Environment
Business & Economics
CAPITAL IDEAS: A Futuristic and Cheaper Alternative to High-Speed Rail
Download the PDF California’s “bullet” train to nowhere keeps going — nowhere. Unless tearing down a bridge just to rebuild it is somewhere. Construction of an overpass near Fresno was scrapped late last year—yes, we’re learning about this just now because it was done “quietly”—because, according to the California High-Speed ...
California
California May Mandate Solar Panels on All New Homes
California may soon become the first state to mandate solar panels be installed on all new homes, apartments, and condominiums. The California Energy Commission passed a building code regulation requiring all homes constructed in 2020 or later to have solar panels on their roofs, by a unanimous vote on May ...
Blog
Proposed Water Tax Dropped in State Budget Deal
Sacramento has been trying for some time now to add a 95-cents-a-month tax on drinking water to pay for “secure access to safe drinking water for all Californians, while also ensuring the long-term sustainability of drinking water service and infrastructure.” Those dreams of more taxes were delayed last week, though, ...
Blog
The June Primary is Over. So, What Now?
Now that the June primary is behind us, pundits and political observers are on overdrive telling us what it all means and what we can expect from the fall campaign. Perhaps we should all pause before writing the June primary’s eulogy as hundreds of thousands of votes remain to be ...
California
California Drivers Denied Transparency at the Pump
Brandon Johnson, who racks up the miles delivering pizza, told CBS13 in Sacramento that high gasoline prices have forced him to spend “a small fortune” on “a car that doesn’t get bad mileage.” Monica Torres, a struggling single mother in Bakersfield, says “crazy” fuel prices have caused her to raise ...
Blog
New Permanent State Water Restrictions Won’t Increase Supply
California’s man-made drought will become permanent in 2022, the year that “guidelines for efficient water use” must be in place to comply with a couple of bills signed in late May by Gov. Jerry Brown. The main provisions of Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668 are, according to the ...
Commentary
Obamacare’s Partisans Complain about High Premiums but Oppose Solution
Exchange plan premiums will rise an average of 15 percent next year, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released this past Wednesday. Congressional Democrats blamed the president. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., tweeted that the rate hike is “largely due to Trump Administration sabotage of the health insurance market.” Senate ...
Blog
Prop 68’s Passage Could Mean Christmas Comes Again for Sacramento’s Spending Lobby
Our mailboxes and social media feeds are literally overflowing with campaign advertisements these days. We review the propositions on our June primary preview on PRI’s podcast. Counting up political mailings that I’ve received over the past week, I’ve gotten the most postcards in support of Proposition 68. What is Proposition ...
California
New Solar Mandate Latest Chapter in ‘California Craziness’ Story
Making housing more affordable in California has been at the top of the agenda in Sacramento for more than a year. Unfortunately, lawmakers have mishandled the opportunity to pass meaningful reforms and now a new solar energy mandate will soon force homes prices even higher. The Energy Commission, whose five ...
California
ZEV Bill Would Hurt Ridesharing Drivers, Do Little to Help Environment
On any given day, tens of thousands of Californians are earning good money driving for Uber, Lyft, and other ridesharing companies. For many, the gig economy has been a windfall. Glassdoor.com says the average annual salary for a Lyft driver in Los Angeles is $36,000, while Uber drivers average about ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: A Futuristic and Cheaper Alternative to High-Speed Rail
Download the PDF California’s “bullet” train to nowhere keeps going — nowhere. Unless tearing down a bridge just to rebuild it is somewhere. Construction of an overpass near Fresno was scrapped late last year—yes, we’re learning about this just now because it was done “quietly”—because, according to the California High-Speed ...
California May Mandate Solar Panels on All New Homes
California may soon become the first state to mandate solar panels be installed on all new homes, apartments, and condominiums. The California Energy Commission passed a building code regulation requiring all homes constructed in 2020 or later to have solar panels on their roofs, by a unanimous vote on May ...
Proposed Water Tax Dropped in State Budget Deal
Sacramento has been trying for some time now to add a 95-cents-a-month tax on drinking water to pay for “secure access to safe drinking water for all Californians, while also ensuring the long-term sustainability of drinking water service and infrastructure.” Those dreams of more taxes were delayed last week, though, ...
The June Primary is Over. So, What Now?
Now that the June primary is behind us, pundits and political observers are on overdrive telling us what it all means and what we can expect from the fall campaign. Perhaps we should all pause before writing the June primary’s eulogy as hundreds of thousands of votes remain to be ...
California Drivers Denied Transparency at the Pump
Brandon Johnson, who racks up the miles delivering pizza, told CBS13 in Sacramento that high gasoline prices have forced him to spend “a small fortune” on “a car that doesn’t get bad mileage.” Monica Torres, a struggling single mother in Bakersfield, says “crazy” fuel prices have caused her to raise ...
New Permanent State Water Restrictions Won’t Increase Supply
California’s man-made drought will become permanent in 2022, the year that “guidelines for efficient water use” must be in place to comply with a couple of bills signed in late May by Gov. Jerry Brown. The main provisions of Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668 are, according to the ...
Obamacare’s Partisans Complain about High Premiums but Oppose Solution
Exchange plan premiums will rise an average of 15 percent next year, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released this past Wednesday. Congressional Democrats blamed the president. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., tweeted that the rate hike is “largely due to Trump Administration sabotage of the health insurance market.” Senate ...
Prop 68’s Passage Could Mean Christmas Comes Again for Sacramento’s Spending Lobby
Our mailboxes and social media feeds are literally overflowing with campaign advertisements these days. We review the propositions on our June primary preview on PRI’s podcast. Counting up political mailings that I’ve received over the past week, I’ve gotten the most postcards in support of Proposition 68. What is Proposition ...
New Solar Mandate Latest Chapter in ‘California Craziness’ Story
Making housing more affordable in California has been at the top of the agenda in Sacramento for more than a year. Unfortunately, lawmakers have mishandled the opportunity to pass meaningful reforms and now a new solar energy mandate will soon force homes prices even higher. The Energy Commission, whose five ...
ZEV Bill Would Hurt Ridesharing Drivers, Do Little to Help Environment
On any given day, tens of thousands of Californians are earning good money driving for Uber, Lyft, and other ridesharing companies. For many, the gig economy has been a windfall. Glassdoor.com says the average annual salary for a Lyft driver in Los Angeles is $36,000, while Uber drivers average about ...
