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Lawrence J. McQuillan
Founder and Director, California Golden Fleece® Award


Jonathan Hofer
Report Author and Research Associate


Douglas E. Koehler
Report Author and Policy Analyst

California agencies failed to plan effectively, failed to prepare, and failed to respond quickly or at all to the COVID-19 pandemic. When government agencies did respond, they found themselves playing a high-stakes game of catch-up, as many regulations imposed for years, even decades, prevented quick, efficient, and flexible responses.

Eliminating burdensome regulations during the pandemic sped up the delivery of critical supplies and personnel to California’s citizens, according to authors of a new Policy Report from the Independent Institute. The authors say if it works during this crisis, it will work when the crisis is over.

“If removing harmful regulations during a crisis is the moral action to help patients and save lives, it would be immoral to reimpose the same regulations when the crisis ends,” said Lawrence McQuillan, Ph.D., Independent Institute Senior Fellow and co-author of the Report.

For these continual failings, the Independent Institute awards its eleventh California Golden Fleece® Award—a dishonor given quarterly to California state or local agencies or government projects that swindle taxpayers or break the public trust—to several federal and state officials and regulatory agencies for enacting or enforcing regulations that created crucial healthcare shortages and prevented a fast and efficient response by public and private entities to COVID-19.

To find out more about the California Golden Fleece^® Awards, the Independent Institute, and how you can be a part of real solutions, visit us online or follow us on Twitter @CAGoldenFleece.