Blog
The Search for Police Racism: A Narrative of Data, Oversight, and the Reality of Police Reform in California
In 2020, following nationwide protests after George Floyd’s murder, California began an ambitious experiment: could expansive data collection and new oversight agencies reveal whether policing was systemically racist? Central to this was the Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA), passed in 2015 and expanded after 2020. RIPA required law enforcement ...
Blog
Lacking oversight: How to fix California’s system for selecting judges
Lacking oversight: How to fix California’s system for selecting judges By Michael Warnken | May 29, 2026 California’s judicial selection process has undergone significant changes since the state’s admission to the Union in 1850. Today, trial judges are chosen through a hybrid system of judicial elections and gubernatorial appointments, as ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Albuquerque’s fumble on modest upzoning to promote housing
With a projected housing need of 55,000 new units by 2045, the city has passed some minor housing reforms in recent years, including legalizing accessory dwelling units and allowing more housing near major transit lines. But the city has been reluctant to undertake citywide zoning reforms, despite the city’s housing ...
Blog
California’s ‘Scarcity Mindset’
The late, great comedian Sam Kinison once said that instead of sending food to starving nations, we should send U-Hauls because, he would scream, “there wouldn’t be world hunger if you people would live where the food is! You live in a desert, understand that?! Nothing grows out of here!” ...
Agriculture
Time to right size the Farm Bill
The first Farm Bill was passed in 1933 to stabilize food production and protect the land the U.S. food supply was grown on. The economic collapse of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl were hardships, in part, to be corrected by the New Deal and the Farm Bill. The ...
Blog
Honoring Our Fallen Heroes on Memorial Day
These patriots came from all walks of life and backgrounds—from neighborhoods in our great cities to the hills and plains of rural America; from descendants of the earliest generation of Americans to our newest immigrants; and from families with famous names to the humblest amongst us. Despite the diversity of ...
Blog
Under reformist mayor, San Francisco continues to self-correct
Under reformist mayor, San Francisco continues to self-correct San Francisco has long been a whipping post for conservatives who like to portray it as the case study for progressive zaniness, an ever-present example of the kind of public policies that other cities ought to avoid. The city has often deserved ...
Blog
Not seeing much progress: The failure of cities’ Vision Zero
But as is often the case with feel-good, word-salad progressivism, Vision Zero’s results fall somewhere between mixed and disappointing. San Diego, Portland, Las Vegas, Denver, Charlotte, Philadelphia — the list of underperformers isn’t short. One elected official in Seattle grew so frustrated, he requested an investigation. In April, Rob Saka ...
Blog
Higher Energy Prices Could Cost Families Over $1,100 in 2026
Californians face a $1,518 increase in energy costs – higher than the $1,120 increase faced by the average U.S. family and much higher than $809 increase New York residents will see.[1]The below map illustrates the estimated increase in annual energy expenditures between 2025 and 2026 should the current elevated prices ...
Blog
On Juvenile Justice Policy Debates Driven By Untested Dogma, Not Data or Honest Timelines
Two 2026 bills—Assembly Bill 1902 by Asm. Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz) and the failed “Lorenso’s Law” (AB 2040) by Asm. Alexandra Macedo (R-Tulare)—show how lawmakers are grasping for answers. But the most glaring flaws run deeper. The system’s rigid age cutoff means some offenders—many who are adults by the time ...
The Search for Police Racism: A Narrative of Data, Oversight, and the Reality of Police Reform in California
In 2020, following nationwide protests after George Floyd’s murder, California began an ambitious experiment: could expansive data collection and new oversight agencies reveal whether policing was systemically racist? Central to this was the Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA), passed in 2015 and expanded after 2020. RIPA required law enforcement ...
Lacking oversight: How to fix California’s system for selecting judges
Lacking oversight: How to fix California’s system for selecting judges By Michael Warnken | May 29, 2026 California’s judicial selection process has undergone significant changes since the state’s admission to the Union in 1850. Today, trial judges are chosen through a hybrid system of judicial elections and gubernatorial appointments, as ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Albuquerque’s fumble on modest upzoning to promote housing
With a projected housing need of 55,000 new units by 2045, the city has passed some minor housing reforms in recent years, including legalizing accessory dwelling units and allowing more housing near major transit lines. But the city has been reluctant to undertake citywide zoning reforms, despite the city’s housing ...
California’s ‘Scarcity Mindset’
The late, great comedian Sam Kinison once said that instead of sending food to starving nations, we should send U-Hauls because, he would scream, “there wouldn’t be world hunger if you people would live where the food is! You live in a desert, understand that?! Nothing grows out of here!” ...
Time to right size the Farm Bill
The first Farm Bill was passed in 1933 to stabilize food production and protect the land the U.S. food supply was grown on. The economic collapse of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl were hardships, in part, to be corrected by the New Deal and the Farm Bill. The ...
Honoring Our Fallen Heroes on Memorial Day
These patriots came from all walks of life and backgrounds—from neighborhoods in our great cities to the hills and plains of rural America; from descendants of the earliest generation of Americans to our newest immigrants; and from families with famous names to the humblest amongst us. Despite the diversity of ...
Under reformist mayor, San Francisco continues to self-correct
Under reformist mayor, San Francisco continues to self-correct San Francisco has long been a whipping post for conservatives who like to portray it as the case study for progressive zaniness, an ever-present example of the kind of public policies that other cities ought to avoid. The city has often deserved ...
Not seeing much progress: The failure of cities’ Vision Zero
But as is often the case with feel-good, word-salad progressivism, Vision Zero’s results fall somewhere between mixed and disappointing. San Diego, Portland, Las Vegas, Denver, Charlotte, Philadelphia — the list of underperformers isn’t short. One elected official in Seattle grew so frustrated, he requested an investigation. In April, Rob Saka ...
Higher Energy Prices Could Cost Families Over $1,100 in 2026
Californians face a $1,518 increase in energy costs – higher than the $1,120 increase faced by the average U.S. family and much higher than $809 increase New York residents will see.[1]The below map illustrates the estimated increase in annual energy expenditures between 2025 and 2026 should the current elevated prices ...
On Juvenile Justice Policy Debates Driven By Untested Dogma, Not Data or Honest Timelines
Two 2026 bills—Assembly Bill 1902 by Asm. Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz) and the failed “Lorenso’s Law” (AB 2040) by Asm. Alexandra Macedo (R-Tulare)—show how lawmakers are grasping for answers. But the most glaring flaws run deeper. The system’s rigid age cutoff means some offenders—many who are adults by the time ...