Glazer Bill Would Begin to Move State Away from Pension Disaster
California was once defined by its natural beauty and milestones of human achievement. Today it’s known more for intractable problems, such as the public employee pension crisis. State and local governments have racked up nearly $1 trillion in pension debt. But because government employers have contributed only about 70 percent of what they are required to feed […]
Cities Aren’t Meeting Housing Goals, But New State Law Won’t Help Much
Hundreds of cities and counties across the state are going to have to make it easier to build new homes, says one state agency, if the housing supply is to keep up with demand. But it will never happen if politics continue to interfere. The Department of Housing and Community Development’s statewide determination summary found […]
Would An All-Electric Car Future Really Benefit Californians?
Sacramento is threatening to outlaw a freedom Californians have enjoyed for more than a century through a bill introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting, of San Francisco. If it’s passed and signed, new gasoline-powered cars will become the state’s new undocumented immigrants. Government will refuse to register them. Should it become law, Assembly Bill 1745 […]
While California Put on ‘Road Diet,’ Drivers Still Stuck in Traffic Gridlock
Quick, name the place where drivers suffer through maybe the worst traffic on Earth while policymakers are committed to making it altogether intolerable. Yes, of course it’s California. Earlier this year, Inrix, a transportation analytics firm, ranked Los Angeles as the city with the worst traffic in the world, as measured by annual “peak hours […]
Skimming Hurts California’s Most Vulnerable
Skimming is not a union practice that went out when the closing credits for “On The Waterfront” first rolled in 1954. It’s still alive today. And it’s hurting some of California’s most vulnerable residents, while at the same time stuffing the treasury of politically powerful unions and financially exploiting those who care for the sick, […]
Unmistakable Signs That California Lawmakers Have (Yet Again) Gone Too Far
A Mercury News headline earlier this year declared that “Amid ‘Resistance,’ activists try to push California Democratic Party to the left.” But looking back now that the bill signing period is complete, it’s clear that Sacramento Democrats don’t need to be pushed left. They’re headed that way just fine on their own. “From all appearances,” […]
Finally, Some Honesty from State Leaders on High-Speed Rail
Jerry Brown wants to burnish his legacy with a high-speed rail line that would whip passengers up and down the state. But he’s more likely to be remembered as the governor who couldn’t make his fabulously over-cost train run on time. Brown’s dream train, according to the self-described “father” of the project, is no longer […]
End-of-Session Housing Push Won’t Make Dent in State’s Housing Problem
Lawmakers haven’t yet voted on legislation they say addresses the state’s housing crisis, but it’s just as well. The proposals they were trying to pass off as solutions aren’t solutions at all. One bill that’s key to the rest of the legislative package would add to real estate costs, while other bills would stack up […]
Congress Takes an Important Step to Prevent Future Droughts
Thanks to a stormy winter, California’s long drought is over, says state government. But California’s man-made drought will continue as long as Sacramento misallocates our water supply. Maybe it’s time to appeal to a higher but distant authority. When Gov. Jerry Brown declared in April that the six-year “drought emergency is over,” he didn’t seem […]
Is Cap-and-Trade Really a Free Market Solution to Climate Change?
The mood was reportedly celebratory on the evening of July 17 after legislators approved a decade-long extension of the state’s carbon dioxide cap-and-trade program. But that’s not to say everyone was happy, or should be. Assembly Bill 398 will continue the current cap-and-trade system through 2030. It places a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and […]