Help the charter school community fight AB 84 The Southern California News Group recently published commentary by CPC Vice President Lance Christensen on Assembly Bill 84 and the devastation it would cause to charter schools and thousands of California families. AB 84 threatens a 30% funding cut for charter schools where in-person classroom-based instruction is...
The second fiscal year after the implementation of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s coronavirus lockdown for San Diego County’s 18 cities saw Del Mar bounce back up in fiscal rankings (see “City of San Diego Fell Behind $191 Million in First Year of Pandemic,” May 15, 2024). The fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, also saw the...
For anyone unconcerned about the state’s ongoing war against the oil and gas industry, or the impact it is going to have on California’s economic health and overall cost-of-living, a study released on May 5 should be required reading. With strong arguments and immutable data, USC Business Professor Michael Mische predicts that by sometime in 2026, we’ll...
Times are tough in Orange Unified, Orange County’s fourth-largest school district. Already facing a years-long decline in state funding that followed the district’s plummeting enrollment, school officials in June 2024 nevertheless agreed to a teachers union demand for a 10 percent pay hike. Union officials celebrated – but only briefly. In September, internal documents show,...
After six years of budget shortfalls, rising homelessness, and an exodus of residents and businesses, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his $321.9 billion May Revision to California’s 2025–26 state budget on Wednesday — which he acknowledged is upside down by roughly $12 billion. Now, with just weeks until the June 15th deadline, he must work with...
On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom released his May budget revision, proposing $321.9 in total spending for the next fiscal year. Now he must work with the legislature to pass a budget bill by the June 15th deadline. In a press conference outlining his budget to reporters, Newsom focused on blaming the Trump administration for California’s...
Last week I received an email from a representative of a company planning to build a large scale green hydrogen production facility in California. In reviewing the details announced in this email, which was almost certainly sent to other analysts and journalists, I saw an opportunity to take another look at the challenges facing any...
After the state unwisely expanding Medi-Cal in recent years, the program has descended into a fiscal crisis. Now Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes to roll back some of the expansions, but it may be too little too late given pending actions at the federal level. Covering more than one-third of Californians, the Medi-Cal program’s costs are projected to...
The state of California issued its annual comprehensive financial report some 15 months after the customary due date, making it the last of the nation’s 50 states to complete this required task (see Long Overdue Financial Report for California Brings Bad News, March 18, 2024). Don’t think for a minute that the Franchise Tax Board...
When Marc Molinaro takes up his position as the new federal transit administrator, he will have the opportunity to save taxpayers a quick $5.1 billion. All he has to do is decline to provide federal funding for what a high-profile transit advocate recently dubbed “the worst new transit project in the United States”: the extension...
Last month, in recognition of the annual celebration of Earth Day, it seemed appropriate to compile a list of ten common myths that constitute the major premises of modern environmentalism. That list, along with explanations of why each of these premises is unfounded and counterproductive, can be summarized as follows: 1 – There is no climate crisis....
President Trump has pushed aside Governor Gavin Newsom and driven the nation’s most populous state toward something approaching sanity. President Trump’s (second) first 100 days have generated some amount of horse excrement. It’s hard to see how it serves Trump’s interests to anger allies in advance of a trade war with China, to drive the economy into...
Although public opinion, most private organizations, and the federal government have turned against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), it remains deeply embedded in the culture of California state and local government. As a result, taxpayers and ratepayers are funding millions of dollars of government DEI-related expenditures annually, and the spending is likely to persist without...
Despite its status as an agricultural superpower, eclipsing every other U.S. state in farm output, California’s farming sector wields relatively little influence in Sacramento. When you evaluate the state’s GDP components, the sectors that dominate are financial, IT, and services, at around a half-trillion each, followed by manufacturing and government at around $400 billion and $300...