Blog
Blog
Memo to Small Business: We’re from the government and we’re here to help
Across the state, main streets have gone from being closed to being boarded. For California entrepreneurs, doing business in the state has hit a new low. It’s too early to get insurance data on what the vandalism, arson, and looting has cost business owners across the state. Worse, because of ...
Rowena Itchon
June 10, 2020
Blog
Stop Politicizing Investments
The University of California Board of Regents just announced that “the endowment, the pension and all of our working capital pools are fossil-free at the University of California”. The Regents justify the divestment based on their belief that “continuing to hold fossil fuel assets poses too great a financial risk.” ...
Wayne Winegarden
June 9, 2020
Blog
Coronavirus, Marching In The Streets And California Crime
The sight of criminals running free in our streets gets the blood up. But while the looting and violence, as ugly as they are, will decelerate, there’s a relatively invisible hand of crime that has the potential to cause harm on a long-term basis. At roughly the same time the ...
Kerry Jackson
June 8, 2020
Blog
What We’re Watching – June 5
Tim Anaya – Digging Up Ways to Lower Costs for High Value but Expensive Drugs In the latest video in the “Escape the Drug Pricing Maze” video, Sage the Detective Dog digs up clues on biologics and gene therapies – drugs that offer tremendous value for patients but are some ...
Tim Anaya
June 5, 2020
Blog
PRI’s 2020 Summer Reading List
After months of “sheltering in place” in our homes due to the COVID-19 crisis, and with so much distressing news on television every night, we’re all look for a little bit of an escape. Since we can’t really travel anywhere yet, we’ll have to settle for trying to escape in ...
Tim Anaya
June 4, 2020
Blog
June Single Payer Poll Watch: Support Continues to Tick Upward
Support for Medicare for All continues to rise in PRI’s Single-Payer Poll Watch. The June update shows the overall average support at 57 percent, while opposition slightly dropped to 34 percent. Last month’s update showed a ten-point jump in support during the height of shelter-in-place orders and lockdowns because of ...
Evan Harris
June 3, 2020
Blog
‘Fixing’ Assembly Bill 5: Better If It Never Existed At All
California’s Assembly Bill 5 has not been broken, but given a couple of recent developments, it might soon be showing some cracks. On May 20, Assembly Bill 1850, which would exempt some professions from AB5, a law that virtually outlaws independent contract work, was passed 7-0 by the Assembly Labor ...
Kerry Jackson
June 2, 2020
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 ...
Tim Anaya
June 1, 2020
Blog
What We’re Watching – May 29
Kerry Jackson – California: The Exodus from the Golden State Anyone who still doesn’t think California’s future is questionable at best, bleak at worst, needs to spend 10 minutes watching this video. Ben Smithwick – Protecting Your Right to Run a Business from Home In this video from the Goldwater Institute, ...
Pacific Research Institute
May 29, 2020
Blog
Racial Preferences Returning to California?
It’s said that timing is everything — it’s especially true in politics. And it’s why those who want to bring back racial preferences in California’s public education, government employment and contracting, chose the here and now to try and repeal Prop. 209, the 1996 California ballot measure that ended these ...
Rowena Itchon
May 28, 2020
Memo to Small Business: We’re from the government and we’re here to help
Across the state, main streets have gone from being closed to being boarded. For California entrepreneurs, doing business in the state has hit a new low. It’s too early to get insurance data on what the vandalism, arson, and looting has cost business owners across the state. Worse, because of ...
Stop Politicizing Investments
The University of California Board of Regents just announced that “the endowment, the pension and all of our working capital pools are fossil-free at the University of California”. The Regents justify the divestment based on their belief that “continuing to hold fossil fuel assets poses too great a financial risk.” ...
Coronavirus, Marching In The Streets And California Crime
The sight of criminals running free in our streets gets the blood up. But while the looting and violence, as ugly as they are, will decelerate, there’s a relatively invisible hand of crime that has the potential to cause harm on a long-term basis. At roughly the same time the ...
What We’re Watching – June 5
Tim Anaya – Digging Up Ways to Lower Costs for High Value but Expensive Drugs In the latest video in the “Escape the Drug Pricing Maze” video, Sage the Detective Dog digs up clues on biologics and gene therapies – drugs that offer tremendous value for patients but are some ...
PRI’s 2020 Summer Reading List
After months of “sheltering in place” in our homes due to the COVID-19 crisis, and with so much distressing news on television every night, we’re all look for a little bit of an escape. Since we can’t really travel anywhere yet, we’ll have to settle for trying to escape in ...
June Single Payer Poll Watch: Support Continues to Tick Upward
Support for Medicare for All continues to rise in PRI’s Single-Payer Poll Watch. The June update shows the overall average support at 57 percent, while opposition slightly dropped to 34 percent. Last month’s update showed a ten-point jump in support during the height of shelter-in-place orders and lockdowns because of ...
‘Fixing’ Assembly Bill 5: Better If It Never Existed At All
California’s Assembly Bill 5 has not been broken, but given a couple of recent developments, it might soon be showing some cracks. On May 20, Assembly Bill 1850, which would exempt some professions from AB5, a law that virtually outlaws independent contract work, was passed 7-0 by the Assembly Labor ...
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 – May 29
Kerry Jackson – California: The Exodus from the Golden State Anyone who still doesn’t think California’s future is questionable at best, bleak at worst, needs to spend 10 minutes watching this video. Ben Smithwick – Protecting Your Right to Run a Business from Home In this video from the Goldwater Institute, ...
Racial Preferences Returning to California?
It’s said that timing is everything — it’s especially true in politics. And it’s why those who want to bring back racial preferences in California’s public education, government employment and contracting, chose the here and now to try and repeal Prop. 209, the 1996 California ballot measure that ended these ...