Regulations

Parallels between Australia, Assembly AB 32 revolt are obvious

One of the most universal findings in the social sciences has been the uniform way that humans at all stages of history have been for something that they think reflects well on them until they perceive that it costs them

Richmond pols continue posturing on underwater mortgages

Wayne Lusvardi July 17, 2014

A majority of the Richmond City Council still wants to use eminent domain powers to to seize “underwater mortgages” even though the bond market refused to sell $34 million in municipal bonds for the city last year due to Richmond

$CA fossil-fuel foes want to ban more than just fracking$

CA fossil-fuel foes want to ban more than just fracking

Chris Reed July 17, 2014

California foes of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have been surprised and disappointed at their inability to get Gov. Jerry Brown or the Legislature to ban the practice. Brown’s support for a law regulating but permitting the newly improved drilling technique

Board chair’s upbeat take on bullet train at sharp odds with MSM

Chris Reed July 16, 2014

When James Fallows of The Atlantic came out last week in strong support of the California high-speed rail project, I responded with an unnecessarily snarky piece — sorry, James — headlined “7 ways James Fallows is wrong about the CA bullet

Fallows cites CWD critique of his bullet-train stand

Chris Reed July 15, 2014

The Atlantic’s James Fallows, to his credit, followed up on his post last week touting the California bullet train project with another post acknowledging the strong push-back he had received. His respectful, straightforward tone was far different than the norm

Berkeley: Poor have right to free pot

John Seiler July 13, 2014

This sounds like a Cheech and Chong routine. The People’s Republic of Berkeley has mandated that medical-marijuana dispensaries must give free pot to poor people. As marijuana is legalized in more places, that likely will spread across the country. In

7 ways James Fallows is wrong about the CA bullet train

Chris Reed July 11, 2014

Writing on The Atlantic’s website, the much-respected journalist/intellectual James Fallows — a Redlands native who knows California better than nearly all other national pundits — has come out as a big fan of the state’s bullet-train project. He promises to

Aussies dump carbon tax

John Seiler July 7, 2014

AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, was enacted by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger not just to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California by 30 percent. Its exact wording also read: National and international

CA, US green-job campaign promises fall far short

Chris Reed July 5, 2014

In 2008, Barack Obama ran for president on the promise that he would get the economy out of the Great Recession with a recovery plan built on green jobs. He promised 5 million such jobs would be created across the

CA legislators threaten Uber, Lyft

James Poulos July 4, 2014

A new bill will determine whether California remains the world leader in innovative technology — or starts to block progress. Assembly Bill 2293, by Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, would severely limit the ability of startup companies to use social networking technology