Leave California’s Monuments Alone
Before he left office in January, President Barack Obama designated numerous national monuments across the country. Under the authority originally granted to President Theodore Roosevelt by the Antiquities Act more than a century ago, sitting presidents may unilaterally designate federal lands as monuments – preserving them from activities such as development or mining. After President […]
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 […]
Harvey: Will They Really “Do It Right?”
During his first, brief Texas trip to give assurance that the federal government was ready to offer whatever assistance was needed in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and its floods, President Donald Trump expressed confidence that the crisis would be met. He predicted that five or ten years from now people will say that what […]
California Legislation Threatens to Increase Prescription Drug Prices
In the current debate over health care, employers, unions and government programs all agree on the need to provide prescription drug coverage at lower costs while increasing the quality and clinical value of pharmacy benefits. However, the California Legislature is considering Assembly Bill (AB) 315 that could lead to higher drug prices for the state’s […]
Voters want housing shortage addressed
California voters are anxious about housing affordability and skeptical of laws that would increase housing costs and worker commutes. During the next two weeks, Governor Brown and the Legislature will attempt to address some of those anxieties – considering tax increases or new state debt to subsidize affordable housing. They will also debate limited incentives […]
The Door Opens for Tax Increases
The California Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that tax limitations imposed by Proposition 218 in 1996 don’t cover taxes enacted by ballot initiatives. Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar wrote in the majority opinion that unlike Ulysses, who in Homer’s “Odyssey” tied himself to the mast to avoid the Sirens’ tempting song, voters did not tie themselves down when it comes […]
Damage Delayed with Legislative Bills
Sometimes, California’s laws are like a guillotine on a timer. By the time the blade drops, everybody who set it up has made a safe getaway. To illustrate, consider four different laws that did their damage long after the perpetrators moved on, and a brand new one that’s likely to raise rents and perhaps tax […]
In California, Pro Football Is for Losers
No one can know for sure whether any of California’s four National Football League teams—the 49ers, Raiders, Rams, and Chargers—will emerge as big winners in the new season. But we already know who the losers will be: California cities foolish enough to host NFL teams. In the rest of America, major cities try to attract […]
California unions on a political roll, but see threats on horizon
California’s labor unions should be celebrating on this Labor Day because they’ve been on a political roll. Overall union membership in California, 2.6 million, is by far the most of any state, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, and at 15.9 percent of the state’s workers, is one of the nation’s highest. Over half of […]