California
California
How Gavin Newsom Could Earn the Title of Best Governor in California History
Edmund G. “Pat” Brown was the best governor California has ever had, many would argue. Free-market economist Art Laffer says Pat’s son Jerry was “one of the best.” Still others would name Earl Warren as the greatest. New Gov. Gavin Newsom would surpass them all, though, if he would complete ...
Kerry Jackson
January 25, 2019
Blog
What We’re Watching – Welcome to Change
This week, PRI is celebrating National School Choice Week with the release of our new mini-documentary, “Welcome to Change”. The film profiles Life Learning Academy on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, which serves students battling significant adversity – violence, poverty, broken homes, even homelessness. Watch the movie and you’ll ...
Pacific Research Institute
January 25, 2019
Blog
Yet Again, Government Intrudes On Private Matters, Puts A Boot On Charitable Activity
There is a long tradition of food sharing in California. It’s been called by its practitioners an “unregulated gift of compassion” for the hungry. For decades, however, this peaceful, voluntary act was illegal across the state unless participating groups registered for and received food-service permits, which, the East Bay Express ...
Kerry Jackson
January 24, 2019
Agriculture
The Shape of Water Tax
California’s rural residents and coastal elites have at least one thing in common: they’re both drinking bottled water. A McClatchy analysis of data compiled from the State Water Resource Control Board estimates that 360,000 Californians – mostly in inland areas — are served water from unsafe water systems. These include ...
Rowena Itchon
January 23, 2019
California
California’s Doomsday Clock Getting Closer to Midnight
In 1947 a group of scientists unveiled the Doomsday Clock to show how near civilization was to a man-made catastrophic end. Maybe California should have its own doomsday clock, since it seems headed for a wreck. Today’s official Doomsday Clock reads 11:58 pm, two minutes before disaster. The Bulletin of ...
Kerry Jackson
January 22, 2019
Blog
Newsom’s Budget Plan Shows You Can Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first budget plan proves the old English proverb is wrong. Turns out you can have your cake and eat it too, especially when the state has a $21.4 billion budget surplus. Continuing with the clichés – state budgets are usually feast or famine. Over the years, governors ...
Tim Anaya
January 22, 2019
California
The best solution to Los Angeles teachers’ strike? More school choice
Conventional analyses of the Los Angeles teachers strike present the public with a false dichotomy: is the teachers union right or is the school district right? The reality is that both sides are wrong, and the solution for parents and students is greater school choice for all children. First, the ...
Lance Izumi
January 18, 2019
Commentary
Partial Medicaid expansion isn’t the solution
Some Trump administration officials, and even President Trump himself, reportedly favor allowing states to partially expand Medicaid, the program for low-income Americans jointly funded by the federal and state governments. Any expansion is a bad idea, for both fiscal and moral reasons. Obamacare enabled states to enroll able-bodied, childless adults ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 18, 2019
California
Governor Newsom’s troubling first act on medications
In one of his first acts, Governor Newsom signed an executive order that will change how medicines are purchased in California. With visions of big-box store discounts dancing in his head, Governor Newsom has established a bulk program that will now purchase drugs for the state’s Medicaid program (Medi-Cal). The ...
Wayne Winegarden
January 17, 2019
Blog
San Francisco’s Proposition C Almost Claims Its First ‘Victims’
Making it more expensive to drink in San Francisco is not one of Proposition C’s objectives. But it was nearly one of its initial effects. Young’s Market Co., a wine and spirits distributor based in Tustin that does business across the western U.S., recently advised local bars it would be ...
Kerry Jackson
January 17, 2019
How Gavin Newsom Could Earn the Title of Best Governor in California History
Edmund G. “Pat” Brown was the best governor California has ever had, many would argue. Free-market economist Art Laffer says Pat’s son Jerry was “one of the best.” Still others would name Earl Warren as the greatest. New Gov. Gavin Newsom would surpass them all, though, if he would complete ...
What We’re Watching – Welcome to Change
This week, PRI is celebrating National School Choice Week with the release of our new mini-documentary, “Welcome to Change”. The film profiles Life Learning Academy on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, which serves students battling significant adversity – violence, poverty, broken homes, even homelessness. Watch the movie and you’ll ...
Yet Again, Government Intrudes On Private Matters, Puts A Boot On Charitable Activity
There is a long tradition of food sharing in California. It’s been called by its practitioners an “unregulated gift of compassion” for the hungry. For decades, however, this peaceful, voluntary act was illegal across the state unless participating groups registered for and received food-service permits, which, the East Bay Express ...
The Shape of Water Tax
California’s rural residents and coastal elites have at least one thing in common: they’re both drinking bottled water. A McClatchy analysis of data compiled from the State Water Resource Control Board estimates that 360,000 Californians – mostly in inland areas — are served water from unsafe water systems. These include ...
California’s Doomsday Clock Getting Closer to Midnight
In 1947 a group of scientists unveiled the Doomsday Clock to show how near civilization was to a man-made catastrophic end. Maybe California should have its own doomsday clock, since it seems headed for a wreck. Today’s official Doomsday Clock reads 11:58 pm, two minutes before disaster. The Bulletin of ...
Newsom’s Budget Plan Shows You Can Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first budget plan proves the old English proverb is wrong. Turns out you can have your cake and eat it too, especially when the state has a $21.4 billion budget surplus. Continuing with the clichés – state budgets are usually feast or famine. Over the years, governors ...
The best solution to Los Angeles teachers’ strike? More school choice
Conventional analyses of the Los Angeles teachers strike present the public with a false dichotomy: is the teachers union right or is the school district right? The reality is that both sides are wrong, and the solution for parents and students is greater school choice for all children. First, the ...
Partial Medicaid expansion isn’t the solution
Some Trump administration officials, and even President Trump himself, reportedly favor allowing states to partially expand Medicaid, the program for low-income Americans jointly funded by the federal and state governments. Any expansion is a bad idea, for both fiscal and moral reasons. Obamacare enabled states to enroll able-bodied, childless adults ...
Governor Newsom’s troubling first act on medications
In one of his first acts, Governor Newsom signed an executive order that will change how medicines are purchased in California. With visions of big-box store discounts dancing in his head, Governor Newsom has established a bulk program that will now purchase drugs for the state’s Medicaid program (Medi-Cal). The ...
San Francisco’s Proposition C Almost Claims Its First ‘Victims’
Making it more expensive to drink in San Francisco is not one of Proposition C’s objectives. But it was nearly one of its initial effects. Young’s Market Co., a wine and spirits distributor based in Tustin that does business across the western U.S., recently advised local bars it would be ...