Tag "subsidies"
Back to homepage
Covered CA draws state and industry fire
Struggling to prove that it has stabilized its business model, Covered California rebuffed criticism from industry leaders burned by their Obamacare experience, while a new state report called the exchange’s own practices and plans into question. Most recently, Covered California fired back at
Read More
Covered California rolls out publicity campaign
Covered California, the Golden State’s Affordable Care Act exchange, has rolled out a new publicity campaign timed to its third enrollment period. Expanding the exchange Officials have set their sights on increasing enrollment by upping the public profile of the state exchange,
Read More
Electric cars upend CA politics
As California’s electric car industry heats up, Sacramento’s role in incentivizing the vehicles for environmentalist reasons has become an uncharacteristic political football. Underscoring the disruptive effect of the often libertarian sensibility behind auto innovations, the controversy has pitted Republicans against
Read More
Taxpayer-subsidized companies raking in public contracts
Los Angeles County is hitting 1.000. The county has done business with each of the top 10 recipients of local and state subsidies in California, records show. The practice is common, although hardly in violation of any rules. But across
Read More
Fact-checking water price subsidies
This is Part 3 of a series. Part 1 was on how drought-water pricing violates Proposition 218’s ban on tax increases without a vote of the people. Part 2 was on fact-checking water pricing. Water subsidies are the focus of much
Read More
CA, Tesla and the slippery slope to crony capitalism
The decision of Tesla to locate its “gigafactory” in the Reno area instead of California offers critics of the state’s business climate a chance to once again knock Gov. Jerry Brown and other state leaders for failing to care about
Read More
Board chair’s upbeat take on bullet train at sharp odds with MSM
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
Read More
Sacramento arena proponents make desperate weekend robo-calls
My weekend was interrupted with yet another robo-call. But unlike other robo-callers, this outfit actually left a message… a jaw-dropping message. Never mind that I have an unlisted home phone number. “This is an urgent call from DowntownArena.org,” the message
Read MoreHouse GOP whip: Folly to expect fed $ for bullet train
April 12, 2013 By Chris Reed There’s a double-whammy targeting the bullet train on the op-ed page of Friday’s U-T San Diego newspaper. First House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, tees off on the state’s assumption that federal dollars will
Read MoreSacramento arena: A ‘Field of Schemes’
March 27, 2013 By Katy Grimes Sacramento officials have lost all ability to reason, and instead are letting emotions and delusions of grandeur drive their decision over a downtown sports arena. Arenas are nothing more that fields of schemes, and the
Read More