New episode of Radio Free California Podcast is out In their weekly podcast for National Review, California Policy Center President Will Swaim and Board Member David Bahnsen consider new state legislation that will lay the groundwork for a global real estate crisis — just 12 years after the Great Recession! In other news, David and...
Kids in Desert Sands Unified School District will remain locked out of the classroom for most of the week, because members of the union calling the shots are too “exhausted” to return to work. Earlier this week, the district rejected a proposal that would have allowed students on campus four days a week after the...
A study by the Public Policy Institute of California in 2019 found that per capita urban water use in the state has dropped consistently over the years, from 231 gallons per day in 1990 to 180 gallons per day in 2010. It dropped again to 146 gallons per day during the drought in 2015. This...
Think back to late December. Christmas was approaching and the news in California was getting grimmer by the day. California had one of the highest COVID case rates of any state. Just a month earlier, Governor Newsom locked down the state yet again. Hospitals were packed and there was a shortage of body bags. There...
Anyone involved in state or local politics in California soon realizes that government unions are the most powerful special interest in the state. From time to time, as the ride-share behemoths proved in spectacular fashion last November with Proposition 22, corporations will defy the unions on very specific issues. But by and large California’s corporations...
Imagine a world where a bureaucrat can choose the one person with whom you share your greatest confidences, personal information, goals and vulnerabilities. Imagine a world where that same bureaucrat can use that vital information to control you, invade your privacy and harm your well-being. Imagine a world where this cruel hoax is government-funded. I...
Even tax day isn’t normal this year: Uncle Sam is giving us an additional month to make good on what we owe the feds. But California lawmakers haven’t let this pesky pandemic stop them from doing what they do best: trying to raise taxes. The California Chamber of Commerce added three bills –all seeking to...
During state senate hearings on April 12th, State Senator Josh Newman approached Orrin Heatlie, lead proponent of the Gavin Newsom recall campaign. Heatlie was in attendance to testify against SB 663, a bill sponsored by Senator Newman that would make public the names and addresses of those who sign recall petitions. SB 663 will “provide a...
Six-figure salaries not enough to buy interest in kids’ futures… In a infuriating video released this week by parent watchdog group UTLA Uncensored, Los Angeles Board of Education members and leadership are seen completely ignoring a mom as she breaks down while recounting the suffering her children are experiencing due to the board’s refusal to...
California schools made national headlines this week for finally allowing students inside classrooms for the first time in over a year, but did they really reopen? Students, parents, teachers, and community members, who rallied outside the San Diego Education Association headquarters this week demand a real return to school. “Going to school and not being...
Forcing Critical Race Theory on children is psychologically damaging. I come from a time when schools existed to teach the ABCs, basic math and the amazing story of the American founding. While it’s true that Horace Mann, the man who first promoted universal public education, was a central planner, government schools usually turned out educated...
As a communications professional, I spend a lot of time thinking about advertisements and commercials. Whether it’s the reminder of the best part of waking up, the recognition that there are some things money can’t buy, or the predictably similar COVID-era commercials, ad campaigns often play in the background of my mind. So, I wasn’t...
After suggestions that Newsom is planning to add a less-restrictive green tier to California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that, assuming the current COVID trajectory in California remains, the tiered system that has been in place since August will be eliminated entirely. According to Governor Newsom, it will be “business as...
School choice is rapidly advancing across the U.S. On March 9th, I wrote that Covid-related lockdowns were leading many states to implement or advance already existing school choice measures. Just four weeks later, it is happening at breakneck speed. Legislators and parents have become fed up, and are doing what they can to regain control...