2015 California Pension Reform Summit Featuring Former San Jose Mayor Reed...
A recent brief on the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 found pension costs and debts will continue to increase and be a burden to state and municipal retirement plans. Realizing...
View ArticleNew Study on California City Pension Burdens
A recent study by the California Policy Center analyzes the burden of pensions costs on 459 California municipalities, using a number of metrics. One of the metrics is the ratio of required pension...
View ArticleTestimony on Assembly Bill 190 (Kirner) in Nevada Assembly Committee on...
Chairman Ellison and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to offer testimony today as you consider Assembly Bill 190 regarding pension reform. My name is Lance Christensen, from...
View ArticleLance Christensenâ??s testimony on Assembly Bill 190 (Kirner) in Nevada...
Pension costs are a major problem for states and municipalities’ balance sheets throughout the country. Indeed, Nevada faces challenges with its pension system. According to the latest Public...
View ArticleObama Administration Report Overstates Wind Power's Potential, Understates...
Real Clear Markets The U.S. Department of Energy just released a report in which it claims that consumers and the environment would benefit from increasing the proportion of electricity derived from...
View ArticleCorporatizing the U.S. Air Traffic Control System
My name is Robert Poole. I direct the transportation policy program at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank with offices in Los Angeles and in Washington, DC. I’m a graduate of MIT with two...
View ArticleCalifornia Should Embrace More Sentencing Reform
The Press Enterprise It’s been more than two years since voters passed Proposition 36, which prohibited individuals from being sentenced to life in prison for nonviolent offenses under the state’s...
View ArticlePrioritizing Southern California's Freight Networks
Orange County Register Recent labor disputes at West Coast ports have helped cause a three-month backlog of containerships at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Southern California, home to one...
View ArticleAmid Fiscal Distress, What Can Atlantic City Learn from Pontiac, Michigan?
Last week brought news highlighting the severity of the fiscal distress facing Atlantic City, New Jersey. According to a new report released by the city’s Emergency Manager Kevin Lavin (and consultant...
View ArticlePrivatization & Government Reform Newsletter #16 (March 2015 edition)
The March 2015 edition of the Privatization & Government Reform Newsletter is now online. Topics covered in this issue include:LOCAL BUDGETS: Amid Fiscal Distress, Pontiac's Lessons for Atlantic...
View ArticleHow to Reduce Florida's Prison Population, Costs Without Compromising Public...
Over the past few decades, Florida has passed a number of laws that have dramatically increased criminal sentences, and enacted others that have limited the amount of gain-time credits—or credits for...
View ArticleHow to Reduce Floridaâ??s Prison Population, Costs Without Compromising...
Florida taxpayers spent over $2.2 billion on the state’s correctional system and its more than 100,000 prison inmates last year. Nearly half, 46.7 percent, of state prison inmates are serving sentences...
View ArticleGovernance & Decision-Making in Underfunding of Public Sector Pension Plans
Cities and states throughout our country are struggling to meet the financial demands of skyrocketing public employee pension contributions. The immense size of the unfunded liabilities is forcing...
View ArticleGovernance & Decision-Making in Underfunding of Public Sector Pension Plans
Cities and states throughout our country are struggling to meet the financial demands of skyrocketing public employee pension contributions. Forward-looking projections of contribution rates reveal...
View ArticleCalifornia Unions Need to Make a Deal on Retirement Benefits
Orange County Register California taxpayers are saddled with unfunded public pension liabilities estimated to be as high as $583 billion, but often overlook that they’re also on the hook for billions...
View ArticleTop Priorities for Interstate Tolling
Public Works Financing On March 30, I addressed the International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association’s annual Washington Briefing. The topic they asked me to address was where tolling should fit...
View ArticleDouble the $15 Billion Cap on Private Actvitity Bonds for P3 Projects
RECOMMENDATION FOR THE CONGRESSDouble the $15 billion cap on Private Activity Bonds (PABs) for P3 ProjectsIssue: State and local governments are embracing public-private partnerships (P3s) for...
View ArticleWebsite for Government Workers to Learn More About 401(k)s
At workerfreedom.com, the Illinois Policy Institute provides an interactive tool for government workers to explore what 401(k)-style pension reform could mean to them. At the website, a government...
View ArticleMassive Maintenance Backlog Threatens California's National Parks
Orange County Register The National Parks System turns 100 next year, and our parks are deteriorating faster than we can fix them, threatening the long-term viability of these significant...
View ArticleLegalize Ridesharing and Remove Onerous Taxi Restrictions
Amidst the evolving tension surrounding the ridesharing industry, some cities are welcoming the free market phenomena of ridesharing while others are yielding to the taxi industry cartel. In the first...
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