Orlando and Donald Trump
As Donald Trump raises his right hand to assume the presidency next January 20, one word will explain how it all happened: Orlando. What occurred early in the morning of June 12 in this usually quiet central Florida city – the greatest mass killing in American history – is going to reverberate through our presidential politics […]
Who will run the Coastal Commission?
Why bother having public-facing commissions if they can’t deal with the public? A century-old hallmark of the Progressive Era, quasi-independent boards and commissions wield broad executive powers implementing and enforcing laws, permitting business operations and land development, and punishing wrongdoers within their jurisdictions. Some of the most powerful in California are the Public Utilities Commission, […]
Coming Together After Orlando
We live our lives day by day, but we are defined by those moments which we carry with us forever. Whether a wedding, the birth of a child or an historic event, we remember the fluid details and panorama of experiences that we lose in an average Tuesday as soon as its over. I can remember exactly […]
Proposition 65 at 30—Time for a Different Approach
This year is the 30th anniversary of California’s chemical warning law, Proposition 65. To mark the occasion, I published an article in the Journal of Business & Technology Law outlining the law’s biggest flaws—the lack of adequate information provided to consumers through Proposition 65 warnings and the abuse of the law by bounty hunters. My article offers alternative approaches to […]
Raising Property Taxes for Parks Raises Questions about Spending
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors would like voters to approve higher property taxes to pay for parks. It’s the latest tax hike proposal to loom over the county of Los Angeles, joining a government wish-list that includes a half-cent increase in the sales tax for transit and an extra half-percent income tax on millionaires […]