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Who are winners and losers of 2023 legislative session?

Progressives Dominate Legislative Session, But Will Newsom Spoil the Party?

Late Thursday evening, the Legislature wrapped up its business for the 2023 legislative session.  As bleary-eyed lawmakers travel home today for the fall recess, what is the biggest story of this year’s legislative session? This year’s legislative session will go down as perhaps the most successful legislative session ever for ...
Blog

City planners ignore the importance of ‘human capital’

City planners ignore the importance of ‘human capital’ by Kerry Jackson  |  September 14, 2023 Depending on who’s talking and who’s listening, the United States has a number of cities that are failing, caught in a doom loop of self-destruction. San Francisco is today’s favorite target. A succession of stumbling ...
Blog

Free Market Reforms Can Alleviate the Housing Crisis

Cities: Let developers turn zombie malls into bustling housing

For commercial property owners and businesses, it can be a smart way to make better and more optimal use of antiquated properties. And for city leaders, it can be a way of revitalizing neighborhoods while bringing much needed housing online with less NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) backlash than normal. ...
Blog

Read about latest green mandate failure

Failure of Electric Bus Maker Latest Sign of Trouble in Path to State’s All-EV Future

The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round but it’s not a smooth ride when the powerplant is a battery. Proterra, the Burlingame, California, company that makes electric buses as well as large trucks, vans and components for other manufacturers, has filed for bankruptcy. Just as Barack Obama hyped ...
Blog

CAPITAL IDEAS: Here’s Not How to End the Hollywood Strikes: Granting Unemployment to Strikers

With Hollywood’s strikes in the headlines daily and no end in sight, California Democrats are proposing legislation that would allow striking workers to draw unemployment benefits. If enacted, the bill would be a transparent gift to the unions that control California politics. To be eligible for unemployment compensation under current ...
Blog

Private city east of Bay Area could be a game-changer

Private city east of Bay Area could be a game-changer By Steven Greenhut | September 9, 2023 In one of the most-fascinating real-estate stories in American history, a secretive group of buyers purchased 30,000 acres of mostly swampland in central Florida in the 1960s. Hemmed in by urbanization at his ...
Blog

How will scandal impact reforms?

Aftermath of a scandal: Anaheim council spars over reforms

The recent reform effort, led by Mayor Ashleigh Aitken, comes at a wild time at City Hall. Aitken’s predecessor, Harry Sidhu, recently agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. The findings of an explosive independent investigation were recently published and support much of what the federal authorities alleged last ...
Blog

Read about latest job killer bill

Lawmakers Push Yet Another Drain on California Employers Stretched to the Breaking Point

If California policymakers set out to punish and in some cases eventually destroy small businesses, they would add to employers’ already heavy burden by nearly doubling the number of paid sick days they have to provide. Which is exactly what they are doing. Senate Bill 616, passed on Sept. 1 ...
Blog

Read End of Session Preview

Three Bills to Watch in Final Two Weeks of Legislative Session

While new speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) probably lines up along the same lines ideologically as his predecessor Speaker Emeritus Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), their styles could not be more different. As San Francisco Chronicle columnist Emily Hoeven recently put it, “Rendon had given his appointed committee chairs outsized authority, allowing them ...
Blog

Mandates jamming big-city hospitals beyond capacity

Mandates jamming big-city hospitals beyond capacity by John Seiler  |  September 2, 2023 IN FEBRUARY 2010 SHARP PAINS STRUCK MY GUT around 8 a.m. I drove from my apartment in Huntington Beach to Newport Beach and Hoag Hospital, one of the country’s best, parked and struggled into the emergency room. ...
Blog

Who are winners and losers of 2023 legislative session?

Progressives Dominate Legislative Session, But Will Newsom Spoil the Party?

Late Thursday evening, the Legislature wrapped up its business for the 2023 legislative session.  As bleary-eyed lawmakers travel home today for the fall recess, what is the biggest story of this year’s legislative session? This year’s legislative session will go down as perhaps the most successful legislative session ever for ...
Blog

City planners ignore the importance of ‘human capital’

City planners ignore the importance of ‘human capital’ by Kerry Jackson  |  September 14, 2023 Depending on who’s talking and who’s listening, the United States has a number of cities that are failing, caught in a doom loop of self-destruction. San Francisco is today’s favorite target. A succession of stumbling ...
Blog

Free Market Reforms Can Alleviate the Housing Crisis

Cities: Let developers turn zombie malls into bustling housing

For commercial property owners and businesses, it can be a smart way to make better and more optimal use of antiquated properties. And for city leaders, it can be a way of revitalizing neighborhoods while bringing much needed housing online with less NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) backlash than normal. ...
Blog

Read about latest green mandate failure

Failure of Electric Bus Maker Latest Sign of Trouble in Path to State’s All-EV Future

The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round but it’s not a smooth ride when the powerplant is a battery. Proterra, the Burlingame, California, company that makes electric buses as well as large trucks, vans and components for other manufacturers, has filed for bankruptcy. Just as Barack Obama hyped ...
Blog

CAPITAL IDEAS: Here’s Not How to End the Hollywood Strikes: Granting Unemployment to Strikers

With Hollywood’s strikes in the headlines daily and no end in sight, California Democrats are proposing legislation that would allow striking workers to draw unemployment benefits. If enacted, the bill would be a transparent gift to the unions that control California politics. To be eligible for unemployment compensation under current ...
Blog

Private city east of Bay Area could be a game-changer

Private city east of Bay Area could be a game-changer By Steven Greenhut | September 9, 2023 In one of the most-fascinating real-estate stories in American history, a secretive group of buyers purchased 30,000 acres of mostly swampland in central Florida in the 1960s. Hemmed in by urbanization at his ...
Blog

How will scandal impact reforms?

Aftermath of a scandal: Anaheim council spars over reforms

The recent reform effort, led by Mayor Ashleigh Aitken, comes at a wild time at City Hall. Aitken’s predecessor, Harry Sidhu, recently agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges. The findings of an explosive independent investigation were recently published and support much of what the federal authorities alleged last ...
Blog

Read about latest job killer bill

Lawmakers Push Yet Another Drain on California Employers Stretched to the Breaking Point

If California policymakers set out to punish and in some cases eventually destroy small businesses, they would add to employers’ already heavy burden by nearly doubling the number of paid sick days they have to provide. Which is exactly what they are doing. Senate Bill 616, passed on Sept. 1 ...
Blog

Read End of Session Preview

Three Bills to Watch in Final Two Weeks of Legislative Session

While new speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) probably lines up along the same lines ideologically as his predecessor Speaker Emeritus Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood), their styles could not be more different. As San Francisco Chronicle columnist Emily Hoeven recently put it, “Rendon had given his appointed committee chairs outsized authority, allowing them ...
Blog

Mandates jamming big-city hospitals beyond capacity

Mandates jamming big-city hospitals beyond capacity by John Seiler  |  September 2, 2023 IN FEBRUARY 2010 SHARP PAINS STRUCK MY GUT around 8 a.m. I drove from my apartment in Huntington Beach to Newport Beach and Hoag Hospital, one of the country’s best, parked and struggled into the emergency room. ...
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