Legislation & Regulations

California doesn’t own AI policy

California doesn’t own AI policy

In recent years, Californians have seen government intrusion on overdrive. From water rationing to cracking down on the “gig economy,” Sacramento has been telling us how to live our lives and run our businesses. Now, the state government has its eyes set on one of our most fundamental rights: the freedom of contract. Contracting is...

By Lance Christensen

Biden Takes a Destructive California Idea National

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

AB 5 Update

AB 5 Update

Editor’s note: There’s so much misinformation about the state of AB 5, that we asked Karen Anderson, founder of Freelancers Against AB 5, for an update. AB5 has not been overturned. It is still the law and continues to wreak havoc across a vast swath of professions and sectors in California—everything from performing arts, event...

By Karen Anderson

Define the Business of Local Government — And Mind It.

Define the Business of Local Government — And Mind It.

This past summer, the National Civic League published an article entitled “Is It None of Our Business?” The purpose of the article was to evaluate whether local government agencies should be undertaking national issues, which the League characterizes as “the ‘nationalization’ of local government matters.” The League concludes that such nationalization constitutes a “positive phenomenon.”...

By Mark Moses

AB 421: SEIU’s Bid to Gut California’s 112-year-old Referendum and Initiative Laws

AB 421: SEIU’s Bid to Gut California’s 112-year-old Referendum and Initiative Laws

In the devil’s workshop we call the state legislature, government union leaders are hard at work — destroying another of California’s democratic institutions. Fresh off the shutdown of Los Angeles Unified schools and the overthrow of their own elected president — and facing steep declines in membership and revenue — Service Employees International Union (SEIU) activists are...

By Will Swaim

Capistrano Unified: A Case Study in Opposing Bad Bonds

Capistrano Unified: A Case Study in Opposing Bad Bonds

A practical way for citizens to fight ill-conceived school bond measures View our full School Bonds Toolkit here for additional resources. School bonds are designed to fund the building and maintenance of school facilities, but there have been increasing concerns about bond oversight and how districts utilize bonds. Too often, school districts put bond measures on...

By Sheridan Swanson

Voters Approve Over $3.0 Billion Per Year in New Local Taxes

Voters Approve Over $3.0 Billion Per Year in New Local Taxes

When state ballot initiatives propose new taxes, it’s big news. But while every election features a handful of state tax and bond proposals that get statewide attention, additional hundreds of local state and bond proposals fly under the radar.  Fortunately, after each election cycle and once all the votes are certified – something that in...

By Edward Ring

The “Reparations” Scam

The “Reparations” Scam

California is considering paying “reparations” to Black Californians who are directly descended from enslaved people, which may surprise most Californians. After all, slavery was never legal in the Golden State.  Governor Newsom, heedless of the fiasco he’s inviting, formed a “Reparations Task Force,” no doubt with his future presidential aspirations in mind. The task force...

By Edward Ring

Prop. 30 Splits California’s Ruling Elite

Prop. 30 Splits California’s Ruling Elite

Even by national standards, state ballot initiative campaigns in California are big time politics. You can run a campaign for U.S. Senator in most states in America for less than it costs to qualify and successfully campaign to pass a statewide ballot initiative in California. Political insiders in Sacramento describe any controversial initiative with well...

By Edward Ring

California’s Homeless Housing Scam

California’s Homeless Housing Scam

Progressive politicians have created the homeless crisis. Their policies have made housing unaffordable, driven away decent job opportunities, and encouraged vagrancy and drug addiction. Their solution – to build taxpayer subsidized housing, provided free and with no conditions to any homeless person – is a special interest scam, guaranteed to never solve the problem. Nowhere...

By Edward Ring

California’s Excessive Occupational Licensing Requirements Hurt Workers and the Economy

California’s Excessive Occupational Licensing Requirements Hurt Workers and the Economy

Amid a mass shortage of teachers across California, Governor Newsom accomplished something long overdue. He made it easier for qualified teaching staff to be hired. In January, Newsom signed an executive order to relax regulations that would have delayed the hiring of new substitute teachers. Executive Order N-3-22 also removes barriers to the reinstatement of...

By Edison Lee

A Tale of Two Bad Bills

A Tale of Two Bad Bills

California’s powerful unions had the state Assembly in its usual vise grip Monday as a legislative deadline loomed that made it do-or-die for some bills. All eyes were on AB1400, the bill that would put the state government in charge of healthcare for every Californian. But Monday afternoon, the legislation’s sponsor, Assemblyman Ash Kalra (D-San Jose),...

By California Policy Center