Environment
Book
In Advance of Recall Election, New PRI Book Offers Realistic Path to Saving California
Experts Offer Market-Based Solutions on Issues from Health Care to the Economy SACRAMENTO – With the September 14 recall on the horizon, the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute today released Saving California, a new book offering realistic, market-based reforms to 10 of the state’s major policy challenges. The authors are current ...
Blog
Biden’s Electric Vehicle Push Shows He Hasn’t Learned from California’s Mistakes
President Biden announced new federal action on Thursday designed to increase the role of government officials as car salesmen. Politico reports that Biden signed an executive order “setting a target that half of all new vehicle sales by 2030 will be zero-emissions vehicles, primarily electric cars and trucks.” The administration ...
Agriculture
Can Congress Bring More Broadband to Americans in Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill?
The public got a look at the 2,702-page federal infrastructure bill on Sunday, giving the country more details on how the Biden administration will tackle broadband infrastructure investment. The $65 billion being doled out to states for broadband comes in a variety of programs. The meat of the broadband funding ...
Blog
Would State Polystyrene Ban Reduce Plastic Pollution? Studies Show Probably Not.
Voters will be given a chance next year to outlaw Styrofoam take-out food packaging. Is this a necessary step, or another instance of the California rush to ban yet another consumer convenience? The proposition, one of four statewide measures scheduled on the November 2022 ballot, not only would “prohibit polystyrene ...
Blog
Olympic Fashion: Red, White, Blue . . . and Green
These days, many of us have been glued to the screen, watching unfold the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. However, there is one human drama that’s getting little attention – Olympic fashion. I don’t mean the gold lamé cape worn by Angola flag bearer and handball player ...
Blog
It’s Finally Infrastructure Week . . . But Is That a Good Thing?
At long last, it’s finally “Infrastructure Week.” On Wednesday, a group of Republican and Democrat senators resolved their final differences with President Biden and reached a long-elusive agreement on a bipartisan infrastructure bill authorizing $550 billion in new spending over 5 years. Later that night, the Senate voted 67 to ...
Blog
Tax Cuts, the “New New Thing”, but not for Californians
COVID-19 launched a whole host of trends, from house remodeling to restaurant delivery to working from home. But who knew that tax relief would become in vogue? Thanks to revenue windfalls and the prospect of employees working from anywhere, state tax-cuts have been sweeping the nation. The Tax Foundation reports ...
Agriculture
Biden, Psaki Add to White House “Dog Days of Summer”
A couple of weeks ago, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the White House was working with Facebook and other social media companies to target accounts spreading misinformation. Reaction to her comments and answers from reporters varied, but the lasting takeaway is that misinformation on social media is ...
Blog
Newsom Takes First Steps to Stop Fracking in California
Fracking is being phased out in California. Not for any rational reason. The process of hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas is in part responsible for the long-term drop in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But because fracking has been vilified by the green lobby, it therefore must be banished ...
Climate Change
History Repeats as Solar Power Oversold, Underperforms
Some stories in the world of energy are perennial. Pretty much every year, we read new advances in energy production or use that are going to revolutionize the world. And every year, that prediction doesn’t pan out. Other stories are decadal. Every 10 years or so, we hear about radical ...
In Advance of Recall Election, New PRI Book Offers Realistic Path to Saving California
Experts Offer Market-Based Solutions on Issues from Health Care to the Economy SACRAMENTO – With the September 14 recall on the horizon, the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute today released Saving California, a new book offering realistic, market-based reforms to 10 of the state’s major policy challenges. The authors are current ...
Biden’s Electric Vehicle Push Shows He Hasn’t Learned from California’s Mistakes
President Biden announced new federal action on Thursday designed to increase the role of government officials as car salesmen. Politico reports that Biden signed an executive order “setting a target that half of all new vehicle sales by 2030 will be zero-emissions vehicles, primarily electric cars and trucks.” The administration ...
Can Congress Bring More Broadband to Americans in Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill?
The public got a look at the 2,702-page federal infrastructure bill on Sunday, giving the country more details on how the Biden administration will tackle broadband infrastructure investment. The $65 billion being doled out to states for broadband comes in a variety of programs. The meat of the broadband funding ...
Would State Polystyrene Ban Reduce Plastic Pollution? Studies Show Probably Not.
Voters will be given a chance next year to outlaw Styrofoam take-out food packaging. Is this a necessary step, or another instance of the California rush to ban yet another consumer convenience? The proposition, one of four statewide measures scheduled on the November 2022 ballot, not only would “prohibit polystyrene ...
Olympic Fashion: Red, White, Blue . . . and Green
These days, many of us have been glued to the screen, watching unfold the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. However, there is one human drama that’s getting little attention – Olympic fashion. I don’t mean the gold lamé cape worn by Angola flag bearer and handball player ...
It’s Finally Infrastructure Week . . . But Is That a Good Thing?
At long last, it’s finally “Infrastructure Week.” On Wednesday, a group of Republican and Democrat senators resolved their final differences with President Biden and reached a long-elusive agreement on a bipartisan infrastructure bill authorizing $550 billion in new spending over 5 years. Later that night, the Senate voted 67 to ...
Tax Cuts, the “New New Thing”, but not for Californians
COVID-19 launched a whole host of trends, from house remodeling to restaurant delivery to working from home. But who knew that tax relief would become in vogue? Thanks to revenue windfalls and the prospect of employees working from anywhere, state tax-cuts have been sweeping the nation. The Tax Foundation reports ...
Biden, Psaki Add to White House “Dog Days of Summer”
A couple of weeks ago, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the White House was working with Facebook and other social media companies to target accounts spreading misinformation. Reaction to her comments and answers from reporters varied, but the lasting takeaway is that misinformation on social media is ...
Newsom Takes First Steps to Stop Fracking in California
Fracking is being phased out in California. Not for any rational reason. The process of hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and gas is in part responsible for the long-term drop in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But because fracking has been vilified by the green lobby, it therefore must be banished ...
History Repeats as Solar Power Oversold, Underperforms
Some stories in the world of energy are perennial. Pretty much every year, we read new advances in energy production or use that are going to revolutionize the world. And every year, that prediction doesn’t pan out. Other stories are decadal. Every 10 years or so, we hear about radical ...
