California

California

CAPITAL IDEAS: State Shouldn’t Export “Only in California” Bad Laws

California has a long history as a bellwether state, a place where trends begin, then sweep across the nation. Many a fine idea has been produced by creative and gifted entrepreneurs and free-thinking Golden Staters.
Business & Economics

Dr. Wayne Winegarden Discusses Prop. 55 On Kgo-Am

PRI Senior Fellow Dr. Wayne Winegarden appeared on The Ethan Bearman Show on KGO-AM to discuss the fiscal consequences of California’s Proposition 55 — the state ballot initiative that would extend the “temporary” personal income tax increases enacted in 2012 on earnings over $250,000. As Dr. Winegarden explains, California needs ...
California

Would A “Public Option” Rescue Obamacare In California?

Dave Jones, California’s Insurance Commissioner, has lifted a page from Hillary Clinton’s playbook for the rescue of Obamacare – the so-called “public option.” The public option would probably look a lot like Medicaid. Its proponents give it a less pejorative name to lull people into a false sense of confidence ...
California

California’s Surprise Medical Bill Law Papers Over a Systemic Problem

Insured patients who go into hospital for scheduled surgery are often shocked to find they owe bills well beyond what they expected to pay, especially if they understood the hospital and surgeon to be in their health plan’s network. The problem usually occurs when an anesthesiologist or other specialist involved ...
California

New Asset Forfeiture Law Will Protect Property of Innocent Californians

In 2014, the owner of a janitorial company who paid her employees in cash was pulled over by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on Interstate 5. Officers found $18,000 in her car. She presented paperwork showing the cash was from her business, but she was told they didn’t believe her. ...
Business & Economics

Consumers and Grocers Would Benefit Most By Preserving Bag Tradition

Grocery shopping in California isn’t what it used to be. Traditionally, customers carried their items away in paper bags provided by the store through an unspoken, but well-established and always understood, contract between seller and buyer. But then government got involved and turned a simple transaction into an irksome task. ...
Business & Economics

In California Pension Casino, Taxpayers Going Bust

California has a state pension problem that defies partisan politics. It’s not about Hillary vs. Donald, it’s about math. Past pension promises may exceed the potential for pension asset growth. Whether we are currently or were former California residents, as I am, we all want California to prosper. We want ...
California

CAPITAL IDEAS: Climate Change Bill Will Cost California Hundreds of Millions

A report from Energy and Environmental Economics in San Francisco says cutting emissions between 26 percent and 38 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 could cost $23 billion year. Read Full Brie
California

Temporary Taxes Become Permanent in Prop. 55

Economist Milton Friedman said, and was proved right many times over, that nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program. The same could be said for temporary taxes. They’re about as eternal as death. It’s actually a ghost we are considering here, though, tax hikes authorized by Proposition 30 ...
California

Prop 57 Contains a Loophole for Violent Criminals

With violent crime increasing in California, it seems reasonable to grant early release to inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses to make room in the prison system for truly dangerous felons. Most of us would be happy to trade an accountant guilty of bilking his employer for a serial rapist. One ...
California

CAPITAL IDEAS: State Shouldn’t Export “Only in California” Bad Laws

California has a long history as a bellwether state, a place where trends begin, then sweep across the nation. Many a fine idea has been produced by creative and gifted entrepreneurs and free-thinking Golden Staters.
Business & Economics

Dr. Wayne Winegarden Discusses Prop. 55 On Kgo-Am

PRI Senior Fellow Dr. Wayne Winegarden appeared on The Ethan Bearman Show on KGO-AM to discuss the fiscal consequences of California’s Proposition 55 — the state ballot initiative that would extend the “temporary” personal income tax increases enacted in 2012 on earnings over $250,000. As Dr. Winegarden explains, California needs ...
California

Would A “Public Option” Rescue Obamacare In California?

Dave Jones, California’s Insurance Commissioner, has lifted a page from Hillary Clinton’s playbook for the rescue of Obamacare – the so-called “public option.” The public option would probably look a lot like Medicaid. Its proponents give it a less pejorative name to lull people into a false sense of confidence ...
California

California’s Surprise Medical Bill Law Papers Over a Systemic Problem

Insured patients who go into hospital for scheduled surgery are often shocked to find they owe bills well beyond what they expected to pay, especially if they understood the hospital and surgeon to be in their health plan’s network. The problem usually occurs when an anesthesiologist or other specialist involved ...
California

New Asset Forfeiture Law Will Protect Property of Innocent Californians

In 2014, the owner of a janitorial company who paid her employees in cash was pulled over by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies on Interstate 5. Officers found $18,000 in her car. She presented paperwork showing the cash was from her business, but she was told they didn’t believe her. ...
Business & Economics

Consumers and Grocers Would Benefit Most By Preserving Bag Tradition

Grocery shopping in California isn’t what it used to be. Traditionally, customers carried their items away in paper bags provided by the store through an unspoken, but well-established and always understood, contract between seller and buyer. But then government got involved and turned a simple transaction into an irksome task. ...
Business & Economics

In California Pension Casino, Taxpayers Going Bust

California has a state pension problem that defies partisan politics. It’s not about Hillary vs. Donald, it’s about math. Past pension promises may exceed the potential for pension asset growth. Whether we are currently or were former California residents, as I am, we all want California to prosper. We want ...
California

CAPITAL IDEAS: Climate Change Bill Will Cost California Hundreds of Millions

A report from Energy and Environmental Economics in San Francisco says cutting emissions between 26 percent and 38 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 could cost $23 billion year. Read Full Brie
California

Temporary Taxes Become Permanent in Prop. 55

Economist Milton Friedman said, and was proved right many times over, that nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program. The same could be said for temporary taxes. They’re about as eternal as death. It’s actually a ghost we are considering here, though, tax hikes authorized by Proposition 30 ...
California

Prop 57 Contains a Loophole for Violent Criminals

With violent crime increasing in California, it seems reasonable to grant early release to inmates convicted of nonviolent offenses to make room in the prison system for truly dangerous felons. Most of us would be happy to trade an accountant guilty of bilking his employer for a serial rapist. One ...
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