Environment
Commentary
Prop 23 Will Boost California Employment By Half Million In 2012, 1.3 Million in 2020, Study Estimates
If approved by the California electorate this November, Proposition 23 will suspend the implementation of AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act, until the State’s unemployment rate declines to 5.5% or less for four consecutive quarters. AB 32 requires a reduction in the State’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 ...
Agriculture
State’s silly laws, sillier candidates
SACRAMENTO – Every legislator could have skipped out of the country for the entire legislative session, and it would not have mattered one iota to anyone outside of their staff members. That’s not cynicism, so much as a fair and balanced assessment of the last legislative session. I’m reminded of ...
Electric Vehicles
New EPA Car Labels Should Stick to Facts
Vol.4 No.9 September 21, 2010 New EPA Car Labels Should Stick to Facts By Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies, Pacific Research Institute Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation jointly announced that they are considering an upgrade of the energy and environmental ...
Business & Economics
Progressives for Pension Reform?
With California facing a structural $19 billion budget hole, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has argued that the state will need to tap its general fund for billions to prop up faltering public-employee pension funds. With California facing a structural $19 billion budget hole, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has argued that the state ...
Commentary
Assessing a Teacher’s Value
What are the benefits and pitfalls of using student test scores to measure a teacher’s effectiveness? Help the Parents Lance T. Izumi is the senior director of education studies at the Pacific Research Institute. The “value-added” assessments are useful in analyzing teacher performance, but they can be made better. The ...
Business & Economics
State budget mess a comedy, or tragedy?
SACRAMENTO – As entertainment goes, the final regular-season episode of the Budget Show in the Capitol was shoddy. The actors – the Assembly members and senators – are B-rate. The speeches, despite their strained attempts to sound Kennedy-esque, were pretentious. Those of us in the audience sometimes rolled our eyes ...
Commentary
Ratios condemn patients to inferior care
In 1999, Gray Davis signed a law mandating a statewide ratio of one nurse to five patients in surgical wards, one to six in psychiatric wards, one to four in pediatric wards, one to three in maternity wards, and one to two in intensive care. The law was strong-armed to ...
Commentary
Toss Fraud-Ridden State Program and Recycle E-waste a Better Way
Vol. 16 No. 30, August 18, 2010 Toss Fraud-Ridden State Program and Recycle E-waste a Better Way By K. Lloyd Billingsley, editorial director SACRAMENTO—California’s Electronic Waste Recycling Act (EWRA) is a magnet for fraud on a massive scale, totaling tens of millions of dollars, as Tom Knudson revealed in a ...
Environment
Should the Federal Government Stick Its Nozzle in Your Shower?
Vol.4 No.8: August 17, 2010 Should the Federal Government Stick Its Nozzle in Your Shower? By Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies, Pacific Research Institute oned, the same result could be obtained by effective pricing of water, instead of intrusive regulation. In May, the DOE announced a new ...
Business & Economics
Democrats picking on oil companies
SACRAMENTO – Legislators are more than six weeks past the constitutional deadline for passing a state budget, yet the state’s majority Democrats last week weren’t even holding budget hearings. Why bother? The state is $19 billion in the red, but the two sides aren’t even close to coming to terms. ...
Prop 23 Will Boost California Employment By Half Million In 2012, 1.3 Million in 2020, Study Estimates
If approved by the California electorate this November, Proposition 23 will suspend the implementation of AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act, until the State’s unemployment rate declines to 5.5% or less for four consecutive quarters. AB 32 requires a reduction in the State’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 ...
State’s silly laws, sillier candidates
SACRAMENTO – Every legislator could have skipped out of the country for the entire legislative session, and it would not have mattered one iota to anyone outside of their staff members. That’s not cynicism, so much as a fair and balanced assessment of the last legislative session. I’m reminded of ...
New EPA Car Labels Should Stick to Facts
Vol.4 No.9 September 21, 2010 New EPA Car Labels Should Stick to Facts By Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies, Pacific Research Institute Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation jointly announced that they are considering an upgrade of the energy and environmental ...
Progressives for Pension Reform?
With California facing a structural $19 billion budget hole, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has argued that the state will need to tap its general fund for billions to prop up faltering public-employee pension funds. With California facing a structural $19 billion budget hole, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has argued that the state ...
Assessing a Teacher’s Value
What are the benefits and pitfalls of using student test scores to measure a teacher’s effectiveness? Help the Parents Lance T. Izumi is the senior director of education studies at the Pacific Research Institute. The “value-added” assessments are useful in analyzing teacher performance, but they can be made better. The ...
State budget mess a comedy, or tragedy?
SACRAMENTO – As entertainment goes, the final regular-season episode of the Budget Show in the Capitol was shoddy. The actors – the Assembly members and senators – are B-rate. The speeches, despite their strained attempts to sound Kennedy-esque, were pretentious. Those of us in the audience sometimes rolled our eyes ...
Ratios condemn patients to inferior care
In 1999, Gray Davis signed a law mandating a statewide ratio of one nurse to five patients in surgical wards, one to six in psychiatric wards, one to four in pediatric wards, one to three in maternity wards, and one to two in intensive care. The law was strong-armed to ...
Toss Fraud-Ridden State Program and Recycle E-waste a Better Way
Vol. 16 No. 30, August 18, 2010 Toss Fraud-Ridden State Program and Recycle E-waste a Better Way By K. Lloyd Billingsley, editorial director SACRAMENTO—California’s Electronic Waste Recycling Act (EWRA) is a magnet for fraud on a massive scale, totaling tens of millions of dollars, as Tom Knudson revealed in a ...
Should the Federal Government Stick Its Nozzle in Your Shower?
Vol.4 No.8: August 17, 2010 Should the Federal Government Stick Its Nozzle in Your Shower? By Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies, Pacific Research Institute oned, the same result could be obtained by effective pricing of water, instead of intrusive regulation. In May, the DOE announced a new ...
Democrats picking on oil companies
SACRAMENTO – Legislators are more than six weeks past the constitutional deadline for passing a state budget, yet the state’s majority Democrats last week weren’t even holding budget hearings. Why bother? The state is $19 billion in the red, but the two sides aren’t even close to coming to terms. ...
