The term “lobbyist” was first used in 1842 to describe people seeking to influence members of Congress. The name was descriptive because they’d hang out in the lobbies of the hotels where senators and representatives would stay when they were in session in Washington, D.C., which 176 years ago was far shorter than today. Americans...
On September 24, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) released its annual national crime statistics for 2017. The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) statistics show that major crime rates are down nationwide with both violent crime and property crime rates in decline. The national crime rate peaked in 1991 and has generally trended downward with crime last year...
Once again, California has the highest poverty rate in America. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent report, the Golden State’s Supplemental Poverty Measure averaged 19 percent between 2015 and 2017. Nationwide, poverty dropped in 2017 from 14.7 percent to 14.1 percent, but California’s rate was proportionately 35 percent higher than the national average. In...
There were about 14.8 million workers in unions in 2017, some 10.7% of the workforce, down about half from 20.1% in 1983. In the private sector, about 6.5% of workers are represented by a union. But in government at the federal, state, and local level, 34.4% of workers are unionized. Union membership in industry has a long...
As a general rule, property rights are strong in Texas, with the Cato Institute’s “Freedom in the 50 States” survey ranking the state tenth overall for the protections offered to the owners of real estate. But, these protections have been eroding in recent years, especially in the Lone Star State’s urban areas where progressive activist elected officials...
With California Governor Jerry Brown’s signature on Senate Bill 10, the cash bail system, with 15 centuries of history, was ended in the Golden State. Bail’s demise will cause unneeded waves in California’s increasingly turbulent criminal justice system. When a person is accused of a crime, they are brought before a judge, informed of the charges against them,...
USA Today published a piece from 24/7 Wall St. on the best and worst state economies. The Drudge Report linked to the piece, likely multiplying its readership manifold. Unfortunately, the ranking is fundamentally flawed for two key reasons which will be explained below. Colorado, Utah, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Washington captured the top-5 in the ranking. Among the...
Experience informs and shapes perspective. This is true for all people, including lawmakers. A military veteran or business owner will approach problems differently than a community organizer or trial attorney. California’s deadly and destructive wildfires have been blamed on global warming by dozens of politicians and journalists, from Governor Jerry Brown to the editorial boards of the Sacramento Bee and...
California dominates America’s intellectual property creation landscape, with 45,683 patents granted to California-based people or firms in 2017, 27.3% of the patents assigned in the 50 states and D.C. In 1992, California accounted for 15.5% of the patents granted in America. California accounted for 12.1% of the nation’s population in 1992, so, its 15.5% share...
California’s wildfires continue to burn out of control, with the Mendocino Complex Fire near Clear Lake in Northern California, at 283,800 acres, now considered the largest fire in modern California history. As of sunset Monday, it was only 30 percent contained and had burned 75 homes. More than 14,000 firefighters, including some from as far...
In April 2016, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the state’s $15-an-hour minimum wage law into effect. As a consequence, the minimum wage went from $10 an hour to $10.50 an hour for businesses with 26 or more employees on January 1, 2017. On January 1 of this year, the minimum wage was hiked again to...
California is once again on fire. Northern California’s Carr Fire has killed six people, two of them firefighters, and continues to burn out of control, claiming more than 700 homes and about 100,000 acres. As a citizen-soldier in the California Army National Guard for two decades, I often heard the gallows humor quip that California’s...