California
California
Rebecca Friedrichs: Challenging Compulsory Union Dues and Standing Up for Freedom
In March 2015, PRI filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA) -a major case challenging compulsory union dues that nearly all California teachers are required to pay. The case, spearheaded by the Center for Individual Rights (CIR), was brought by ...
California
California Public Employees Unions Join Forces To Oppose Charter Growth
Teachers unions in Los Angeles (LA) and other public employee unions formed a coalition to fight the expansion of charter schools in California. The expansion effort, led by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation (BF), aims at more than doubling the number of students attending public charter schools in Los ...
Business & Economics
Lessons from the San Francisco Airbnb Fight
In 1979, the Pacific Research Institute opened its doors in San Francisco. Jimmy Carter was President; Diane Feinstein was mayor; and Brian Chesky, the founder of home-sharing platform Airbnb, was still two years away from being born. San Francisco voters this month gave Chesky and Airbnb a win, defeating Proposition ...
Business & Economics
California’s Regulations are Harming Small Businesses
The regulatory burden in California continues to grow. Minimum wage increases—which simultaneously raise costs on businesses and harms many low-wage workers and consumers—have passed in Los Angeles and San Francisco. California is also pursuing regulations that would reduce the viability of Uber and Lyft, the popular ride-for-hire services revolutionizing how ...
California
CAPITAL IDEAS: Teacher Shortages, Union Contracts and the Supreme Court
A recent NBC Nightly News story warned of a nationwide teacher shortage, with 21,000 teacher positions needing to be filled in California alone. The NBC report said, “The demand is especially high in science, math, and special education.” What NBC failed to say, however, was that much of the shortage ...
Business & Economics
Hillary’s Wrong: California’s Paid Family Leave Mandate Hurting Small Business, State
Regulation: Hillary Clinton claimed that California’s paid family leave mandate hasn’t hurt business and job growth, and ought to be expanded nationwide. But a recent study shows that she’s living in a statist dream world. Clinton made the ill-informed remark at Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate during an exchange with CNN’s ...
Commentary
A solution to Medicaid’s chronic fraud problem
The Obama administration just announced that fighting Medicaid fraud is going to be a “key priority” for the final year of the president’s term. That’s a tall order. Last year, the program lost more than $17 billion to fraud. That’s on top of more than $14 billion in improper payments ...
California
What do the Common Core Test results Really Tell Us?
When the California Department of Education recently released the results of the 2015 Common Core math and English tests, officials attributed the low student scores to the increased rigor of both the new standards and the new test. However, the real reasons are not so simple, and much more worrying. ...
Agriculture
Water markets would alleviate shortages
We’ve all read the daily stories highlighting the drought’s impact on California’s economy and environment. Wells have run dry, forcing some Central Valley communities to shower in church parking lots. Farmers are fallowing land. In many areas of the state, over-pumping groundwater is causing the ground to sink. California faces ...
Business & Economics
Tax Reform Kabuki Theater Ready to Take Center Stage
Last month, the Legislature sent 600 bills to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature (or veto). Senator Bob Hertzberg’s SB 8 was not among them. Hertzberg created a buzz when he introduced his proposal in late 2014. Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton wrote Hertzberg’s proposal “points the way to ...
Rebecca Friedrichs: Challenging Compulsory Union Dues and Standing Up for Freedom
In March 2015, PRI filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (CTA) -a major case challenging compulsory union dues that nearly all California teachers are required to pay. The case, spearheaded by the Center for Individual Rights (CIR), was brought by ...
California Public Employees Unions Join Forces To Oppose Charter Growth
Teachers unions in Los Angeles (LA) and other public employee unions formed a coalition to fight the expansion of charter schools in California. The expansion effort, led by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation (BF), aims at more than doubling the number of students attending public charter schools in Los ...
Lessons from the San Francisco Airbnb Fight
In 1979, the Pacific Research Institute opened its doors in San Francisco. Jimmy Carter was President; Diane Feinstein was mayor; and Brian Chesky, the founder of home-sharing platform Airbnb, was still two years away from being born. San Francisco voters this month gave Chesky and Airbnb a win, defeating Proposition ...
California’s Regulations are Harming Small Businesses
The regulatory burden in California continues to grow. Minimum wage increases—which simultaneously raise costs on businesses and harms many low-wage workers and consumers—have passed in Los Angeles and San Francisco. California is also pursuing regulations that would reduce the viability of Uber and Lyft, the popular ride-for-hire services revolutionizing how ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Teacher Shortages, Union Contracts and the Supreme Court
A recent NBC Nightly News story warned of a nationwide teacher shortage, with 21,000 teacher positions needing to be filled in California alone. The NBC report said, “The demand is especially high in science, math, and special education.” What NBC failed to say, however, was that much of the shortage ...
Hillary’s Wrong: California’s Paid Family Leave Mandate Hurting Small Business, State
Regulation: Hillary Clinton claimed that California’s paid family leave mandate hasn’t hurt business and job growth, and ought to be expanded nationwide. But a recent study shows that she’s living in a statist dream world. Clinton made the ill-informed remark at Tuesday’s Democratic presidential debate during an exchange with CNN’s ...
A solution to Medicaid’s chronic fraud problem
The Obama administration just announced that fighting Medicaid fraud is going to be a “key priority” for the final year of the president’s term. That’s a tall order. Last year, the program lost more than $17 billion to fraud. That’s on top of more than $14 billion in improper payments ...
What do the Common Core Test results Really Tell Us?
When the California Department of Education recently released the results of the 2015 Common Core math and English tests, officials attributed the low student scores to the increased rigor of both the new standards and the new test. However, the real reasons are not so simple, and much more worrying. ...
Water markets would alleviate shortages
We’ve all read the daily stories highlighting the drought’s impact on California’s economy and environment. Wells have run dry, forcing some Central Valley communities to shower in church parking lots. Farmers are fallowing land. In many areas of the state, over-pumping groundwater is causing the ground to sink. California faces ...
Tax Reform Kabuki Theater Ready to Take Center Stage
Last month, the Legislature sent 600 bills to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature (or veto). Senator Bob Hertzberg’s SB 8 was not among them. Hertzberg created a buzz when he introduced his proposal in late 2014. Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton wrote Hertzberg’s proposal “points the way to ...
