Blog
Blog
What We’re Watching – December 21
Tim Anaya – Farewell to Gov. Brown For those who didn’t have the opportunity to Gov. Brown’s one (and only) appearance before the Sacramento Press Club this week, watch this clip for some of the highlights and a look back at this unique California character’s legacy in office. Ben Smithwick ...
Blog
Your Last Minute Shopping List: PRI’s 2018 Holiday Book Guide
It’s December 20 and many are scrambling trying to find last-minute gifts for their family and friends. Heck, some folks won’t even begin their shopping until the afternoon of December 24th. Back by popular demand for weary shoppers is PRI’s annual holiday book guide. We asked our PRI colleagues to ...
Blog
Sacramento’s “Funniest Unfunny Man” Prepares to Exit Stage Left
Gov. Jerry Brown was once described by my former boss, Connie Conway, as the “funniest unfunny man” she’d ever met. For anyone who had the opportunity to watch his “exit interview” at the Sacramento Press Club, you’d know that this is an apt description. When asked to make a particularly ...
Blog
Universal Income Just Another Name for Putting Everyone on Welfare
One idea that has been gaining traction recently is a system of universal income, also known as basic income. The city of Stockton, California will be the nation’s first city to launch a universal income pilot program in 2019. While the specific policy proposals take many forms, the basic idea ...
Blog
California’s Carbon Madness
California’s runaway housing prices caused by a policy-created shortage of homes will be getting a tailwind in a little more than a year. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2020, every home built in the state, including condominiums and low-rise apartments, will have to have solar panels on their roofs. The regulatory ...
Blog
What We’re Watching – December 14
Kerry Jackson – Profits are Progressive Walter Williams explains why market economies work, and why we should “want as little government as possible.” It’s a lesson that needs to be taught to students beginning in elementary school and reinforced throughout their educations. Instead, it’s the destructive lessons of the left ...
Blog
California Supreme Court to Decide Fate of “Airtime”
Last week, the California Supreme Court heard the case Cal Fire Local 2881 v. CalPERS which challenged the 2013 law (the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act or PEPRA) that eliminated state employees’ ability to add up to five years of employment toward their pension benefit calculation by paying a ...
Blog
A Proposal to Cut Millions in Unnecessary Spending Both Parties Can Agree On
Last week, after newly-elected members of the Legislature raised their hands to take their oaths of office, many also took the opportunity to introduce their first bills of the legislative session. In a sea of costly new programs, prohibitions on people’s freedoms, and new government mandates, one refreshing idea stood ...
Blog
Proxy Advisory Firms Are Worsening CalPERS and CalSTRS ESG Problem
My last blog post discussed the risks that ESG investing creates for CalPERS and CalSTRS. If not addressed, then both taxpayers and public employees will bear unnecessary costs and risks. Unfortunately, SEC rules are making this problem even worse. The SEC requires all institutional investors, such as CalPERS and CalSTRS, ...
Blog
CEQA Foils Yet Another Important Project for California’s Future
We’ve recently said that Elon Musk’s tunnel-boring project could be the potential foundation of a hyperloop transportation system. But as is too often the case in California, a reasonable objective has been sidelined by outrage. Musk has abandoned the project that began near his SpaceX Hawthorne Municipal Airport headquarters because ...
What We’re Watching – December 21
Tim Anaya – Farewell to Gov. Brown For those who didn’t have the opportunity to Gov. Brown’s one (and only) appearance before the Sacramento Press Club this week, watch this clip for some of the highlights and a look back at this unique California character’s legacy in office. Ben Smithwick ...
Your Last Minute Shopping List: PRI’s 2018 Holiday Book Guide
It’s December 20 and many are scrambling trying to find last-minute gifts for their family and friends. Heck, some folks won’t even begin their shopping until the afternoon of December 24th. Back by popular demand for weary shoppers is PRI’s annual holiday book guide. We asked our PRI colleagues to ...
Sacramento’s “Funniest Unfunny Man” Prepares to Exit Stage Left
Gov. Jerry Brown was once described by my former boss, Connie Conway, as the “funniest unfunny man” she’d ever met. For anyone who had the opportunity to watch his “exit interview” at the Sacramento Press Club, you’d know that this is an apt description. When asked to make a particularly ...
Universal Income Just Another Name for Putting Everyone on Welfare
One idea that has been gaining traction recently is a system of universal income, also known as basic income. The city of Stockton, California will be the nation’s first city to launch a universal income pilot program in 2019. While the specific policy proposals take many forms, the basic idea ...
California’s Carbon Madness
California’s runaway housing prices caused by a policy-created shortage of homes will be getting a tailwind in a little more than a year. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2020, every home built in the state, including condominiums and low-rise apartments, will have to have solar panels on their roofs. The regulatory ...
What We’re Watching – December 14
Kerry Jackson – Profits are Progressive Walter Williams explains why market economies work, and why we should “want as little government as possible.” It’s a lesson that needs to be taught to students beginning in elementary school and reinforced throughout their educations. Instead, it’s the destructive lessons of the left ...
California Supreme Court to Decide Fate of “Airtime”
Last week, the California Supreme Court heard the case Cal Fire Local 2881 v. CalPERS which challenged the 2013 law (the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act or PEPRA) that eliminated state employees’ ability to add up to five years of employment toward their pension benefit calculation by paying a ...
A Proposal to Cut Millions in Unnecessary Spending Both Parties Can Agree On
Last week, after newly-elected members of the Legislature raised their hands to take their oaths of office, many also took the opportunity to introduce their first bills of the legislative session. In a sea of costly new programs, prohibitions on people’s freedoms, and new government mandates, one refreshing idea stood ...
Proxy Advisory Firms Are Worsening CalPERS and CalSTRS ESG Problem
My last blog post discussed the risks that ESG investing creates for CalPERS and CalSTRS. If not addressed, then both taxpayers and public employees will bear unnecessary costs and risks. Unfortunately, SEC rules are making this problem even worse. The SEC requires all institutional investors, such as CalPERS and CalSTRS, ...
CEQA Foils Yet Another Important Project for California’s Future
We’ve recently said that Elon Musk’s tunnel-boring project could be the potential foundation of a hyperloop transportation system. But as is too often the case in California, a reasonable objective has been sidelined by outrage. Musk has abandoned the project that began near his SpaceX Hawthorne Municipal Airport headquarters because ...
