Blog
Blog
New Rankings Confirm California’s Status as Too Restrictive for Homebuilding
In fact, those nine are all among the bottom 15. Los Angeles landed in the middle of the rankings, even though its “composite price levels” are 8.6 times higher than income, higher than San Jose (7.9), San Diego (7.7), San Francisco (7.6) and even New York City (6.6). California, was ...
Blog
Two Good Healthcare Headlines
We all could use a little bit of good news on health policy these days. And Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the American Action Forum provides it in the latest edition of AAF’s “Reality Check-Up: The Truth About Single-Payer Systems.” He commends two articles for readers of the series, and I will ...
Blog
Why Your Next Bottle of French Champagne Could Cost More: Tariffs & US Sparkling Wine Options
When I read the news that prices on French Champagne could soon be soaring under President Trump’s tariff plan, my first response was to quickly get to my nearest Costco. Veuve Clicquot champagne, still made much like it was when first developed over 200 years ago by the “Grande Dame” ...
Blog
The solution to traffic congestion isn’t up, up and away
The solution to traffic congestion isn’t up, up and away By D. Dowd Muska | April 17, 2025 Urbanists often have their heads in the clouds. But this is ridiculous. Today’s trendiest transportation topic in the world of “smart growth”? What the YouTube channel Climate and Transit calls “aerial lifts that ...
Blog
California’s Criminal Justice Reforms – A License to Kill
In 2015 California passed AB 953, The Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) in order to “improve diversity and racial identity sensitivity” in law enforcement. It’s target – police racial profiling. The 2025 RIPA report chronicles highly granular statistics from over 4.7 million police encounters that occurred in 2023. Of ...
Blog
Spending Watch
The May Revision Should Assume A Weaker Fiscal Position for FY2025-26
The May Revision Should Assume A Weaker Fiscal Position for FY2025-26 Wayne Winegarden April 2025 The recently enacted tariffs are significant tax increases on consumption and production, as I discussed in a February 2025 PRI Issue Brief. These tariffs will increase costs for consumers and reduce profits for businesses both ...
Agriculture
Wolf management needs a regional strategy
With a daily hunting range of 30 miles or more, it is only a matter of time before wolves become a topic of conversation outside of livestock and conservation circles. Congress and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have several blueprints for the kind of predator management plan that makes ...
Blog
Your Mileage May Vary on New Tax Proposal
Your Mileage May Vary on New Tax Proposal Can our Legislature be trusted to replace gas taxes with mileage fees? By Steven Greenhut | April 9, 2025 In a normal state run by politicians who weren’t constantly trying to hose taxpayers to fund an ever-expanding list of dubious programs, it ...
Blog
California’s Broken Juvenile Justice System
On March 17, Cristo Rey De La Salle High School student Derbing Gonzalez was walking to soccer practice with four of his teammates on 100th Ave in Oakland when they were set upon by an armed suspect who demanded Gonzalez’s Sprayground backpack. Gonzalez refused and, after a brief struggle, four ...
Blog
Sanctuary State for The Homeless
Not all of California’s homelessness problems can be blamed on poor public policy. But much of it is due to statutes and ordinances that have incentivized vagrancy. This should not be in dispute and should inform policymaking today and in the future. But apparently some don’t see it that way. ...
New Rankings Confirm California’s Status as Too Restrictive for Homebuilding
In fact, those nine are all among the bottom 15. Los Angeles landed in the middle of the rankings, even though its “composite price levels” are 8.6 times higher than income, higher than San Jose (7.9), San Diego (7.7), San Francisco (7.6) and even New York City (6.6). California, was ...
Two Good Healthcare Headlines
We all could use a little bit of good news on health policy these days. And Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the American Action Forum provides it in the latest edition of AAF’s “Reality Check-Up: The Truth About Single-Payer Systems.” He commends two articles for readers of the series, and I will ...
Why Your Next Bottle of French Champagne Could Cost More: Tariffs & US Sparkling Wine Options
When I read the news that prices on French Champagne could soon be soaring under President Trump’s tariff plan, my first response was to quickly get to my nearest Costco. Veuve Clicquot champagne, still made much like it was when first developed over 200 years ago by the “Grande Dame” ...
The solution to traffic congestion isn’t up, up and away
The solution to traffic congestion isn’t up, up and away By D. Dowd Muska | April 17, 2025 Urbanists often have their heads in the clouds. But this is ridiculous. Today’s trendiest transportation topic in the world of “smart growth”? What the YouTube channel Climate and Transit calls “aerial lifts that ...
California’s Criminal Justice Reforms – A License to Kill
In 2015 California passed AB 953, The Racial and Identity Profiling Act (RIPA) in order to “improve diversity and racial identity sensitivity” in law enforcement. It’s target – police racial profiling. The 2025 RIPA report chronicles highly granular statistics from over 4.7 million police encounters that occurred in 2023. Of ...
Spending Watch
The May Revision Should Assume A Weaker Fiscal Position for FY2025-26
The May Revision Should Assume A Weaker Fiscal Position for FY2025-26 Wayne Winegarden April 2025 The recently enacted tariffs are significant tax increases on consumption and production, as I discussed in a February 2025 PRI Issue Brief. These tariffs will increase costs for consumers and reduce profits for businesses both ...
Wolf management needs a regional strategy
With a daily hunting range of 30 miles or more, it is only a matter of time before wolves become a topic of conversation outside of livestock and conservation circles. Congress and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have several blueprints for the kind of predator management plan that makes ...
Your Mileage May Vary on New Tax Proposal
Your Mileage May Vary on New Tax Proposal Can our Legislature be trusted to replace gas taxes with mileage fees? By Steven Greenhut | April 9, 2025 In a normal state run by politicians who weren’t constantly trying to hose taxpayers to fund an ever-expanding list of dubious programs, it ...
California’s Broken Juvenile Justice System
On March 17, Cristo Rey De La Salle High School student Derbing Gonzalez was walking to soccer practice with four of his teammates on 100th Ave in Oakland when they were set upon by an armed suspect who demanded Gonzalez’s Sprayground backpack. Gonzalez refused and, after a brief struggle, four ...
Sanctuary State for The Homeless
Not all of California’s homelessness problems can be blamed on poor public policy. But much of it is due to statutes and ordinances that have incentivized vagrancy. This should not be in dispute and should inform policymaking today and in the future. But apparently some don’t see it that way. ...
