Reason Foundation

October 18, 2016

Top Story

Voter Guide: 2016 California Ballot Initiatives

Examining how the statewide ballot initiatives will impact personal freedom, taxpayers and the state's finances.

Adrian Moore, Spence Purnell

Reason Foundation’s policy analysts have studied California’s 17 statewide ballot initiatives, some of which will have a significant impact on the state’s future. Click on a proposition number below for a detailed examination of the policy issues and the potential fiscal and societal impacts of the initiatives. 

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Air Traffic Control Newsletter #137

Will an ATC corporation actually benefit airlines? | The Hill publishes debunked ATC reform claims

Robert Poole

In this issue:

• Will an ATC corporation actually benefit airlines?
• The Hill publishes debunked ATC reform claims
• NextGen vision not being implemented—Inspector General
• Controller strikes: Europe vs. the United States
• Further perspective on electronic flight strips
• Upcoming Event
• News Notes
• Quotable Quotes

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Annual Privatization Report 2016

Privatization trends in local, state and federal government, plus highways, aviation, education, criminal justice, and more

Leonard Gilroy

Now in its 29th year of publication, Reason Foundation's Annual Privatization Report is the world's longest running and most comprehensive report on privatization news, developments and trends.

Annual Privatization Report 2016 details the latest on privatization and government reform initiatives at all levels of government. The individual sections include:

• Air Transportation
• Surface Transportation
• Transportation Finance
• Education
• Federal Government Privatization
• Local Government Privatization
• State Government Privatization
• Criminal Justice and Corrections

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Pension Reform Newsletter - September 2016

Michigan pension reform, California court ruling, net amortization, bad pension investment returns, and more

Leonard Gilroy, Anthony Randazzo

In This Issue:

• Michigan Pension Reform Case Study
• How Flexible Is the California Rule?
• Another Tool to Measure Pension Health: Net Amortization
• Positivity on Bad Pension Investment Returns?
• Ranking of State Finances Offers Insight on Public Pension Debt
• Contribution Rate Volatility vs. Long-Term Pension Underfunding
• Could Buffered Index Funds Help Struggling Public Pensions?
• Glossary of Pension Terminology

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How Flexible Is the California Rule? A Tale of Four Cases

California appellate court upholds statute limiting pension spiking, but it may be reversed on appeal

Alexander Volokh

California is notorious for having the "California Rule," a constitutional doctrine that is highly protective—some would say overprotective—of public-employee pensions and that has stood as an obstacle to public-employee pension reform for over half a century. Seeking at least some relief from rising pension costs, the California Legislature passed a statute in 2013 limiting the practice of "pension spiking," by which government bodies allow public employees to artificially inflate their ending compensation in order to increase those employees' pensions. This statute was recently upheld in an August 2016 appellate court ruling. If the California Supreme Court upholds this decision, it could ease the state's pension woes to a certain extent. But the Court of Appeal's reasoning is questionable and rests on a strained reading of past California cases. Thus, it wouldn't be surprising if the Supreme Court eventually reversed this decision.

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The Only “Streak” That Matters is How Often Pension Investment Returns Exceed Expectations

Pension administartors in Florida, California, and others are taking a strange tone with respect to their investment returns this year

Anthony Randazzo

Pension plans around the country have been sounding awfully happy about their really bad investment returns for the current fiscal year. It’s nice that they want to be so cheerful, but there is a problem with the positivity: it’s based on an idea that the goal is to simply get returns greater than 0% each year. But pension systems need to do more than just avoid losing money. For the Florida Retirement System, the goal is to get returns greater than 7.65%. For CalPERS, the goal is to beat 7.5%.

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22nd Annual Highway Report

South Carolina, South Dakota and Kansas Have the Nation’s Most Cost-Effective State Highway Systems

Alaska Ranks Last, Just Ahead of New Jersey and Hawaii

Annual Highway Report finds 40 states now have traffic delays that cost drivers at least 20 hours per year; states made progress on deficient bridges; state highway spending decreased slightly; and pavement conditions worsened marginally.

David T. Hartgen, Baruch Feigenbaum, M. Gregory Fields

The nation’s top-performing, most cost-effective highways can be found in South Carolina, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska and Maine, according to Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report. 

The study finds the worst-performing, least cost-effective highway systems are in Alaska, New Jersey, Hawaii, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. 

Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report tracks the performance of state-owned highway systems in 11 categories, including highway spending, pavement and bridge condition, traffic congestion, and fatality rates. The study is based on spending and performance data that state highway agencies submitted to the federal government for 2013, the most recent year with complete data available. 

The numbers show a widening performance gap emerging. Most states are making some small progress with their state highway systems but a group of states are struggling and failing to improve. 

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22nd Annual Highway Report
State-by-State Summaries

Overviews of how each state performs in key categories, including pavement condition, deficient bridges, traffic congestion and spending per mile.

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