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 Abundance Choice, Part 6: Biased, Hostile Media

May 24, 2022 2:45 amMay 25, 2022 8:18 am

You can say this for Michael Hiltzik, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for the Los Angeles Times, he doesn’t conceal his biases. When we talked back in late November 2021, his skepticism towards our initiative felt overt. And while that may have...

The Abundance Choice, Part 5: California’s Fractured Farmers

May 20, 2022 2:30 amMay 19, 2022 9:21 pm

“We cannot support your initiative if you include the Delta Tunnel as an eligible project. And to be clear, we also cannot support your initiative if you do not include the Delta Tunnel as an eligible project.” This statement, which...

The Abundance Choice, Part 4: Crafting the Initiative for More Water

May 16, 2022 4:35 pmJune 20, 2022 11:01 am

To be fair, Assemblyman Devon Mathis (R-Porterville) didn’t come up with the idea of allocating a percentage of the state budget to accomplish a policy priority. He got that idea from the California Teachers Association, which back in 1988 convinced voters to...

The Abundance Choice, Part 3: The Mechanics of Ballot Initiatives

May 15, 2022 2:21 amMay 26, 2022 12:14 pm

By the spring of 2021, it was obvious the State Legislature was not going to change its inadequate approach to water policy. As the state faced another year of drought, restricting water use was the only solution being taken seriously...

The Abundance Choice, Part 2: The Problems With Indoor Water Rationing

May 12, 2022 2:45 amMay 26, 2022 12:13 pm

Perhaps the biggest example of misguided water policy in California are the escalating restrictions on indoor water consumption. As will be seen, the savings these restrictions amount to are trivial in the context of California’s total water consumption, yet are...

The Abundance Choice, Part 1: California’s Failing Water Policies

May 10, 2022 2:15 pmMay 25, 2022 11:14 am

In October, and then again in December 2021, as the third severe drought this century was entering its third year, not one but two atmospheric rivers struck California. Dumping torrents of rain with historic intensity, from just these two storm systems over 100 million acre feet...

Are Firefighters Hard to Recruit in California?

April 7, 2022 2:49 amApril 7, 2022 5:32 pm

In response to a recent California Policy Center analysis that provided an updated calculation of the average pay and benefits for full-time firefighters working for cities in California, one commenter claimed that it has become difficult to recruit firefighters. The accuracy...