Kerry Jackson
Blog
Rent Control Measure Would Make California’s Housing Woes Worse
One of the factors driving California’s housing crisis is the upward pressure rent-controls laws place on home prices. Everyone except those enjoying the dividends of rent-controlled housing would be better off without the laws. Yet a measure that will allow them to spread will be on the ballot this fall. ...
California
Should We Really Need a License to Work in California?
Taking a job as a manicurist in California requires more than filling out an application and receiving an offer from an employer. Manicurists have to have at least 400 hours of training, which can cost thousands of dollars. They must also take a written and practical exam. The government-created barrier ...
Blog
Will Housing People in Our Backyards Help Reduce LA’s Homeless Population?
A drive through the homeless encampment in downtown Los Angeles reveals a swamp of squalor unworthy of a first-world nation. Yet there it is, grim and uncivilized. Los Angeles’ homeless problem is a growing concern. The region has the second-largest homeless population in the country, with more than 55,000 living ...
Blog
Gann Limit Blast from the Past Has Become Brown’s Budget Thorn in the Side
Ancient scrolls tell us there was once an era when Californians rose up against the heavy hand of taxation. In the now-distant year of 1978 voters approved Proposition 13 to limit the government’s reach in property taxes. The final tally was a 65-35 message from voters which clearly told politicians ...
Business & Economics
Warning Labels on Coffee? Latest Junk Lawsuit ‘Win’
New research indicates that coffee might help cut the risk of heart disease. Apparently, that was taken as good news everywhere — except California. Four days after that study was published, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge issued a preliminary ruling that forces stores that sell coffee to post cancer ...
Agriculture
CAPITAL IDEAS: Will We Ever Build More Water Storage in California?
Read the PDF It’s not elected officials’ fault if it doesn’t rain. But they are largely responsible for the issues that arise when it doesn’t. That’s why California’s most-recent drought was often referred to as man-made. The next one, which will reportedly arrive this year, should carry the same label. ...
Blog
Will Sacramento Do Anything to Stop State’s “People Problem”?
To say that the Bay Area has problems would be like saying the universe has stars. There are too many to count and even trying to do so creates a cosmic headache. One of these innumerable problems recently caught the eyes of the Wall Street Journal, which tagged a late ...
California
California’s Net Neutrality Push is a Solution in Search of a Problem
Sacramento seems to ever be in search of a problem to solve even where no problem exists. Count Sen. Scott Wiener’s net neutrality bill among the efforts to force hard medicine on a healthy patient. Wiener’s aim with Senate Bill 822, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, is “to make ...
Blog
SB 827: Another Imperfect yet Positive Effort to Break State’s Housing Logjam
We’ve been critical, for good reason, of the Legislature’s attempts to solve California’s housing crisis. Lawmakers have done little more than talk about the problem and pass useless, even counterproductive, legislation. But we acknowledge good work when we see it, and we commend Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener for his improved ...
Blog
Sacramento Taxes Nearly Everything. Is Drinking Water Next?
Apparently, there’s nothing so sacred nor so ordinary that Sacramento won’t tax it. Possibly next up on the tax table is a first-ever levy on drinking water. During last year’s legislative session, lawmakers proposed through Senate Bill 623 a 95-cent monthly tax on water bills. The revenue, about $200 million, ...
Rent Control Measure Would Make California’s Housing Woes Worse
One of the factors driving California’s housing crisis is the upward pressure rent-controls laws place on home prices. Everyone except those enjoying the dividends of rent-controlled housing would be better off without the laws. Yet a measure that will allow them to spread will be on the ballot this fall. ...
Should We Really Need a License to Work in California?
Taking a job as a manicurist in California requires more than filling out an application and receiving an offer from an employer. Manicurists have to have at least 400 hours of training, which can cost thousands of dollars. They must also take a written and practical exam. The government-created barrier ...
Will Housing People in Our Backyards Help Reduce LA’s Homeless Population?
A drive through the homeless encampment in downtown Los Angeles reveals a swamp of squalor unworthy of a first-world nation. Yet there it is, grim and uncivilized. Los Angeles’ homeless problem is a growing concern. The region has the second-largest homeless population in the country, with more than 55,000 living ...
Gann Limit Blast from the Past Has Become Brown’s Budget Thorn in the Side
Ancient scrolls tell us there was once an era when Californians rose up against the heavy hand of taxation. In the now-distant year of 1978 voters approved Proposition 13 to limit the government’s reach in property taxes. The final tally was a 65-35 message from voters which clearly told politicians ...
Warning Labels on Coffee? Latest Junk Lawsuit ‘Win’
New research indicates that coffee might help cut the risk of heart disease. Apparently, that was taken as good news everywhere — except California. Four days after that study was published, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge issued a preliminary ruling that forces stores that sell coffee to post cancer ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Will We Ever Build More Water Storage in California?
Read the PDF It’s not elected officials’ fault if it doesn’t rain. But they are largely responsible for the issues that arise when it doesn’t. That’s why California’s most-recent drought was often referred to as man-made. The next one, which will reportedly arrive this year, should carry the same label. ...
Will Sacramento Do Anything to Stop State’s “People Problem”?
To say that the Bay Area has problems would be like saying the universe has stars. There are too many to count and even trying to do so creates a cosmic headache. One of these innumerable problems recently caught the eyes of the Wall Street Journal, which tagged a late ...
California’s Net Neutrality Push is a Solution in Search of a Problem
Sacramento seems to ever be in search of a problem to solve even where no problem exists. Count Sen. Scott Wiener’s net neutrality bill among the efforts to force hard medicine on a healthy patient. Wiener’s aim with Senate Bill 822, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, is “to make ...
SB 827: Another Imperfect yet Positive Effort to Break State’s Housing Logjam
We’ve been critical, for good reason, of the Legislature’s attempts to solve California’s housing crisis. Lawmakers have done little more than talk about the problem and pass useless, even counterproductive, legislation. But we acknowledge good work when we see it, and we commend Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener for his improved ...
Sacramento Taxes Nearly Everything. Is Drinking Water Next?
Apparently, there’s nothing so sacred nor so ordinary that Sacramento won’t tax it. Possibly next up on the tax table is a first-ever levy on drinking water. During last year’s legislative session, lawmakers proposed through Senate Bill 623 a 95-cent monthly tax on water bills. The revenue, about $200 million, ...
