California
Business & Economics
Roger Simon – American Refugee
Roger Simon wrote novels and screenplays before co-founding and becoming CEO of the pioneering blog aggregation and news and opinion website PJ Media (formerly Pajamas Media) in 2005. He’s best known for the Moses Wine detective series, which have won prizes from the Mystery Writers of America and the Crime ...
Blog
Read latest on SF's housing woes
So-Called Vacant Housing Tax Will Make SF’s Rental Housing Problems Even Worse
San Francisco’s residential vacancy rate is around 13% to 15%. Tens of thousands of housing units are unoccupied. Some might see this as merely the natural order of things, the market response to the conditions on the ground. But politicians, and a majority of voters – 54% – believe it’s ...
Blog
Newsom public safety budget shortchanges crime victims
For California’s Crime Victims – Budget Dust
Despite his protestations to the opposite in the recent debate with Governor DeSantis, California’s violent crimes are up 6.1 percent and property crimes are up 6.2 percent over their 2021 levels, making California a crime outlier compared to national crime statistics which have dropped. The Governor’s “Real Public Safety Plan” ...
Blog
Take a deep dive on Gov. Newsom's education budget
Newsom’s Proposed Education Budget: A Recipe for More Disaster
With all the blaring headlines about California’s huge state budget deficit, one would think that education spending, which accounts for around 45 percent of the budget, would take a significant hit. Well, think again. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, which was the last pre-pandemic budget, state General Fund spending for ...
California
The PRI All Stars Respond to Gov. Newsom’s 2024-25 Budget Plan
Listen as PRI’s All Stars – Wayne Winegarden, Lance Izumi, Sally Pipes, and Steve Smith – respond to Gov. Newsom’s much-anticipated 2024-25 state budget plan. They discuss Gov. Newsom’s much lower state budget projection and spending priorities, the budget’s impact on K-12 education, whether the Governor will suspend the controversial ...
California
Why Californicating the United States isn’t going well
New York lost more residents from July 2022 to July 2023 than California, almost 102,000 compared to 75,423, according to the Census Bureau. But it’s the Golden State that has written the how-not-to guide. It’s the trend setter of blue state public policy, “known today for incubating ever more elaborate forms ...
Blog
Learn about an important state budget priority
Public Employee Pay Savings Must Be Part of Budget Solution
California’s record $68 billion deficit for the 2024 fiscal year is a national newsmaker. State government isn’t the only administrative body facing a budget shortfall, though. A number of cities are also finding they have insufficient funds. Officials are busy trying out plans to resolve their financial troubles, but balancing ...
California
Is 2024 Finally The Year of a California Homebuilding Breakthrough?
On Jan. 1, a package of housing legislation that was passed in 2023 took effect. Will the results be a homebuilding boom? California’s housing gap is implausibly wide, so it’s going to require a historic effort to catch up. In 2015, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said that “on top of ...
Blog
Get a state budget preview
Three things to watch in Governor’s budget rollout
On Wednesday, Gov. Newsom will unveil his much-anticipated 2024-25 state spending plan, officially kicking off the budget debate at the State Capitol. While the state is facing a $68 billion shortfall according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s office, Newsom said in a December TV interview that, “we have different numbers ...
Blog
Public pension reform needed to balance state budget
The Miracle Of Defined Contributions
The headline says “Florida has an answer” and if so there could be any number of public policy dilemmas that the state has solved, but in this case it’s government employee pensions. California also knows the answer, but there can be a sizable gap between having knowledge and applying it. ...
Roger Simon – American Refugee
Roger Simon wrote novels and screenplays before co-founding and becoming CEO of the pioneering blog aggregation and news and opinion website PJ Media (formerly Pajamas Media) in 2005. He’s best known for the Moses Wine detective series, which have won prizes from the Mystery Writers of America and the Crime ...
Read latest on SF's housing woes
So-Called Vacant Housing Tax Will Make SF’s Rental Housing Problems Even Worse
San Francisco’s residential vacancy rate is around 13% to 15%. Tens of thousands of housing units are unoccupied. Some might see this as merely the natural order of things, the market response to the conditions on the ground. But politicians, and a majority of voters – 54% – believe it’s ...
Newsom public safety budget shortchanges crime victims
For California’s Crime Victims – Budget Dust
Despite his protestations to the opposite in the recent debate with Governor DeSantis, California’s violent crimes are up 6.1 percent and property crimes are up 6.2 percent over their 2021 levels, making California a crime outlier compared to national crime statistics which have dropped. The Governor’s “Real Public Safety Plan” ...
Take a deep dive on Gov. Newsom's education budget
Newsom’s Proposed Education Budget: A Recipe for More Disaster
With all the blaring headlines about California’s huge state budget deficit, one would think that education spending, which accounts for around 45 percent of the budget, would take a significant hit. Well, think again. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, which was the last pre-pandemic budget, state General Fund spending for ...
The PRI All Stars Respond to Gov. Newsom’s 2024-25 Budget Plan
Listen as PRI’s All Stars – Wayne Winegarden, Lance Izumi, Sally Pipes, and Steve Smith – respond to Gov. Newsom’s much-anticipated 2024-25 state budget plan. They discuss Gov. Newsom’s much lower state budget projection and spending priorities, the budget’s impact on K-12 education, whether the Governor will suspend the controversial ...
Why Californicating the United States isn’t going well
New York lost more residents from July 2022 to July 2023 than California, almost 102,000 compared to 75,423, according to the Census Bureau. But it’s the Golden State that has written the how-not-to guide. It’s the trend setter of blue state public policy, “known today for incubating ever more elaborate forms ...
Learn about an important state budget priority
Public Employee Pay Savings Must Be Part of Budget Solution
California’s record $68 billion deficit for the 2024 fiscal year is a national newsmaker. State government isn’t the only administrative body facing a budget shortfall, though. A number of cities are also finding they have insufficient funds. Officials are busy trying out plans to resolve their financial troubles, but balancing ...
Is 2024 Finally The Year of a California Homebuilding Breakthrough?
On Jan. 1, a package of housing legislation that was passed in 2023 took effect. Will the results be a homebuilding boom? California’s housing gap is implausibly wide, so it’s going to require a historic effort to catch up. In 2015, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said that “on top of ...
Get a state budget preview
Three things to watch in Governor’s budget rollout
On Wednesday, Gov. Newsom will unveil his much-anticipated 2024-25 state spending plan, officially kicking off the budget debate at the State Capitol. While the state is facing a $68 billion shortfall according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s office, Newsom said in a December TV interview that, “we have different numbers ...
Public pension reform needed to balance state budget
The Miracle Of Defined Contributions
The headline says “Florida has an answer” and if so there could be any number of public policy dilemmas that the state has solved, but in this case it’s government employee pensions. California also knows the answer, but there can be a sizable gap between having knowledge and applying it. ...
