Tim Anaya
Blog
Sweeping Expansion of Workers Comp Benefits Could Hit Struggling CA Businesses Hard
There’s been a growing debate in California and nationally about extending workers’ compensation benefits for workers who are impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Some states are moving to make front line workers battling COVID-19 to be eligible for workers’ comp. Politico reports that “at least five smaller states have made ...
Tim Anaya
May 11, 2020
Blog
Growing Chorus Says Time to Reopen Areas with Few to Zero COVID-19 Cases
When is California going to lift the shelter-in-place orders? As temperatures soar and people gain cabin fever after weeks of being stuck inside, it’s the question on everyone’s minds these days. In his April 28 press conference, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that “we believe we are weeks, not months away, ...
Tim Anaya
May 4, 2020
Blog
Can Taxpayers Afford a Big Spending Sacramento “Economic Recovery Plan”?
Speaker Pelosi and her allies in Congress received significant pollical pushback for using the COVID-19 crisis to enact their budget wish list in the $2 billion “phase 3” stimulus. Recently, Rowena Itchon wrote on Right by the Bay about tens of millions being spent on priorities for Democrats like propping ...
Tim Anaya
April 28, 2020
Blog
First Legislative Budget Hearing on Coronavirus Promises Tough Questions
This afternoon, the Senate Budget Committee will hold its first hearing on the state’s response to the coronavirus. Today’s hearing promises to be memorable for two reasons. It will be the first hearing with “social distancing” practices that have become a way of life enforced. And it also promises to ...
Tim Anaya
April 16, 2020
Blog
State Budget Update: Get Ready for the ‘August Revision’
Observers wondering just how different this year’s state budget would be got confirmation this week that the 2020-21 budget will be far different from envisioned in January. In a memo to the Capitol community released on Tuesday, the Assembly Budget Committee acknowledged this new reality: “When we reconvene, we will ...
Tim Anaya
April 9, 2020
Blog
Is Coronavirus Triggering De-Facto Early Release for Thousands of Offenders?
In recent years, California has undergone a significant change in its approach to criminal justice. As PRI’s Kerry Jackson writes in his book, Living in Fear in California, once California’s prison population reached an all-time high of 160,000 in 2006, “a May 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling . . . ...
Tim Anaya
April 7, 2020
Blog
Amidst Coronavirus-Fueled Economic Downturn, State Leaders Must Suspend Government Barriers to Opportunity
In his “Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity” series, PRI’s Dr. Wayne Winegarden has argued that one of the most important ways that elected officials can help to lift people up the economy ladder is by embracing policies that encourage entrepreneurship. As many Californians struggle to stay afloat financially during the ...
Tim Anaya
April 1, 2020
Blog
How State Budget Will Be Impacted by Coronavirus Coming More into Focus
A clearer picture formed this week about how the coronavirus will affect the state budget, with action in Sacramento and Washington. Director of Finance Keely Bosler sent a letter to lawmakers that the department will “reevaluate all budget changes within the context of a workload budget.” “While our first priority ...
Tim Anaya
March 26, 2020
Blog
Legislative Analyst Offers First Hint of Impact of Coronavirus on State Budget
The coronavirus and the massive economic shutdown that has accompanied it as large parts of California are sheltering in place is significantly complicating work on the May Revise of the Gov. Newsom’s budget, due in just weeks. California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Gabriel Petek on Wednesday released his first assessment of ...
Tim Anaya
March 19, 2020
Blog
Will State Budget Be Victim of Coronavirus?
The uncertainty over the coronavirus has negatively impacted the financial markets. Hit the hardest in the short term have been the travel and hospitality industries – with much talk of layoffs, bankruptcies, and industry bailouts. The Dow Jones and Nasdaq have entered bear territory, falling more than 20 percent in ...
Tim Anaya
March 16, 2020
Sweeping Expansion of Workers Comp Benefits Could Hit Struggling CA Businesses Hard
There’s been a growing debate in California and nationally about extending workers’ compensation benefits for workers who are impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Some states are moving to make front line workers battling COVID-19 to be eligible for workers’ comp. Politico reports that “at least five smaller states have made ...
Growing Chorus Says Time to Reopen Areas with Few to Zero COVID-19 Cases
When is California going to lift the shelter-in-place orders? As temperatures soar and people gain cabin fever after weeks of being stuck inside, it’s the question on everyone’s minds these days. In his April 28 press conference, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that “we believe we are weeks, not months away, ...
Can Taxpayers Afford a Big Spending Sacramento “Economic Recovery Plan”?
Speaker Pelosi and her allies in Congress received significant pollical pushback for using the COVID-19 crisis to enact their budget wish list in the $2 billion “phase 3” stimulus. Recently, Rowena Itchon wrote on Right by the Bay about tens of millions being spent on priorities for Democrats like propping ...
First Legislative Budget Hearing on Coronavirus Promises Tough Questions
This afternoon, the Senate Budget Committee will hold its first hearing on the state’s response to the coronavirus. Today’s hearing promises to be memorable for two reasons. It will be the first hearing with “social distancing” practices that have become a way of life enforced. And it also promises to ...
State Budget Update: Get Ready for the ‘August Revision’
Observers wondering just how different this year’s state budget would be got confirmation this week that the 2020-21 budget will be far different from envisioned in January. In a memo to the Capitol community released on Tuesday, the Assembly Budget Committee acknowledged this new reality: “When we reconvene, we will ...
Is Coronavirus Triggering De-Facto Early Release for Thousands of Offenders?
In recent years, California has undergone a significant change in its approach to criminal justice. As PRI’s Kerry Jackson writes in his book, Living in Fear in California, once California’s prison population reached an all-time high of 160,000 in 2006, “a May 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling . . . ...
Amidst Coronavirus-Fueled Economic Downturn, State Leaders Must Suspend Government Barriers to Opportunity
In his “Breaking Down Barriers to Opportunity” series, PRI’s Dr. Wayne Winegarden has argued that one of the most important ways that elected officials can help to lift people up the economy ladder is by embracing policies that encourage entrepreneurship. As many Californians struggle to stay afloat financially during the ...
How State Budget Will Be Impacted by Coronavirus Coming More into Focus
A clearer picture formed this week about how the coronavirus will affect the state budget, with action in Sacramento and Washington. Director of Finance Keely Bosler sent a letter to lawmakers that the department will “reevaluate all budget changes within the context of a workload budget.” “While our first priority ...
Legislative Analyst Offers First Hint of Impact of Coronavirus on State Budget
The coronavirus and the massive economic shutdown that has accompanied it as large parts of California are sheltering in place is significantly complicating work on the May Revise of the Gov. Newsom’s budget, due in just weeks. California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Gabriel Petek on Wednesday released his first assessment of ...
Will State Budget Be Victim of Coronavirus?
The uncertainty over the coronavirus has negatively impacted the financial markets. Hit the hardest in the short term have been the travel and hospitality industries – with much talk of layoffs, bankruptcies, and industry bailouts. The Dow Jones and Nasdaq have entered bear territory, falling more than 20 percent in ...