Infrastructure
Blog
Governor’s May Revise: Everything Old is New Again
Gov. Gavin Newsom released his May Revise budget plan on Thursday – a dramatically different budget from his January plan that anticipated a $5.6 billion surplus. California now faces a $54.3 billion deficit. In a press conference that lasted more than an hour (brief for Newsom), I was reminded of ...
Blog
Sweeping Expansion of Workers Comp Benefits Could Hit Struggling CA Businesses Hard
There’s been a growing debate in California and nationally about extending workers’ compensation benefits for workers who are impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Some states are moving to make front line workers battling COVID-19 to be eligible for workers’ comp. Politico reports that “at least five smaller states have made ...
Blog
Can Taxpayers Afford a Big Spending Sacramento “Economic Recovery Plan”?
Speaker Pelosi and her allies in Congress received significant pollical pushback for using the COVID-19 crisis to enact their budget wish list in the $2 billion “phase 3” stimulus. Recently, Rowena Itchon wrote on Right by the Bay about tens of millions being spent on priorities for Democrats like propping ...
Agriculture
Earth Day in the Time of Coronavirus
In case anyone has forgotten (and many long have), April 22 is Earth Day. And while the coronavirus pandemic has put a chill on this year’s worldwide 50th jubilee celebration, it hasn’t caused its demise. If anything, progressive climate change advocates have attempted to leverage the pandemic to further spread ...
Blog
The Chinese Version of a Coronavirus Economic Stimulus Plan
The United States and China are engaged in a no-holds barred attempt to salvage their economies during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re all familiar with the actions taken in the recent weeks by the United States. The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury have led the largest economic response in American history ...
California
Coronavirus Shows State Push for Public Transit is Hazardous to our Health
On March 11, 2020, the Legislative Analyst’s Office published a handout, which included a passage on the climate benefits of mass transit over private vehicles. Within days, a spreading virus made the case that our cars are a more hygienic means of travel than public transportation, where humanity is crammed ...
California
Gov. Newsom would rather take gas-tax money for bike lanes than fix California’s roads
When Senate Bill 1 was passed and signed into law in 2017, Californians were told the tax hikes it authorized were good for them. The revenues were to be dedicated to repairing the state’s lousy roads. Yet there have been numerous accountability and transparency questions about the law, enough that ...
Commentary
Coronavirus shows why you don’t want price controls during a pandemic
The World Health Organization has declared the novel coronavirus a global pandemic, with more than 118,000 confirmed cases worldwide. As countries brace for the worst, people around the world are looking to the United States for a drug that can prevent or cure the disease. The world is right to put its ...
Commentary
Coronavirus is not a good argument for ‘Medicare for all’
The novel coronavirus has emerged as the latest justification for “Medicare for all.” This week, Sen. Bernie Sanders said, “When I talk about healthcare being a human right … the coronavirus crisis makes that abundantly clear as to why it should be.” And last week, left-wing wunderkind Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said ...
Commentary
Surprise billing: Not all fixes are created equal
Congress is still fighting about surprise medical bills. The House Ways and Means Committee and Energy and Commerce Committee are both trying to line up bipartisan support for their competing approaches. Neither committee’s approach is right. Congress must go back to the drawing board and come up with a fix ...
Governor’s May Revise: Everything Old is New Again
Gov. Gavin Newsom released his May Revise budget plan on Thursday – a dramatically different budget from his January plan that anticipated a $5.6 billion surplus. California now faces a $54.3 billion deficit. In a press conference that lasted more than an hour (brief for Newsom), I was reminded of ...
Sweeping Expansion of Workers Comp Benefits Could Hit Struggling CA Businesses Hard
There’s been a growing debate in California and nationally about extending workers’ compensation benefits for workers who are impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Some states are moving to make front line workers battling COVID-19 to be eligible for workers’ comp. Politico reports that “at least five smaller states have made ...
Can Taxpayers Afford a Big Spending Sacramento “Economic Recovery Plan”?
Speaker Pelosi and her allies in Congress received significant pollical pushback for using the COVID-19 crisis to enact their budget wish list in the $2 billion “phase 3” stimulus. Recently, Rowena Itchon wrote on Right by the Bay about tens of millions being spent on priorities for Democrats like propping ...
Earth Day in the Time of Coronavirus
In case anyone has forgotten (and many long have), April 22 is Earth Day. And while the coronavirus pandemic has put a chill on this year’s worldwide 50th jubilee celebration, it hasn’t caused its demise. If anything, progressive climate change advocates have attempted to leverage the pandemic to further spread ...
The Chinese Version of a Coronavirus Economic Stimulus Plan
The United States and China are engaged in a no-holds barred attempt to salvage their economies during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re all familiar with the actions taken in the recent weeks by the United States. The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury have led the largest economic response in American history ...
Coronavirus Shows State Push for Public Transit is Hazardous to our Health
On March 11, 2020, the Legislative Analyst’s Office published a handout, which included a passage on the climate benefits of mass transit over private vehicles. Within days, a spreading virus made the case that our cars are a more hygienic means of travel than public transportation, where humanity is crammed ...
Gov. Newsom would rather take gas-tax money for bike lanes than fix California’s roads
When Senate Bill 1 was passed and signed into law in 2017, Californians were told the tax hikes it authorized were good for them. The revenues were to be dedicated to repairing the state’s lousy roads. Yet there have been numerous accountability and transparency questions about the law, enough that ...
Coronavirus shows why you don’t want price controls during a pandemic
The World Health Organization has declared the novel coronavirus a global pandemic, with more than 118,000 confirmed cases worldwide. As countries brace for the worst, people around the world are looking to the United States for a drug that can prevent or cure the disease. The world is right to put its ...
Coronavirus is not a good argument for ‘Medicare for all’
The novel coronavirus has emerged as the latest justification for “Medicare for all.” This week, Sen. Bernie Sanders said, “When I talk about healthcare being a human right … the coronavirus crisis makes that abundantly clear as to why it should be.” And last week, left-wing wunderkind Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said ...
Surprise billing: Not all fixes are created equal
Congress is still fighting about surprise medical bills. The House Ways and Means Committee and Energy and Commerce Committee are both trying to line up bipartisan support for their competing approaches. Neither committee’s approach is right. Congress must go back to the drawing board and come up with a fix ...
