Progressive Policy Agenda Could Benefit with Advanced Primary Election
While the focus on Sen. Ricardo Lara’s bill to move California’s presidential primary from June to an earlier date so as to increase the state’s influence in presidential contests, there is an overlooked aspect to the change that could also advance the progressive state issues cherished by the majority in the California legislature. While moving […]
Redevelopment: Pathway to a California Housing Renaissance?
On these pages I have consistently advocated for limited government interference when it comes to building the housing California desperately needs. After all, housing markets function best when left alone to the private sector and the proper signals are left free to be sent – to builders and to consumers. Rewards go to the developer […]
After Robots Take Over Our Jobs in California, Then What?
After robots take over our jobs, what is next? Guaranteed incomes? A public service job creation program? More conferences on “the future of work”? Today, not a week goes by without a new study being released or conference convened on robots replacing jobs or a newspaper account of a new use of robots taking the […]
CalPERS State Rate Doubles in Decade to $6 Billion
The annual cost of state worker pensions would increase to $6 billion in July in a recommendation from CalPERS actuaries, up $521 million from the current fiscal year and double the amount paid a decade ago. School districts would pay $2 billion next year for the pensions of non-teaching employees, up $342 million from the […]
Could a Dem v. Dem Governor’s Race Save Some Congressional Republicans?
Despite all the anti-Trump resistance in California that quickens the heartbeat of Democrats hoping to knock off a number of California’s congressional Republicans their survival hinges on turnout and just maybe could be influenced by California’s unique top two primary system. Just a theory here, but if the top-two primary delivers a Democrat vs Democrat […]
A Manageable Improvement to the State Initiative Process?
Californians have a love-hate relationship with the Initiative process. Recent surveys by PPIC show that two-thirds of voters are satisfied with the initiative process even though a majority think that special interests have too much control and an even larger majority think the wording of initiatives is “often too complicated and confusing.” Which begs the question: is […]
Bill Handicaps the Self-Driving Car Industry
Regulating something before it even exists is as tricky as it is ill-advised. But that’s exactly what California state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, wants to do with the nascent self-driving car industry. Skinner has introduced S.B. 802, legislation that would require any fully or almost fully autonomous vehicles to be certified as “zero emissions”—that is, […]
Rent Control Would Put Housing Out of Reach for More Californians
The most unaffordable city in the world in which to rent a home is not New York or Tokyo or Hong Kong. The title belongs to San Francisco, where a single person who wants to live on their own needs to earn more than $85,000 a year to pay the rent and a family more […]
Democrats See Opportunity in California
Despite being in office for less than 100 days, there is anecdotal evidence that the Trump Administration has fueled a surge in progressive enthusiasm across the country. The CA34 special election last Tuesday marked the first Congressional Special Election scheduled during the Trump Presidency. While Republicans make up 9.33% of that district’s registered voters, and […]