Author: Edward Ring

Edward Ring is the director of water and energy policy for the California Policy Center, which he co-founded in 2013 and served as its first president. The California Policy Center is an educational non-profit focused on public policies that aim to improve California’s democracy and economy. He is also a senior fellow of the Center for American Greatness. Ring is the author of two books: "Fixing California - Abundance, Pragmatism, Optimism" (2021), and "The Abundance Choice - Our Fight for More Water in California" (2022).

The Pat Brown Republicans

March 11, 2023 2:29 amMarch 11, 2023 8:18 am

California old timers can remember the state’s first Governor Brown, Jerry Brown’s father Pat Brown, who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. It would be difficult to imagine anything the elder Brown did that would be...

Unionized Public Education is Destroying California

March 8, 2023 2:45 amMarch 8, 2023 2:46 am

Behind any popular mass movement there are often good ideas and noble objectives. Public sector unions—including teachers’ unions—are no exception. Organized labor, ideally, offers collective power to ordinary workers and provides a counterweight whenever business interests become exploitative. How to...

Cleaning Bay Source Pollution Will Enable More Delta Diversions

February 27, 2023 3:19 pmFebruary 28, 2023 8:09 am

On February 21, the California State Water Resources Control Board waived environmental regulations in order to permit more storage in Central Valley reservoirs. This came a week after Governor Gavin Newsom temporarily suspended environmental laws that prevent reservoir storage if flow through...

Unions Are Behind California’s Latest Wealth Tax Proposal

February 13, 2023 2:32 pmFebruary 14, 2023 5:35 pm

If at first you don’t succeed, try again. This adage applies well to ideas for new ways to tax Californians. Every election cycle we see new ways to be taxed, and higher tax rates, but rarely will we see a...

The Biggest Untold Reason for the Decline of Salmon

February 7, 2023 6:30 amFebruary 8, 2023 7:14 am

As Californians dig out from several major storms just since December, major reservoirs in the state are already filled to within 86 and 104 percent of their historical average for this date, and the Sierra snowpack sits at 205 percent of normal. With additional precipitation...

California Per Capita Spending Doubles – Where Is It Going?

February 3, 2023 9:22 amFebruary 6, 2023 6:33 am

California’s state government is spending twice as much as it did a decade ago, and by every metric that matters to ordinary Californians, things have only gotten worse. Even without further analysis, this is an incredible fact. California’s state government,...

California Voters Approve Over $3.0 Billion Per Year in New Local Taxes

January 24, 2023 7:27 amJanuary 26, 2023 1:30 pm

When state ballot initiatives propose new taxes, it’s big news. This past November, voters rejected Proposition 30, which would have added another 1.75 percent tax on personal income above $2.0 million. The arguments for and against Prop. 30 were litigated in...