Blog
Blog
Read the latest from the State Capitol
Should NDAs Be Banned in Legislative Negotiations?
As KCRA 3 News reported, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) required business groups and others engaged in negotiations over the bill to sign NDA’s to keep provisions of the discussions secret. The NDAs became controversial when it came to light that a billionaire donor of Gov. Newsom who is ...
Blog
Should CA pay unemployment to striking workers?
Subsidizing Strikes Is The California Legislature’s Latest Anti-Growth Proposal
Worsens California’s Uncompetitive Business Environment UI benefits are not designed for workers who have voluntarily walked off the job – it is part of the social safety net system designed to help those workers who have become unemployed through no fault of their own. Expanding these benefits to workers who ...
Blog
Spending Watch
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain Wayne Winegarden April 2024 SB 1434 would dramatically expand unemployment insurance benefits to current eligible workers. If implemented, it would expand benefits by over 55 percent, raise the number of workers who qualify for maximum benefits, increase the benefits for ...
Blog
It’s build or bust in California, as subsidies can’t cut it
It’s build or bust in California, as subsidies can’t cut it by Kenneth Schrupp | April 19, 2024 With a 4.5-million home shortage driving California to have the 49th-worst ratio of residences to residents in the nation, efforts to increase up-front affordability without increasing the abundance of homes is resulting ...
Blog
Read the Free Cities Center's latest book review
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Centers of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the World’
Post-COVID, are cities still the engines of civilization? Physicist Geoffrey West has called cities “the crucible of civilization.” That widely quoted metaphor is worth unpacking. A crucible is a mold that holds molten substances as they are cooling and gives them new form. The claim here is that cities are ...
Blog
Learn what the State Auditor found wrong with CA homelessness spending
Who is left to defend CA homelessness spending?
I received a text out of nowhere from a friend who shares vastly different political opinions than myself: Where is all the money that is supposed to go to the homeless? I had to report the homeless camp on my apartment street. I openly saw someone smoking from a crack ...
Blog
Read latest about push for electric vehicles
Will Electric Vehicle Push Make Any Difference In Lowering Emissions? Science Says Probably Not.
Let’s first look at indisputable facts. Carbon dioxide level as a portion of our atmosphere is now 425 parts per million (or 0.0425%), as measured at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, up from 317 PPM in 1960. (About 500 million years ago, CO2 reached 7,000 PPM.) To understand just how ...
Blog
Read latest on SF's growing defecation problem
Scatology 101
It’s hard not to love Larry Baer, the CEO of the San Francisco Giants. He is the team’s public face and cheerleader in chief – a proud San Franciscan with diplomas from Lowell High School and Cal Berkeley that attest to his deep Bay Area roots. And no one ...
Blog
As drivers struggle, Seattle should scrap gig-worker law
As drivers struggle, Seattle should scrap gig-worker law By Sal Rodriguez | April 12, 2024 Back in May 2022, the Seattle City Council approved so-called “PayUp” legislation imposing minimum wage standards on app-based delivery services. Under the rules, app-based delivery drivers must be paid a city-established minimum per minute and ...
Blog
Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Creating ‘Free Cities’ as Plan B for global societies
Editor’s Note: The Free Cities Foundation has no connection to the Pacific Research Institute’s Free Cities Center, but many of its ideas align with ours. The Foundation helps create real-world privatized cities across the globe, where market forces provide government services. PRI’s Center promotes myriad ideas to improve cities, including ...
Read the latest from the State Capitol
Should NDAs Be Banned in Legislative Negotiations?
As KCRA 3 News reported, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) required business groups and others engaged in negotiations over the bill to sign NDA’s to keep provisions of the discussions secret. The NDAs became controversial when it came to light that a billionaire donor of Gov. Newsom who is ...
Should CA pay unemployment to striking workers?
Subsidizing Strikes Is The California Legislature’s Latest Anti-Growth Proposal
Worsens California’s Uncompetitive Business Environment UI benefits are not designed for workers who have voluntarily walked off the job – it is part of the social safety net system designed to help those workers who have become unemployed through no fault of their own. Expanding these benefits to workers who ...
Spending Watch
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain Wayne Winegarden April 2024 SB 1434 would dramatically expand unemployment insurance benefits to current eligible workers. If implemented, it would expand benefits by over 55 percent, raise the number of workers who qualify for maximum benefits, increase the benefits for ...
It’s build or bust in California, as subsidies can’t cut it
It’s build or bust in California, as subsidies can’t cut it by Kenneth Schrupp | April 19, 2024 With a 4.5-million home shortage driving California to have the 49th-worst ratio of residences to residents in the nation, efforts to increase up-front affordability without increasing the abundance of homes is resulting ...
Read the Free Cities Center's latest book review
BOOK REVIEW: ‘Centers of Progress: 40 Cities That Changed the World’
Post-COVID, are cities still the engines of civilization? Physicist Geoffrey West has called cities “the crucible of civilization.” That widely quoted metaphor is worth unpacking. A crucible is a mold that holds molten substances as they are cooling and gives them new form. The claim here is that cities are ...
Learn what the State Auditor found wrong with CA homelessness spending
Who is left to defend CA homelessness spending?
I received a text out of nowhere from a friend who shares vastly different political opinions than myself: Where is all the money that is supposed to go to the homeless? I had to report the homeless camp on my apartment street. I openly saw someone smoking from a crack ...
Read latest about push for electric vehicles
Will Electric Vehicle Push Make Any Difference In Lowering Emissions? Science Says Probably Not.
Let’s first look at indisputable facts. Carbon dioxide level as a portion of our atmosphere is now 425 parts per million (or 0.0425%), as measured at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, up from 317 PPM in 1960. (About 500 million years ago, CO2 reached 7,000 PPM.) To understand just how ...
Read latest on SF's growing defecation problem
Scatology 101
It’s hard not to love Larry Baer, the CEO of the San Francisco Giants. He is the team’s public face and cheerleader in chief – a proud San Franciscan with diplomas from Lowell High School and Cal Berkeley that attest to his deep Bay Area roots. And no one ...
As drivers struggle, Seattle should scrap gig-worker law
As drivers struggle, Seattle should scrap gig-worker law By Sal Rodriguez | April 12, 2024 Back in May 2022, the Seattle City Council approved so-called “PayUp” legislation imposing minimum wage standards on app-based delivery services. Under the rules, app-based delivery drivers must be paid a city-established minimum per minute and ...
Read latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Creating ‘Free Cities’ as Plan B for global societies
Editor’s Note: The Free Cities Foundation has no connection to the Pacific Research Institute’s Free Cities Center, but many of its ideas align with ours. The Foundation helps create real-world privatized cities across the globe, where market forces provide government services. PRI’s Center promotes myriad ideas to improve cities, including ...
