Articles | California Policy Center

Newsom’s education budget lacks tangible targets

This month, Governor Newsom released his proposed state budget for 2024-25. The $291.5 billion budget proposal sets aside $76.5 billion in state funds for K-12 education. This amount exceeds the proposed budgeted costs for transportation ($19.55 billion); corrections and rehabilitation ($18.12 billion); general government ($10.68 billion); legislative, judicial, and executive agencies ($10.72 billion); natural resources...

By Sheridan Swanson

Comparing the Delta Tunnel versus Desalination

Debates over the efficacy of water projects often focus on the monthly cost to end users. For example, in May 2022, a few days before the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to deny the final permit to build a desalination plant in Huntington Beach, the influential Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik fretted that it “might drive up the...

By Edward Ring

Bonta Pushes for Parental Consent on Social Media but Not in Schools

State Senator Nancy Skinner and Assembly Member Buffy Wicks (who both represent Oakland, fyi) stood alongside Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday to talk about the ways social media companies exploit the developing adolescent mind. Which is true. A study from a decade ago published by the German Medical Association noted that adolescent brains have...

By Will O’Neill

Several Inland Empire Cities Make Big Moves in 2020 Financial Rankings

Using a simple metric, only six Inland Empire cities in California saw much movement in the fiscal rankings of its 52 cities for the year ending June 30, 2020 compared to the previous year (see “Every City in the Inland Empire Ranked According to Financial Health,” June 30, 2023). The majority stayed pretty much in...

Biden Takes a Destructive California Idea National

The state’s laboratory of policy chaos has produced another misbegotten experiment for progressives to replicate elsewhere. Gavin Newsom doesn’t need to run for president in order to shape national policy. The Biden administration has made clear it’ll follow California off a cliff, taking Newsom’s campaign against independent contractors national with a March 2024 Department of Labor...

By Will Swaim

Despite Spending Billions on Climate-Change Initiatives, 84 Percent of California’s Energy Still Comes from Fossil Fuels

Here’s a reality check that ought to keep politicians up at night in California. Despite being a sunny, solar-friendly state, with ample areas blessed with high wind, California still derives 50 percent of its total energy from crude oil. Another 34 percent comes from natural gas. This fossil fuel total for California energy, 84 percent, actually...

By Edward Ring

Newsom’s Missed Opportunity on California’s Annual Budgets

During my business career as a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Financial Planner, I also served on a credit counseling nonprofit board and advised those who were deep in debt on a plan toward becoming fiscally sound again. During a good financial year, these individuals needed to dramatically reduce their existing debts. The unexpected bonus...

By John Moorlach

Half of California’s Energy Comes from Crude Oil

Here’s a reality check that ought to keep politicians up at night in California. Despite being a sunny, solar friendly state, with ample areas blessed with high wind, California still derives 50 percent of its total energy from crude oil. Another 34 percent comes from natural gas. This fossil fuel total for California energy, 84 percent,...

By Edward Ring

Want to Rule the World? Run for Local Office

When interviewing for a legislative fellowship in Sacramento, California over two decades ago, the panel asked about my career plans. I worked through a progression I thought was essential for any aspiring politico, concluding confidently that I was eventually going to run for Congress. In my mind, that’s where all the important political action was....

By Lance Christensen

The Klamath Basin ‘Restoration’ is at What Cost?

If you scan news reports and search results for Klamath Dams removal, the news is universally upbeat. “The river will run free again.” “A step towards justice.” “Largest river restoration project in American history!” But as waters now drain out of the reservoirs behind these half-demolished dams for the last time, unanswered questions persist. How...

By Edward Ring

Celebrate National School Choice Week at CPC’s Parent Union School Choice Fairs

Celebrate National School Choice Week at CPC Parent Union school choice fairs. CPC Parent Union is teaming up with National School Choice Week to host two school choice fairs in Southern California. Join us from 10am-2pm on Saturday, January 20th, 2024 at Vista Charter Middle School in Los Angeles and Saturday, January 27, 2024, at...

By California Policy Center

Water Rationing: The Worst Way to Build Resiliency

When a public policy decision is flawed, and the reasons it is flawed are simple and obvious, and the consequences are huge and costly, the appropriate response for a concerned observer is to call attention to the looming debacle. Not just once, but over and over and over again. An example of an impending economic...

By Edward Ring

The Free Speech Case against L.A. County Hosted by CLEO

Please join us for a special virtual event, The Free Speech Case against L.A. County, on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 from 12:00-1:00pm. Our special guest is attorney and Palos Verdes School Board trustee Julie Hamill, founder of the Alliance of Los Angeles County Parents. Julie represents the Alliance in their ongoing lawsuit against the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health for its campaign...

By California Policy Center

California’s Troubled Community-College System Just Got Worse

The new chancellor is sure to exacerbate the problems in a network already roiled by progressive administrators. In February, when she was tapped to run California’s troubled community-college system, Sonya Christian had cheerleaders, foremost among them Governor Gavin Newsom. “Dr. Christian is one of our nation’s most dynamic college leaders, with a demonstrated record of collaboration...

By Will Swaim