Publications

Business & Economics

State IT Plan Should Help Silicon Valley and Respect Taxpayers

Historically, California officials have struggled to manage effectively the state’s massive, decentralized $3 billion IT (information technology) network. In recent years, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has used the state’s IT Strategic Plan as a guiding document to streamline operations, improve efficiencies and accountability across dozens of state agencies. The motive is ...
California

Honest Talk About California’s Uninsured

Last month, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research released its California Health Insurance Survey, and the media promptly sounded the alarm. According to the March 16 Los Angeles Times, “nearly 1 in 4 Californians under age 65 had no health insurance last year.” With that kind of horror story, ...
Business & Economics

California’s State IT Overhaul Plan Lacks Critical Safeguards for Taxpayers and Transparency, Concludes New PRI Study

First 16 projects cost $471 million but deliver only $382 million in short-term financial benefits San Francisco – The California state government has taken important steps to improving the management of public information technology assets, but a new study from the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute concludes that tougher policy ...
California

California Disconnect

The California state government has taken important steps to improving the management of public information technology assets, but this study concludes that tougher policy reforms are needed to protect taxpayer dollars and personal privacy. California Disconnect, written by Vince Vasquez, senior policy analyst at the National University System Institute, and ...
Business & Economics

Taxifornia

California’s tax system, comparisons with other states, and the path to reform in the Golden State San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, found that California ranked dead last in a combined measure of the state’s tax burden and tax structure according to ...
Business & Economics

California Ranks Last in Combination Measure of Tax Burden and Tax Structure

Read the PDF study San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, found that California ranked dead last in a combined measure of the state’s tax burden and tax structure according to the newly released study, Taxifornia. It is the second study in the ...
Business & Economics

Court Routes Internet Around Government Regulations

A U.S. appeals court ruled last week that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not have the authority to interfere with the Internet’s operation via Net neutrality regulations. This is a big win for consumers, but the forces that want to control the Net have vowed to continue their quest. ...
Health Care

Repeal and Replace, But With What?

Key Points: Republicans in Congress appear to be solidly committed to repealing ObamaCare. Republicans’ last attempt at reforming health insurance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), did not solve the problems of portability and coverage for pre-existing conditions, the stated goals of the Act. The official ...
Business & Economics

Margaret, Cristina, and Hillary

It has been some time since I chatted with Baroness Margaret Thatcher, our speaker at PRI’s gala dinner in San Francisco more than a decade ago, though it seems like just the other day. Lady Thatcher, now well into her emeritus years, is doubtless shaking her head over recent events ...
Common Core

Fair to Middling: A National Standards Progress Report

This study provides a detailed comparison of the March draft standards being proposed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) and standards currently in place in states recognized to have high standards—California, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas. The report is authored by Stanford University Mathematician Dr. R. James Milgram ...
Business & Economics

State IT Plan Should Help Silicon Valley and Respect Taxpayers

Historically, California officials have struggled to manage effectively the state’s massive, decentralized $3 billion IT (information technology) network. In recent years, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has used the state’s IT Strategic Plan as a guiding document to streamline operations, improve efficiencies and accountability across dozens of state agencies. The motive is ...
California

Honest Talk About California’s Uninsured

Last month, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research released its California Health Insurance Survey, and the media promptly sounded the alarm. According to the March 16 Los Angeles Times, “nearly 1 in 4 Californians under age 65 had no health insurance last year.” With that kind of horror story, ...
Business & Economics

California’s State IT Overhaul Plan Lacks Critical Safeguards for Taxpayers and Transparency, Concludes New PRI Study

First 16 projects cost $471 million but deliver only $382 million in short-term financial benefits San Francisco – The California state government has taken important steps to improving the management of public information technology assets, but a new study from the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute concludes that tougher policy ...
California

California Disconnect

The California state government has taken important steps to improving the management of public information technology assets, but this study concludes that tougher policy reforms are needed to protect taxpayer dollars and personal privacy. California Disconnect, written by Vince Vasquez, senior policy analyst at the National University System Institute, and ...
Business & Economics

Taxifornia

California’s tax system, comparisons with other states, and the path to reform in the Golden State San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, found that California ranked dead last in a combined measure of the state’s tax burden and tax structure according to ...
Business & Economics

California Ranks Last in Combination Measure of Tax Burden and Tax Structure

Read the PDF study San Francisco—The Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, found that California ranked dead last in a combined measure of the state’s tax burden and tax structure according to the newly released study, Taxifornia. It is the second study in the ...
Business & Economics

Court Routes Internet Around Government Regulations

A U.S. appeals court ruled last week that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does not have the authority to interfere with the Internet’s operation via Net neutrality regulations. This is a big win for consumers, but the forces that want to control the Net have vowed to continue their quest. ...
Health Care

Repeal and Replace, But With What?

Key Points: Republicans in Congress appear to be solidly committed to repealing ObamaCare. Republicans’ last attempt at reforming health insurance, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), did not solve the problems of portability and coverage for pre-existing conditions, the stated goals of the Act. The official ...
Business & Economics

Margaret, Cristina, and Hillary

It has been some time since I chatted with Baroness Margaret Thatcher, our speaker at PRI’s gala dinner in San Francisco more than a decade ago, though it seems like just the other day. Lady Thatcher, now well into her emeritus years, is doubtless shaking her head over recent events ...
Common Core

Fair to Middling: A National Standards Progress Report

This study provides a detailed comparison of the March draft standards being proposed by the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) and standards currently in place in states recognized to have high standards—California, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Texas. The report is authored by Stanford University Mathematician Dr. R. James Milgram ...
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