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Bill to Change Ballot Measure Process Could Complicate Uber Ballot Measure Push

One of the most contentious battles of this year’s legislative session was AB 5, with labor and gig economy companies duking out over the definition of who is an employee and who is an independent contractor. In this battle over the “new economy” and the “future of work,” there was ...
Blog

Private Insurance v. Medicare for All

Last week, I accompanied Sally Pipes to New York where she participated in a debate sponsored by Intelligence Squared. For a decade now, Intelligence Squared has been hosting debates on all issues concerning public policy, from the Middle East, to driverless cars, to one of my recent favorites — is ...
Blog

California Needs To Go Nuclear – Again

California policymakers have indicated that when the state converts to a renewables-only energy framework in 2045, wind and sun will be the only sources permitted. Categorical renewables such as hydroelectric power and nuclear will not be considered. Narrowing the potential sources for electricity generation this way makes the goal nearly ...
Blog

Latest Campus Free Speech Battle Shows Long Way to Go to Protect Student First Amendment Freedoms

The free speech battles on college campuses today are perhaps unparalleled since the time of Mario Savio at Berkeley in the 1960s – although the cast of characters is much different today with conservatives being afraid to speak freely about their beliefs in class. Recently on “Next Round with PRI,” ...
Blog

What We’re Watching – September 20

Tim Anaya – How Rent Control Hurts Renters In the wake of the Legislature’s passage of AB 1482, so-called “rent gouging” legislation (which is really just another name for rent control), this great video from Prager U featuring Manhattan Institute scholar Nicole Gelinas shows just how government rent control policies ...
Blog

California State Senate Hands Newsom Decade-old Political Lightning Rod in Redevelopment Agencies

Since 2011, the California State Legislature has been itching to bring back redevelopment agencies. Governor Jerry Brown’s nixing of the 70-year-old program scored the California state budget several billion dollars during the Great Recession in 2011.  At the time of their elimination, redevelopment agencies collected around 12 percent of all ...
Blog

Is California Already Tired of Newsom’s “Winning” So Much This Legislative Session?

President Trump said many times during the 2016 election that the American people would “win” so much under his administration that they would get tired of winning. Now that the 2019 legislative session is over, Gov. Gavin Newsom may be making the same boast.California’s new governor was, by all accounts, ...
Blog

Democratic Socialism Will Take Away Job Opportunities for Many

I have long adhered to the proposition that we should extend grace to our ideological opponents. In fact, when discussing fellow Americans, I reject wholesale the increasingly common language of combat in politics (e.g. political “enemies,” culture war, etc.), and strongly argue that we should presume the good intentions of ...
Blog

California Homeless Czar Overthrown In Favor of Task Force

Gov. Gavin Newsom will not after all appoint a homelessness czar, as he had promised he would during the 2018 campaign. Now, if he would just disband the homelessness task force that was formed in the spring. While running for governor last year as the state’s homeless crisis became a ...
Blog

What We’re Watching – September 13

Kerry Jackson – President Trump to the Rescue on CA’s Homeless Problem? California’s homeless problem has become so troubling that the president, who has been in a running feud Sacramento, has even decided to try to help. Evan Harris – After devastating fires, Paradise football team gives a community hope ...
Blog

Bill to Change Ballot Measure Process Could Complicate Uber Ballot Measure Push

One of the most contentious battles of this year’s legislative session was AB 5, with labor and gig economy companies duking out over the definition of who is an employee and who is an independent contractor. In this battle over the “new economy” and the “future of work,” there was ...
Blog

Private Insurance v. Medicare for All

Last week, I accompanied Sally Pipes to New York where she participated in a debate sponsored by Intelligence Squared. For a decade now, Intelligence Squared has been hosting debates on all issues concerning public policy, from the Middle East, to driverless cars, to one of my recent favorites — is ...
Blog

California Needs To Go Nuclear – Again

California policymakers have indicated that when the state converts to a renewables-only energy framework in 2045, wind and sun will be the only sources permitted. Categorical renewables such as hydroelectric power and nuclear will not be considered. Narrowing the potential sources for electricity generation this way makes the goal nearly ...
Blog

Latest Campus Free Speech Battle Shows Long Way to Go to Protect Student First Amendment Freedoms

The free speech battles on college campuses today are perhaps unparalleled since the time of Mario Savio at Berkeley in the 1960s – although the cast of characters is much different today with conservatives being afraid to speak freely about their beliefs in class. Recently on “Next Round with PRI,” ...
Blog

What We’re Watching – September 20

Tim Anaya – How Rent Control Hurts Renters In the wake of the Legislature’s passage of AB 1482, so-called “rent gouging” legislation (which is really just another name for rent control), this great video from Prager U featuring Manhattan Institute scholar Nicole Gelinas shows just how government rent control policies ...
Blog

California State Senate Hands Newsom Decade-old Political Lightning Rod in Redevelopment Agencies

Since 2011, the California State Legislature has been itching to bring back redevelopment agencies. Governor Jerry Brown’s nixing of the 70-year-old program scored the California state budget several billion dollars during the Great Recession in 2011.  At the time of their elimination, redevelopment agencies collected around 12 percent of all ...
Blog

Is California Already Tired of Newsom’s “Winning” So Much This Legislative Session?

President Trump said many times during the 2016 election that the American people would “win” so much under his administration that they would get tired of winning. Now that the 2019 legislative session is over, Gov. Gavin Newsom may be making the same boast.California’s new governor was, by all accounts, ...
Blog

Democratic Socialism Will Take Away Job Opportunities for Many

I have long adhered to the proposition that we should extend grace to our ideological opponents. In fact, when discussing fellow Americans, I reject wholesale the increasingly common language of combat in politics (e.g. political “enemies,” culture war, etc.), and strongly argue that we should presume the good intentions of ...
Blog

California Homeless Czar Overthrown In Favor of Task Force

Gov. Gavin Newsom will not after all appoint a homelessness czar, as he had promised he would during the 2018 campaign. Now, if he would just disband the homelessness task force that was formed in the spring. While running for governor last year as the state’s homeless crisis became a ...
Blog

What We’re Watching – September 13

Kerry Jackson – President Trump to the Rescue on CA’s Homeless Problem? California’s homeless problem has become so troubling that the president, who has been in a running feud Sacramento, has even decided to try to help. Evan Harris – After devastating fires, Paradise football team gives a community hope ...
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