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Blog
Read the latest on California's post-wildfire response
Newsom Right to Waive CEQA for Wildfire Rebuilding, But Lawmakers Should Also Act
The broken clock that has been state government’s response to the Southern California wildfires was right once on Sunday when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order waving numerous environmental requirements that threatened to add unnecessary delay and expense to the rebuilding process. Under the Newsom executive order, California Environmental ...
Blog
Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires
Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires by Daniel M. Kolkey | January 15, 2025 Editor’s note: This article is adapted from the Pacific Research Institute’s 2021 book, “Saving California.” We’re reprinting this in the wake of the devastating Southern California wildfires, as its policy prescriptions provide a blueprint ...
Blog
An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester
An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester Horrific wildfires in Los Angeles have focused attention on California’s ongoing insurance troubles, but because of the state’s inaction its insurance industry is facing an “existential crisis,” as a recent New York Post headline put it. The Wall Street Journal quotes a ...
Blog
Will South Korea Survive?
READ THE PDF Will South Korea Survive? On December 27, the National Assembly, South Korea’s unicameral legislature, passed a motion impeaching Acting President Han Duck-soo, the first impeachment of an acting president in the history of the Republic of Korea. Now, nothing less than the continuation of democracy on the ...
Blog
Anti-crime wave crashes over crime-soaked California cities
Anti-crime wave crashes over crime-soaked California cities by John Seiler | January 10, 2025 Like the tide moving in and out along its magnificent coastline, California’s crime policies oscillate between harshness and laxity, never getting it quite right. The crack epidemic and increase in violent crime of the 1980s led ...
Blog
Restaurant Minimum Wage Hurting Businesses and the Workers Proponents Seek to Help
In August 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom took an erroneous victory lap celebrating his policy to raise the minimum wage for fast food workers. The law, AB 1228, effective in April, raised the minimum wage to $20 per hour for fast food workers. Citing preliminary federal data, Newsom claimed California gained ...
Blog
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Los Angeles’ rezoning plan is too little, too late
The Citywide Housing Incentive Program mainly eases regulations in high-density residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors. According to City News Service, “The ordinance is aimed at encouraging developers to build more affordable housing units in exchange for certain breaks on their projects, such as heights and parking regulations.” It provides further ...
Blog
Will Trump finally put nail in coffin of CA's high speed rail boondoggle?
Can California Find Other Uses For Bullet Train Infrastructure If The Project Is Canceled?
If the incoming administration doesn’t end the great train robbery, then Congress might. Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley of Rocklin plans to introduce legislation that eliminates federal funding “for the failed California High-Speed Rail project.” Vivek Ramaswamy, who with Elon Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency, called the California bullet ...
Blog
What can Californians expect from state lawmakers in 2025?
Here are 5 things to watch for as the Legislature Reconvenes
The Trump effect Fresh off a decisive re-election victory, President-elect Donald Trump is dominating U.S. politics. Surprisingly, he is also dominating California politics despite the fact that he is broadly unpopular in the state – though much less so than his first term as evidenced by his gaining nearly 5 ...
Blog
Prop 36 and Deterrence – Sometimes Incarceration is the Right Thing
California’s death toll to crime and drug overdoses is staggering. From 2014 to 2023, 19,396 Californians have been murdered and from 2014 to 2022, the last complete years of statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a total of 61,009 have died from fatal drug overdoses, mostly from ...
Read the latest on California's post-wildfire response
Newsom Right to Waive CEQA for Wildfire Rebuilding, But Lawmakers Should Also Act
The broken clock that has been state government’s response to the Southern California wildfires was right once on Sunday when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order waving numerous environmental requirements that threatened to add unnecessary delay and expense to the rebuilding process. Under the Newsom executive order, California Environmental ...
Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires
Time to pursue emergency reforms to battle wildfires by Daniel M. Kolkey | January 15, 2025 Editor’s note: This article is adapted from the Pacific Research Institute’s 2021 book, “Saving California.” We’re reprinting this in the wake of the devastating Southern California wildfires, as its policy prescriptions provide a blueprint ...
An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester
An insurance emergency after officials let crisis fester Horrific wildfires in Los Angeles have focused attention on California’s ongoing insurance troubles, but because of the state’s inaction its insurance industry is facing an “existential crisis,” as a recent New York Post headline put it. The Wall Street Journal quotes a ...
Will South Korea Survive?
READ THE PDF Will South Korea Survive? On December 27, the National Assembly, South Korea’s unicameral legislature, passed a motion impeaching Acting President Han Duck-soo, the first impeachment of an acting president in the history of the Republic of Korea. Now, nothing less than the continuation of democracy on the ...
Anti-crime wave crashes over crime-soaked California cities
Anti-crime wave crashes over crime-soaked California cities by John Seiler | January 10, 2025 Like the tide moving in and out along its magnificent coastline, California’s crime policies oscillate between harshness and laxity, never getting it quite right. The crack epidemic and increase in violent crime of the 1980s led ...
Restaurant Minimum Wage Hurting Businesses and the Workers Proponents Seek to Help
In August 2024, Gov. Gavin Newsom took an erroneous victory lap celebrating his policy to raise the minimum wage for fast food workers. The law, AB 1228, effective in April, raised the minimum wage to $20 per hour for fast food workers. Citing preliminary federal data, Newsom claimed California gained ...
Read the latest from PRI's Free Cities Center
Los Angeles’ rezoning plan is too little, too late
The Citywide Housing Incentive Program mainly eases regulations in high-density residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors. According to City News Service, “The ordinance is aimed at encouraging developers to build more affordable housing units in exchange for certain breaks on their projects, such as heights and parking regulations.” It provides further ...
Will Trump finally put nail in coffin of CA's high speed rail boondoggle?
Can California Find Other Uses For Bullet Train Infrastructure If The Project Is Canceled?
If the incoming administration doesn’t end the great train robbery, then Congress might. Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley of Rocklin plans to introduce legislation that eliminates federal funding “for the failed California High-Speed Rail project.” Vivek Ramaswamy, who with Elon Musk is leading the Department of Government Efficiency, called the California bullet ...
What can Californians expect from state lawmakers in 2025?
Here are 5 things to watch for as the Legislature Reconvenes
The Trump effect Fresh off a decisive re-election victory, President-elect Donald Trump is dominating U.S. politics. Surprisingly, he is also dominating California politics despite the fact that he is broadly unpopular in the state – though much less so than his first term as evidenced by his gaining nearly 5 ...
Prop 36 and Deterrence – Sometimes Incarceration is the Right Thing
California’s death toll to crime and drug overdoses is staggering. From 2014 to 2023, 19,396 Californians have been murdered and from 2014 to 2022, the last complete years of statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a total of 61,009 have died from fatal drug overdoses, mostly from ...
