| Founder and Advisor: | Lawrence J. McQuillan |
| Director: | Kristian Fors |
| Policy Research Associate: | Jonathan Hofer |
The California Golden Fleece® Awards are a series of in-depth reports from the Independent Institute that expose waste, fraud, and abuse in California on the state or local level. To receive this ignoble designation, a program, agency, policy, tax, or regulation must violate common-sense principles of responsible government, be considered wasteful by people of varying political philosophies, and must be well documented. On occasion, the awards also spotlight a federal program that disproportionately harms Californians.
We encourage people—both inside and outside of government—to send us Fleece candidates. Public participation will help make the California Golden Fleece® Awards a more valuable resource for exposing government waste, increasing transparency, and holding government at all levels accountable when they swindle taxpayers or break the public trust.
Winner: Winter 2024/25
For its harmful impact on civil liberties and justice, the Independent Institute has awarded its fifteenth California Golden Fleece® Award to the CalGang database and California’s gang laws—especially Penal Code Section 182.5—which have blurred the line between innocence and guilt.
Full Report:
Winner: Winter 2023/24
Politicians and regulators have earned the Independent Institute’s fourteenth California Golden Fleece® Award for policies that break the public trust by undermining market competition and increasing retail gasoline prices, all the while blaming and shaming oil and gasoline producers and marketers for problems that government officials created through their policy choices.
Full Report:
News coverage
Winner: Summer 2022
For adopting automated license plate readers without proper safeguards to protect public privacy and public safety, jurisdictions and police departments with ALPR operations have earned the thirteenth California Golden Fleece® Award.
Full Report:
Video
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Oakland’s Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) Debacle, by Jonathan Hofer
Something is Rotten in the State of Denmark—ALPRs, by Jonathan Hofer
Endorsements
A Law Enforcement Officer’s Take on Independent Institute’s ALPR Report, by Elias Amezuca
Winner: Winter 2021/22
For operating a dangerous, dirty, unreliable, and financially reckless public transportation system in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system has received the twelfth California Golden Fleece® Award.
Full Report:
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It’s Time to Rethink BART Expansion, by Lawrence J. McQuillan and Hovannes Abramyan
News coverage
Winner: Spring 2021
For adopting automated license plate readers without proper safeguards to protect public privacy and public safety, jurisdictions and police departments with ALPR operations have earned the thirteenth California Golden Fleece® Award.
Full Report:
Summary:
Video
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Emergency Reforms Worth Keeping, by Lawrence J. McQuillan and Jonathan Hofer
How to Make the COVID Vaccine Fast-Track the New Standard, by Lawrence J. McQuillan and Jonathan Hofer
How a Reformed FDA Can Speed Up Delivery of Lifesaving Drugs, by Lawrence J. McQuillan
News coverage
Winner: Summer 2020
For failing to update antiquated technology and wasting billions of dollars and many years on doomed IT projects, the California Department of Technology and other departments responsible for upgrading state IT systems have been named recipients of the tenth California Golden Fleece® Award.
Full Report:
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California Is the World’s Tech Capital, Except for Its Government’s Lousy IT, by Adam B. Summers
News coverage
Winner: Winter 2019/20
For preventing housing development, which would alleviate sky-high housing prices and growing homelessness, California state and local politicians, government planners and regulators, and NIMBY activists have been named recipients of the ninth California Golden Fleece® Award.
Full Report:
Summary:
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How Politics in San Francisco Deepens the City’s Housing Crisis, by Lawrence J. McQuillan
A Proposed Amendment to California’s Constitution to Resolve the Housing Affordability Crisis, by Lawrence J. McQuillan
California Would Have Low-Cost Housing If Government Allowed It: The Mortenson Experiment, by Lawrence J. McQuillan
We Got Housing Built after the 1906 Quake. We Can Do It Again. Here’s How., by Lawrence J. McQuillan
A Proposed California Constitutional Amendment to Resolve the Housing Affordability Crisis, by Lawrence J. McQuillan
How California Housing Reforms Would Boost Workers Nationwide, by Lawrence J. McQuillan
Thoughts on Housing Affordability and Homelessness in California, by Adam B. Summers
News coverage
“Resolving the Housing Affordability Crisis” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan appears on KAHI radio
March 2, 2020“OC Board of Supervisors back bill to speed up affordable housing projects” Research Fellow Adam Summers quoted in the Orange County Breeze
February 14, 2020“California’s Housing Cost Crisis” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan appears on Morning Briefing with Tim Farley on the POTUS Channel on SiriusXM radio
January 28, 2020“California Housing Crisis” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan appears on The David Webb Show on SiriusXM’s Patriot Channel
January 22, 2020Winner: Summer 2019
For pursuing faulty incentives that impeded fire prevention and the widespread adoption of scientific techniques to prevent, detect, and quickly suppress wildfires, several government agencies have been named recipients of the eighth California Golden Fleece® Award.
Full Report:
Videos
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Trump and Newsom Think Alike on Deadly Wildfires, by Lawrence J. McQuillan
If You Love Forests, Let Them Burn, by William F. Shughart II and Brian Isom
News coverage
“Why California’s Plan to Harden Homes against Wildfires Is Broken” Research Fellow Kristian Fors Op-Ed in the San Francisco Chronicle
February 22, 2025“Is California a Progressive Fantasyland?” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan interviewed on WIND radio’s Shaun Thompson show
October 6, 2022“Better Forest Management Will Reduce Wildfires” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan appears on the Andy Caldwell show on KUHL radio
September 29, 2022“California Wildfire Mismanagement” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece® Awards interviewed on the Bryan McClain Show on TNT radio
September 27, 2022“Recommendations for Reducing Forest Fires” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan interviewed on The Mike Ryan Show on TNT radio
September 27, 2022“How Much Is Gavin Newsom to Blame for California’s Wildfires?” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan quoted in The Federalist
September 11, 2021“Learning from Our Fire Failures” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the Independent Institute’s Golden Fleece Awards interviewed on Earth 2.0
October 27, 2020“Solutions for California Wildfires” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece Awards interviewed on KTOX radio
September 21, 2020“Wildfires & Climate Change” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece Awards appears on One America News Network
September 14, 2020“Plenty of blame for wildfire problems” California Golden Fleece® Awards mentioned in the Oroville Mercury-Register Letter to the Editor
December 18, 2019“California Fires: Technology” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece® Awards interviewed on KAHI radio in Auburn, CA
November 7, 2019“PG&E’s Role in CA Fires” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan appears on KFI radio Los Angeles
November 6, 2019“California Fires and PG&E Power Shutoffs” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece® Awards appears on KFAX radio
November 1, 2019“PG&E Shutoffs” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece® Awards appears on the Andy Caldwell show on KUHL radio
October 31, 2019“The Late Great Golden State” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece® Awards appears on KMED radio’s Bill Meyers show
October 31, 2019“Tools California Could Use to Better Prevent and Fight Wildfires” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan interviewed on KFBK radio
July 19, 2019“Recommendations to Prevent Future Fire Disasters” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan is interviewed on KCBS radio
July 6, 2019“High Tech Firefighting Techniques” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan interviewed on KMED radio in Medford, OR
July 3, 2019Winner: Winter 2018/19
For long lines, employees sleeping on the job, and severe mishandling of voter registrations, disability placards, driver’s licenses, and REAL IDs, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has won the Independent Institute’s seventh California Golden Fleece® Award.
Full Report:
Videos
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California’s DMV Drives Us Crazy, Reforms Are Needed, by Lawrence J. McQuillan
Time for California’s DMV to Enter the 21st Century, by Lawrence J. McQuillan and Megan E. Sarsfield
News coverage
“23 Million Still Need a Real ID from CA DMV” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan appears on KMJ radio
February 12, 2019“California DMV Needs Overhaul” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan appears on KRLA radio (LA)
February 12, 2019“DMV Solutions for Reform” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece Awards appears on KFI radio’s John and Ken Show (Los Angeles)
February 11, 2019“CA DMV Fleeces Customers” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan appears on Wake Up Call on KFI radio Los Angeles
January 30, 2019Winner: Fall 2018
For using taxpayer money to settle sexual misconduct claims and shielding the abuse from the public using special laws, offending lawmakers and government employees have been named recipients of the sixth California Golden Fleece® Award.
Full Report:
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No More Tax Dollars Spent to Settle Sexual Misconduct Claims, by Lawrence J. McQuillan
News coverage
“Your Taxes Pay for Politicians’ Bad Behavior” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, Director of the California Golden Fleece ® Awards appears on KOGO radio
December 5, 2018Winner: Summer 2018
For unleashing a crime wave on property owners, California’s Proposition 47 has been named the fifth recipient of the California Golden Fleece® Award. To secure justice and restore public confidence, lawmakers should enact stiffer penalties for property crimes, and law enforcement should prioritize “smash-and-grab” vehicle break-ins and retail shopliftings.
Full Report:
Videos
Winner: Fall 2017
For its reckless mismanagement of Oroville Dam—which caused a near catastrophe in February 2017—California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) has been named the fourth recipient of the California Golden Fleece® Award. Ownership of DWR dams should be transferred to responsible private parties as part of a modernization of the state’s outdated legacy water system.
Full Report:
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No More Patch and Pray—Privatize Oroville Dam, by Lawrence J. McQuillan, Hayeon Carol Park
Winner: Spring 2017
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection—CAL FIRE—has won the third California Golden Fleece® Award due to poor handling of fire safety and costs, severe lack of accountability to taxpayers and landowners, and numerous scandals.
Full Report:
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Cal Fire Must Prioritize Prevention, by Lawrence J. McQuillan
News coverage
“What the California Wildfires Can Teach Democrats about Taxation” Research Fellow Kristian Fors quoted on Liberty Nation
January 14, 2025“Californians ‘angry’ amid devastating wildfires, asking where high tax dollars went” Research Fellow Kristian Fors interviewed on FoxNews.com
January 12, 2025Winner: Summer 2016
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has won the second California Golden Fleece® Award for its waste of taxpayer money, while at the same time demanding more funding. Caltrans should be drastically scaled back as part of broader reforms to modernize California’s highways.
Full Report:
News coverage
“No Gas Taxation Without Better Representation” Independent Institute’s California Golden Fleece Award cited in the Orange County Register
December 7, 2017“The CalTrans Record of Shame” California Golden Fleece Award mentioned on Fox & Hounds
April 5, 2017Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan and Independent Institute’s CA Golden Fleece Award cited in Redding Record Searchlight (CA) editorial
September 12, 2016Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan and Independent Institute’s CA Golden Fleece Award cited in The Sacramento Bee editorial
September 7, 2016Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan and Independent Institute’s CA Golden Fleece Award cited in The Orange County Register editorial
September 4, 2016California Golden Fleece Award featured on FreedomBunker.com
August 23, 2016Winner: Spring 2016
The California High-Speed Rail Authority has won the first California Golden Fleece® Award for its lack of transparency and history of misleading the public about key details of the state’s “bullet-train” project, which no longer reflect what voters approved in 2008.
Full Report:
News coverage
“CA Gov. Newsom Slowing the California Bullet Train” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan appears on KAHI radio
February 28, 2019“California: Off the Rails” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan appears on KUHL radio’s Andy Caldwell show
February 26, 2019
Winners List
| Events | Date |
|---|---|
| Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece® Awards to speak at Vistage Key Executive Leadership & CEO Network at Sonoma State University Dec. 16-17 | Thu., Dec. 12, 2019 |
| “Taxpayer Toolkit: Is the DMV really fleecing Californians? featuring Lawrence McQuillan” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece® Awards speaks to the Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association in Santa Clara, CA | Thu., Jun. 27, 2019 |
| Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece Awards speaks at West Valley Republican Women Federated in San Jose, CA on Thursday, May 16 | Fri., May. 17, 2019 |
| Senior Fellow Lawrence McQuillan speaks on the California Golden Fleece Award to the Piedmont Area Republican Women’s Federation in Oakland, CA on March 13, 2019 | Wed., Mar. 13, 2019 |
| “California is Getting Fleeced” Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, director of the California Golden Fleece Award speaks at the Piedmont Area Republican Women Federated in Piedmont, CA March 13, 2019 | Wed., Mar. 13, 2019 |
| Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, creator of the California Golden Fleece Awards and author of California Dreaming speaks at the Sonoma Rotary Club, Sonoma, CA | Wed., Sep. 26, 2018 |
| Senior Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, creator of the California Golden Fleece Awards presents at the Rossmoor Republican Club on Sept. 17, 2018 | Mon., Sep. 17, 2018 |
| Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan to speak at Rotary Club of Sonoma Valley about the California Golden Fleece Awards on November 2, 2016 | Wed., Nov. 2, 2016 |
| Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, Founder and Director of the California Golden Fleece Awards to speak at the Sonoma County Taxpayers’ Association in Santa Rosa, CA on Thursday, July 21 | Thu., Jul. 21, 2016 |
| Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, Founder and Director of the California Golden Fleece Awards to speak at the Economic Roundtable of San Francisco on Wednesday, July 20 | Wed., Jul. 20, 2016 |
| Sr. Fellow Lawrence McQuillan, author of California Dreaming to speak at the California Liberty Summit in Fresno, California | Fri., May. 20, 2016 |
