Policy Priorities

  • Emphasizing Public Safety for All California Families: California families need to feel safe, whether they are in their homes or on their streets.

  • Establishing Commonsense Solutions for the Homelessness Crisis: Over-regulated housing markets, wasteful spending on programs that do not work, and mismanaged infrastructure projects have driven up housing costs.

  • Making the California Economy Work Again: Companies have been leaving California at an alarming rate, but the state can start to reverse this trend by cutting taxes and reducing regulations.

  • Tapping Into Unparalleled Energy Capacity: California should explore new pathways of energy independent and achieve its potential to be the bedrock of American energy production.

  • Ensuring Education Opportunities for California’s Children: California families must have access to the best educational systems, and children from all backgrounds should be able to attend a school of their choice.

Download America First California Summary

Our Nation is a land of dreams, and nowhere has this dream stirred the imagination more than the great state of California. California embodies the pioneering spirit that anything is possible and that ours is a country of boundless hope and opportunity. This is what drove men and women past the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada Mountains, on covered wagons and against all odds, towards this land of milk and honey. The land itself began to represent something unconquerable in the human spirit, something that was uniquely and undeniably American.

Later still, drawn by stories of gold speckling the riverbeds, small towns started to form among old Spanish outposts. Orange groves crept up the coast. Trains and automobiles arrived and oil derricks began to appear. Earthquakes came, but the brave people of California rebuilt. The cities grew bigger and wider and the freeways broader, and the people, with the horrors of two world wars behind them, sought warmth and the ocean. This time, they were driven by different dreams, but the indomitable American spirit was still at the heart of them.

And yet, at some point in the last 40 years, California lost its way. Unfortunately, burdensome regulations, crippling taxes, high energy costs, and even higher crime rates have become the norm. And sadly, departing businesses and abandoned storefronts now mark what was once the land of plenty. On top of all this, California is now witnessing an increasingly intolerant culture war waged against those who do not subscribe to certain ideologies.

Based on the belief that there is still hope for turning things around, the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit, non-partisan research institute that educates lawmakers and the American public on the policies that put America first, has founded a state chapter in California. Building on AFPI’s America First Agenda, AFPI-California is committed to the renewal of California. By embracing the policies that helped build California’s economy, this state can once again experience a bright new chapter.

Team

Latest

Research Report | July 2, 2024

California’s Homeowner Insurance Market Freefall: Regulatory Folly Run Amok

California’s homeowner insurance market is in the grips of an urgent crisis as major insurers cancel existing policies, refuse to write new policies, and, in some cases, abandon the state’s insurance market entirely.

Fact Sheet | July 1, 2024

California Workers Need Universal Licensing Recognition

Nearly 1 in 6 workers in California are forced to seek permission from the government through an occupational license to work in their desired field.

Fact Sheet | June 10, 2024

Improving Foster Care & Adoption Systems in California

Of nearly 400,000 children in foster care in the United States, more than 60,000 children (15%) are in the foster care system in California.

Op-Ed | June 3, 2024

Jessica Tapia carries Coach Kennedy’s torch in the fight for religious freedom

In the ongoing saga of defending religious liberties, Jessica Tapia’s journey stands as a poignant reminder of the challenges faced by those who dare to uphold their faith in the public sphere. As a former teacher at California’s Jurupa Unified School District, Tapia found herself last year entangled in a legal battle when she refused to compromise her Christian beliefs in the face of institutional directives on gender identity and pronoun usage. Tapia emerged victorious, with the Jurupa Unified School District in Riverside County agreeing to pay her $360,000 in damages.

Op-Ed | May 29, 2024

Let Californians Vote on the Taxpayer Protection Initiative

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