California
California
If California is an economic powerhouse, then where are the jobs?
It’s a new year, a time for resolutions and fresh starts. Of course, only 9 percent of people who declare New year’s resolutions ultimately fulfill them. Most will give up before January ends. Such a dour outlook is a bit of a wet blanket, but it is apropos for California’s ...
California
The PRI All Stars 2025 Year End Awards
With the holiday season upon us, it’s time for our annual PRI All Stars Year End Awards. Listen as Tim Anaya, Rowena Itchon, Lance Izumi, Kerry Jackson and Matt Fleming share their picks for the year’s biggest winners and losers in California politics and policy, and even offer a few ...
Blog
LA divorces itself from coal. Is it really a defining moment?
With the immodesty of an experienced braggart, the city of Los Angeles announced on Dec. 4 that it has ended its relationship with coal. No longer will it receive power generated from that particular fossil fuel. Mayor Karen Bass called it “a defining moment” that will take the city closer “building a clean energy ...
California
Checking the fine print on Newsom’s “donor state” boast
California brags about its donor state status, that is, it forwards more in tax dollars to Washington than it gets back in federal spending. But that’s changed. According to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, California’s balance of payments with the federal government – the net difference between federal revenue collected ...
California
Thien Ho – The People vs. The Golden State Killer
Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho joins us this week to discuss his terrific new book chronicling his role prosecuting the elusive Golden State Killer. We talk about how his upbringing fleeing Communism in Vietnam fuels his passion for seeking justice for crime victims, the many challenges in prosecuting Joseph ...
Blog
Plan to Tear Up Local Streets Latest Controversy for California’s Train to Nowhere
The Fresno Bee reports that streets in the center of city would have to be rebuilt as a series of overpasses and underpasses to avoid the road-level tracks for high-speed rail. The city was under the impression, based on a 2018 agreement, that the streets would remain as is while the train ...
California
Los Angeles Tries to ‘Fix’ Rent Control
Los Angeles is one of more than a dozen California cities with rent-control laws, and by no coincidence, is one of the most unaffordable places to live. The City Council recently approved a proposal that gives owners more leeway to raise rents. It’s by no means a bold plan. It ...
California
California Looking For ‘Foreign’ Aid
If there were a list of faltering, ineffective and counterproductive programs and projects that California policymakers are bitterly clinging to, the “bullet train” would be at the top. Voters asked for an ambitious high-speed rail that never leaves the state, but California cannot get the job done alone. The rest ...
Blog
Spending Watch
Lacking Fundamental Reforms, California’s Fiscal Outlook Is Still Dismal
Lacking Fundamental Reforms, California’s Fiscal Outlook Is Still Dismal Wayne Winegarden and Nikhil Agarwal December 2025 The Legislative Analysts’ Office’s (LAO) latest Fiscal Outlook for 2026-27 warns that more budget pain is on the way. The nonpartisan budget analyst’s review concurs with previous PRI Spending Watch analyses where we warned ...
Blog
Trucking and Shipping Latest Victims of California’s “Cruelest Law,” AB 5
If anyone thinks they’re seeing fewer trucks ripping up and down Interstate 5 or slogging through the perpetual 405 gridlock, it might not be their imagination. California law is strangling the freight-hauling business. There has been “a wave of bankruptcies among California trucking companies,” reports Floor Covering News, a trade publication, partially the result of the economic decline of the freight ...
If California is an economic powerhouse, then where are the jobs?
It’s a new year, a time for resolutions and fresh starts. Of course, only 9 percent of people who declare New year’s resolutions ultimately fulfill them. Most will give up before January ends. Such a dour outlook is a bit of a wet blanket, but it is apropos for California’s ...
The PRI All Stars 2025 Year End Awards
With the holiday season upon us, it’s time for our annual PRI All Stars Year End Awards. Listen as Tim Anaya, Rowena Itchon, Lance Izumi, Kerry Jackson and Matt Fleming share their picks for the year’s biggest winners and losers in California politics and policy, and even offer a few ...
LA divorces itself from coal. Is it really a defining moment?
With the immodesty of an experienced braggart, the city of Los Angeles announced on Dec. 4 that it has ended its relationship with coal. No longer will it receive power generated from that particular fossil fuel. Mayor Karen Bass called it “a defining moment” that will take the city closer “building a clean energy ...
Checking the fine print on Newsom’s “donor state” boast
California brags about its donor state status, that is, it forwards more in tax dollars to Washington than it gets back in federal spending. But that’s changed. According to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, California’s balance of payments with the federal government – the net difference between federal revenue collected ...
Thien Ho – The People vs. The Golden State Killer
Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho joins us this week to discuss his terrific new book chronicling his role prosecuting the elusive Golden State Killer. We talk about how his upbringing fleeing Communism in Vietnam fuels his passion for seeking justice for crime victims, the many challenges in prosecuting Joseph ...
Plan to Tear Up Local Streets Latest Controversy for California’s Train to Nowhere
The Fresno Bee reports that streets in the center of city would have to be rebuilt as a series of overpasses and underpasses to avoid the road-level tracks for high-speed rail. The city was under the impression, based on a 2018 agreement, that the streets would remain as is while the train ...
Los Angeles Tries to ‘Fix’ Rent Control
Los Angeles is one of more than a dozen California cities with rent-control laws, and by no coincidence, is one of the most unaffordable places to live. The City Council recently approved a proposal that gives owners more leeway to raise rents. It’s by no means a bold plan. It ...
California Looking For ‘Foreign’ Aid
If there were a list of faltering, ineffective and counterproductive programs and projects that California policymakers are bitterly clinging to, the “bullet train” would be at the top. Voters asked for an ambitious high-speed rail that never leaves the state, but California cannot get the job done alone. The rest ...
Spending Watch
Lacking Fundamental Reforms, California’s Fiscal Outlook Is Still Dismal
Lacking Fundamental Reforms, California’s Fiscal Outlook Is Still Dismal Wayne Winegarden and Nikhil Agarwal December 2025 The Legislative Analysts’ Office’s (LAO) latest Fiscal Outlook for 2026-27 warns that more budget pain is on the way. The nonpartisan budget analyst’s review concurs with previous PRI Spending Watch analyses where we warned ...
Trucking and Shipping Latest Victims of California’s “Cruelest Law,” AB 5
If anyone thinks they’re seeing fewer trucks ripping up and down Interstate 5 or slogging through the perpetual 405 gridlock, it might not be their imagination. California law is strangling the freight-hauling business. There has been “a wave of bankruptcies among California trucking companies,” reports Floor Covering News, a trade publication, partially the result of the economic decline of the freight ...
