Wildfires
California
Listen to Hon. Dan Kolkey discuss Cal Fire case on Daily Journal “Appellate Report” Podcast
Listen to the Hon. Dan Kolkey, PRI board member and attorney with Gibson Dunn, discuss the closely watched case Cal Fire v. CalPERS and the State of California. The case challenges the ability of state and local governments to adjust future pension benefits for current workers. PRI has submitted an amicus brief in the case because ...
Blog
What We’re Watching – October 5
Rowena Itchon – Wine Harvests One Year After Devastating Fires It was a year ago when northern California wine growers suffered from devastating wildfires. But by all accounts, as harvest season nears its end, wine growers are expecting 2018 to be an excellent year. Here’s a video of a families ...
California
Steven Greenhut – Bail Reform, Bailouts, and Brown’s Legacy . . . Oh My! The 2018 Legislative Session in Review
Steven Greenhut of the R Street Institute shares his thoughts on the just-completed 2018 legislative session and Jerry Brown’s legacy as governor, the second go-around. We discuss wildfire response legislation, bail reform, 100 percent renewable energy mandates, single-payer health care, soda taxes, and other hot issues.
Blog
Kilauea Volcanic Eruptions Spike Pensions for Hawaii’s Emergency Workers
“Pension risk includes lava,” said Keli’i Akina, president of the Grassroot Institute, a sister free-market think tank in Hawaii. Recently, the Grassroot Institute hosted an event titled “Navigating risk at Hawaii’s public pension system.” Thom Williams, executive director of the Hawaii Employees’ Retirement System (ERS), discussed how unpredictable events such ...
Blog
Taxifornia This Week
By Rowena Itchon and Tim Anaya This week, the Assembly and Senate face a key deadline. All bills originating must pass their “house of origin” by the end of the week (i.e., bills introduced in the Assembly must pass the Assembly). The Appropriations Committees of both houses weighed in on ...
Blog
Another Way Government Is Playing Car Salesman – Giveaways to Power Companies
The government is not doing a very effective job of playing car salesman. Despite providing federal manufacturing grants and loans worth $40.7 billion and other $2 billion in federal tax credits to subsidize electric car purchases, electric cars, or zero emission vehicles, are just 0.5 percent of the marketplace. California ...
Business & Economics
Ian Adams – Grading California’s Wildfire Response
Ian Adams of the R Street Institute joins us to talk about the legislative response to California’s recent devastating wildfires and the role the free market can play in helping people to rebuild their lives and avoid experiencing a future catastrophe.
Business & Economics
Reducing the Burden from Occupational Licensing Regulations Will Help Consumers
As President Reagan famously noted, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” The expanding reach of occupational licensing regulations exemplify this maxim. People in a growing number of occupations now require the permission of the government to work in ...
Blog
Higher Prices During Crises – Is It Really Price Gouging?
On New Year’s Day, months after wildfires had started their deadly march through California, the Los Angeles Times published an article headlined “After the flames, allegations of rent-gouging fly in devastated wine country communities.” It did not include a single defense of higher prices, which indicates bias, or economic ignorance ...
California
What California Should Do To Ease Housing Crisis
In September, Sacramento lawmakers passed more than a dozen bills aiming to begin healing the state’s housing sore. It was, to their thinking, “Housing Day” in California. Two weeks later, legislators joined Gov. Jerry Brown in San Francisco as he signed what he called “15 good bills.” “Today, California begins ...
Listen to Hon. Dan Kolkey discuss Cal Fire case on Daily Journal “Appellate Report” Podcast
Listen to the Hon. Dan Kolkey, PRI board member and attorney with Gibson Dunn, discuss the closely watched case Cal Fire v. CalPERS and the State of California. The case challenges the ability of state and local governments to adjust future pension benefits for current workers. PRI has submitted an amicus brief in the case because ...
What We’re Watching – October 5
Rowena Itchon – Wine Harvests One Year After Devastating Fires It was a year ago when northern California wine growers suffered from devastating wildfires. But by all accounts, as harvest season nears its end, wine growers are expecting 2018 to be an excellent year. Here’s a video of a families ...
Steven Greenhut – Bail Reform, Bailouts, and Brown’s Legacy . . . Oh My! The 2018 Legislative Session in Review
Steven Greenhut of the R Street Institute shares his thoughts on the just-completed 2018 legislative session and Jerry Brown’s legacy as governor, the second go-around. We discuss wildfire response legislation, bail reform, 100 percent renewable energy mandates, single-payer health care, soda taxes, and other hot issues.
Kilauea Volcanic Eruptions Spike Pensions for Hawaii’s Emergency Workers
“Pension risk includes lava,” said Keli’i Akina, president of the Grassroot Institute, a sister free-market think tank in Hawaii. Recently, the Grassroot Institute hosted an event titled “Navigating risk at Hawaii’s public pension system.” Thom Williams, executive director of the Hawaii Employees’ Retirement System (ERS), discussed how unpredictable events such ...
Taxifornia This Week
By Rowena Itchon and Tim Anaya This week, the Assembly and Senate face a key deadline. All bills originating must pass their “house of origin” by the end of the week (i.e., bills introduced in the Assembly must pass the Assembly). The Appropriations Committees of both houses weighed in on ...
Another Way Government Is Playing Car Salesman – Giveaways to Power Companies
The government is not doing a very effective job of playing car salesman. Despite providing federal manufacturing grants and loans worth $40.7 billion and other $2 billion in federal tax credits to subsidize electric car purchases, electric cars, or zero emission vehicles, are just 0.5 percent of the marketplace. California ...
Ian Adams – Grading California’s Wildfire Response
Ian Adams of the R Street Institute joins us to talk about the legislative response to California’s recent devastating wildfires and the role the free market can play in helping people to rebuild their lives and avoid experiencing a future catastrophe.
Reducing the Burden from Occupational Licensing Regulations Will Help Consumers
As President Reagan famously noted, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” The expanding reach of occupational licensing regulations exemplify this maxim. People in a growing number of occupations now require the permission of the government to work in ...
Higher Prices During Crises – Is It Really Price Gouging?
On New Year’s Day, months after wildfires had started their deadly march through California, the Los Angeles Times published an article headlined “After the flames, allegations of rent-gouging fly in devastated wine country communities.” It did not include a single defense of higher prices, which indicates bias, or economic ignorance ...
What California Should Do To Ease Housing Crisis
In September, Sacramento lawmakers passed more than a dozen bills aiming to begin healing the state’s housing sore. It was, to their thinking, “Housing Day” in California. Two weeks later, legislators joined Gov. Jerry Brown in San Francisco as he signed what he called “15 good bills.” “Today, California begins ...
