From 2020–2021, San Jose church Calvary Chapel was slapped with record-high fines for disobeying SCC’s COVID mandates. Recently, the local appeals court dropped over $200,000 in Calvary’s fines, calling the contempt-of-court charges “unconstitutional.” Opp Now spoke with several Californian attorneys—including Calvary’s own—about what this case means for the government–community relationship, and discovered a complex legal thicket.
Read MoreDuring recent years’ disastrous rolling blackouts, Gov. Newsom promised to partner with businesses to work towards a solution. This amounted to Newsom asking businesses to reduce electricity use. Breaking down California’s “energy crisis,” Fox & Hounds Daily editor Joel Fox argues that a true solution will involve both natural and renewable energy sources, so businesses can stably continue normal operations—and not have to turn off the lights.
Read MoreAB 257, currently being considered in the Senate, purports to protect fast food employees by guaranteeing fair wages. However, the California Policy Center team claims that by capitalizing on workers’ rights platforms, the bill distracts attention from its end result: unionizing statewide fast food restaurants. CPC argues the dangers of AB 257 for businesses, workers, and California’s already-precarious economy.
Read MoreDespite passionate arguments from opposing advocates, school choice is overwhelmingly approved of by minority families (over 67% of Hispanic and black voters) and creates equal playing fields for diverse student groups. Educational commentator Larry Sand rebuts the “choice is racist” talking point, indicating research studies that prove the opposite: School choice reduces educational segregation, freeing low-income students from attending their often-failing local school.
Read MoreCalifornia’s no stranger to up-and-coming drug legislation. SCC’s DA no longer files charges for many minor drug possession cases, and SF’s own Sen. Scott Wiener is spearheading SB 519 (to make possessing/using psychedelics legal throughout the state). However, Thomas Hogan’s analysis of Oregon’s decriminalization efforts in City Journal provides a different, more sobering, picture than what local legislators envision.
Read MoreWhile New Jersey is yet again subsidizing Tesla purchases, local Californian governments like SJ’s are footing the bill for further “affordable” housing development (though for taxpayers, these units are anything but cost-effective). Political economy professor Anthony Gill elaborates on why subsidies lead to market shortages and price increases that only benefit the sellers—and politicians, who “rake in the voter support from specialized interests.”
Read MoreCalifornia is “shackled” by electricity prices 50% costlier than the U.S. average. Why? Richard Cathcart and Ronald Stein of GEOGRAPHOS and PTS Advance analyze factors driving up prices: closing local nuclear reactors, leaning on unreliable renewable energy, and importing most of our electricity for much more than a pretty penny.
Read MoreCalifornians will vote on Prop 1 (SCA 10) this Nov., which appears on the surface to neatly pen the state’s pro-choice legal stance into its constitution. However, responses across the Golden State have ranged from apathy to disappointment to disgust—as experts/orgs can’t agree on how SCA 10 would inform late-term abortion restrictions. In this latest Opp Now exclusive, prominent legal experts and advocacy nonprofits (from multiple viewpoints) parse the bill.
Read MoreExtend light rail (arguably the nation's worst-performing mass transit system) to Eastridge? Demolish downtown SJ yet again for a dubious BART extension? And get ready for HSR to rip up our neighborhoods? As Michael Arnold suggests in Discourse Magazine, the ridership numbers don't get close to justifying the monumental costs. Transit hasn't even returned to pre-COVID numbers—and maybe never will.
Read MoreIs it surprising that weakening Oakland’s city law enforcement directly increased local homicides, carjacking, and shootings? BLM’s calls to defund the police in 2020 led to the Oakland PD rerouting valuable funds to non-violent safety programs, which, ever-so-bafflingly, encouraged rampant criminal activity. California Globe’s Evan Symon examines the OPD case and why weakening local PDs invariably fails residents.
Read MorePublic schools’ ubiquitous “not enough money” refrains were quenched temporarily by post-COVID federal aid packages, totaling $26.4+ billion for the Golden State. However, only 1% of Californian school districts’ spending was monitored to confirm the cash was being invested in students (as opposed to plumping up administrators’ salaries). The California Policy Center’s Parent Union Ambassador Celeste Fiehler makes the case for transparent, accountable budgetary oversight for public schools receiving federal aid.
Read MoreCalifornia’s lack of bond, also known as zero dollar bail policies, has been widely criticized by local safety advocates and SJ’s own police sergeant. Analyzing a Los Angeles smash-and-grab case from last December, it becomes clear why. Rob Hayes reports how 14 (13 of them adult) criminal suspects were released after a day in jail. The crime? Roughly $338,000 in stolen property; $40,000 in damages to the stores.
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