Water
Blog
What We’re Watching – Celebrating Baroness Thatcher
Kerry Jackson – Remembering Baroness Thatcher Tuesday was Margaret Thatcher’s birthday. She would have been 95. This week, PRI held its 9th annual Baroness Thatcher Gala, named in her honor. We’re all better off because of her. Tim Anaya – Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth I’m a huge fan of ...
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: The War on Plastics: The Narrative Must Be Fed
DOWNLOAD THE PDF California is now the first state to require plastic beverage containers to contain a minimum content of recycled material. A step forward? Hardly. The bill, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 24, the day after he issued an executive order outlawing the sale of internal-combustion ...
Blackouts
Did California just admit its drive to decarbonize has a problem?
California was rushing toward what it thought was a fossil-fuel-free future when reality came rolling in like a solar eclipse, forcing officials to alter their plans a bit. On Sept. 1, the State Water Resources Control Board voted 4-0 to keep four natural gas power plants open beyond their planned ...
Blackouts
Wildfires, Global Climate Change, And The Policy Environment
California is suffering from raging wildfires that, as of September 10th, have burned over 3.1 million acres, caused 12 fatalities, and destroyed over 3,900 structures. Residents are also enduring rolling electricity blackouts and unaffordable energy, yet California’s greenhouse gas emissions are now rising while the long-term national decline in emissions continues unabated. Connecting ...
Blackouts
Newsom and Davis Have a Lot More in Common Than You Might Imagine
The images of mass power outages across the state during our recent run of extreme temperatures evoked images in many Californians of the last time the state faced mass power blackouts. The year was 2001, when then-Governor Gray Davis bungled the state’s controversial electricity restructuring plan and allowed the state’s ...
California
Steven Greenhut – On the Most Unpredictable California Legislative Session in Recent Memory
R Street Institute’s Steven Greenhut returns for his annual look at the year’s legislative session in Sacramento. We discuss how the Legislature and Governor have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and rising social unrest, a $54 billion budget deficit, and worsening homeless and housing crises. He also looks ahead to ...
Energy Costs
Impact Magazine – Summer 2020
DOWNLOAD THE PDF .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom:56.25%; height:0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} Letter from the President These are stressful times for our nation. Americans have faced shelter-in-place orders that lasted weeks. ...
Blog
High on Spending, Light on Stimulus: Legislative Democrats Propose $100 Billion Borrowing Plan
This week in Washington, Democrats and Republicans are squabbling over the next economic stimulus package. Republicans have proposed a roughly $1 trillion plan, while Speaker Pelosi is pushing a $3 trillion plan. The partisan haggling and negotiations via shuttle diplomacy have already begun. Upon returning from their summer recess, Sacramento ...
California
Newsom: Police And Firefighters Will Be Laid Off But We’ll Spend Millions To Enforce AB5
Gov. Gavin Newsom is leveraging the state’s $54.3 billion budget deficit. Give us what we want, he demands, or public safety programs will be cut. At the same time, he wants $20 million to enforce Assembly Bill 5, maybe the most damaging piece of legislation that ever became law in ...
Blog
Assembly’s Festivus-Style ‘Airing of Grievances’ Does Not Disappoint
In my last blog post, I previewed the Assembly’s unusual “Committee of the Whole” hearing on the state budget, comparing it to Seinfeld’s Festivus “Airing of Grievances.” Little did I know how clairvoyant I really was. Last Tuesday’s five hour session could charitably be called a “gripe fest” as lawmakers ...
What We’re Watching – Celebrating Baroness Thatcher
Kerry Jackson – Remembering Baroness Thatcher Tuesday was Margaret Thatcher’s birthday. She would have been 95. This week, PRI held its 9th annual Baroness Thatcher Gala, named in her honor. We’re all better off because of her. Tim Anaya – Margaret Thatcher and Queen Elizabeth I’m a huge fan of ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: The War on Plastics: The Narrative Must Be Fed
DOWNLOAD THE PDF California is now the first state to require plastic beverage containers to contain a minimum content of recycled material. A step forward? Hardly. The bill, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 24, the day after he issued an executive order outlawing the sale of internal-combustion ...
Did California just admit its drive to decarbonize has a problem?
California was rushing toward what it thought was a fossil-fuel-free future when reality came rolling in like a solar eclipse, forcing officials to alter their plans a bit. On Sept. 1, the State Water Resources Control Board voted 4-0 to keep four natural gas power plants open beyond their planned ...
Wildfires, Global Climate Change, And The Policy Environment
California is suffering from raging wildfires that, as of September 10th, have burned over 3.1 million acres, caused 12 fatalities, and destroyed over 3,900 structures. Residents are also enduring rolling electricity blackouts and unaffordable energy, yet California’s greenhouse gas emissions are now rising while the long-term national decline in emissions continues unabated. Connecting ...
Newsom and Davis Have a Lot More in Common Than You Might Imagine
The images of mass power outages across the state during our recent run of extreme temperatures evoked images in many Californians of the last time the state faced mass power blackouts. The year was 2001, when then-Governor Gray Davis bungled the state’s controversial electricity restructuring plan and allowed the state’s ...
Steven Greenhut – On the Most Unpredictable California Legislative Session in Recent Memory
R Street Institute’s Steven Greenhut returns for his annual look at the year’s legislative session in Sacramento. We discuss how the Legislature and Governor have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and rising social unrest, a $54 billion budget deficit, and worsening homeless and housing crises. He also looks ahead to ...
Impact Magazine – Summer 2020
DOWNLOAD THE PDF .embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom:56.25%; height:0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} Letter from the President These are stressful times for our nation. Americans have faced shelter-in-place orders that lasted weeks. ...
High on Spending, Light on Stimulus: Legislative Democrats Propose $100 Billion Borrowing Plan
This week in Washington, Democrats and Republicans are squabbling over the next economic stimulus package. Republicans have proposed a roughly $1 trillion plan, while Speaker Pelosi is pushing a $3 trillion plan. The partisan haggling and negotiations via shuttle diplomacy have already begun. Upon returning from their summer recess, Sacramento ...
Newsom: Police And Firefighters Will Be Laid Off But We’ll Spend Millions To Enforce AB5
Gov. Gavin Newsom is leveraging the state’s $54.3 billion budget deficit. Give us what we want, he demands, or public safety programs will be cut. At the same time, he wants $20 million to enforce Assembly Bill 5, maybe the most damaging piece of legislation that ever became law in ...
Assembly’s Festivus-Style ‘Airing of Grievances’ Does Not Disappoint
In my last blog post, I previewed the Assembly’s unusual “Committee of the Whole” hearing on the state budget, comparing it to Seinfeld’s Festivus “Airing of Grievances.” Little did I know how clairvoyant I really was. Last Tuesday’s five hour session could charitably be called a “gripe fest” as lawmakers ...
