California has no shortage of critical issues – pandemic, water, housing and chronic poverty to name a few. None, however, is more important to the state’s economic and societal future than shortcomings in its immense, 6 million-student public school system. California's Wide Learning Gaps Even before COVID-19 struck the...
Should State Provide Health Care to Everyone?
On paper, having one state agency as the exclusive purveyor of health care for 40 million Californians would seem to make sense, replacing dozens of federal, state and private systems and their often bewildering financial and managerial peculiarities. Centralized health care seems to work fairly well in other developed...
Once Again, California Auditor Finds High-Tech Failures
Elaine Howle retired the other day after more than two decades as the state’s auditor but left behind a few reports that cement her legacy as a fierce watchdog of inefficiency and malfeasance in state and local government. Capitol insiders are waiting for the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom...
California Can’t Isolate Itself, Try as It Might
The first Europeans to visit California were Spanish explorers who assumed it was an island and named it for a fictional island in a 16th century Spanish novel, occupied by a band of woman warriors led by a queen named Calafia. Later, of course, it was understood that California...
Legislature Faces Difficult Politics of Plenty
After a four-month sabbatical, state legislators returned to Sacramento Monday for a new session that will be dominated by several seemingly contradictory factors. On the negative side, California is once again dealing with a surge of COVID-19, this one caused by a particularly virulent variant called Omicron, that creates...
Redistricting Cements Democrats’ Control of California: Walters
Superficially, California’s politics seem poised for a big upheaval in this election year, but appearances can be deceiving. The illusion of major change comes from the redrawing of 172 congressional and legislative districts by the state’s independent redistricting commission to reflect population shifts revealed by the 2020 census. It's Mostly...
Water, Drought, and the Supply Chain Crisis
This holiday season, every family is paying close attention to a topic no one ever expected would be a debate around the dinner table: the supply chain crisis. But even as cargo ships line up at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach delaying the delivery of glass...
Reform Misguided Laws, Don’t Raise Minimum Wage, to Address California’s High Cost of Living
California isn’t yet finished hiking the minimum wage from the last bill that increased it to $15 an hour starting in 2023 for all businesses, and now comes another proposal to move it to $18. Imagine the response from companies struggling to keep up with current payrolls when they...
A Rare California Victory for Cutting Government Regulations
While criticizing California's blue state agenda from a limited-government perspective requires little effort, it can be a wearying exercise. So it's particularly refreshing when the legislature passes, and the governor signs, a bill that eases up on the bureaucracy. Even when the new law doesn’t do much. Because it creates...
The Sorry Saga of ‘Job Killer’ Maxwell’s Treatment of Club One
Based on the precedent Fresno City Councilman Tyler "Job Killer" Maxwell set with Club One Casino, cannabis businesses in District 4 should do extensive community outreach before opening their doors. They'll also have to operate initially in 60% of their planned space, thus cutting the number of products offered and...