SACRAMENTO -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders on Wednesday announced that two Hoover Institution fellows are among those appointed to the Commission on the 21st-Century Economy.
Appointed by the governor were Hoover senior fellows Michael Boskin and John Cogan. Also appointed were Gerald Parsky (chair), Ruben Barrales, Becky Morgan, and Curt Pringle.
The legislature appointed Christopher Edley Jr., George Halvorson, Jennifer Ito, Fred Keeley, Monica Lozano and Richard Pomp.
In November, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order S-12-08, creating the bipartisan Commission on the 21st-Century Economy to reexamine and modernize California's out-of-date revenue-gathering laws that contribute to feast-or-famine state budget cycles.
The new 12-member commission, made up of legislative and gubernatorial appointees, will suggest changes that, it is hoped, will result in a revenue stream that is more stable and reflective of the state economy. This long-term action will help avoid the extreme revenue swings that cause crippling deficits and maintain a tax structure that will ensure our continued competitiveness and attraction to employers and workers.
Details on governor’s appointees are as follows:
Michael Boskin, 63, of Portola Valley, is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and the T.M. Friedman Professor of Economics at Stanford University since 1978. Boskin has served on the Governor's Council of Economic Advisers since 2004 and as a research associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research since 1975. He also served as chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1989 to 1993 and, from 1995 to 1996, on the Blue-Ribbon Commission on the Consumer Price Index.
John Cogan, 61, of Portola Valley, currently serves as the Leonard and Shirley Ely Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; he has been a professor in the public policy program at Stanford University since 1980. Additionally, he serves on the faculty advisory boards for the Stanford-in-Washington Program and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. During the Reagan administration, Cogan served as deputy in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and as assistant secretary for policy for the U.S. Department of Labor. Cogan currently serves as a member of Governor Schwarzenegger's Council of Economic Advisers.
Gerald Parsky, 66, of Rancho Santa Fe, has been chairman of the Aurora Capital Group, a private investment firm, since 1992.
Ruben Barrales, 46, of Del Mar, has served as president and chief executive officer for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce since 2006.
Becky Morgan, 70, of Los Altos Hills, founded the Morgan Family Foundation in 1993 and has served as its president since 1999. From 1993 to 1998, she served as president and chief executive officer of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley and was a California state senator from 1984 to 1993.
Curt Pringle, 49, of Anaheim, has served as mayor of the city of Anaheim since 2002 and president of Curt Pringle and Associates since 1999.
Details on the legislative appointees follow:
Christopher Edley has been the dean and professor of law for the Boalt Hall School of Law since 2004. Previously he had been a professor at Harvard University for 23 years.
George Halvorson has been the chairman and chief executive officer of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals since 2002.
Jennifer Ito is the research, training, and policy education director of SCOPE, a community-based organization dedicated to reducing and eliminating structural barriers to social and economic opportunities for poor and working class communities.
Fred Keeley has been treasurer of Santa Cruz County since 2005 and is also a political science professor at San Jose State University.
Monica Lozano is the publisher and chief executive officer of La Opinión and serves as senior vice president of its parent company, ImpreMedia.
Richard Pomp is the Alva P. Loiselle Professor of Law at the University of Connecticut and a consultant to cities, states, the Multistate Tax Commission, the Navajo Nation, the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Treasury, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Internal Revenue Service.
