Studies
Health Care
From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates
PRI released a new paper today, which examines one critical area where states interfere in residents’ ability to buy health insurance of their choosing. According to From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance, benefit mandates increase health insurance premiums, reduce wages, increase ...
John R. Graham
July 1, 2008
Business & Economics
Letter to Senators Feinstein and Boxer regarding (S. Amdt. 4983) amendment to H.R. 3221
The Honorable Diane Feinstein United States Senate 331 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Barbara Boxer United States Senate 112 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senators Feinstein and Boxer: As the Senate prepares to vote on the current housing legislation, I would like to ...
Daniel R. Ballon
June 27, 2008
Health Care
Medicare Means Testing: Test the Deductible, Not the Premium
The looming insolvency of Medicare is disappointingly absent from the list of policy issues on the carte du jour for the November general election. Fortunately, the current Administration recognizes the clear and present danger of Medicare insolvency. “Time is running out. Medicare is drifting toward disaster,”1 said U.S. Secretary of ...
John R. Graham
June 24, 2008
Education
How California Can Graduate More Students: The Arizona Example
On June 5, Education Week released Diplomas Count 2008: School to College. The report finds that three in 10 students who enroll in California public high schools fail to graduate. The statistics mask a more dismal reality, but there is a way the Golden State can improve. The results of ...
Ian Randolph
June 18, 2008
Business & Economics
Bye Bye Nerdy! Congress Slams the Door on California’s Scientists and Engineers
On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee will consider a proposal by Silicon Valley Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren to end restrictions on the most critical resource driving technological innovation. This resource is human talent, and with the greatest public university system in the world, California should be fertile ground. Due to arbitrary ...
Daniel R. Ballon
June 11, 2008
Education
The “Title Nining” of Academic Science
Whatever people prefer to call it, Title IX is a quota system that has caused plenty of damage in college sports, primarily by slashing men’s programs in the name of “proportionality.” As Christina Hoff Summers recently noted in The American, the gender warriors are now using Title IX to colonize ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 3, 2008
Education
English Immersion or Law Evasion?
On June 2, 1998, Californians overwhelmingly passed Proposition 227, which significantly limited bilingual education for students not fluent in English in favor of structured English immersion (SEI). Bilingual education emphasizes the use of the native language of English-language-learner (EL) students for instruction in core subjects, while SEI requires teachers to ...
Lance T. izumi
June 2, 2008
California
10 Years After Prop. 227: Bilingual Education Still Hanging On
SACRAMENTO – On June 2, California celebrates the 10th anniversary of Proposition 227, the “English for the Children” initiative many believed would end bilingual education in the state’s classrooms. While 227 has resulted in numerous positive changes, guerrilla warfare by bilingual-education adherents has ensured that bilingual education continues to be ...
Lance T. izumi
June 2, 2008
Business & Economics
Burdening Foundations: Economic Costs of Assembly Bill 624
As California goes, so goes the nation. California is now leading the quest to impose new racial and gender reporting requirements on foundations as well as the charities that receive grants from them and the businesses that work with them. Such legislation will have national consequences as the framework is ...
Lawrence J. McQuillan
June 1, 2008
Business & Economics
Ending the Revenue Rollercoaster – The Benefits of a Three Percent Flat Income Tax for California
The PRI flat-tax plan for California will greatly simplify the current tax code. It will completely eliminate the alternative minimum tax, as well as estate, inheritance, and gift taxes. It will also revamp the convoluted, loophole-ridden corporate and personal income-tax codes with a simple flat rate of 3 percent on ...
Robert P. Murphy
May 13, 2008
From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates
PRI released a new paper today, which examines one critical area where states interfere in residents’ ability to buy health insurance of their choosing. According to From Heart Transplants to Hairpieces: The Questionable Benefits of State Benefit Mandates for Health Insurance, benefit mandates increase health insurance premiums, reduce wages, increase ...
Letter to Senators Feinstein and Boxer regarding (S. Amdt. 4983) amendment to H.R. 3221
The Honorable Diane Feinstein United States Senate 331 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 The Honorable Barbara Boxer United States Senate 112 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Dear Senators Feinstein and Boxer: As the Senate prepares to vote on the current housing legislation, I would like to ...
Medicare Means Testing: Test the Deductible, Not the Premium
The looming insolvency of Medicare is disappointingly absent from the list of policy issues on the carte du jour for the November general election. Fortunately, the current Administration recognizes the clear and present danger of Medicare insolvency. “Time is running out. Medicare is drifting toward disaster,”1 said U.S. Secretary of ...
How California Can Graduate More Students: The Arizona Example
On June 5, Education Week released Diplomas Count 2008: School to College. The report finds that three in 10 students who enroll in California public high schools fail to graduate. The statistics mask a more dismal reality, but there is a way the Golden State can improve. The results of ...
Bye Bye Nerdy! Congress Slams the Door on California’s Scientists and Engineers
On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee will consider a proposal by Silicon Valley Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren to end restrictions on the most critical resource driving technological innovation. This resource is human talent, and with the greatest public university system in the world, California should be fertile ground. Due to arbitrary ...
The “Title Nining” of Academic Science
Whatever people prefer to call it, Title IX is a quota system that has caused plenty of damage in college sports, primarily by slashing men’s programs in the name of “proportionality.” As Christina Hoff Summers recently noted in The American, the gender warriors are now using Title IX to colonize ...
English Immersion or Law Evasion?
On June 2, 1998, Californians overwhelmingly passed Proposition 227, which significantly limited bilingual education for students not fluent in English in favor of structured English immersion (SEI). Bilingual education emphasizes the use of the native language of English-language-learner (EL) students for instruction in core subjects, while SEI requires teachers to ...
10 Years After Prop. 227: Bilingual Education Still Hanging On
SACRAMENTO – On June 2, California celebrates the 10th anniversary of Proposition 227, the “English for the Children” initiative many believed would end bilingual education in the state’s classrooms. While 227 has resulted in numerous positive changes, guerrilla warfare by bilingual-education adherents has ensured that bilingual education continues to be ...
Burdening Foundations: Economic Costs of Assembly Bill 624
As California goes, so goes the nation. California is now leading the quest to impose new racial and gender reporting requirements on foundations as well as the charities that receive grants from them and the businesses that work with them. Such legislation will have national consequences as the framework is ...
Ending the Revenue Rollercoaster – The Benefits of a Three Percent Flat Income Tax for California
The PRI flat-tax plan for California will greatly simplify the current tax code. It will completely eliminate the alternative minimum tax, as well as estate, inheritance, and gift taxes. It will also revamp the convoluted, loophole-ridden corporate and personal income-tax codes with a simple flat rate of 3 percent on ...