The 2015-16 Legislative Session is in the books but some high-profile commentators are questioning what appears to be a far leftward drift in the policy agenda of the liberal California Democrat Legislature that has forgotten about the state’s middle class and the need to grow our economy. The dust has not even settled on the end of session battles, and there is...

The ACLU has aimed its considerable legal firepower at charter schools. The reason? They aren’t enough like our failing traditional public schools. In a recent report, the ACLU condemns 253 California charter schools for what it sees as a violation of discrimination law, citing examples of charter schools requiring consistent attendance and, in some cases,...

As the son of poor sharecroppers from East Texas who came to California to work as migrant farm workers, I greet the new school year as a time of hope and possibility for my family. Neither of my parents was able to complete elementary school in the segregated South, but they knew education was the...

CEQA remains immune to reform By Editorial Staff, September 6, 2016, OCRegister The California Environmental Quality Act was adopted in 1970 to ensure that new developments would not cause unacceptable damage to the environment, but too often it has been used as a cudgel to prevent perfectly sound projects for reasons that have nothing to...

“Infrastructure” is a perennial topic that enters and leaves California’s public consciousness in the following manner: A politician says “we must rebuild our crumbling infrastructure,” journalists report it, almost nothing is done, and the infrastructure continues to crumble. The talking point is made. Check the box. Repeat. Decades pass. If you’ve driven west on Interstate...

UTLA and CTA’s anti-charter school obsession has reached epidemic proportions.  Just weeks after United Teachers of Los Angeles president Alex Caputo-Pearl threw his if-we-don’t get-our-way-we’re-going-to-create-a-state-crisis tantrum, the teachers union has hit the streets with a media campaign. Empowered by a massive dues increase, UTLA is spreading its venom via billboards, bus benches and the media....

In November, we will be asked to reject or approve “The California Children’s Education and Health Care Protection Act of 2016.” If approved by a majority of the voters, this ballot measure, Proposition 55, will extend to December 31, 2030 the “temporary” income tax surcharges on upper income Californians that were authorized in November of...

Editor’s Note: The following was mailed to the California Policy Center office. It address the issue of release time in Long Beach, and is particularly interesting because it is from a retired LAPD chief of police, Stephen Downing. “Good day, The attached will be published as a column in the Long Beach Beachcomber this Friday. I...

California Farmworker Overtime Changes Cheered By Union By Drew Bollea, August 29, 2016, CBS Sacramento Statewide rules regarding farmworkers’ overtime pay passed in the legislature on Monday. Assembly Bill 1066 reshapes the pay structure for farm laborers. While many farmworkers are celebrating a victory, others, including politicians, farmers, and farmworkers aren’t so sure.  “We’re asking for...