New PPIC Poll on Propositions: One Anticipated Outcome, One Surprise
The Public Policy Institute of California’s September poll measured the current standing of two ballot measures: Proposition 15, the property tax increase on commercial property, and Proposition 16 to rescind the ban on affirmative action. As expected, the Prop 15 battle is going to be close with a slim majority in favor at the present […]
California Cheats Charter School Students of Funding Again
The 2020-21 state budget signed back in June by Governor Newsom glaringly failed to fund growing regular public schools and public charter schools. A purported “fix” to this problem, pushed by the governor and Democrat legislators, turns out to be just more Sacramento smoke and mirrors. The budget for the new fiscal year froze funding […]
The Santa Barbara Summer Camp of my Dreams
Have any strange dreams during this crazy California summer? Me too. Mine compressed time and space. In dreamland, I toggled between the smoky claustrophobia of summer 2020 and childhood memories of the Santa Barbara-area baseball camp I attended in the 1980s. What took me back to Ken McMullen Baseball Camp in Carpinteria? Maybe it was […]
Most ‘job killer’ bills bite the dust again
As COVID-19 slammed into California a half-year ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a partial shutdown of what had been a high-flying economy to combat the deadly virus, plunging the state into its worst recession since the Great Depression. In turn, the pandemic and the recession spawned a flurry of legislative bills aimed, their sponsors said, […]
Connecting Justice Reform Demands with State Ballot Measures
How might proposed justice and police reforms work with changes voters can make on sentencing, parole and cash bail measures on the November ballot? And will voters perceive any connections? Californians who have witnessed months of social agitation for justice and police reform, including calls to defund the police, are being asked to make critical […]
Did Newsom Never See the Bridge on the River Kwai?
I understand and respect Governor Newsom’s decision to hold his tongue and build a relationship with the federal government in the midst of a pandemic and historic wildfires. But that doesn’t mean he has to pay obeisance to President Trump in public. Unfortunately, that’s what the governor did when Trump visited the Sacramento area. Newsom […]
Two Decades of Interstate Migration
America is still a mobile nation. Back in the 2000-2010 decade, 12.9 million people moved interstate, nearly five percent of the total population. In the 2010s the population has been a bit less mobile, with net domestic migration of 11.7 million residents, slightly under four percent. Nonetheless, 11.7 million is a large number. This is […]
If the Texas Economic Miracle Can’t Figure Out Renewables – Neither Can California
Any electrical grid relying on renewables (mainly wind turbines and solar panels) electricity prices can rise as much as 40,000% in Texas, and blackouts are inevitable. From New York to Great Britain – and now California – blackouts happen over heavy renewable usage. California’s conundrum is hardly prescient nor is Texas a fossil fuel powerhouse […]
‘We Hope They Die’…The Demise of Common Decency
I was deeply saddened and disturbed to learn about the protestors that stood outside of St. Francis Hospital in Lynwood chanting ‘we hope they die’ while two of our brave Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies lay wounded following an unprovoked ambush-style shooting in Compton. What is happening in our community today where our first responders, […]
Put the Legislature in an NBA-Style Bubble
The Capitol and the blocks around it often feel like a bubble, especially for those of us who visit from that faraway place called the Rest of California. Now it’s time to make it a real bubble, so the legislature can do its work. The California legislature finished its session without doing essential business on […]