Blog
Blog
The Heart Of American Entrepreneurship Has Grown Cold
Silicon Valley has long been considered the white-hot destination for entrepreneurs. “The area is extremely start-up friendly,” says the University of Silicon Valley. The University of San Francisco’s Center for Research, Artistic and Scholarly Excellence tell us “Silicon Valley has a long history of creating and nurturing an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, startups, ...
Blog
Spending Watch
An Irresponsible FY2025-26 Budget All but Ensures Future Fiscal Crises
An Irresponsible FY2025-26 Budget All but Ensures Future Fiscal Crises Wayne Winegarden July 2025 Another fiscal year, another lost opportunity. In a June 2025 Spending Watch analysis, I lamented that Newsom was relying on gimmicks to close the current $12 billion budget deficit. The final budget the governor and legislative ...
Blog
Unions push $30 minimum wage for all Los Angeles workers
Under current policy, hotel and airport workers are already on their way to a $30 an hour wage floor ($38.85 if you add in a mandatory additional stipend for health coverage). Good for those who keep their jobs, but not for those who will lose them, or will never be hired ...
Blog
Despite fast-track promises, LA rebuilding is mired in red tape
More than 18,000 structures were burned in Los Angeles County in January. The greatest losses were in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena. While updating the recovery “progress” more than three months ago, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass vowed that she was “committed to rebuilding” this community at “lightning speed.” “I just ...
Blog
Read about California's growing crime problem
Violent Crime in California– The Newsom Years, 2019-2023
Newsom, in turn, called out the murder rates in each of the lawmakers’ home states, proclaiming that Alabama had “…3X the murder rate of California”, Oklahoma had a murder rate “…40 % higher than California’s” and Arkansas was “literally DOUBLE California’s”. In order for Newsom’s posts on X to be ...
Blog
Regulation bottlenecks impede state’s infrastructure grants
Regulation bottlenecks impede state’s infrastructure grants by Sarah Downey | June 26, 2025 Editor’s Note: While the Free Cities Center advocates for regulations that encourage market-rate construction rather than affordable-housing subsidies, it’s useful to look at the status of the myriad grant programs that the state government is offering—and the ...
Agriculture
Context matters when considering immigration enforcement
According to most recent data, 44 percent of farmworkers in the U.S. are undocumented. However, it is hard to know with certainty how accurate that percentage is with some estimates hovering around 50 percent and others as high as 75 percent. The U.S. National Agricultural Worker Survey (NAWS) breaks down ...
Blog
Slowing Consumption Poses an Additional Fiscal Threat to California
The California New Car Dealers Associationnotes that total new vehicle registrations in the state stagnated in 2024 and are expected to decline slightly in 2025. The California Chamber of Commerce reports that tourism, which generated over $12 billion in tax revenue from both international and domestic visitors in 2024, is ...
Blog
Newsom and the National Guard
Newsom’s office stated that the president’s order and the presence of the guard: “not only caused widespread panic and chaos, but have unnecessarily created an additional diversion of resources as the state tries to calm a community terrorized by this reckless federal action.” In fact, the “panic and chaos” was ...
Agriculture
Mental Health is Important for Food Security
Brian Brett is credited with writing, “Farming is a profession of hope.” It is one of my favorite reminders about the life I pursue. My bio notes I am a fourth-generation farmer in Eastern Washington who works in public policy advocating for farmers and ranchers. It is a balancing act ...
The Heart Of American Entrepreneurship Has Grown Cold
Silicon Valley has long been considered the white-hot destination for entrepreneurs. “The area is extremely start-up friendly,” says the University of Silicon Valley. The University of San Francisco’s Center for Research, Artistic and Scholarly Excellence tell us “Silicon Valley has a long history of creating and nurturing an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, startups, ...
Spending Watch
An Irresponsible FY2025-26 Budget All but Ensures Future Fiscal Crises
An Irresponsible FY2025-26 Budget All but Ensures Future Fiscal Crises Wayne Winegarden July 2025 Another fiscal year, another lost opportunity. In a June 2025 Spending Watch analysis, I lamented that Newsom was relying on gimmicks to close the current $12 billion budget deficit. The final budget the governor and legislative ...
Unions push $30 minimum wage for all Los Angeles workers
Under current policy, hotel and airport workers are already on their way to a $30 an hour wage floor ($38.85 if you add in a mandatory additional stipend for health coverage). Good for those who keep their jobs, but not for those who will lose them, or will never be hired ...
Despite fast-track promises, LA rebuilding is mired in red tape
More than 18,000 structures were burned in Los Angeles County in January. The greatest losses were in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena. While updating the recovery “progress” more than three months ago, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass vowed that she was “committed to rebuilding” this community at “lightning speed.” “I just ...
Read about California's growing crime problem
Violent Crime in California– The Newsom Years, 2019-2023
Newsom, in turn, called out the murder rates in each of the lawmakers’ home states, proclaiming that Alabama had “…3X the murder rate of California”, Oklahoma had a murder rate “…40 % higher than California’s” and Arkansas was “literally DOUBLE California’s”. In order for Newsom’s posts on X to be ...
Regulation bottlenecks impede state’s infrastructure grants
Regulation bottlenecks impede state’s infrastructure grants by Sarah Downey | June 26, 2025 Editor’s Note: While the Free Cities Center advocates for regulations that encourage market-rate construction rather than affordable-housing subsidies, it’s useful to look at the status of the myriad grant programs that the state government is offering—and the ...
Context matters when considering immigration enforcement
According to most recent data, 44 percent of farmworkers in the U.S. are undocumented. However, it is hard to know with certainty how accurate that percentage is with some estimates hovering around 50 percent and others as high as 75 percent. The U.S. National Agricultural Worker Survey (NAWS) breaks down ...
Slowing Consumption Poses an Additional Fiscal Threat to California
The California New Car Dealers Associationnotes that total new vehicle registrations in the state stagnated in 2024 and are expected to decline slightly in 2025. The California Chamber of Commerce reports that tourism, which generated over $12 billion in tax revenue from both international and domestic visitors in 2024, is ...
Newsom and the National Guard
Newsom’s office stated that the president’s order and the presence of the guard: “not only caused widespread panic and chaos, but have unnecessarily created an additional diversion of resources as the state tries to calm a community terrorized by this reckless federal action.” In fact, the “panic and chaos” was ...
Mental Health is Important for Food Security
Brian Brett is credited with writing, “Farming is a profession of hope.” It is one of my favorite reminders about the life I pursue. My bio notes I am a fourth-generation farmer in Eastern Washington who works in public policy advocating for farmers and ranchers. It is a balancing act ...
