Water
Blog
When The Lights Go Out In California
When Sacramento unwisely decided that 100% of retail electricity sales in the state would have to be generated by renewable sources by 2045, most reasonable people would have thought that hydroelectric power would be included in the portfolio. But it seems the policymakers in Sacramento might not be altogether reasonable. ...
Blog
Winners and Losers in 2019’s State Budget
This year’s state budget debate is in the history books. On Thursday, the Legislature’s liberal supermajority passed the main budget bill and some of the trailer bills required to implement the budget. The 2019-20 state budget is also Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first opportunity to put his stamp on the state’s ...
Agriculture
PRI’s Summer Reading List
What’s a summer without a reading list? And what’s a think tank without ideas? So, we just couldn’t help ourselves and came up with the list below compiled from PRI’s staff. Lest you stop reading now because you think that all the books are wonky — not true. To my ...
Agriculture
Is the ‘Non-GMO’ butterfly an endangered species?
You may have noticed the Non-GMO Project’s butterfly label on foods you buy at the grocery store. Created a little over a decade ago by anti-GMO activists, the label is carried today on some 55,000 different products, from food products such as breakfast cereal to non-food products such as salt and cat litter. ...
Blackouts
The problem with government-protected utility monopolies
Just a few months back it was noted that California was suffering through a resurgence of medieval diseases. Another plague of premodern times now threatens to visit the state this summer: darkness. Bloomberg News reported that “California may go dark this summer.” Pacific Gas & Electric plans to cut power ...
Agriculture
Try the Free Market Before Tourists Are One Day Warned to Not Drink the Water in California
California has regressed from the land of opportunity to the land of crisis. A chronic housing shortage, growing homelessness problems, the highest poverty rate in the nation, and runaway public employee pension liability are ripping at the seams of the state. Add to that list of troubles the taint of ...
Agriculture
Let It Flow: Carlsbad Desalination Plant Expansion Approval A Bright Spot In A Dry State
With more than 800 miles of coastline and a great big ocean out there, California shouldn’t be always be scrambling for water as if it were in the middle of the Sahara Desert. But politics tend to make goods scarce rather than plentiful. But sometimes there’s good news. Such as ...
Blog
CAPITAL IDEAS: Cracking Down on Fracking in California—Is it The Smart Thing to Do?
DOWNLOAD THE PDF Jerry Brown left office in January as one of the most popular governors in California history. He also left successor Gavin Newsom with a few headaches. Among the more prominent unresolved issues are the high-speed rail project, the housing and homeless crises, and runaway public-employee pension obligations. ...
California
California Is Moving to Ban Disposable Plastic Statewide
More than a half-century ago, in one of the most famous movie lines of all time, Dustin Hoffman character Benjamin Braddock, fresh out of college, received some unsolicited career advice. “I want to say one word to you. Just one word,” Mr. McGuire told young Benjamin. “Plastics. There’s a great ...
Blog
It’s Raining IPOs, Hallelujah!
Silicon Valley and Wall Street aren’t the only ones celebrating IPOs this year – Sacramento is doing its share of the partying. That’s because the state is expected to receive a deluge of tax dollars over the next several years thanks to capital gains generated by the current hot IPO ...
When The Lights Go Out In California
When Sacramento unwisely decided that 100% of retail electricity sales in the state would have to be generated by renewable sources by 2045, most reasonable people would have thought that hydroelectric power would be included in the portfolio. But it seems the policymakers in Sacramento might not be altogether reasonable. ...
Winners and Losers in 2019’s State Budget
This year’s state budget debate is in the history books. On Thursday, the Legislature’s liberal supermajority passed the main budget bill and some of the trailer bills required to implement the budget. The 2019-20 state budget is also Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first opportunity to put his stamp on the state’s ...
PRI’s Summer Reading List
What’s a summer without a reading list? And what’s a think tank without ideas? So, we just couldn’t help ourselves and came up with the list below compiled from PRI’s staff. Lest you stop reading now because you think that all the books are wonky — not true. To my ...
Is the ‘Non-GMO’ butterfly an endangered species?
You may have noticed the Non-GMO Project’s butterfly label on foods you buy at the grocery store. Created a little over a decade ago by anti-GMO activists, the label is carried today on some 55,000 different products, from food products such as breakfast cereal to non-food products such as salt and cat litter. ...
The problem with government-protected utility monopolies
Just a few months back it was noted that California was suffering through a resurgence of medieval diseases. Another plague of premodern times now threatens to visit the state this summer: darkness. Bloomberg News reported that “California may go dark this summer.” Pacific Gas & Electric plans to cut power ...
Try the Free Market Before Tourists Are One Day Warned to Not Drink the Water in California
California has regressed from the land of opportunity to the land of crisis. A chronic housing shortage, growing homelessness problems, the highest poverty rate in the nation, and runaway public employee pension liability are ripping at the seams of the state. Add to that list of troubles the taint of ...
Let It Flow: Carlsbad Desalination Plant Expansion Approval A Bright Spot In A Dry State
With more than 800 miles of coastline and a great big ocean out there, California shouldn’t be always be scrambling for water as if it were in the middle of the Sahara Desert. But politics tend to make goods scarce rather than plentiful. But sometimes there’s good news. Such as ...
CAPITAL IDEAS: Cracking Down on Fracking in California—Is it The Smart Thing to Do?
DOWNLOAD THE PDF Jerry Brown left office in January as one of the most popular governors in California history. He also left successor Gavin Newsom with a few headaches. Among the more prominent unresolved issues are the high-speed rail project, the housing and homeless crises, and runaway public-employee pension obligations. ...
California Is Moving to Ban Disposable Plastic Statewide
More than a half-century ago, in one of the most famous movie lines of all time, Dustin Hoffman character Benjamin Braddock, fresh out of college, received some unsolicited career advice. “I want to say one word to you. Just one word,” Mr. McGuire told young Benjamin. “Plastics. There’s a great ...
It’s Raining IPOs, Hallelujah!
Silicon Valley and Wall Street aren’t the only ones celebrating IPOs this year – Sacramento is doing its share of the partying. That’s because the state is expected to receive a deluge of tax dollars over the next several years thanks to capital gains generated by the current hot IPO ...
