Opinión
Amnistía para los no ciudadanos que se registraron pero nunca votaron. Procesar a todos los que sí votaron.
Los cuatro fiscales federales de California deben trazar una línea clara y atribuir la responsabilidad de lo demás a quienes corresponde: Sacramento.
Microsoft y Adobe fueron sorprendidos buscando mano de obra barata. Bien.
El sistema de visas fue creado para cubrir empleos que los estadounidenses no pueden desempeñar. Con demasiada frecuencia se ha usado para reemplazar a quienes sí pueden. Washington por fin lo está diciendo.
Por dentro de la ciudad de carpas de Todd Gloria: lo que el alcalde no quiere que usted vea
Amy Reichert entró a un campamento para personas sin hogar financiado por la ciudad al que la prensa no tiene acceso. Su video, y el número de muertes en estos sitios, deberían poner fin a las afirmaciones del alcalde de que el programa está funcionando.
El problema con Full Self-Driving: un Tesla nunca es suficiente
Compramos un auto con FSD. En tres semanas compramos un segundo, y luego nuestra hija adquirió un tercero. Pruébelo una vez y entenderá por qué.
Lo que Trump dijo en realidad sobre Los Ángeles y San Diego: el discurso completo y sin editar
Newsom, Becerra y otros demócratas de California calificaron los comentarios del presidente en un mitin en Nebraska como una amenaza contra dos ciudades. La transcripción sin editar muestra que argumentaba que los precios más altos de la gasolina por la guerra con Irán son un precio pequeño a pagar para evitar que ese país tenga armas nucleares.
Veto a AB 2218: protección igualitaria, no preferencias raciales
El gobernador detuvo un proyecto de ley que establecía apoyo estatal especial y derechos de consulta basados únicamente en la ascendencia indígena.
AB 52 codifica preferencias raciales en la política agrícola estatal
La nueva ley de California crea comités asesores oficiales basados en la raza, violando el principio de que el gobierno debe tratar a cada residente por igual sin importar el color de su piel.
SB 1114 codifica el trato desigual por parte del gobierno
La nueva ley de California distingue la orientación sexual y la identidad de género con reglas especiales de datos, violando el principio de que todo californiano debe recibir el mismo trato ante la ley.
Guía de información para votantes 2026 del CPC
Este noviembre, los votantes de California tomarán decisiones sobre una variedad de candidatos y proposiciones en la boleta que podrían definir el rumbo del estado por años. Nuestra guía electoral está diseñada para ayudar a los californios…
Newsom veta AB 1383 — y en esta ocasión acierta
De vez en cuando, Sacramento sorprende. El gobernador Gavin Newsom vetó esta semana el AB 1383, frenando un esfuerzo muy comentado de los sindicatos de seguridad pública para revertir disposiciones clave de la legislación de California…
El reto judicial sobre las declaraciones de boleta en Orange Unified le sale mal a los aliados del sindicato
Los activistas del sindicato de maestros son como perros que persiguen autos: no sabrían qué hacer si atraparan uno. Basta ver el caso reciente de Darshan Smaaladen, un aliado del sindicato de maestros en Orange…
Apple Valley: el pueblo que no puede permitirse rendirse
La misión del municipio de Apple Valley promete "una mejor calidad de vida mediante el control local de la seguridad pública, el desarrollo, los servicios y las comodidades". Esto deja sin responder qué debería dejarle el municipio a otro…
Las pensiones del sector público quiebran algo más que los presupuestos gubernamentales
En una demostración de poder que debería utilizarse en beneficio público, los servidores públicos de California han priorizado en cambio sus intereses financieros personales. Los sindicatos que representan a los policías y bomberos del estado impulsaron una…
Las reglas de California sobre argumentos en las boletas electorales dan una ventaja injusta a quienes promueven impuestos
Las guías de información para votantes de los condados de California volverán a mostrar este año una grave inequidad. Los argumentos a favor de bonos y medidas fiscales suelen estar bien redactados y firmados por varios…
AB 1383 is a costly pension mistake in the making
California lawmakers are once again advancing a familiar and costly mistake — one that risks leaving future generations to pay the price. Assembly Bill 1383, introduced by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, D-Inglewood, would…
Los Angeles Unified’s self-inflicted financial crisis
On July 2, Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools Debra Duardo sent the Los Angeles Unified School District a letter that should alarm every taxpayer and parent in the district. Duardo determined…
California AG Rob Bonta’s War on Affordability
Critics of the policies that have turned California into the most inhospitable place in America to do business or try to make a living tend to focus on outgoing Governor Gavin Newsom.…
Cities Cannot Budget Their Way Out of Mission Problems
California cities continue to struggle with recurring fiscal stress. Los Angeles recently closed a budget gap approaching $1 billion. San Jose addressed a shortfall of roughly $50 million while acknowledging that structural…
California Local Elected Officials Oppose AB 1383
Local elected officials from communities across California have signed a coalition letter opposing AB 1383 (McKinnor). The signatories — from city council members to school board trustees — have direct experience overseeing…
Taxing Away Success
We are witnessing a troubling migration—a flight of capital and talent from states that have adopted increasingly aggressive tax policies. Elon Musk moved Tesla and X from California to Texas; Palantir relocated…
How the Machine Buried Spencer Pratt
Spencer Pratt’s LA mayoral bid surged on Election Day, only to be reversed as California’s entrenched political machine reshaped the final count after the vote. Bill de Blasio appeared on NewsNation on…
California’s “Wealth” Tax is Coming for Everyone
If you own property in California, you’re not safe. A new ballot measure will empower the state to confiscate a percentage of the assets of any resident, even though its initial provisions…
When City Councils Play Secretary of State
In the years since the National Civic League published “Is It None of Our Business?,” the trend of city halls tackling national issues has shifted from a novelty to a standard operating…
CalPERS Pays Million-Dollar Salaries for Below-Median Returns
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) continues to demonstrate a stunning disconnect between its investment performance and the compensation it awards its top administrators. A 255-page forensic investigation conducted by former…
Will Spencer Pratt Realign California?
By every reasonable standard of governance, California’s elected politicians have made a mess of the Golden State. Reciting the litany of failures has become so common that it’s hardly worth the trouble.…
The LAO vs. Sacramento Spin
Yesterday, Governor Newsom released his revised state budget, required annually by May 14th. In what promises to be a challenging budget process due to rising state costs, the Governor and legislature will…
AB 1383 Would Gut PEPRA and Worsen California’s Pension Crisis
A bill quietly moving through the Legislature would gut California’s 2013 pension reforms and plunge the state back toward the kind of fiscal crisis that forced lawmakers to enact the Public Employees’…
The forgotten subject: California’s failure to assess history education
Why students’ history proficiency goes unmeasured, and how a politicized framework is undermining classroom instruction. California has no reliable way to measure whether students are meeting state history and social studies standards.…
California’s Self-Destructive War on Oil
California’s state legislature may succeed in destroying its own oil industry, but it won’t change anything in the world. It will only export jobs and raise the cost-of-living here at home. Here’s…
California Overestimated Deficits by $2 Billion and That’s Actually Good News
Last week, KCRA 3 in Sacramento reported that the Newsom administration’s January budget contained a roughly $2 billion accounting error tied to CalPERS pension contributions. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office flagged the…
Does San Francisco Need Another Union-Backed Tax?
San Francisco and Portland are the only two US cities that tax companies if the pay ratio between the CEO and other employees is “too high.”. After agreeing to lower this tax…
La coalición de intereses especiales que prospera con la escasez
Gran parte del malestar en Estados Unidos surge de la falta de asequibilidad. En cada contienda política, desde California hasta la Costa Este, el manual sobre el costo de vida es el mismo: "el costo de vivir es…"
Observaciones al inicio de un nuevo año hidrológico
Para los usuarios del agua y quienes la monitorean, el 1.° de octubre fue el Año Nuevo. Es un buen momento para hacer una pausa y reflexionar sobre el rumbo que tomamos en materia de políticas hídricas y proyectos de agua. Hay…
Gavin Newsom camina la cuerda floja de la inteligencia artificial
El gobernador de California abraza las posibilidades de la tecnología con una mano e impone una montaña de regulaciones con la otra. En un solo día la semana pasada, Gavin Newsom demostró que sigue siendo uno de…
La planificación ante El Niño debe incluir el dragado
El 21 de septiembre, el gobernador Gavin Newsom declaró un estado de emergencia debido al "fuerte y posiblemente histórico evento de El Niño en el océano Pacífico". El momento del anuncio es…
El consumo de energía y agua de la inteligencia artificial
Si la inteligencia artificial debe regularse, y de ser así, cómo hacerlo, se ha convertido casi de la noche a la mañana en uno de los mayores temas políticos de nuestro tiempo. Y con la IA llega un aumento en la construcción de…
La disputa sobre la notificación a padres continúa tras el fallo del Chino Valley
SAN BERNARDINO — En un fallo confuso emitido desde el estrado el martes, el Tribunal Superior del Condado de San Bernardino concedió en parte y negó en parte la moción del Chino Valley Unified School District para disolver…
Comentarios sobre el "Plan de control de calidad del agua" para el Delta
Se ha publicado el borrador final de agosto de 2026 del "Plan de control de calidad del agua para la cuenca hidrográfica de la Bahía de San Francisco/Delta Sacramento-San Joaquín" de la Junta Estatal de Control de Recursos Hídricos (SWRCB). Los comentarios escritos serán…
Los Ángeles debería seguir el camino de recuperación de San Francisco, según el hombre que contribuyó al fracaso de ambas ciudades
Un exasesor que sirvió y defendió a dos fiscales de distrito desastrosos ofrece ahora consejos sobre gobernanza urbana. Alex Bastian ha vivido y trabajado en las dos ciudades más importantes de California, y tiene consejos…
Revisando la "crisis" del aumento del nivel del mar
Cada vez que ocurre un desastre natural en cualquier parte del mundo que pueda relacionarse de alguna manera con la supuesta crisis climática, los expertos salen a establecer esa conexión. Desde el ámbito federal…
¿De dónde obtiene su energía California?
Encontrar información consolidada y de calidad sobre el uso de energía en California es sorprendentemente difícil. El Departamento de Energía de California ofrece información detallada sobre la producción de electricidad y una variedad de informes sobre, por ejemplo, las refinerías…
El gobernador firma el proyecto de ley de transparencia del gobierno local patrocinado por CPC
El gobernador Newsom firmó el Senate Bill 1126, un proyecto de ley patrocinado por el California Policy Center y redactado por el senador Steven Choi, Ph.D. (R-Irvine), que facilitará a los contribuyentes el acceso a los registros financieros auditados…
Algunos sindicatos tienen el poder de salvar a California
No hay grupo de interés especial en California más poderoso que los sindicatos. Si bien no tienen una presencia significativa en el sector privado, donde sí están presentes ejercen una influencia desproporcionada sobre las obras públicas…
Sin extracción de sedimentos en el Delta, California arriesga inundaciones invernales
En las ciudades y granjas ubicadas inmediatamente al sur del Delta Sacramento-San Joaquin, las peores inundaciones del siglo XX ocurrieron en 1997. Varios días de lluvia incesante azotaron las laderas de…
AI Is Amplifying an Unexamined Government
AI—The Gamechanger For decades, cities and counties operated on an understanding rarely discussed: municipal codes would never be fully enforced. I watched city councils adopt multi-family rental smoking bans and plastic utensil…
Iron Air Batteries—Niche, or Next Big Thing?
Iron air batteries appear poised to play, at the least, an important niche role in the emerging electric age. A very recent example of this is the $750 million equity financing that…
California’s Neglected Infrastructure is Harming America
California attracts a lot of criticism, with perhaps the most bipartisan criticism focusing on its punitive cost of living. And this bipartisan criticism even extends to agreement on the reason California is…
CalSTRS is 79% Funded—Well, Maybe
CalSTRS earned 13.9% on investments for the year ended June 30, 2026, up from 8.5%, and called it a significant step toward full funding. The National Association of State Retirement Administrators said…
Is Covering California’s Aqueducts and Canals with Solar Panels Economical?
Earlier this week, a respected YouTube channel covering the future of technology and energy released a video exploring the viability of solar panels covering California’s canals and aqueducts. The videos are hosted…
The Delusional Premises of Woke Greens
While the burgeoning democratic socialist movement is getting a lot of attention in advance of the 2026 midterm elections, a parallel dimension of wokeism quietly continues to advance. For now, the Trump…
California Could Use Some Allegedly “Zany Ideas”
Veteran political strategist Garry South has just published a guest commentary in the San Francisco Chronicle in which he asks the question, “Is Steve Hilton a serious candidate?” South then launches a…
Underwriting Stagnation: Taxpayers Pay for Schools to Stand Still
California Teachers Can Now Veto AI The Union Gets the Final Say California’s largest school districts have done something unheard of in American management: they have given a labor union veto power…
California schools turn to child sacrifice
Archaeological evidence and 16th-century Spanish accounts show that the Aztecs of Central Mexico sacrificed children to appease the rain god Tlaloc. Appalled by the ritual, one of those Spaniards, the Franciscan Bernardino…
Debunking the Allegedly Prohibitive Cost of Desalination
Earlier this summer a guest op-ed appeared in the Orange County Register, “Learning the right lesson from San Diego’s desal water surplus.” But the “lesson” presented was only partly accurate. What the…
A Fact-Based Appraisal of California’s Energy Strategy
The Statistical Review of World Energy is arguably the most authoritative and comprehensive source publicly available for national and global energy statistics. And a funny thing happened between the report issued in…
Large Scale Desalination Could Help Resolve Colorado River Shortage
The operating agreements that govern Colorado River allocations expire at the end of this year, and negotiations between the seven states that share the water are stalled. With the federal government poised…
Dredging the Delta Can Prevent a Catastrophe
It’s January 2027, and for the last few months, a super El Nino has already delivered torrential rains to the Pacific Coast of North America. California’s reservoirs have been releasing record quantities…
In Praise of the Windowless Box: How California’s first data-center ban reveals what cities have forgotten
In June 2026, Monterey Park became the first city in America to permanently ban new data centers. Residents didn’t just pack city council meetings for months—86 percent voted to forbid a building…
Participatory budgeting won’t save California cities
This spring, Marin County launched a second round of participatory budgeting, inviting residents to help decide how another $2.5 million in public funds should be spent. The program reflects California’s growing embrace…
Commercializing Hydrocarbon Production from Air and Water
Whenever evaluating a new energy technology, caution is warranted. During what was arguably the first big cleantech boom around 2009, schemes were sold to angel investors thrilled to find a hot sector…
Ninth Circuit Hears CPC’s First Amendment Challenge to SB 399
On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments in California Policy Center v. Garcia-Brower, CPC’s lawsuit challenging California Senate Bill 399, a law that violates employers’…
The Dismal Economics of Floating Offshore Wind
There are at least three ways to evaluate the economic viability of energy projects. The easiest way is to just repeat whatever is in a press release. The other extreme, a mandatory…
The Economics of Reconciliation on America’s 250th Birthday
On the advent of America’s 250th anniversary, the conventional narrative is that our country is deeply divided. Typical takes on the state of disunity in the United States include this headline from…
California’s Forgotten 1776 Story
Two hundred and fifty years ago, in the space of 365 days, in one of history’s best two-for-one deals, the world got Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and the Declaration of Independence.…
Choosing the Right Infrastructure Projects Can Deliver Affordable Abundance
The reason to socialize a portion of the cost of major infrastructure is so the ratepayer doesn’t have to bear an unaffordable share of the construction financing payments. The broader benefit to…
Will Swaim: America’s 250th and the Fight for Liberty in California
When I told a friend recently that I was sorry to hear she was getting a divorce, she replied, “You wouldn’t be sorry if you really knew my husband.” When I admitted…
How Steve Hilton Can Become California’s Next Governor
A very successful businessman—and a major contributor to Democratic Party candidates and causes—once explained to me why he talked, acted, and thought like a Republican but never considered supporting any Republican candidate,…
The Best Way to Eliminate Methane Leaks is to Drill
California’s oil industry has been active for well over a century, and Los Angeles was always at the heart of it. By 1894, about 80 wells were already producing oil in the…
Principles for a Californian Realignment: The Grand Alliance
With midterm elections just around the corner, both major political parties are themselves coping with divided constituencies. The Democratic Socialists vie for dominance against more moderate Democrats. MAGA Republicans confront disaffected libertarians…
Subsidizing the Visible Hand: California’s Departure from 1776
As the United States celebrates the semiquincentennial of its founding in 1776, it is worth reflecting on a remarkable historical coincidence: the birth of our nation occurred the same year Adam Smith…
How Much Flow Preserves the Delta?
When choosing what policies and projects might best ensure abundant water for California’s ecosystems, farms, and cities, the role of the delta is central. Even if large scale desalination were to someday…
The Bear Flag and California’s history blind spot
June 14 is the anniversary of the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt that helped set California on the path to statehood. But how many California students could explain what the Bear Flag Republic…
The unions that count California’s votes
As Los Angeles County worked through more than 700,000 uncounted ballots after the June primary, the argument focuses on the speed of the count. But it is also worth wondering just who…
In California, the Real Scandal Is What’s Legal
Greetings and welcome to this momentous 92nd edition of the Carnival of Fools! If you’re looking for informed commentary on the state of the war in Iran, then I’m happy to announce…
An Alternative Vision for the Potter Valley Project
A recent article in Grist characterized recent efforts by the Trump administration to preserve Scott Dam as a “culture war crusade.” That is accurate, so long as we recognize that efforts to…
Five Billion Barrels of Crude Oil
There is no realistic scenario imaginable that does not include Californians consuming at least another five billion barrels of oil before the state achieves its much touted official goal of a “clean…
Fine Tuning the “Water Renaissance” Plan
The recently released “Water Renaissance” plan, a product of “conservation groups and tribes,” gets a very big idea right. There is no reason why California’s coastal megacities should have to import water.…
Differentiating Between Capacity and Yield
Whether it’s an energy project or a water project, it’s important to avoid conflating capacity with actual production, or yield. With energy projects, that difference is much more certain than with water…
California Lags Far Behind on Local Government Financial Transparency
Taxpayers have a fundamental right to know how their money is being managed. Three conditions define a best-practice state regime for local government financial reporting. First, the state should require all local…
Why the Paramount-Skydance deal is good for California
By now, almost every Californian with eyeballs and a memory of the recent past can tell you the story of the failed High-Speed Rail – how voters in 2008 approved a roughly…
When it Comes to Water, California Needs to Think Big Again
For most of the previous century, Californians successfully designed and built big water infrastructure. In sixty years, from 1910 through 1970, we built the most impressive system of interbasin transfers in the…
Can Oil Industry Lawsuits Compel Rational Energy Policy?
When asked in a recent interview why California has the highest gasoline prices in the nation, Jodie Muller, the President of the Western States Petroleum Association, began by stating the following: “You…
Chino Valley Unified Moves to Dissolve Court Injunction Following SCOTUS Mirabelli Ruling on Parental Rights
SAN BERNARDINO, CA — The Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) has filed a motion to dissolve a 2024 court-ordered injunction that blocked the district’s parental notification policy. Following the U.S. Supreme…
California’s Climate Overreach
Even if the most dire climate scenarios are accurate, and humanity must transition away from fossil fuel, it can’t happen overnight. The rational approach is to first develop alternative sources of energy…
The Abundance Alliance
Abundance, and its political twin, affordability, are now bipartisan mantras, but cannot be realized if the only permissible avenues are via urban infill, renewable energy, and water rationing. California is uniquely positioned…
Sacramento’s Decarbonization Mandates Punish Working Families
Over the last ten years, residential electricity rates in California have nearly doubled, and the average California household now pays nearly 15% more than the national average on their monthly electricity bills,…
No, You Can’t Legislate Morality or Abundance
If you listen to the buzz in progressive state capitols and city halls across the country, or read Ezra Klein’s Abundance, you’d think our biggest problem is a crisis of state capacity.…
Can California Thrive on Renewable Electricity?
California’s state government has set an official goal of “net zero” by 2045. That’s less than 19 years from now. Already in pursuit of that goal, the state has managed to have…