California
Blackouts
Enjoy 2019’s Best of “Next Round” and “Right by the Bay”
The last week of December is naturally a time to look back on the year that was. Here at PRI, we are particularly proud of the growing popularity of our weekly “Next Round with PRI” podcast and our daily “Right by the Bay” blog. Thanks to you, our podcast had ...
Blog
When Protecting Privacy Reveals Secrets
The California policy gadfly is back with a new ballot initiative in 2020. Last year, San Francisco real estate developer Alastair Mactaggart used the threat of a ballot measure to all but force the state legislature to enact dramatic new privacy regulations that were not ready for primetime. Earlier this ...
Blog
California Politics in 2019: Not Much To Be Happy About
December is about half gone, and, as the Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz once sang, “it’s getting cold in California.” In another song from the same 1996 album Duritz also sang that it’s been “a long December and there’s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.” ...
Blog
Things Just Keep Going The Wrong Way In California
Two days before Thanksgiving, financial services firm Charles Schwab announced it was relocating its headquarters from San Francisco to Texas. The Wall Street Journal’s explanation: “The brokerage giant heads for a state that doesn’t punish finance.” Fresh from its $26 billion acquisition of TD Ameritrade, Schwab, located in San Francisco ...
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: The Old City Dumps Aren’t What They Used To Be
Nearly two decades ago, before “ban everything” fever was sweeping through California, San Francisco committed to eliminating a staple of human progress: the modern landfill. The idea, concocted in 2002, was to reach a “zero waste” existence by 2020, which “means that we send zero discards to the landfill or ...
Blog
The Real Reason Behind Shelving of Full and Fair Funding Initiative
The California School Boards Association (CSBA) and proponents of the “Full and Fair Funding” proposal – a $15 billion annual tax increase for school funding – announced last week that they were pulling the proposal from the November 2020 ballot. The reason? CSBA said publicly that its polling showed voters ...
Blog
State Leaders Admit California Is Subsidizing the Rich at the Expense of the Poor
You won’t read this headline anytime soon, but it is consistent with the recent changes to California’s electric-car rebate program enacted by the state’s Air Resources Board. Both California and the federal government offer generous tax credits to purchasers of electric vehicles. Until the recent changes, California offered purchasers of ...
Commentary
Sanders, Warren want ‘Medicare-for-all’ like Canada – But Canadian health care is awful
Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren want you to believe Canada’s health care system is a dream come true. And they want to make the dream even better with their “Medicare-for-all” plans. Don’t believe them. In truth, Canada’s system of socialized medicine is actually a nightmare. It has left hospitals overcrowded, ...
Blog
Water World
A state overflowing with natural resources and more than 840 miles of direct access to the largest body of water on Earth seems to always be suffering through a dry spell. Even though seven years of drought ended earlier this year, and winter storms have lashed the state, thirsty Central ...
Enjoy 2019’s Best of “Next Round” and “Right by the Bay”
The last week of December is naturally a time to look back on the year that was. Here at PRI, we are particularly proud of the growing popularity of our weekly “Next Round with PRI” podcast and our daily “Right by the Bay” blog. Thanks to you, our podcast had ...
When Protecting Privacy Reveals Secrets
The California policy gadfly is back with a new ballot initiative in 2020. Last year, San Francisco real estate developer Alastair Mactaggart used the threat of a ballot measure to all but force the state legislature to enact dramatic new privacy regulations that were not ready for primetime. Earlier this ...
California Politics in 2019: Not Much To Be Happy About
December is about half gone, and, as the Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz once sang, “it’s getting cold in California.” In another song from the same 1996 album Duritz also sang that it’s been “a long December and there’s reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last.” ...
Things Just Keep Going The Wrong Way In California
Two days before Thanksgiving, financial services firm Charles Schwab announced it was relocating its headquarters from San Francisco to Texas. The Wall Street Journal’s explanation: “The brokerage giant heads for a state that doesn’t punish finance.” Fresh from its $26 billion acquisition of TD Ameritrade, Schwab, located in San Francisco ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: The Old City Dumps Aren’t What They Used To Be
Nearly two decades ago, before “ban everything” fever was sweeping through California, San Francisco committed to eliminating a staple of human progress: the modern landfill. The idea, concocted in 2002, was to reach a “zero waste” existence by 2020, which “means that we send zero discards to the landfill or ...
The Real Reason Behind Shelving of Full and Fair Funding Initiative
The California School Boards Association (CSBA) and proponents of the “Full and Fair Funding” proposal – a $15 billion annual tax increase for school funding – announced last week that they were pulling the proposal from the November 2020 ballot. The reason? CSBA said publicly that its polling showed voters ...
State Leaders Admit California Is Subsidizing the Rich at the Expense of the Poor
You won’t read this headline anytime soon, but it is consistent with the recent changes to California’s electric-car rebate program enacted by the state’s Air Resources Board. Both California and the federal government offer generous tax credits to purchasers of electric vehicles. Until the recent changes, California offered purchasers of ...
Sanders, Warren want ‘Medicare-for-all’ like Canada – But Canadian health care is awful
Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren want you to believe Canada’s health care system is a dream come true. And they want to make the dream even better with their “Medicare-for-all” plans. Don’t believe them. In truth, Canada’s system of socialized medicine is actually a nightmare. It has left hospitals overcrowded, ...
Water World
A state overflowing with natural resources and more than 840 miles of direct access to the largest body of water on Earth seems to always be suffering through a dry spell. Even though seven years of drought ended earlier this year, and winter storms have lashed the state, thirsty Central ...
