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In the first 10 months of 2004, 94,000 people surrendered California licenses with the Arizona DMV, according to Tracy Clark, associate director of the Bank One Economic Outlook Center at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University in Tempe. That's a 20 percent increase over the figure in the first 10 months of 2003. If current trends continue, nearly 113,000 Californians will move to Arizona in 2004 � an all-time high and more than double the 53,464 that moved there in 1998.

On Nov. 18, the Public Policy Institute of California released a "Special Survey on Californians and Their Housing." [if found that] 24 percent of Californians are so worried about the cost of housing that they are being forced to "seriously consider moving - to another part of the state or away from California altogether." Many residents near the coast already are taking action, the study found, by moving to inland areas of California ..

Also on Nov. 18, Pacific Research Institute released .. the "U.S. Economic Freedom Index: 2004 Report." It compares tax and regulatory policies for all 50 states .. California ranked an appalling 49th, better only than New York in terms of high taxes and restrictive regulation.