Environment
Blog
An (Artificially) Intelligent Future for California?
Californians harboring dystopian fears would have us believe that the state is sowing the seeds of its own destruction by leading in the development of artificial intelligence. Consider state legislation introduced this year that would fine companies like Uber $25,000 a day per vehicle if they operate self-driving cars without ...
California
Will Sacramento Finally Restore California’s Housing Market?
Our Sacramento lawmakers are promising to finally do something about the state’s runaway housing crisis after they return from their August break. Will this finally be the year they take meaningful action? Not until they show that they understand the essence of the problem. There’s no disagreement that California has ...
California
Congress Takes an Important Step to Prevent Future Droughts
Thanks to a stormy winter, California’s long drought is over says state government. But California’s man-made drought will continue as long as Sacramento misallocates our water supply. Maybe it’s time to appeal to a higher but distant authority. When Gov. Jerry Brown declared in April that the six-year “drought emergency ...
Commentary
Reports Of Obamacare Repeal’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
President Trump recently tweeted, “Unless the Republican senators are total quitters, Repeal & Replace is not dead!” He’s completely right that free-marketeers shouldn’t give up on health reform. But if we’re being honest, none of the bills that the Senate considered last week would have come close to fulfilling the ...
California
Giving Rural California A Bigger Voice
Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher of Yuba City joins us at his Sacramento office to talk about the Oroville Dam emergency, building California water storage, and his proposal to give the North State a bigger voice in California politics.
California
Is Cap-and-Trade Really A Free Market Solution To Climate Change?
The mood was reportedly celebratory on the evening of July 17 after legislators approved a decade-long extension of the state’s carbon dioxide cap-and-trade program. But that’s not to say everyone was happy, or should be. Assembly Bill 398 will continue the current cap-and-trade system through 2030. It places a cap ...
California
Unless Legislature Embraces Free Market Energy Future, California Faces Next Solyndra
California’s solar power system generated such a glut of electricity for two weeks in March that some of it had to be sent out of state. Supporters of solar energy might believe this is evidence that it works. But it actually highlights solar energy’s biggest flaw. In late June, the ...
Commentary
If GOP Fails To Repeal And Replace Obamacare, Single-Payer Could Be Next
It’s no secret that the cost of failure in the GOP healthcare reform effort will be that Obamacare remains on the books indefinitely. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hinted that he might be willing to pay that cost. He said that Republicans would work with Democrats to produce ...
Business & Economics
Empower The Private Sector To Close The Infrastructure Funding Gap
If you believe the civil engineers, then on top of current planned expenditures, the U.S. needs an additional $5.2 trillion in investment into the nation’s roads, water systems, electric grids, ports & waterways, and airports between now and 2040. While such investments may be imperative, the ability of the government ...
Business & Economics
New PRI Issue Brief Finds Government Policies Have Strangled State’s Housing Market, Made Housing Unaffordable
Big government policies and political constraints are the primary causes for rising California home prices and lack of supply, according to the findings of a new “California Ideas in Action” issue brief released today by the non-partisan Pacific Research Institute. Reforms to open California’s housing market are recommended as the ...
An (Artificially) Intelligent Future for California?
Californians harboring dystopian fears would have us believe that the state is sowing the seeds of its own destruction by leading in the development of artificial intelligence. Consider state legislation introduced this year that would fine companies like Uber $25,000 a day per vehicle if they operate self-driving cars without ...
Will Sacramento Finally Restore California’s Housing Market?
Our Sacramento lawmakers are promising to finally do something about the state’s runaway housing crisis after they return from their August break. Will this finally be the year they take meaningful action? Not until they show that they understand the essence of the problem. There’s no disagreement that California has ...
Congress Takes an Important Step to Prevent Future Droughts
Thanks to a stormy winter, California’s long drought is over says state government. But California’s man-made drought will continue as long as Sacramento misallocates our water supply. Maybe it’s time to appeal to a higher but distant authority. When Gov. Jerry Brown declared in April that the six-year “drought emergency ...
Reports Of Obamacare Repeal’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
President Trump recently tweeted, “Unless the Republican senators are total quitters, Repeal & Replace is not dead!” He’s completely right that free-marketeers shouldn’t give up on health reform. But if we’re being honest, none of the bills that the Senate considered last week would have come close to fulfilling the ...
Giving Rural California A Bigger Voice
Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher of Yuba City joins us at his Sacramento office to talk about the Oroville Dam emergency, building California water storage, and his proposal to give the North State a bigger voice in California politics.
Is Cap-and-Trade Really A Free Market Solution To Climate Change?
The mood was reportedly celebratory on the evening of July 17 after legislators approved a decade-long extension of the state’s carbon dioxide cap-and-trade program. But that’s not to say everyone was happy, or should be. Assembly Bill 398 will continue the current cap-and-trade system through 2030. It places a cap ...
Unless Legislature Embraces Free Market Energy Future, California Faces Next Solyndra
California’s solar power system generated such a glut of electricity for two weeks in March that some of it had to be sent out of state. Supporters of solar energy might believe this is evidence that it works. But it actually highlights solar energy’s biggest flaw. In late June, the ...
If GOP Fails To Repeal And Replace Obamacare, Single-Payer Could Be Next
It’s no secret that the cost of failure in the GOP healthcare reform effort will be that Obamacare remains on the books indefinitely. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hinted that he might be willing to pay that cost. He said that Republicans would work with Democrats to produce ...
Empower The Private Sector To Close The Infrastructure Funding Gap
If you believe the civil engineers, then on top of current planned expenditures, the U.S. needs an additional $5.2 trillion in investment into the nation’s roads, water systems, electric grids, ports & waterways, and airports between now and 2040. While such investments may be imperative, the ability of the government ...
New PRI Issue Brief Finds Government Policies Have Strangled State’s Housing Market, Made Housing Unaffordable
Big government policies and political constraints are the primary causes for rising California home prices and lack of supply, according to the findings of a new “California Ideas in Action” issue brief released today by the non-partisan Pacific Research Institute. Reforms to open California’s housing market are recommended as the ...
