Surf Revolt

The authority’s draft 2026 business plan, a lost federal grant and a long timeline leave taxpayers asking what they are buying California High-Speed Rail Now Projected at $231 Billion; Voters Were Promised $33 Billion The authority’s draft 2026 business plan, a lost federal grant and a long timeline leave taxpayers asking what they are buying [&hel

Three official figures, $231 billion, $18 billion and 29.1 percent, explain why residents feel the state’s costs are moving faster than their wages California’s Mood Swings: Insurance, Rail and Budget Numbers Behind the Anxiety Three official figures, $231 billion, $18 billion and 29.1 percent, explain why residents feel the state’s costs are movin

A unanimous April 2026 ruling in a Los Osos housing case redraws the line between state and local control of the coast California Supreme Court Tells the Coastal Commission It Cannot Overrule a County Permit A unanimous April 2026 ruling in a Los Osos housing case redraws the line between state and local control of […]

The state’s budget now leans on a handful of AI-linked companies, and the LAO is not comfortable with that The Legislative Analyst Warns California of an $18 Billion Hole and an Overheated Market The state’s budget now leans on a handful of AI-linked companies, and the LAO is not comfortable with that The Headline Figures […]

The insurer of last resort now covers more than 668,000 homes, and its exposure has grown by 230 percent in a year California’s FAIR Plan Wins a 29.1 Percent Rate Rise as Wildfire Risk Reprices the Coast The insurer of last resort now covers more than 668,000 homes, and its exposure has grown by 230 […]

A UC Berkeley study found a 3.7 percent price rise and no overall job loss, while franchise owners and critics point to other data What the Research Says About California’s $20 Fast-Food Wage So Far A UC Berkeley study found a 3.7 percent price rise and no overall job loss, while franchise owners and critics […]

Sam George’s April 2025 column in The Inertia says thin margins could push prices up by as much as 25 percent in some cases Surfboard Makers Brace for Tariffs on Foam, Resin and Fins, One Surf Writer Warns Sam George’s April 2025 column in The Inertia says thin margins could push prices up by as […]

From the 1972 ballot to this year’s Supreme Court ruling, California’s coast has been a running argument about liberty and the commons Who Owns the Wave? The Coastal Act, Public Access and the Surfer’s Sense of Freedom From the 1972 ballot to this year’s Supreme Court ruling, California’s coast has been a running argument about […]

California voters will decide this November on a 5 percent tax on billionaires’ wealth, but new research challenges the economics behind it, and billionaire departures have already shrunk the very base it aims to tax A Tax On Wealth, Once This November, California voters will decide Proposition 40, a ballot measure that would impose what […]

California’s average pump price came within 4.4 cents of the 2022 all-time high this month, and while a war in Iran pushed crude higher, two refinery closures and a hostile policy climate explain why California pays far more than everyone else The Price Of A Dawn Patrol Every surfer in California knows the arithmetic. Load […]

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 […]