Next Roun‪d‬ Pacific Research Institute

This podcast is a recording of the health care panel discussion at PRI’s virtual Sacramento Policy Conference. Our All-Star panelists include Sally Pipes, PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy; Wayne Winegarden, PRI senior fellow in business and economics and director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics and Innovation; and Dr. Henry Miller, PRI senior fellow in health studies. It also includes introductory remarks from PRI Board Member Daniel Kolkey. PRI’s health care experts discuss health care policy reforms that should be made permanent following the pandemic, and the latest developments on Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics.

Policymakers in Sacramento and Washington are focusing on how to turn the economy around, keep businesses afloat, and help people stay employed amidst the ongoing pandemic. Elected officials, policy insiders, and free market economists discuss efforts to retain and create new jobs in California, the federal stimulus legislation, and other reforms to reduce costs and economic burdens on employers and employees.  The speakers are: Wayne Winegarden, PRI senior fellow in business and economics and director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics and Innovation; Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute; Lance Hastings of the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, and Professor Michael Thom of USC.

Newly elected Representative Young Kim of Orange County provided the keynote address at this year’s virtual Sacramento Ideas in Action Policy conference. Rep. Kim discusses her first days in Congress, her legislative priorities, and her goal to forge bipartisanship in Washington.

Cynthia Ariosta and Carl Dene of the Coalition of Bay Area Restaurants and Wineries discuss the impact of Gov. Newsom’s on again/off again restrictions on small businesses.  The pandemic has hit California hard, especially small businesses and employees of restaurants and wineries.  Cynthia and Carl provide first-hand experience on what they have done to survive the pandemic, the cost of the outside dining restrictions to  their establishments, and what they would do to help small businesses thrive and prosper in the state.

The new Pacific Research Institute book A Kite in a Hurricane No More profiles the challenges and ultimate triumph of Mia Giordano, a young woman with serious learning disabilities. As we observe National School Choice Week 2021, this podcast features Mia along with Lance Izumi, senior director of PRI’s Center for Education; Mia’s mother, Christine Zanello; and Barbara Arrowsmith, founder of the Arrowsmith Program that helped Mia succeed. Learn what policy changes would ensure every American child has the same choices that Mia has had.

PRI former speechwriters offer their perspective on President Biden’s inaugural speech.  Lance Izumi was speechwriter to Attorney General Edwin Meese and Gov. Deukmejian and is now PRI’s senior director of education studies,  Tim Anaya was speechwriter to Gov. Schwarzenegger and other California lawmakers and now PRI senior director of communications, and Rowena Itchon was a speechwriter to Gov. Wilson and a research assistant in Pres. Reagan’s speechwriting office, and now senior vice president at PRI.