California
Blog
Read the latest from the State Capitol
Should NDAs Be Banned in Legislative Negotiations?
As KCRA 3 News reported, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) required business groups and others engaged in negotiations over the bill to sign NDA’s to keep provisions of the discussions secret. The NDAs became controversial when it came to light that a billionaire donor of Gov. Newsom who is ...
Tim Anaya
April 24, 2024
Blog
Should CA pay unemployment to striking workers?
Subsidizing Strikes Is The California Legislature’s Latest Anti-Growth Proposal
Worsens California’s Uncompetitive Business Environment UI benefits are not designed for workers who have voluntarily walked off the job – it is part of the social safety net system designed to help those workers who have become unemployed through no fault of their own. Expanding these benefits to workers who ...
Wayne Winegarden
April 23, 2024
California
Todd Myers – Time to Think Small on the Environment
Our podcast guest this week is Todd Myers, director of the Washington Policy Center’s Center for the Environment. With more than two decades in environmental policy, Todd’s experience includes work on a range of environmental issues, including climate policy, forest health, old-growth forests, and salmon recovery. Todd’s new book is ...
Pacific Research Institute
April 22, 2024
Blog
Spending Watch
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain Wayne Winegarden April 2024 SB 1434 would dramatically expand unemployment insurance benefits to current eligible workers. If implemented, it would expand benefits by over 55 percent, raise the number of workers who qualify for maximum benefits, increase the benefits for ...
Wayne H Winegarden
April 22, 2024
California
How Can We Actually Reduce Homelessness in California? – 2024 PRI Sacramento Conference
From PRI’s recent Sacramento policy conference, we present a panel discussion featuring elected officials, innovators, and policy researchers discussing creative approaches to addressing California’s homeless problem. Speakers include Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho, who is suing the city of Sacramento over its failure to enforce homeless laws on the ...
Pacific Research Institute
April 15, 2024
Blog
Read latest on SF's growing defecation problem
Scatology 101
It’s hard not to love Larry Baer, the CEO of the San Francisco Giants. He is the team’s public face and cheerleader in chief – a proud San Franciscan with diplomas from Lowell High School and Cal Berkeley that attest to his deep Bay Area roots. And no one ...
Steve Smith
April 15, 2024
California
Reforming Criminal Justice Policy to Put Victims First – 2024 PRI Sacramento Conference
With reform legislation being debated to address rising incidents of retail and auto theft and a ballot measure in circulation to repeal the most sweeping provisions of Prop. 47, we present a panel discussion on California’s growing crime problem from PRI’s recent Sacramento conference. Speakers include retired Brigadier Gen. Bob ...
Pacific Research Institute
April 8, 2024
Blog
Read latest on California's budget crisis
Governor Newsom’s Budget Crisis Is Déjà vu All Over Again
When we last updated you on efforts by Gov. Newsom and legislative Democrats to close the state’s $73 billion budget deficit, Senate Democrats had proposed a $17.1 billion plan to “shrink the shortfall” – of which, just 19.3 percent were actual cuts. Just before the Legislature’s summer recess on March ...
Wayne Winegarden and Tim Anaya
April 8, 2024
Blog
Read latest on corruption in local government
Corruption, crime, and cover-ups
The March 27 sentencing of Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison for his role in a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme brings closure to years of high living off the backs of his investors in his online crypto trading platform FTX. Fraudsters like Bankman-Fried, Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, Bernie Madoff, Jeff ...
Steve Smith
April 3, 2024
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: Hey, Californians, How Do You Like the Governor’s EV Mandate Now?
A poll taken in the fall of 2022 found that 55% of registered California voters favored the state’s zero-emission vehicle mandate, which outlaws the sale of new fossil fuel-burning cars and light trucks beginning in 2035. Only 39% opposed it. While electric vehicles are being shunned in other states, EV ...
Kerry Jackson
April 1, 2024
Read the latest from the State Capitol
Should NDAs Be Banned in Legislative Negotiations?
As KCRA 3 News reported, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) required business groups and others engaged in negotiations over the bill to sign NDA’s to keep provisions of the discussions secret. The NDAs became controversial when it came to light that a billionaire donor of Gov. Newsom who is ...
Should CA pay unemployment to striking workers?
Subsidizing Strikes Is The California Legislature’s Latest Anti-Growth Proposal
Worsens California’s Uncompetitive Business Environment UI benefits are not designed for workers who have voluntarily walked off the job – it is part of the social safety net system designed to help those workers who have become unemployed through no fault of their own. Expanding these benefits to workers who ...
Todd Myers – Time to Think Small on the Environment
Our podcast guest this week is Todd Myers, director of the Washington Policy Center’s Center for the Environment. With more than two decades in environmental policy, Todd’s experience includes work on a range of environmental issues, including climate policy, forest health, old-growth forests, and salmon recovery. Todd’s new book is ...
Spending Watch
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain Wayne Winegarden April 2024 SB 1434 would dramatically expand unemployment insurance benefits to current eligible workers. If implemented, it would expand benefits by over 55 percent, raise the number of workers who qualify for maximum benefits, increase the benefits for ...
How Can We Actually Reduce Homelessness in California? – 2024 PRI Sacramento Conference
From PRI’s recent Sacramento policy conference, we present a panel discussion featuring elected officials, innovators, and policy researchers discussing creative approaches to addressing California’s homeless problem. Speakers include Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho, who is suing the city of Sacramento over its failure to enforce homeless laws on the ...
Read latest on SF's growing defecation problem
Scatology 101
It’s hard not to love Larry Baer, the CEO of the San Francisco Giants. He is the team’s public face and cheerleader in chief – a proud San Franciscan with diplomas from Lowell High School and Cal Berkeley that attest to his deep Bay Area roots. And no one ...
Reforming Criminal Justice Policy to Put Victims First – 2024 PRI Sacramento Conference
With reform legislation being debated to address rising incidents of retail and auto theft and a ballot measure in circulation to repeal the most sweeping provisions of Prop. 47, we present a panel discussion on California’s growing crime problem from PRI’s recent Sacramento conference. Speakers include retired Brigadier Gen. Bob ...
Read latest on California's budget crisis
Governor Newsom’s Budget Crisis Is Déjà vu All Over Again
When we last updated you on efforts by Gov. Newsom and legislative Democrats to close the state’s $73 billion budget deficit, Senate Democrats had proposed a $17.1 billion plan to “shrink the shortfall” – of which, just 19.3 percent were actual cuts. Just before the Legislature’s summer recess on March ...
Read latest on corruption in local government
Corruption, crime, and cover-ups
The March 27 sentencing of Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison for his role in a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme brings closure to years of high living off the backs of his investors in his online crypto trading platform FTX. Fraudsters like Bankman-Fried, Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos, Bernie Madoff, Jeff ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Hey, Californians, How Do You Like the Governor’s EV Mandate Now?
A poll taken in the fall of 2022 found that 55% of registered California voters favored the state’s zero-emission vehicle mandate, which outlaws the sale of new fossil fuel-burning cars and light trucks beginning in 2035. Only 39% opposed it. While electric vehicles are being shunned in other states, EV ...