Editor’s note: Breaking views are thoughts from individual members of the editorial board on today’s headlines.

The Cato Institute has released its 2018 ranking of the states on personal and economic freedom. Once again, California finds itself at the bottom of the list, coming in at 48th overall, a ranking unchanged since 2014.

While California fared relatively well on certain measures – particularly on social and justice policies – the state’s poor performance on fiscal and regulatory policy and economic freedom generally contributed greatly to the low ranking.

The report notes that despite having lower than average government employment (11.2 percent of private employment), California’s taxes (10.8 percent of adjusted personal income) and government debts (20.9 percent of personal income) are high.

“Despite Proposition 13, California is one of the highest-taxed states in the country,” the report notes. With a coalition of public sector unions and other special interest groups promoting a potential 2020 measure to partially undo Prop. 13 protections, that distinction could become even worse.

The ranking also notes California’s status as “the most cronyist state in the union.”

There are plenty of things to point to demonstrate this point. One specific example the ranking points out is California’s use of occupational licensing, which the report described as “extensive and strict.”

The Institute for Justice has oted that out of 102 lower-income jobs it studied, California licenses 76 of them, with often much stricter licensing requirements than other states.

Occupational licensing limits competition by raising barriers to entry for a litany of jobs, which in turn results in higher costs to consumers. This creates considerable incentives for protected trades to lobby against lifting licensing requirements. Just this year, Sacramento Democrats killed a common sense reform to lift licensing requirements for simple tasks like shampooing, arranging and dressing hair.

Meanwhile, the report observes that “California is one of the worst states on land-use freedom,” with several cities having rent control policies in place, restricted housing development in the coastal areas and the state’s policies on eminent domain far from ideal. As with taxes, this too could soon get worse, with well-meaning but misguided rent control advocates pushing a ballot measure this November which will make rent control easier to implement.

With the high-cost of housing contributing greatly to California’s status as the poorest state in the nation, land-use freedom is critical to lifting many Californians out of poverty. But as long as NIMBYs are able to derail housing developments with lawsuits and referenda, I don’t see this much better. More extensive rent control will only make matters worse.

On the bright side, the report does give California some kudos on social freedoms, though it notes that “it is quite mediocre on personal freedom.” While California ranks poorly on gun rights, the report notes California’s liberal approach to marijuana, physician-assisted suicide, marriage freedom and reduced reliance on incarceration.

Those are all positives. One doesn’t need to personally approve of marijuana use, physician-assisted suicide or gay marriage to recognize that these are fundamentally matters that are better left to individuals to decide for themselves.

Reductions in incarceration and drug arrests are also steps in the right direction.

According to a recent report from the Prison Policy Initiative, California’s incarceration rate of 581 per 100,000 is grossly out of step with nations like the United Kingdom and Canada where the respective incarceration rates are 139 per 100,000 and 114 per 100,000. If most countries can solve their problems without resorting to locking so many people up, we can too.

On the policy recommendations side, the reports suggests California cut spending and use that money to address its large debt problem. On land use, it’s recommended that the state withhold housing funds to local governments with exclusionary zoning, and that the state limit the ability of NIMBYs to hold referenda on housing developments. And finally, the report suggests California expand legal gambling.

As far as I’m concerned, those are all sound suggestions. But, with few exceptions, California is generally a place where sound suggestions go to die.

Sal Rodriguez is an editorial writer and columnist for the Southern California News Group. He may be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com