“Top Two” Takes California
Despite the grumbling of pundits and partisans, California’s top-two primary is almost certainly here to stay. The voters like it and the system fits the realities of this state’s politics. California no longer has a functioning two-party system and that is not going to change anytime soon. The presidency of Donald Trump has served to […]
The Consequences of Bad Housing Laws
If you think being a rental housing owner in California is frustrating and nerve-rattling, read what is being said about property owners in Seattle: My landlord is a dying breed. He’s a middle-class guy who owns and rents out the tiny house we live in, built in the 1950s on the other side of the […]
Pensions and Retiree Health Care Costs Contribute to LA Unified’s Fiscal Woes
Today, Reason Foundation released a study of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) finances. We find that the nation’s second-largest school district faces insolvency largely because its steep legacy costs are being spread across a shrinking student population. With state funding dependent on average daily attendance at LAUSD schools, the district’s revenue falls as students leave the […]
Two Victims of a Blood Sport: Politics
Josh Newman, a Democratic state senator from Fullerton, was in a bitter mood when he rose on the Senate floor last week—for good reason. Six days earlier, voters in his district had decided overwhelmingly to recall him after just 18 months in office, persuaded by a tsunami of Republican allegations that he had betrayed them by […]