, 2021 | Tim Anaya
It’s been 45 years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Regents of the University of California v. Bakke – the case that opened the door to “diversity” admissions at America’s colleges and universities. What’s happened since this landmark ...
10 June, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Railing about sky high drug prices makes good political theater and helps drum up support for the latest attempt to impose drug price controls (H.R. 3 or the Lower Drug Costs Now Act). This accusation also perpetuates misinformation. If implemented, ...
09 June, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
If you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that California is currently in the grips of a worsening housing affordability crisis. I take that back—if you’re living under a rock, you’re probably acutely aware of this fact. Before the pandemic, ...
08 June, 2021 | M. Nolan Gray
In addressing the nation’s falling fertility rates, many well-meaning pro-natalists advocate for cash incentives and higher tax credits for families with children. Countries with dismal fertility rates, such as Hungary, have introduced generous progr...
07 June, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
On Wednesday, Legislative Democrats announced a budget “deal” amongst themselves, passing their own 2021-22 state budget plan. Now the ball is in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s court to reach agreement on a final budget before the June 15 constitutional deadli...
04 June, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Board of Education Opposes Bill That Takes Aim at Charter Schools By Jack Bradley The Orange County Board of Education passed a resolution June 2 to oppose a bill that it claims would harm charter schools. Introduced by California Assemblyman Patrick...
03 June, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
The Biden Administration wants to impose a national version of California’s unrealistic and unaffordable renewable energy mandates. California Has “Been There, Done That” California has established the nation’s most aggressive renewable portfolio goa...
03 June, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
While many California school districts have floundered during the COVID-19 pandemic, Democrats in the California Legislature are taking aim again at charter schools, which are among the few remaining school-choice options available for parents dissat...
02 June, 2021 | Lance Izumi
In a state where residents are increasingly given orders rather than more choices, an unelected group has decided that by 2030, 90% of all rideshare miles must occur in electric cars. We’re expected to accept this as progress. It will turn out to be ...
02 June, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Back in February, Tim Anaya and I interviewed for PRI’s Next Round podcast Cynthia Ariosta and Carl Dene, small business owners in Napa Valley, to get their perspective on Gov. Newsom’s COVID restrictions on small businesses. This heart-wrenching int...
01 June, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Today marks the unofficial start of the summer season. Unlike last year, Americans might be able to take a vacation and go somewhere this summer as we begin to turn the corner on the Covid-19 pandemic. What’s one of the most important things you’ll...
31 May, 2021 | Tim Anaya
With California just weeks away from a full re-opening, the state has sent out a small army of people who are “knocking on doors in order to get as many Californians vaccinated as possible,” the Sacramento Bee reported last week. Did no one think thi...
28 May, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
By Wayne Winegarden and Tim Anaya After hiring defeated Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs as a special advisor and flush with a $75.7 billion budget surplus, it was probably inevitable that universal basic income would be included in Gov. Newsom’s massive...
27 May, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
As part of its May Revise rollout, the Newsom administration announced $5.1 billion for water infrastructure and drought response. While the announcement invests on funding better data collection, continuing the implementation of Sustainable Groundwa...
26 May, 2021 | Evan Harris
The planned early release of 76,000 inmates from California prisons is a big meal not well digested by prosecutors across the state. “Allowing the early release of the most dangerous criminals, shortening sentences as much as 50%, impacts crime victi...
25 May, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
PRI’s Lance Izumi, Senior Director of the Center for Education, joined “The Chat” on KFDA in Amarillo, Texas to talk about the changing face of education in California. Izumi discusses techniques to discuss education with their kids...
24 May, 2021 | Lance Izumi
In his recently released revised budget, Governor Gavin Newsom put forward a group of proposals to “Re-Imagine California’s Public Schools.” Sadly, most of these proposals will do little to raise student achievement in a public school system that wa...
24 May, 2021 | Lance Izumi
While it took a couple months for clarity to replace idle speculation, the Biden administration’s tech and innovation public policy agenda is increasingly clear. The forecast? Government with little chance of free markets. At his recent address to Co...
21 May, 2021 | Bartlett Cleland
What did he get right? Reactions to Gov. Newsom’s K-12 budget By Andrew Reed and Alexander Montero EdSource asked education leaders, advocates and observers to comment on Gov. Newsom’s record-level, revised 2021-22 budget for K-12 education. We...
20 May, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
California taxpayers – and all Americans were given a bit of breathing room this year when the IRS announced that this year’s tax deadline would be May 17th, instead of the usual April 15th. The extra month given us to pay and file our 2020......
20 May, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Last month, the Census Bureau announced the official results of the state population counts, determining how many Electoral votes and House seats each state will have for the next decade. As was predicted, California lost a seat along with New York,...
19 May, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Living in San Francisco is a dollar-burning experience. It’s the most expensive housing market in the country, and the cost of living is higher only in Manhattan. But what about building a business in the city that fancies itself as The City? Don’t e...
18 May, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
On Friday, Gov. Newsom unveiled the “May Revise” to his 2021-22 state budget plan, proposing a record $196.8 billion in General Fund spending and $267.8 billion in total spending. Saying that the budget doesn’t “play small ball,” Newsom presented wha...
17 May, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Tim Anaya – Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Vaccinated Americans – Americans who have received both jabs (or the single jab with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine) will no longer have to wear masks outdoors and in ...
14 May, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Lance Izumi joined the EdChoice Chats “Big Ideas” podcast to talk about one of his recent books, “Choosing Diversity: How Charter Schools Promote Diverse Learning Models and Meet the Diverse Needs of Parents and Children.” Lan...
13 May, 2021 | Lance Izumi
The fight between Nestlé and the California State Water Resources Control Board finally bubbled over last month after years of finger-pointing. In an April 23, 2021 letter, the board ordered that Nestlé cease-and-desist “unauthorized diversions and...
13 May, 2021 | Evan Harris
DOWNLOAD PDF Even before it was a state, California was the New World’s new world. Everything that the Western Hemisphere promised was condensed and amplified in what became the 31st state. Not only was it arguably the greatest land of opportunity in...
12 May, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Last week, Gov. Newsom, in an “emergency declaration”, is giving 76,000 inmates — including violent and repeat felons — the opportunity to leave prison early in order to reduce the state’s prison population. Of the 76,000 inmates, 63,000 ...
11 May, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
California has some of the lowest fertility rates in the nation, coming in at 1.6 in 2019. The number is expected to decrease even more. One recent study projects that 25% of American millennial women will be childless, a significant uptick from hist...
10 May, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
Tim Anaya – Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: The NFL – Viewership for the 2021 NFL Draft, while slightly down from 2020’s record-high viewership, was higher this year than the previous week’s annual Academy Awards...
07 May, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
The New York Times has a summary of the Biden Tax Plan claiming to explain “some of the main provisions included in the plan and how they’re intended to work.” While the Times may have accurately explained how the Administration “intends” for the tax...
06 May, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
“A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, all the modern languages . . .” – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice Last week, Pres. Biden proposed to spend $109 billion to make community college free. As in many of the P...
05 May, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
A three-judge panel from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that California truckers who own and operate their own rigs have to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors. Will the 70,000 California drivers affected by the...
04 May, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Viewers of President Biden’s speech to Congress last week may have been struck by size of the trillions in new federal spending the President outlined in his speech. In advance of the President’s speech, Democrats in the California Legislature had a...
03 May, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Tim Anaya – Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Corporate America’s Political Donations – Corporate America was spared a campaign donation ban in California this week when legislation by freshman Asm. Alex Lee was d...
30 April, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Reports this week have put MyTurn, California’s $50 million COVID-19 scheduling website, on the long list of IT and technology blunders by government. The headline in the Sacramento Bee says it all, “California spent $50 million for a COVID vaccine s...
29 April, 2021 | Evan Harris
By Wayne Winegarden and Tim Anaya Last month, Right by the Bay reviewed the findings of a new study touted by former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs reportedly showing the success of the city’s universal basic income scheme. Reviewing the report’s findi...
28 April, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
It’s widely known that the California bullet train will cost far more than promised, carry fewer passengers at higher fares than predicted, and is more than a decade behind schedule. Add to this another significant flaw that has received little atten...
27 April, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
The U.S. House of Representatives is once again considering “The Lower Drug Costs Now Act”. It was a bad idea in the last Congress, and it is still bad policy today. If it becomes law, this Act (H.R. 3) empowers the federal government to negotiate......
26 April, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
Tim Anaya – Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: CA Businesses Who Received PPP Loans – Businesses in CA that received PPP loans won’t be facing a state tax headache after all, thanks to action this week by the State...
23 April, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Recently, the Southern California Association of Governments voted on new housing development goals for the region for the coming decade. Its vote requires cities and counties to make plans to zone for up to 1.34 million new homes by the end of the ...
22 April, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Although millennials and Gen Z’ers diverge in economic, political, and social attitudes, the two are frequently lumped together in discussions regarding the politics of the youth. Understanding the differences can significantly aid free marketers on ...
21 April, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
This past week, Politico reported that our fellow think tankers (albeit left-leaning) at the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute were forming unions. I assumed that these think tanks were breaking ground, but it appears that they’re just p...
20 April, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Caltrans last week released a draft of its 2021 “State Highway System Maintenance Plan,” which is a biannual report estimating the state’s highway repair needs, available funding, and strategies for keeping the state’s roadways running efficiently ov...
19 April, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Tim Anaya – Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: John Boehner, the Author – Former House Speaker John Boehner has apparently released quite the entertaining new memoir of his time as Speaker, with the publication of ...
16 April, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Allusions to George Orwell’s 1984 are often overdone, but the applicability is simply too great to ignore. After all, how else do you refer to a proposed $2.7 trillion infrastructure package that spends only 16-cents on the dollar for infrastructure?...
15 April, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
Orange County is testing a digital vaccine passport, but so far, there’s been no movement at the state level to require all Californians to present their papers to freely move about. Meanwhile, Texas, Florida, and Idaho have banned vaccine passports....
14 April, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Many California schools slow to reopen despite financial incentives, medical data supporting return to classrooms By Sarah Downey | Apr 12, 2021 With the end of the school year roughly two months away, questions persist about how many schools will be...
13 April, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
The stock market is at record highs. More than 900,000 Americans found jobs in March. Flapper models sashay down the runways of Paris and Milan. In a moment of weakness, even I turned my head at a “For Sale” classic Mercedes convertible (the last an...
13 April, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Any comedy lovers and fans of stand-up comedians know that the number one rule of improv, or “improvisation,” is to say yes. The United States Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough is doing her best improv impersonation by saying yes (again) to...
12 April, 2021 | Evan Harris
Tim Anaya – Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winners: Stanford University’s Women’s Basketball Team – They had to withstand two one point, nail biter victories in the Final Four, but Stanford University’s women’s basketb...
09 April, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
A California high-speed rail contractor has warned the project’s state authority that due to delays in land procurement, completion of the line’s first leg is at risk of falling behind by two years. Sounds like we’re just catching up on old news. We’...
08 April, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, it is important to work with other countries to end the pressures of tax competition and corporate tax base erosion… to make sure the global economy thrives based on a more level playing field in th...
07 April, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
Bitcoin has a dirty little secret says business channel CNBC. Apparently, “mining” bitcoins takes up huge amounts of energy. Bitcoins are “mined” or created by people all over the world using their computers to solve complicated math problems. Every...
06 April, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Much of the political energy in Sacramento and Washington lately has focused on taxes. Speculation has focused on which taxes liberal politicians will raise, and by how much. While pundits are all but declaring it a fait accompli, two recent develo...
05 April, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Rowena Itchon – Senior Vice President Winner: Me! I finally got a vaccine appointment. Loser: U.S. jobs President Biden’s plan to hike the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% stunts economic growth. To prevent U.S. companies from exporting jobs, the ...
02 April, 2021 | Evan Harris
PRI’s Lance Izumi joins the Phil Cowan Show to talk school re-openings and COVID-19. Cowan and Lance specifically talk about Lance’s new education brief, “The Road to Reopening.” In the brief, Lance examines the latest data be...
01 April, 2021 | Lance Izumi
According to one San Francisco supervisor, there are tens of thousands of vacant housing units in the city. “How do we activate them?” he asks. It’s a good question, with an answer that’s likely to unsettle the dwindling number in California who stil...
01 April, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
There’s a great parable relayed in the movie Charlie Wilson’s War between Rep. Charles Wilson and CIA agent Gust Avrakotos, played by Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. It’s about a Zen master and a boy. The Zen master repeats the phrase, “we’ll...
31 March, 2021 | Evan Harris
As California public schools drag their feet toward five-day-a-week in-person instruction for all children, I point out in my new Pacific Research Institute report “Road to Reopening” that schools in other parts of the country have remained open and ...
30 March, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Neither political party has been fiscally responsible as of late. The last fiscally responsible President was Bill Clinton who, in his 1996 State of the Union Address, declared that “the era of big government is over”. Today, it is the era of small g...
29 March, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
Tim Anaya – Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winners: Californians Who Are 16+ – The wait is finally over. Californians who are 50 years of age or older will be eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine starting on April ...
26 March, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, a case regarding a California regulation that allows union organizers onto private farm property 120 days a year for three hours a day. The regulation specifies that...
25 March, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
Lance Izumi joins the Bottom Line with Roger Marsh to discuss his latest education brief, “The Road to Reopening.” Izumi breaks down the state of re-opening schools and getting students back in the classroom, what the most recent studies ...
24 March, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
California’s mandate to transition to an all-renewables electricity portfolio has always seemed like a fantasy. A just-released report “charting” the path to 100% clean power does nothing but confirm those suspicions. A joint summary released March 1...
24 March, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
It was just a matter of time. Last week, President Biden announced his intention to hike the taxes of the “rich” to fund his progressive agenda. But will it? History has shown that revenue projections from tax increases don’t often turn out to be the...
23 March, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Despite the success of charter schools, they have come under attack on multiple fronts. State lawmakers have enacted state laws that handicap the establishment of charter schools and their operation. Additionally, charter school opponents have used...
22 March, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Gas prices in California and across the country have been rising sharply since the start of the year. According to the Orange County Register, “the cost of an average gallon of gasoline has climbed to “the highest it’s been in 67 weeks.” As of March....
22 March, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Mank – Director David Fincher, actor Gary Oldman, and the team behind the Netflix movie Mank (which I have seen and highly recommend) were the big winners this week when...
19 March, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
The rise of “cancel culture” and increasing hostility toward those with opposing viewpoints have ignited important debates over free speech and association – particularly where social media platforms are concerned. In recent years, the harassment of ...
18 March, 2021 | Ben Smithwick
California progressives’ plan to impose a wealth tax on state residents died in committee last year. Right by the Bay’s Kerry Jackson and Tim Anaya wrote about why it would hurt everyday Californians far more than its rich and famous. Unfortunately,...
17 March, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Lance Izumi joined the Vicki McKenna Show on WISN Madison to share his latest work on school re-openings, online learning, and what the rest of the nation can learn from California’s school re-opening failures. McKenna and Izumi go into detail ...
16 March, 2021 | Lance Izumi
It was just a matter of time. With cities around the state banning natural gas connections in new homes and commercial buildings, outlawing gas stations was bound to happen. And it has. Members of the Petaluma City Council have said there will be no ...
16 March, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Here is the simple truth, that is in the richest country in the world we can no longer tolerate millions of our workers being unable to feed their families because they are working for starvation wages. Senator Bernie Sanders Senator Sanders asserts ...
15 March, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
Lance Izumi, PRI’s Senior Director of the Center for Education, joins the California Local Elected Officials, a membership organization, to discuss the impact school closures have on students, parents, and local governments. CLEO 2021 · Lance I...
12 March, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Gov. Gavin Newsom – With Washington sending $42 billion in state aid to California in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package signed by President Biden on Thursday, Gov. News...
12 March, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Lance Izumi joins California Insider from the Epoch Times to discuss California’s recent $6.6 billion plan to encourage schools to reopen, the science behind re-opening, and how the deal could fall flat. ShareTweetPinShare...
11 March, 2021 | Lance Izumi
With Congress on Wednesday giving final approval to President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, who is the biggest winner from Washington’s biggest ever spending spree? State and local governments in California. In music to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ea...
11 March, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Lance Izumi joins KFDA in Amarillo, TX on “The Chat” to discuss school re-openings, charter schools, and online learning. ShareTweetPinShare...
10 March, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Proponents of Stockton’s universal basic income (UBI) pilot project – known as the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, or SEED – released a report last week detailing its first year findings. The report’s main claim is receiving UBI boosted ...
10 March, 2021 | Tim Anaya
New research found that” increased parking causes more car ownership and more driving while reducing transit use.” So if the goal is fewer cars on the roads, the solution is to reduce parking. Please, no one tell California policymakers. If they find...
09 March, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
In the wake of the deal between Governor Gavin Newsom and legislators to incentivize reopening public schools, teachers unions argue that reopening will hurt minority communities. However, many parents in those communities have strongly called for s...
08 March, 2021 | Lance Izumi
With the close of Black History Month, it is the perfect time to examine how the public school system has often poorly served African-American children and why a large proportion of African-American parents support school choice. Data shows that the ...
05 March, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Amazon – As if the online retail giant hasn’t had enough good fortune with the massive increase in online buying during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Wall Street Journal r...
05 March, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
The battle over the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA, and student athlete compensation has been brewing since California passed the Fair Pay to Play Act in 2019. Michigan became the sixth state to pass a similar bill. Meanwhile, the ...
04 March, 2021 | Evan Harris
Among Pres. Biden’s first executive orders was to replace the entire fleet of federal vehicles with electric vehicles — about 645,000 in all according to the General Services Administration. He claimed that it would create one million autoworke...
03 March, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Late Friday, the House took its first vote to pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, the first step toward their goal of enacting the plan into law before a March 14 deadline when some unemployment benefits will expire. Much of last w...
02 March, 2021 | Tim Anaya
When United Farm Workers organizers swarmed over a private farm in Dorris, Calif., during the 2015 harvest, it’s likely they had no fear of consequences. After all, unions enjoy a well-stocked basket of government-granted privileges and protections. ...
01 March, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Fans of Tina Turner – If you’re a big Tina fan like I am, you were very excited this week to see the release of the first trailer of a much-anticipated documentary on Ti...
26 February, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has told House Democrats that earmarks are coming back in 2021. According to Punchbowl News, which originally broke the scoop on earmarks, Rep. Rosa DeLauro and Sen. Patrick Leahy – Congress’ lead appropriators – are...
25 February, 2021 | Evan Harris
California was the object of ridicule last year when residents experienced widespread power outages due to high temperatures and wildfires. Now, during an historic cold spell, Texas is under fire for an energy infrastructure that left much of the st...
24 February, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
No one who is younger than 40 will remember the late legendary radio commentator Paul Harvey. Every afternoon, he would begin his daily radio program by promising to tell us “the rest of the story.” Thanks to a provision slipped into a budget traile...
23 February, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Does anyone recall that one year ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom devoted his entire State of the State address to solving homelessness, declaring that “we must do everything we can to ensure no Californian is homeless,” pledging to “reduce street homelessness...
22 February, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Baseball Fans – With all the awful news we are bombarded with these days, baseball fans were cheered by pitchers and catchers reporting this week to Arizona or Florida ...
19 February, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
At first, we were relieved to find that Pres. Biden’s proposal to include a $15 minimum wage hike in the COVID-19 relief package was just a bad nightmare. But when Californians woke up the other day, the idea was back on track. Unlike Bill Murray,....
18 February, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
If you’re a foodie like me, one of the worst parts of the Covid-19 pandemic has been not being able to go out to a great restaurant for lunch or dinner. It’s been sad to see many of my favorite restaurants here in Sacramento –......
17 February, 2021 | Tim Anaya
During the heated Vice-Presidential Debate, Vice President Mike Pence charged that a Biden-Harris Administration planned to ban the practice of fracking altogether. Then-Senator Kamala Harris said in response that no such plans existed. At stake were...
16 February, 2021 | McKenzie Richards
It’s a myth that Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini made the trains run on time. It’s no exaggeration, though, to say California can’t even make its bullet train run at all. The California high-speed rail has been delayed again. The first sect...
15 February, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Sacramento Diners – Fans of the Sacramento restaurant Biba, which closed last spring amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and following the death of Biba Caggiano, its legendary...
12 February, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
One of the big policy stories coming out of Congress is Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar’s introduction of the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act, a broad measure aimed at strengthening antitrust regulation in the United States. What...
11 February, 2021 | Evan Harris
The argument for an economic stimulus seems persuasive. The economy contracted 3.5 percent in 2020, which is the largest annual decline in the national economy since 1946. The latest employment numbers, which were a disappointment to many, seem to fu...
10 February, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
It comes as no surprise that a recent Gallup poll showed that Americans now believe that the biggest problem in the country are its politicians (29 percent), not the pandemic (22 percent). While tens of millions are frustratingly looking for a COVID-...
09 February, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Last month we covered the story of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors deciding it was within the scope of their duties to reward pandemic “front-line” workers with other people’s money. As we noted then, Long Beach was considering a similar ...
08 February, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Liz Cheney – Moviegoers who watched 2018 film “Vice” – which the filmmakers intended to be a hatchet job, but I thought was actually superhero movie – learned not to me...
05 February, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
California is struggling with its Covid-19 recovery efforts. More than 941,000 people are still waiting for their Covid unemployment benefit claims to be processed. A recent San Francisco Chronicle headline proclaimed, “Newsom’s $2 billion plan to ...
04 February, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Sacramento might decide this year if it will hike corporate tax rates to raise up to $2.4 billion annually to fund homelessness programs. Would such an effort work? Not everyone is sold on it. First, some brief background. Assembly Bill 71, the Bring...
03 February, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
As the Biden administration gets into gear, many parents worry about possible new anti-charter-school policies coming out of Washington. Such policies would add to recent anti-charter actions by state and local governments that have curtailed educat...
02 February, 2021 | Lance Izumi
All signs indicate that the Biden Administration is adopting California’s approach to global climate of prohibit, discourage, and subsidize. The prohibit plank refers to punishing the politically disfavored energy sources of nuclear and natural gas. ...
02 February, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
Last week, California should have celebrated an important step to help small business owners and Californians reclaim some sense in of normal. Instead, Governor Gavin Newsom’s announcement to lift stay-at-home restrictions across the state was met wi...
01 February, 2021 | Evan Harris
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Larry Kudlow – Larry Kudlow, former Trump economic advisor, is returning to his roots in front of a television camera. Fox Business Network announced it has hired Kudl...
29 January, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
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28 January, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
The new Pacific Research Institute book A Kite in a Hurricane No More profiles the challenges and ultimate triumph of Mia Giordano, a young woman with serious learning disabilities. As we observe National School Choice Week 2021, this podcas...
26 January, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
The new Pacific Research Institute book A Kite in a Hurricane No More profiles the challenges and ultimate triumph of Mia Giordano, a young woman with serious learning disabilities that conventional schools could not help and who is the co-author of ...
26 January, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
Media reports that some California businesses have gone underground during the pandemic lockdown should surprise no one. When politicians ban activities, both those accepted by society and those considered less honorable, they drive them into black m...
26 January, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
After just two years in office, more than 1,000,000 disgruntled Californians have signed a petition to recall Gavin Newsom. But in less than two months, many Los Angelenos already have buyers’ remorse with its new district attorney, George Gascón. A...
25 January, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Amanda Gorman – At the risk of a social media backlash, I will admit that I was not a big fan of the first National Young Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman’s poem at the Bid...
22 January, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
PRI’s Lance Izumi joins Roger Marsh on the Bottom Line on KBRITE San Diego to discuss details of his new book on education and school choice called A Kite in a Hurricane No More. Izumi’s book chronicles the education journey of Mia Giorda...
21 January, 2021 | Lance Izumi
PRI’s senior director of the Center for Education Lance Izumi joins KCBS Radio in Sacramento, CA, to discuss the changing SAT admissions process for college-bound students and the decisions by the University of California system to drop the SAT...
21 January, 2021 | Lance Izumi
It was 38 years ago this weekend when during Super Bowl XVIII, Apple debuted one of the most powerful and provocative ads of all time. “1984” opens with an army of clone-like humans marching into a theater to watch on a giant screen a menacing......
21 January, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
On the second business day after the state’s higher minimum wage took effect, employers in Los Angeles County had another weight dropped on them. The County Board of Supervisors approved a $5 an hour increase in “front-line” workers’ wages. It applie...
20 January, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
PRI Senior Director of the Center for Education Lance Izumi joins “The Education Exchange” podcast to discuss Izumi’s latest brief about charter schools, “”New Obstacles Hinder Students Trapped in Failing Schools from Es...
19 January, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Effectively addressing the drug affordability problem requires an understanding of its causes. Toward this end, the rhetoric of Matt Eyles, the president and chief executive of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), is unhelpful. According to Eyles...
19 January, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
While Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden, and Democrats across America were cheering their party’s victories in the Georgia senate runoffs, no one was probably cheering louder than Gov. Gavin Newsom and his fellow blue state governors (plus scores of Democrati...
18 January, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Tim Anaya – Senior Director of Communications and PRI’s Sacramento Office Winner: Advocates of increased federal spending – It was pretty clear that when a $1 trillion state and local bailout and $2,000 stimulus checks were rejected in t...
15 January, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Last month, Californians may very well have begun the process of saving their state, reversing a move by the state legislature. They voted by a large margin via Proposition 22 to preserve the ability of people to pursue flexible working arrangements ...
14 January, 2021 | Bartlett Cleland
EdSource asked leaders representing all segments of California’s education system to comment on Gov. Newsom’s 2021-22 budget proposal. This year, we’ve presented their responses in reverse alphabetical order, which seemed apt for these topsy-turvey t...
13 January, 2021 | Lance Izumi
With the disastrous education landscape of 2020 now in the rear-view mirror, the New Year offers the opportunity to consider new ways of delivering effective learning to America’s children. Portal Schools is one such promising model. Confronted with...
13 January, 2021 | Lance Izumi
PRI’s Lance Izumi joins Newsday Amarillo to talk about his new book A Kite in a Hurricane No More, detailing school choice and alternative learning. Izumi explains the journey of Mia Giordano, who moved from a conventional public education model to t...
12 January, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
When voters replaced Democrat Gray Davis with Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor in 2003, it was the first time in the state’s 153-year history (at that point) it had recalled a governor. A growing exasperation with the current occupant of ...
12 January, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
Governor Newsom has announced his stimulus plans for the state economy, the “Equitable Recovery for California’s Business and Jobs” plan. While increased support to those who are harmed is necessary, neither California nor the U.S. require an economi...
11 January, 2021 | Wayne Winegarden
Watch Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discuss the debate over school reopenings and the resignation of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Newsy, the national cable news network. ShareTweetPinShare...
08 January, 2021 | Lance Izumi
Tim Anaya, Senior Director of Communications Winner: Stacey Abrams – Say what you will about her, but there’s no doubt that the former Georgia House Democratic leader and failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate succeeded beyond her wil...
08 January, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
In the wild year that was 2020, many political stars rose and fell. None may have gone on quite the roller coaster ride than California Governor Newsom. Since each month of last year felt like a lifetime, I thought I’d review some of the good......
07 January, 2021 | Evan Harris
Way back in August, in what seems like an entirely different historical era, when California was open relative to the restrictions we’re under today, 44% of small business owners said they were at risk of permanent closure in the next six months, unl...
06 January, 2021 | Kerry Jackson
With the beginning of the new year, work now begins on the drawing of California’s new legislative and congressional lines. Several years back, voters enacted a ballot measure to give the power to draw district lines to an independent citizen’s commi...
05 January, 2021 | Tim Anaya
Political interests, teachers unions and legislators are thwarting new and existing charter schools, and parents and students must use every available tool to fight back, argues a new research brief released today by the Pacific Research Institute, a...
05 January, 2021 | Lance Izumi
PRI’s Lance Izumi joins Newsday Amarillo to talk about his new book A Kite in a Hurricane No More, detailing school choice and alternative learning. Izumi explains the journey of Mia Giordano, who moved from a conventional public education mode...
04 January, 2021 | Pacific Research Institute
It’s been a tough year, and we hope that Californians can get back on their feet in 2021. Unfortunately, many of the new laws that took effect on January 1 won’t be helping. To borrow from Kermit the frog — it’s not easy being Blue.......
04 January, 2021 | Rowena Itchon
Recently, the PRI All Stars (Rowena Itchon, Ben Smithwick, Lance Izumi, Evan Harris and Tim Anaya) got together to hand out their annual 2020 year end awards on PRI’s “Next Round” podcast. Below are their choices for the biggest winners and losers o...
31 December, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
In mid-December, the U.S. Supreme Court signaled their intent to wade into the student athlete compensation debate. The Supreme Court combined two cases, National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston and American Athletic Conference v. Alston, a...
30 December, 2020 | Evan Harris
Uber customers might have noticed a new fee that’s appearing on their charges. Now, who do we have to thank for that? Oh, yes, the lawmakers who tried to destroy the gig economy and its millions of jobs. Uber added a “California Driver Benefits Fee”....
29 December, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
This year has been a challenging one for our nation – and a particularly turbulent time in PRI’s home state of California. 2020 ushered in weeks of rioting and protesting, devastating wildfires, pandemic restrictions and draconian lockdowns, a worsen...
28 December, 2020 | Ben Smithwick
With the education world in flux because of the COVID pandemic, it is time to push for the broadest range of education options possible for all children, including those with special needs. My new book A Kite in a Hurricane No More, which I co-author...
24 December, 2020 | Lance Izumi
The ill-winds of populism are again blowing across the American political landscape. This thin veneer of ideology only seeks to divide people, diving a wedge between “the people,” presented as the forces of good, against “the elite,” portrayed as evi...
23 December, 2020 | Bartlett Cleland
President-elect Joe Biden has nominated Michael Regan to lead the EPA. Regan worked at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for years, and has been North Carolina’s environmental chief since 2018. As North Carolina’s top environmentalist, Regan ...
22 December, 2020 | Wayne Winegarden
Twice in recent weeks, California superior court judges upended government pandemic restrictions. Is the governor’s office getting the message? On Dec. 8, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Chalfant told the county that its ban on outdoor dining ...
21 December, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
Tim Anaya – Senior Director of Communications Winner – Tesla, who makes their debut today on the S&P 500. According to Reuters, “Elon Musk’s Tesla on Monday will become the most valuable company ever admitted to Wall Street’s m...
18 December, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Listen to Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discuss his new book A Kite in a Hurricane No More on “The David Webb Show” on Sirius XM Patriot, Channel 125. ShareTweetPinShare...
17 December, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Lily Eskelsen Garcia, the former teachers union boss who wants to be Joe Biden’s education secretary, has been slammed for her disparaging comments about learning-disabled children. Garcia should meet Mia Giordano, a young woman who overcame he...
17 December, 2020 | Lance Izumi
On December 3rd, in a live CNN interview with Jake Tapper, president-elect Joe Biden declared his plans to re-open elementary schools nation-wide. After speaking with the leaders of the teacher unions, he determined that sanitization, ventilation, an...
17 December, 2020 | McKenzie Richards
One of the more surprising results from November’s election was the surprise defeat of Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs in his bid for re-election to a Republican upstart Kevin Lincoln, a pastor and former George W. Bush administration official who is bo...
16 December, 2020 | Tim Anaya
The number of Californians certified for unemployment insurance is now at 1.6 million compared to October last year before the pandemic, when just 260,000 Californians received unemployment checks. Going into the holidays, a heart-breaking one in 10 ...
15 December, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
Several possibilities have been offered for how the Biden administration will shift U.S. trade policy including scrapping the Trump trade negotiations with China through executive order and working with Asian allies to pressure China. Much of the Tru...
14 December, 2020 | Evan Harris
Tim Anaya Senior Director of Communications and the Sacramento Office Winner: Restaurants in Los Angeles. Restaurants in the City of Angels have been a punching bag for Los Angeles County health director Barbara Ferrer and for the county Board of ...
11 December, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Last week, local and state officials announced new, severe restrictions as officials grapple with rising cases of Covid-19 and rapidly-filling hospital emergency rooms nearing capacity. Especially during a public health crisis like this one, it is ve...
10 December, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Coronavirus relief funds are back on the negotiation table, but the three sides have a huge chasm to close. Speaker Nancy Pelosi originally proposed a $3.4 trillion package, then $2.2 trillion, and has now settled on $900 billion. Treasury Secretary...
09 December, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
It is with much sadness that I learned of the recent passing of one of my favorite and most respected economists, Professor Walter Williams. Walter was a prolific writer, author, educator, and defender of freedom. He died on December 3rd at 84, hav...
08 December, 2020 | Sally C. Pipes
Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and others using the pandemic to restrict Californians’ movements should not be surprised that there’s been a pushback. While it’s due in part to the habit of officials failing to follow the rules t...
07 December, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
Tim Anaya Senior Director of Communications and the Sacramento Office Winner – The Flowbee. Remember that great contraption you could plug into your vacuum cleaner and give yourself a haircut at home that they used sell on late-night informercials i...
04 December, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
The image of California living is that of a never-ending vacation. Sun. Surf. Endless entertainment. Plenty of good jobs. The leaves are never brown, nor the sky gray. Always safe and warm. But the reality is different. The coming winter looks to be ...
03 December, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
A recently-released UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) poll generated headlines before Thanksgiving for its finding that, if it came up for a vote again, California would again vote to approve the landmark property tax relief measure...
02 December, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discusses his new book A Kite in a Hurricane No More on the nationally-syndicated Lars Larson Show. TheLarsLarsonShow · Lance Izumi – Why is it important to have school alternati...
01 December, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Listen to Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, discuss his new book, A Kite in a Hurricane No More on the Phil Cowan Show on AM 1380 The Answer in Sacramento. The interview begins at the 1:27:30 mark. ShareTweetPinShare...
01 December, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
“To restrain the growth and the power of government to deprive people of personal freedom. That is what PRI is all about. And it’s why this organization admirably fights so far above its weight.” That’s what former California Govern...
01 December, 2020 | Ben Smithwick
Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, joins us to discuss his new book, which profiles the journey of Mia Giordano, who overcame learning disabilities through science and school choice. He discusses the promise show by advanced...
30 November, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Recent Census Bureau data tell a story that surprises no one who keeps up with current events in California: The state is losing residents like few others. According to economist Mark J. Perry, only four other states – New York, Illinois, New Jersey,...
30 November, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
Just Published: Follow the Journey of One Young Woman Who Overcame Learning Disabilities Through Science and Choice in new book, A Kite in a Hurricane No More In A Kite in a Hurricane No More, a new book just published by the nonpartisan Pacific Rese...
25 November, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
As most of us won’t be able to travel during the holiday season this year due to Covid-19 restrictions, we’ll have a lot more time to read a good book this year. To give you some ideas for your next great read, we present our......
25 November, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
If rapidly rising cases of COVID-19 haven’t stopped Los Angelenos from stepping out of their homes — this will. To carry out the LA City Council’s decision to bow to mob violence and cut $150 million from the Los Angeles Police Department’s bud...
24 November, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
Last week, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s office (LAO) released its fiscal outlook for 2021, which is traditionally the start of the debate over next year’s state budget. Unexpectedly, California finds itself sitting on a $26 billion windfall ...
23 November, 2020 | Tim Anaya
It is well known that regular public schools receive more funding than public charter schools, but a just-released study finds that this gap becomes massive when all sources of revenues are included, and this yawning chasm can be seen especially in O...
20 November, 2020 | Lance Izumi
Today, we begin a new regular feature on “Right by the Bay” called “Winners and Losers.” Every Friday, our regular bloggers will present their choices for the winners and losers of the past week. We hope you’ll check back every week and drop us a.....
20 November, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
As President-elect Joe Biden continues his transition to the West Wing, the poorly understood issue of student loan forgiveness has appeared again. I still think that the idea of complete student loan forgiveness is disastrous idea that has many flaw...
19 November, 2020 | Evan Harris
Thanksgiving has not been canceled. Yet. But given what we’ve learned in recent days, would anyone be surprised if officials insisted we mark the holiday this year by cowering in our basements? On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the governors of Oregon...
18 November, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
Ronald Reagan once described the government’s view of the economy like this: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” From his last point, even the Gipper couldn’t imagine that government would tax...
17 November, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
There is much speculation as to why Republicans defied expectations in down-ballot races in California this election, especially when Donald Trump garnered less than 34 percent of the vote in the state. The GOP is on track to gain two Congressional ...
16 November, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Tim Anaya – Why is Friday the 13th Unlucky? Why is Friday the 13th considered unlucky? Watch this video and learn why. Kerry Jackson – Anniversary of Fall of Berlin Wall This week is the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. ItR...
13 November, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Making the Case for Patriotic Education in American Schools By Katy Grimes, California Globe President Donald Trump signed an executive order recently establishing a 1776 Commission to create a curriculum that teaches “patriotic education” in schools...
13 November, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
In an election result that astonished the country, Californians voted down an initiative that would have returned racial preferences to state college admissions, hiring, and contracting. In a margin of 56% to 44%, one of the most diverse and deepest...
12 November, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
I was honored to give the Veterans Day address at John Adams Academy charter school. I focused on the connection between patriotism and military service. The following is an abridged version of my speech. Dr. Gary Houchens, an education professor a...
11 November, 2020 | Lance Izumi
One of the more overlooked results from the 2020 election is progressive states like California rejecting the lowering of the voting age. In Pacific Research Institute’s post-election podcast, I gave some insight into why Proposition 18, a ballot mea...
11 November, 2020 | Evan Harris
Gov. Gavin Newsom had a lot riding on the outcome of Tuesday’s election. How the presidential and congressional elections and one key statewide ballot measure shake out will have a significant impact on how he crafts his upcoming 2021-22 state budge...
10 November, 2020 | Tim Anaya
This election cycle, I received three official ballots. Two showed up in California: one at my in-law’s address in Orange County, and a second in Riverside County, where I currently reside. In Nevada, my parents received my third official ballot at t...
09 November, 2020 | McKenzie Richards
Rowena Itchon – Remembering Our Veterans Remembering our veterans: Ronald Reagan’s Veterans Day speech https://youtu.be/H7LkkpA9DRM Kerry Jackson – The Origins of Prop. 13 Joel Fox tells the great story of the origins of Proposition 13. W...
06 November, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
As is often the case, California voters had to sort through a number of ballot propositions on Election Day. Here’s a quick breakdown of the statewide measures. Proposition 14. Issues $5.5 billion in bonds for stem cell research, winning 51-49. Insta...
05 November, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
As of this writing, we don’t know who has won the 2020 presidential election. Whoever wins, America’s next chief executive has many important policy decisions to make in the coming weeks. Here’s a preview of some of the big issues that the presiden...
04 November, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Free marketers often assume that between the two political parties, Republicans are better for the stock market. It makes sense. Republicans believe that economic growth can be achieved by reducing regulation and costs for businesses and relying on ...
03 November, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
By Lance Izumi and McKenzie Richards President Trump has signed an executive order establishing a national commission to promote patriotic education and to “encourage our educators to teach our children about the miracle of American history.” When t...
02 November, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Tim Anaya – Winning the Water Wars In case you missed it earlier this week, watch PRI’s webinar from earlier this week with Steven Greenhut discussing his new PRI book, Winning the Water Wars. Rowena Itchon – Remembering Bush v. Gor...
30 October, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
By Lawrence Siskind In 1996, California voters amended their Constitution by enacting Proposition 209. It reads: “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, c...
29 October, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
A Bloomberg News story last week laments, not overtly but in an unmistakable tone, the “surge” in demand for luxury homes because it “highlights the growing U.S. wealth gap.” The “surge” should instead be a welcome development. Greater demand for opu...
29 October, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
PRI’s Rowena Itchon was featured in a KPIX story discussing her recent Right by the Bay blog post on the debate over the future of affirmative action in California. Watch her comments below . . . ShareTweetPinShare...
28 October, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
While San Francisco parents struggle to help their kids keep up with their education during the coronavirus school closures, San Francisco school district officials are worrying about how to rename 44 schools out of the 125 in the city. The names of ...
28 October, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
During the first presidential debate in September, both candidates answered where they think the economy is headed. Trump believes in a V-shaped recovery, basically a quick rebound, while Biden prefers a K-shaped recovery, with the rich recovering wh...
27 October, 2020 | Evan Harris
For hard-working Californians who are busy with their everyday lives, it can be hard to sort through the various measures we’ll be voting on this November. To help you get educated on the issues, below are links to PRI’s free-market analysis on the ...
26 October, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Rowena Itchon – The Presidential Cookie Poll In battleground Pennsylvania, a presidential cookie poll shows that Trump is leading Biden. Kerry Jackson – Trump-Biden Debate Rap Some needed humor during an election more heated than any of u...
23 October, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Gov. Gavin Newsom and his staff have dreamed up a “health equity metric” to determine who can emerge from the pandemic lockdowns and who can’t based on racial and ethnic quotas. Identity politics, the shallowest, crudest, and most divisive of all pol...
22 October, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
Lance Izumi, senior director of the Pacific Research Institute’s Center for Education, recently interviewed U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, and covered the importance of expanding school choice opportunities for every student in America, sch...
21 October, 2020 | Katy Grimes
On November 3, Californians will be asked to make a what appears to be a simple decision, that is, would they like to increase their privacy? However, where Proposition 24, to enable the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act is concerned, app...
21 October, 2020 | Bartlett Cleland
What does it say when members of Congress from elsewhere are more serious about saving the state from future wildfire disasters than many of California’s own politically connected activists? More than 4 million acres have burned so far in this year’s...
20 October, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
Milton Friedman famously declared that “one of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” While California desperately needs to apply this wisdom across the policy spectrum, arguably, the gap ...
19 October, 2020 | Wayne Winegarden
California teacher unions fight calls to reopen schools By Howard Blume As parents express widespread dissatisfaction with distance learning, two influential California teachers unions are pushing against growing momentum to reopen schools in many co...
16 October, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Kerry Jackson – Remembering Baroness Thatcher Tuesday was Margaret Thatcher’s birthday. She would have been 95. This week, PRI held its 9th annual Baroness Thatcher Gala, named in her honor. We’re all better off because of her. Tim...
16 October, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Starting with the Legislature’s approval of former Gov. Jerry Brown’s public safety realignment plan in 2011, California has undergone a big change on criminal justice policy. Turning its back on policies like “Three Strikes” that were passed during ...
15 October, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Last week, I wrote about a proposition on the California ballot that would give 17-year-olds the right to vote in some California elections. California’s push for the youth vote got me thinking about how recent college graduates and others entering t...
14 October, 2020 | Evan Harris
Pick nearly any state in the union and likely it has a large swath of rural area and population. Even California, which is rarely thought of as a “rural state,” is still physically more than half rural, with about four million residents living in tho...
13 October, 2020 | Bartlett Cleland
Norman Gonzales and Carlos Yniguez from John Adams Academy join PRI’s Lance Izumi to discuss a change in this year’s budget that takes away funding for thousands of kids attending charter schools across the state, and how the school is fighting this ...
12 October, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
The 2020-21 state budget signed back in June by Gov. Newsom glaringly failed to fund regular public schools and public charter schools with growing enrollments. A purported “fix” to this problem, pushed by the governor and Democratic legislators, tur...
12 October, 2020 | Lance Izumi
DOWNLOAD THE PDF California is now the first state to require plastic beverage containers to contain a minimum content of recycled material. A step forward? Hardly. The bill, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 24, the day after he issued an ...
12 October, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
Tim Anaya – A Conversation with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos In case you missed it earlier this week, watch as our Lance Izumi interviews Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Rowena Itchon – What If Joe Biden Were A Libertarian? What if Jo...
09 October, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
To adequately cover all the angles, implications, and consequences of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order to rid the state of gasoline and diesel cars and trucks and replace them with electric vehicles would require a short book, or a long policy pap...
08 October, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
In case you missed our special live webinar, listen to PRI’s Lance Izumi as he interviews U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The two discuss the importance of expanding school choice opportunities for every American student, school reopenings fo...
08 October, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Watch Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education, in conversation with U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. They discuss the importance of expanding school choice opportunities for every American student, school reopenings f...
07 October, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
One of the most disturbing political ads airing across the state this election season is a television ad urging a “yes” vote on Prop. 16, the ballot initiative that asks voters to overturn Prop. 209, the landmark California law that ended racial pref...
07 October, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
Voters will be asked to decide on many important ballot propositions on November 3 with rent control, the future of independent contractors, and data privacy among the most impactful issues on the ballot. One proposition that voters may overlook is P...
06 October, 2020 | Evan Harris
With the Presidential debate and the first couple testing positive for COVID-19 dominating the headlines last week, you may have missed a very big story from Yolo County. The Judicial Council, the policymaking body for California’s judicial system, e...
05 October, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Tim Anaya – Memorable Moments that Dominate Presidential Debates Are Almost Always Unexpected This week on PRI’s Next Round podcast, we break down the first presidential debate. Here’s a look at memorable moments from debates past....
02 October, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
As the COVID-19 pandemic keeps many regular public schools closed, it should be a no-brainer that states would fund online public charter schools, which specialize in delivering instruction through distance-learning tools. Shockingly, however, some b...
01 October, 2020 | Lance Izumi
When Barack Obama told the country that under Obamacare “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it,” he was dinged for telling the PolitiFact Lie of the Year. California Gov. Gavin Newsom made a similar promise when he signed last week an......
01 October, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
Back in the November 2018 election, California voters were forced to pretend to be health care executives when they were asked to decide whether to require dialysis clinics to give refunds to patients (or patients’ insurers) if profits were abo...
30 September, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
Property taxes are a hot issue on the ballot in California this November. Most of the attention has centered around Prop. 15, which would impose a split roll property tax scheme in the state. Garnering less attention is Prop. 19, which has the poten...
29 September, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Like in so many policy areas, California is going in the wrong direction when it comes to charter schools. But while Sacramento is making it hard for charters to grow, a new Harvard University study finds charter-school students are learning more th...
28 September, 2020 | Lance Izumi
PRI joins all Americans in remembering the life and legacy of the late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a special “What We’re Watching”. Remembering RBG An excerpt from the Opera Scalia/Ginsburg An Unlikely Friendship ...
25 September, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Last week, the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that private sector unions can’t force workers to pay for union lobbying activities. Jeanette Geary, a Rhode Island nurse who is not a union member, waged a decade-long battle against the Unite...
24 September, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
Most of the California business community is at the mercy of California’s progressive state legislature. It is easy to forget, especially with Silicon Valley pumping out inflated IPOs, that small businesses are the backbone of the economy. The U.S. S...
23 September, 2020 | Evan Harris
Unlike many California ballot measures, the title of Proposition 21 is clear and upfront. There’s no intent to deceive with misleading language. It’s not “an argument designed to influence the voter,” and isn’t likely to prejudice the electorate. The...
22 September, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
Among the measures on a lengthy statewide ballot this November – there are 11 statewide ballot propositions in addition to numerous local measures across the state – are two curious measures that deal with voting. One measure, Proposition 18, would a...
21 September, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Tim Anaya – Making the Entire Health Care System More Affordable In the final episode in PRI’s “Escape the Drug Pricing Maze” series, the Professor and Pete visit the City of Free Enterprise and learn that reforms to make the ...
18 September, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
The 2020-21 state budget signed back in June by Governor Newsom glaringly failed to fund growing regular public schools and public charter schools. A purported “fix” to this problem, pushed by the governor and Democrat legislators, turns out to be j...
17 September, 2020 | Lance Izumi
When I mentioned to our editorial committee that I was going to work on a blog on good bills out of California’s recent legislative session, Kerry Jackson joked that I needed fewer than 100 words to cover that topic. After a few hours of hunting......
17 September, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
Last month, the Trump Administration announced a “historic deal” to normalize relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel. Did the Trump administration solve Middle East conflict? No. While the merits of the deal will be debated in think ta...
16 September, 2020 | Evan Harris
While visiting yet another charred part of California last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was “a little bit exhausted that we have to continue to debate this issue. This a climate damn emergency.” It’s a statement he can make confident that few of C...
15 September, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
Lance Izumi, Pacific Research Institute’s senior fellow in education, joins the Phil Cowan Show on AM 1380 The Answer with guest host Katy Grimes, to discuss the current state of education due to COVID-19 and the impact of the coronavirus. Izum...
14 September, 2020 | Lance Izumi
An unusual hearing took place at the State Capitol last week. Members of the Joint Rules Committee gathered to hear presentations on plans to tear down the existing State Capitol annex and replace it with a new, modern building. Three different bui...
14 September, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Rowena Itchon – A Virtual Tour of the 9/11 Memorial Tim Anaya – Annual 9/11 Reading of the Names of the World Trade Center Victims Ben Smithwick – A 9/11 Survivor’s Story Brian Clark shares the story of his escape from the Sou...
11 September, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
The state of California, which can’t keep the lights on thanks to political interference in energy generation, nor build enough homes because government has poisoned the housing market, is going into the pharmaceutical manufacturing business. But the...
09 September, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
The final gavel fell last week on the 2020 legislative session. Cut short by seven weeks due to the coronavirus, lawmakers were forced to take a backseat to Gov. Newsom, who made use of his wide-ranging emergency powers to lock down businesses to st...
08 September, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
Much has been written about perhaps the wildest last night of the legislative session ever. For those who weren’t paying attention, all but one Republican senator was quarantined when Sen. Brian Jones tested positive for COVID-19 a few days prior, fo...
07 September, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Kerry Jackson – Beware of the “Fact Checkers” So who is fact checking the fact checkers? Someone needs to because “all too often they fail to get even basic facts correct,” says Jim Agresti, president of Just Facts. Ben ...
04 September, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
The end of the California Legislative session is typically a celebrated time in the halls of the state capitol. Legislators and staff are tired yet festive as they work toward wrapping up a long year of running their bills. A long week of all-day flo...
03 September, 2020 | Evan Harris
While schools may or may not reopen in the fall, one thing is certain — many of Communist China’s propaganda programs in American schools and colleges will likely close down, courtesy of strong new accountability measures set forth by the Trump admin...
02 September, 2020 | Lance Izumi
Right by the Bay has been following Sacramento’s tax raising schemes here, here, and here. But the state’s tax marauding politicians aren’t the only ones we should be worried about. Presidential candidate Joe Biden also wants Washington’s share of ...
02 September, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
Fiscal matters related to COVID-19 has dominated the budget discussions at the State Capitol this spring and summer. In recent weeks, there have been increasingly difficult political discussions over the Newsom administration’s COVID-19 budget spend...
01 September, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Add the hardships it has caused during the pandemic lockdowns to the discouraging sight of rideshare companies desperately trying to save their businesses in California, it’s not unreasonable to wonder why Assembly Bill 5 hasn’t been suspended by exe...
31 August, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
Ben Smithwick – Helping Citizens Understand a World without Fossil Fuels Ronald Stein, co-author of the new book Just GREEN Electricity – Helping Citizens Understand a World without Fossil Fuels, discusses the dangers of overreliance on renewab...
28 August, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
Since the death of George Floyd, more than 140 U.S. cities have seen riots and protests, including Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. At least 40 of these cities were forced to impose curfews. In places like Portland...
27 August, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
There are no state taxes on wealth in the U.S., but California is a good bet to be the first. The idea carries some political popularity, and its promises sound sweet, but what would be the reality if the legislation, Assembly Bill 2088, becomes law?...
26 August, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
President Trump’s signature was barely dry when cash-strapped governors nationwide cried foul over his executive order to provide $400 of additional unemployment benefits a week for the country’s jobless, after negotiations on a new coronavirus stimu...
25 August, 2020 | Rowena Itchon
The images of mass power outages across the state during our recent run of extreme temperatures evoked images in many Californians of the last time the state faced mass power blackouts. The year was 2001, when then-Governor Gray Davis bungled the sta...
24 August, 2020 | Tim Anaya
Tim Anaya – A Convention Roll Call Unlike Any You’ve Seen There’s been a lot of chatter among pundits and on social media about this week’s “virtual” Democratic convention (and the “former speechwriters”...
21 August, 2020 | Pacific Research Institute
DOWNLOAD THE PDF As if they didn’t have enough to shocks in their lives already, Californians recently woke up to find that Governor Newsom and the Legislature had defunded schoolchildren in the state budget. But the children are now fighting back a...
20 August, 2020 | Lance Izumi
In the banner year that is 2020, Californians did not expect to add power outages to their list of forgettable experiences, but that is what many in the state experienced starting Friday, Aug. 14, as the California Independent System Operators ordere...
19 August, 2020 | Evan Harris
Fewer than 800 of the roughly 10,000 students enrolled at Chapman University in Orange have signed an online petition demanding the removal of busts from the campus “in order to create a safer and more inclusive environment for Chapman’s margin...
18 August, 2020 | Kerry Jackson
When the 2020-21 state budget was enacted a few months back, I made the case that the majority party’s spending plan essentially sets the stage for an upcoming battle over tax increases. Back in 2011, former Gov. Jerry Brown pushed a budget plan that...
17 August, 2020 | Tim Anaya
