Environment

Business & Economics

Skimming Hurts California’s Most Vulnerable

Skimming is not a union practice that went out when the closing credits for “On The Waterfront” first rolled in 1954. It’s still alive today. And it’s hurting some of California’s most vulnerable residents, while at the same time stuffing the treasury of politically powerful unions and financially exploiting those ...
Blog

A Novel Way to Educate Californians About State Gas Tax Increase

Everyone who drives in California suspects that fuel prices here are painfully high. And their suspicions are well-founded. Only Hawaii has more expensive gasoline. Or did. Thanks to the 12-cents-a-gallon tax hike on gasoline that went into effect on Nov. 1, California now has the highest average price in the ...
Blog

Gas and Diesel Fuel Tax Hikes Begin Today

Californians who didn’t fill up on Tuesday are probably kicking themselves today. Tax hikes on gasoline and diesel fuel went into effect, sending prices significantly higher. The levy on a gallon of gasoline spiked 12 cents, from 18 cents to 30, while diesel jumped from 16 cents a gallon to ...
Agriculture

Whatever Happened to Spending Cuts?

This week, Republicans are preparing to unveil the details of a tax reform proposal that would deliver tax relief to individuals and businesses, as well as simplify the tax filing process. How to “pay for” the tax cuts will be the big debate in the weeks and months ahead. Some ...
Business & Economics

Killing the gasoline-powered car in California? That’s what one legislator wants by 2040

A clean energy advocate in the California Legislature wants internal combustion vehicles to sputter out of existence on the state’s roads and highways. “The cars that we drive today are based on technology that’s 100 years old,” said Assembly member Phil Ting, D-San Francisco. “It’s almost like we’re doing addition ...
Blog

Housing shortage goes from dire to desperate after wildfires

A few months ago, Tim Anaya and I interviewed for PRI’s podcast Farhad Zabihi, a math professor at the College of Marin, who had been house hunting for nearly a year in Marin County.  Marin is just south of Napa and Sonoma — two of the hardest hit counties in ...
Blog

The Political Aftermath of California’s Wildfires

The amount of time it takes a celebrity of the political left to blame a natural disaster on global warming can usually be measured in seconds. Gov. Jerry Brown quickly answered the challenge last week by coldly politicizing the deadly Northern California wildfires. Following the master blueprint Chicago Mayor Rahm ...
California

Wayne Winegarden Talks California’s Proposed Gas Car Ban on Air Talk

Wayne Winegarden, PRI’s senior fellow in business and economics, recently joined “Air Talk with Larry Mantle” on Southern California Public Radio/KPCC to discuss California’s proposed ban on gas-powered cars.  Winegarden is the author of an upcoming PRI study exploring state electric car subsidies. Click here to listen to the interview ...
Blog

Prop. 54 Tames Wild Late Nights at the State Capitol

For political nerds like me, there’s no rush quite like the last night of the legislative session. Every year, legislators and staff literally work around-the-clock to pass final bills before the clock runs out.  To keep going, they drink too much coffee and eat lukewarm pizza and take-out Chinese food.  ...
Blog

An entitlement for… moi?

If you think this is going to be one of those hard-hitting policy pieces that you get from the likes of Anaya and Jackson, or one of those brainy blogs from Winegarden.  It’s not.  It’s all about me, and my yearning for that fabulous, subsidized Tesla. I’m in the market ...
Business & Economics

Skimming Hurts California’s Most Vulnerable

Skimming is not a union practice that went out when the closing credits for “On The Waterfront” first rolled in 1954. It’s still alive today. And it’s hurting some of California’s most vulnerable residents, while at the same time stuffing the treasury of politically powerful unions and financially exploiting those ...
Blog

A Novel Way to Educate Californians About State Gas Tax Increase

Everyone who drives in California suspects that fuel prices here are painfully high. And their suspicions are well-founded. Only Hawaii has more expensive gasoline. Or did. Thanks to the 12-cents-a-gallon tax hike on gasoline that went into effect on Nov. 1, California now has the highest average price in the ...
Blog

Gas and Diesel Fuel Tax Hikes Begin Today

Californians who didn’t fill up on Tuesday are probably kicking themselves today. Tax hikes on gasoline and diesel fuel went into effect, sending prices significantly higher. The levy on a gallon of gasoline spiked 12 cents, from 18 cents to 30, while diesel jumped from 16 cents a gallon to ...
Agriculture

Whatever Happened to Spending Cuts?

This week, Republicans are preparing to unveil the details of a tax reform proposal that would deliver tax relief to individuals and businesses, as well as simplify the tax filing process. How to “pay for” the tax cuts will be the big debate in the weeks and months ahead. Some ...
Business & Economics

Killing the gasoline-powered car in California? That’s what one legislator wants by 2040

A clean energy advocate in the California Legislature wants internal combustion vehicles to sputter out of existence on the state’s roads and highways. “The cars that we drive today are based on technology that’s 100 years old,” said Assembly member Phil Ting, D-San Francisco. “It’s almost like we’re doing addition ...
Blog

Housing shortage goes from dire to desperate after wildfires

A few months ago, Tim Anaya and I interviewed for PRI’s podcast Farhad Zabihi, a math professor at the College of Marin, who had been house hunting for nearly a year in Marin County.  Marin is just south of Napa and Sonoma — two of the hardest hit counties in ...
Blog

The Political Aftermath of California’s Wildfires

The amount of time it takes a celebrity of the political left to blame a natural disaster on global warming can usually be measured in seconds. Gov. Jerry Brown quickly answered the challenge last week by coldly politicizing the deadly Northern California wildfires. Following the master blueprint Chicago Mayor Rahm ...
California

Wayne Winegarden Talks California’s Proposed Gas Car Ban on Air Talk

Wayne Winegarden, PRI’s senior fellow in business and economics, recently joined “Air Talk with Larry Mantle” on Southern California Public Radio/KPCC to discuss California’s proposed ban on gas-powered cars.  Winegarden is the author of an upcoming PRI study exploring state electric car subsidies. Click here to listen to the interview ...
Blog

Prop. 54 Tames Wild Late Nights at the State Capitol

For political nerds like me, there’s no rush quite like the last night of the legislative session. Every year, legislators and staff literally work around-the-clock to pass final bills before the clock runs out.  To keep going, they drink too much coffee and eat lukewarm pizza and take-out Chinese food.  ...
Blog

An entitlement for… moi?

If you think this is going to be one of those hard-hitting policy pieces that you get from the likes of Anaya and Jackson, or one of those brainy blogs from Winegarden.  It’s not.  It’s all about me, and my yearning for that fabulous, subsidized Tesla. I’m in the market ...
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