California

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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 ...
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 ...
Blog

What Governments Are Doing to Try and Salvage the Economy

Until recently, terms like social distancing and even the coronavirus were nonexistent. Now these terms could come to define the beginning of a pending global recession the likes of which have yet to test modern economic markets. As parts of California shelter in place and millions engage in the largest ...
Commentary

A Decade Of Obamacare Has Been Ten Years Too Many

Ten years ago, President Barack Obama signed his eponymous healthcare reform package into law. What does the nation have to show for a decade of Obamacare? Nothing worth celebrating. Nearly every major provision of the Affordable Care Act has proven a failure. And yet, the Democrats’ approach to this failure ...
California

Coronavirus State Of Emergency — Under Single-Payer, California Would Be In A Permanent State Of Emergency

For most of us, the coronavirus pandemic is an ordeal we’re slogging our way through. However, some are seizing the opportunity to appeal for support for the health care schemes that have failed other nations. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, for one, has gone as far as to claim that Medicare ...
California

Gov. Newsom would rather take gas-tax money for bike lanes than fix California’s roads

When Senate Bill 1 was passed and signed into law in 2017, Californians were told the tax hikes it authorized were good for them. The revenues were to be dedicated to repairing the state’s lousy roads. Yet there have been numerous accountability and transparency questions about the law, enough that ...
California

PRI’s Tim Anaya discusses Coronavirus on Commonwealth Club Week to Week Political Roundtable

Watch Tim Anaya, PRI’s senior director of communications and the Sacramento office, discuss how the political and economic impact of the coronavirus on a special livestream of the Commonwealth Club’s “Week to Week” Political Roundtable, moderated by John Zipperer.  Other panelists include Dr. Gina Baleria, Assistant Professor, Sonoma State University ...
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 ...
Blog

The Train That’s Still Going Nowhere

The Legislative Analyst’s Office recently issued its Review of the Draft 2020 High-Speed Rail Business Plan. It’s not a ringing endorsement of the project. Three of the report’s five key oversight issues confirm what’s been known all along. California’s bullet train is a troubled enterprise. First, says the LAO, “we ...
Blog

Torpedoing a Successful Charter School

While the statewide assault on charter schools by politicians in Sacramento has garnered headlines, it is the effort to undermine specific successful local charter schools that really pulls at one’s heartstrings. Take, for example, Willow Creek Academy charter school in Sausalito in Marin County.  Willow Creek is a K-8 school ...
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 ...
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 ...
Blog

What Governments Are Doing to Try and Salvage the Economy

Until recently, terms like social distancing and even the coronavirus were nonexistent. Now these terms could come to define the beginning of a pending global recession the likes of which have yet to test modern economic markets. As parts of California shelter in place and millions engage in the largest ...
Commentary

A Decade Of Obamacare Has Been Ten Years Too Many

Ten years ago, President Barack Obama signed his eponymous healthcare reform package into law. What does the nation have to show for a decade of Obamacare? Nothing worth celebrating. Nearly every major provision of the Affordable Care Act has proven a failure. And yet, the Democrats’ approach to this failure ...
California

Coronavirus State Of Emergency — Under Single-Payer, California Would Be In A Permanent State Of Emergency

For most of us, the coronavirus pandemic is an ordeal we’re slogging our way through. However, some are seizing the opportunity to appeal for support for the health care schemes that have failed other nations. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, for one, has gone as far as to claim that Medicare ...
California

Gov. Newsom would rather take gas-tax money for bike lanes than fix California’s roads

When Senate Bill 1 was passed and signed into law in 2017, Californians were told the tax hikes it authorized were good for them. The revenues were to be dedicated to repairing the state’s lousy roads. Yet there have been numerous accountability and transparency questions about the law, enough that ...
California

PRI’s Tim Anaya discusses Coronavirus on Commonwealth Club Week to Week Political Roundtable

Watch Tim Anaya, PRI’s senior director of communications and the Sacramento office, discuss how the political and economic impact of the coronavirus on a special livestream of the Commonwealth Club’s “Week to Week” Political Roundtable, moderated by John Zipperer.  Other panelists include Dr. Gina Baleria, Assistant Professor, Sonoma State University ...
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 ...
Blog

The Train That’s Still Going Nowhere

The Legislative Analyst’s Office recently issued its Review of the Draft 2020 High-Speed Rail Business Plan. It’s not a ringing endorsement of the project. Three of the report’s five key oversight issues confirm what’s been known all along. California’s bullet train is a troubled enterprise. First, says the LAO, “we ...
Blog

Torpedoing a Successful Charter School

While the statewide assault on charter schools by politicians in Sacramento has garnered headlines, it is the effort to undermine specific successful local charter schools that really pulls at one’s heartstrings. Take, for example, Willow Creek Academy charter school in Sausalito in Marin County.  Willow Creek is a K-8 school ...
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