Lawsuit: University of California Systematically Discriminates Against Asian American Applicants
Lawsuit: University of California Systematically Discriminates Against Asian American Applicants
Were you or your child denied admission into medical school on the basis of race or ethnicity within the last 5 years? Click here to document your experience. In 1996, California voters approved Proposition 209, a state constitutional amendment that banned preferential treatment based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in state hiring, contracting,...
By Thomas Buckley
Los Angeles City Controller Warns of Dire Budget Concerns
Los Angeles City Controller Warns of Dire Budget Concerns
Elected Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia has issued a dire warning about the city’s finances. It’s not the first time he’s been direct in the two years since he has assumed the office. He is no stranger to addressing transparency concerns, especially on the hot topic of auditing homelessness expenditures. And he’s unafraid to...
By John Moorlach
Desalination at Scale is Cost Competitive
Desalination at Scale is Cost Competitive
On May 22, 2022, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to deny final approval for a desalination plant in Huntington Beach. It would have produced 56,000 acre feet of fresh water per year, and would have been privately financed. To describe in detail the 20 year and roughly $100 million ordeal that federal, state, regional,...
By Edward Ring
Why was a brilliant kid rejected by the University of California?
Why was a brilliant kid rejected by the University of California?
Were you or your child denied admission into medical school on the basis of race or ethnicity within the last 5 years? Click here to document your experience. Despite a 4.2 high school grade-point average, near-perfect SATs, and the fact that he founded a software company while still a high school sophomore, Stanley Zhong was rejected...
By Thomas Buckley
Can Republicans Undo the Damage of Julie Su?
Can Republicans Undo the Damage of Julie Su?
Biden’s wannabe labor secretary brought one of California’s worst workforce ideas to the entire country. There’s much harrumphing in the media about President Donald Trump’s penchant for norm-busting, but he’s hardly the first to engage in it. Under President Joe Biden, the media generally cheered student loan forgiveness, talk of packing or ignoring the Supreme Court,...
By Will Swaim
Comprehensive Energy Policy Recommendations Released
Comprehensive Energy Policy Recommendations Released
In May 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom released a report, “California’s Clean Energy Transition Plan,” which provides an updated overview of the state’s official energy policy agenda. The document sets many ambitious goals, perhaps too ambitious, and its summary presents ambiguous tables that can mislead readers. In particular, on page 7 there is a table “Total...
By Edward Ring
Defense of Freedom Institute, California Justice Center File Federal Civil Rights Complaint Against California Department of Education and Multiple School Districts for Title IX Violations
Defense of Freedom Institute, California Justice Center File Federal Civil Rights Complaint Against California Department of Education and Multiple School Districts for Title IX Violations
WASHINGTON— The Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies (DFI) and the California Justice Center (CJC) have jointly filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against the California Department of Education (CDE), Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), and...
By California Policy Center
The Easy Impossible Paths to Water Abundance
The Easy Impossible Paths to Water Abundance
Coming up with a plan to find sufficient water to maintain 100 percent of existing irrigated farm acreage in the San Joaquin Valley the next time a multi-year drought strikes is not impossible. We can pipe water from Lake Roosevelt in Washington all the way down to Lake Mead in Nevada. From there, modest expansion...
By Edward Ring
California Mayors Need to Take Strong Fiscal Action Quickly
California Mayors Need to Take Strong Fiscal Action Quickly
California’s major cities, especially the seat of its major counties, are falling apart at the seams. The city and county of San Francisco announced that its newly elected mayor is facing an $840 million budget deficit over the next two years. San Diego’s Mayor is stressing over a $250 million budget deficit. And the controller...
By John Moorlach
Rehydrating the Los Angeles Heat Island
Rehydrating the Los Angeles Heat Island
Along with the fairly recent popularization of terms such as atmospheric river and bomb cyclone, we increasingly hear the term “vapor pressure deficit” (VPD). At any given temperature, the term refers to how much moisture is in the air compared to how much moisture could be in the air. The higher the deficit, the dryer...
By Edward Ring
Register now for CPC Parent Union’s fourth annual Parents, Not Partisans Summit
Register now for CPC Parent Union’s fourth annual Parents, Not Partisans Summit
Don’t miss California Policy Center fourth annual “Parents, Not Partisans” Summit — California at the Crossroads of Education — March 18-19, 2025 in Sacramento! This transformative two-day event brings together parent group leaders, education reform advocates, and school board members from across California to learn, network, and mobilize. Day 1: Our all-day conference at the Embassy...
By California Policy Center
Redefining Environmentalism
Redefining Environmentalism
“I think what we can learn here is that we are guests in this landscape.” – Marissa Christiansen, Executive Director of the Climate and Wildfire Institute, Los Angeles If you’re looking for one sentence that encapsulates the mentality and premise that underlines mainstream environmentalism in America today, these words from Marissa Christiansen, quoted in the...
By Edward Ring
Wildfires and the Efficient Government Trap
Wildfires and the Efficient Government Trap
The misguided quest for efficient government As the wildfires raged in southern California last month, we witnessed bipartisan support for the reintroduction of The Fix our Forests Act, ostensibly designed to reform forest management. At the same time, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power announced that it will submit to outside investigations to...
By Mark Moses