Surf Revolt

A Pacific Research Institute study finds job growth since the pandemic at less than half the national rate and a shrinking share of the national economy, as Cato and Mercatus rankings place California near the bottom for tax and regulatory freedom A State At A Turning Point California remains the largest economy in the United […]

SB 747 creates a state right to sue any official, federal, state or local, who violates constitutional rights under color of law, a rare civil liberties win that still leaves victims facing a judge-made shield A New Right To Sue For years, Americans whose constitutional rights were violated by federal officers have faced a near […]

The long fight over a gated beach in San Mateo County, owned by a billionaire venture capitalist and challenged by surfers, poses hard questions for anyone who loves both the ocean and property rights A Gate On The Road To The Sea For generations, surfers, anglers and families drove down a private road off Highway […]

From October 15, many policyholders in the state-created insurer of last resort face average increases of 29.1 percent, the latest symptom of a market that price controls and regulatory delay have pushed toward collapse The Last Resort Gets Pricier For a growing number of California homeowners, the California FAIR Plan is not a choice. It […

Since July 1, goat herders have been covered by standard minimum wage and overtime rules, a change that grazing businesses say could make fire-prevention grazing unaffordable in a state desperate to clear brush The Four-Legged Fire Crew Drive the hills behind California’s coastal towns in late summer, from the canyons above Malibu to the ridges [&h

A bill from State Senator Josh Becker would add war to the emergencies that trigger California’s 10 percent price-gouging cap, including on rents, adding another layer of controls to an already strained housing market War As An Emergency At Home California already has local rent control in many cities and a statewide cap on annual […]

A September executive order directs experts to recommend stronger AI safety laws within two months, including auditors and a possible kill switch for frontier models, as critics warn California is positioning itself as a super regulator for the nation A New Order From The Capitol California has long exported its rules to the rest of […]

A Legislative Analyst’s Office review finds that shifting lower-level offenders from state prisons to counties produced a modest rise in property crime and no effect on violent crime, as the state’s crime rate stands 27 percent below 2011 An Experiment Born Of Necessity In 2011, California’s prisons were operating at about 180 percent of their [&he

Props 1, 37 and 45 show a state that would rather subsidise scarcity than remove the rules that create it Anyone trying to rent or buy near the California coast knows the price of a place to live. The November ballot offers three answers to the problem, each with a different theory of what is […]

Six billionaires reportedly left before the residency deadline, and the revenue the union counted on left with them Surfers understand something that central planners keep forgetting: you cannot hold a wave in place. It moves, it breaks where conditions allow, and anyone who tries to charge for it at one spot discovers that the lineup […]

California’s November ballot asks voters three questions about how much government should hold, how much it should keep and who must agree Every few years California voters are asked to write a rule about money into the constitution. This November, three of the 14 statewide measures concern fiscal architecture, and each reflects a different instinc

A 7-0 ruling over a handful of homes in Los Osos limits a regulator that has long acted as the final word on 1,000 miles of coast Surfers have a complicated relationship with the California Coastal Commission. The agency has protected beaches and access, and it has also decided what can be built, where and […]

Malibu’s best-known surf beach has thinned almost to the highway, a report traces the loss to decisions made a century ago, and the bill is looking for an address Paying for Sand in Malibu A beach looks like the most permanent thing in the world. It is in fact a flow. Sand arrives from rivers […]

When California lets an owner armour a bluff it asks for something in return, and a dispute at Pismo Beach turned on whether pumping sand or building a stairway is a fair exchange Mitigation: What Is Owed for a Lost Beach The Coastal Act allows a seawall where an existing structure is in danger. It […]

A coastal city wanted zones where seawalls could stay, surf advocates called it death by seawall, and the state has armoured its own road at San Onofre Pacifica, the State and Who Decides People who distrust distant government generally prefer decisions to be made close to home. A city council is easier to reach than […]

A billionaire’s locked road south of Half Moon Bay forces defenders of property rights to decide what, exactly, was bought Martins Beach Access Dispute: Property Rights, Custom and the Limits of Ownership South of Half Moon Bay, a private road runs from the coast highway down to a crescent of sand known for its surf […]

American Wave Machines is suing a Canadian rival over pneumatic wave technology, a dispute that tests whether intellectual property spurs innovation or fences it in Wave Pool Patent Lawsuit: Property Rights in an Idea The business of manufacturing surf has grown from novelty to industry. Parks are open or under construction on several continents, e

A deal that would have opened three-quarters of a mile of beach to those arriving by surfboard or kayak drew more than 1,500 objections, and a lesson in public choice Hollister Ranch Settlement: A Lesson in How Public Rights Get Traded When a government agency and a private association settle a lawsuit, the people most […]

A proposal to write a no-subsidy rule into the city charter is the right instinct, but mega-events have a way of sending the bill to people who never bought a ticket LA 2028 Olympics and the Taxpayer: Can a Mega-Event Really Cost Nothing? In two summers, Los Angeles will host the Olympic and Paralympic Games. […]

Parking and entry charges at the shoreline divide those who see a free birthright from those who think users should pay for what they use Beach Access Fees in California: The Economics of Paying to Park by the Sea The California coast is public. Getting your car near it frequently is not free. For surfers, […]

Australia’s Gold Coast builds surfing into its sea defences, California mostly protects access and hopes, and the libertarian has to decide whether a wave should be designed by a committee Surf Breaks and Coastal Planning A good wave is an accident. It needs a particular shape of sea floor, a particular angle of swell and […]

For decades, building at Hollister Ranch has required an in-lieu payment toward public access, and the access has yet to be provided Hollister Ranch In-Lieu Fee: Paying the State for a Service It Has Not Delivered If a private company collected a charge for decades toward a product it never supplied, there would be a […]

A September swell forced evacuations on the Long Beach Peninsula and closed roads in Malibu, and each emergency response quietly answers a question about who pays Coastal Risk After the September Swell In September a hurricane far out in the Pacific sent large surf onto the Southern California coast at the same time as unusually […]

The wave is one of the few valuable resources in California with no owner and no regulator, and the way surfers ration it is a lesson in order without law The Surf Lineup as a Commons: Order Without Government Walk down any California beach and you cross an invisible boundary. Above the mean high tide […]

Governments that tell homeowners to make way for the sea have a great deal of their own property at the water’s edge, and how they treat it is a test of whether the rules are meant Public Infrastructure on a Moving Coast Most arguments about coastal erosion are framed as a contest between private owners […]

California has considered condemning a road to Martins Beach and has passed the hat for the cost, raising a rare case where the constitutional remedy is also the market one Eminent Domain at Martins Beach: Why Paying for Access Is the Principled Option Libertarians are not known for enthusiasm about eminent domain. The power of […]

When some owners on a bluff want a wall and the one in the middle does not, the state has to decide, and the case shows why private agreement is harder than it sounds The Solana Beach Seawall Case Those who favour private solutions to public problems have a standard hope. Leave people alone, define […]

California law ordered public access to one of its best surf coasts in the early 1980s, and the story since is a case study in what government promises and what it delivers Hollister Ranch Public Access: A Mandate From 1981 That Never Arrived West of Gaviota State Park, the Santa Barbara County coast bends toward […]