Blog
Blog
What We’re Watching – June 5
Tim Anaya – Digging Up Ways to Lower Costs for High Value but Expensive Drugs In the latest video in the “Escape the Drug Pricing Maze” video, Sage the Detective Dog digs up clues on biologics and gene therapies – drugs that offer tremendous value for patients but are some ...
Blog
PRI’s 2020 Summer Reading List
After months of “sheltering in place” in our homes due to the COVID-19 crisis, and with so much distressing news on television every night, we’re all look for a little bit of an escape. Since we can’t really travel anywhere yet, we’ll have to settle for trying to escape in ...
Blog
June Single Payer Poll Watch: Support Continues to Tick Upward
Support for Medicare for All continues to rise in PRI’s Single-Payer Poll Watch. The June update shows the overall average support at 57 percent, while opposition slightly dropped to 34 percent. Last month’s update showed a ten-point jump in support during the height of shelter-in-place orders and lockdowns because of ...
Blog
‘Fixing’ Assembly Bill 5: Better If It Never Existed At All
California’s Assembly Bill 5 has not been broken, but given a couple of recent developments, it might soon be showing some cracks. On May 20, Assembly Bill 1850, which would exempt some professions from AB5, a law that virtually outlaws independent contract work, was passed 7-0 by the Assembly Labor ...
Blog
Assembly’s Festivus-Style ‘Airing of Grievances’ Does Not Disappoint
In my last blog post, I previewed the Assembly’s unusual “Committee of the Whole” hearing on the state budget, comparing it to Seinfeld’s Festivus “Airing of Grievances.” Little did I know how clairvoyant I really was. Last Tuesday’s five hour session could charitably be called a “gripe fest” as lawmakers ...
Blog
What We’re Watching – May 29
Kerry Jackson – California: The Exodus from the Golden State Anyone who still doesn’t think California’s future is questionable at best, bleak at worst, needs to spend 10 minutes watching this video. Ben Smithwick – Protecting Your Right to Run a Business from Home In this video from the Goldwater Institute, ...
Blog
Racial Preferences Returning to California?
It’s said that timing is everything — it’s especially true in politics. And it’s why those who want to bring back racial preferences in California’s public education, government employment and contracting, chose the here and now to try and repeal Prop. 209, the 1996 California ballot measure that ended these ...
Blog
Newsom’s Executive Orders Are Too Much for State Lawmakers
California, like the rest of country, is slowly opening cities and counties after more than two months of shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders. California Governor Gavin Newsom has been the unequivocal face of the pandemic response. As the state legislature prepares to vote on a trimmed-down budget in June, the governor’s ...
Blog
Budget Update: A Capitol ‘Airing of Grievances’ and No More Blank Checks for Newsom
Last week, the center of the budget universe moved upstairs at the State Capitol as budget subcommittees in the Senate and Assembly held hearings to explore all aspects of Gov. Newsom’s plan to close the budget deficit he pegs at $54 billion. A few interesting developments foreshadow what may be ...
Blog
Remembering Those We Honor on Memorial Day
While America is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting havoc and deaths, it is easy to forget about the significance of Memorial Day. Yet, of all the nation’s patriotic holidays, none carries deeper emotion and impacts the lives of ordinary Americans more than Memorial Day. In his 2020 ...
What We’re Watching – June 5
Tim Anaya – Digging Up Ways to Lower Costs for High Value but Expensive Drugs In the latest video in the “Escape the Drug Pricing Maze” video, Sage the Detective Dog digs up clues on biologics and gene therapies – drugs that offer tremendous value for patients but are some ...
PRI’s 2020 Summer Reading List
After months of “sheltering in place” in our homes due to the COVID-19 crisis, and with so much distressing news on television every night, we’re all look for a little bit of an escape. Since we can’t really travel anywhere yet, we’ll have to settle for trying to escape in ...
June Single Payer Poll Watch: Support Continues to Tick Upward
Support for Medicare for All continues to rise in PRI’s Single-Payer Poll Watch. The June update shows the overall average support at 57 percent, while opposition slightly dropped to 34 percent. Last month’s update showed a ten-point jump in support during the height of shelter-in-place orders and lockdowns because of ...
‘Fixing’ Assembly Bill 5: Better If It Never Existed At All
California’s Assembly Bill 5 has not been broken, but given a couple of recent developments, it might soon be showing some cracks. On May 20, Assembly Bill 1850, which would exempt some professions from AB5, a law that virtually outlaws independent contract work, was passed 7-0 by the Assembly Labor ...
Assembly’s Festivus-Style ‘Airing of Grievances’ Does Not Disappoint
In my last blog post, I previewed the Assembly’s unusual “Committee of the Whole” hearing on the state budget, comparing it to Seinfeld’s Festivus “Airing of Grievances.” Little did I know how clairvoyant I really was. Last Tuesday’s five hour session could charitably be called a “gripe fest” as lawmakers ...
What We’re Watching – May 29
Kerry Jackson – California: The Exodus from the Golden State Anyone who still doesn’t think California’s future is questionable at best, bleak at worst, needs to spend 10 minutes watching this video. Ben Smithwick – Protecting Your Right to Run a Business from Home In this video from the Goldwater Institute, ...
Racial Preferences Returning to California?
It’s said that timing is everything — it’s especially true in politics. And it’s why those who want to bring back racial preferences in California’s public education, government employment and contracting, chose the here and now to try and repeal Prop. 209, the 1996 California ballot measure that ended these ...
Newsom’s Executive Orders Are Too Much for State Lawmakers
California, like the rest of country, is slowly opening cities and counties after more than two months of shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders. California Governor Gavin Newsom has been the unequivocal face of the pandemic response. As the state legislature prepares to vote on a trimmed-down budget in June, the governor’s ...
Budget Update: A Capitol ‘Airing of Grievances’ and No More Blank Checks for Newsom
Last week, the center of the budget universe moved upstairs at the State Capitol as budget subcommittees in the Senate and Assembly held hearings to explore all aspects of Gov. Newsom’s plan to close the budget deficit he pegs at $54 billion. A few interesting developments foreshadow what may be ...
Remembering Those We Honor on Memorial Day
While America is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting havoc and deaths, it is easy to forget about the significance of Memorial Day. Yet, of all the nation’s patriotic holidays, none carries deeper emotion and impacts the lives of ordinary Americans more than Memorial Day. In his 2020 ...
