To have and have not: The California debate intensifies

by ANTHONY YORK posted 01.28.2015

A homeless man in a wheelchair wiping his eyes at a pier in Oceanside, Calif. (Photo: David Little via Shutterstock)

We are moving into the post-industrial age, an era of mechanized production, where machines can increasingly do jobs that used to pay real people livable wages. In California, we have strong environmental and labor regulations that did not exist at the birth of the industrial age. These rules have improved and saved lives of workers and the communities where manufacturing plants are based. But they have also driven costs of manufacturing higher.

News

Personnel Profile: George Steffes, the octogenarian golf guru

Retired lobbyist George Steffes, prepared for his favorite activity. (Photo: Rich Ehisen)

by RICH EHISEN posted 01.28.2015

If you want to play better golf, longtime Capitol lobbyist-turned-golf-instructor George Steffes has some advice: learn how to throw a club. Now Steffes – who once upon a time was Gov. Ronald Reagan’s Legislative Director – is not encouraging duffers to pitch a hissy fit when things go wrong on the course. Throwing a club – or more accurately, tossing a club at a specific target – is just one of many drills he uses to help folks work out their swing.

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Court ruling could jeopardize California redistricting

by JOHN HOWARD posted 01.26.2015

California and Arizona are two states that couldn’t be further apart in temperament and size. But in one crucial issue – the drawing of political boundaries – they are joined at the hip, as California’s redistricting commission made clear Friday to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Opinions

GOP electoral strategy making headway

by JESSICA PATTERSON posted 01.26.2015

OPINION: Make no mistake, while modest, legislative gains made by GOP candidates were the result of a well-crafted strategy, quality candidates and disciplined campaigning. The blueprint for these elections can become a foundation for a continued Republican resurgence and, long-term, it can help the Party compete and win statewide.

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UC: Butting heads in a committee of two

On the campus of UC Berkeley, Sather Gate. (Photo: cdrin via Shutterstock)

by SAMANTHA GALLEGOS posted 01.25.2015

Forty years later, the parsimonious Brown is still butting heads with the UC system’s president over money. The issue is simple: The state wants to know in detail how UC spends its money, the first step if the state is to give the system more money in the 2015-2016 budget.

Opinions

Cap-and-trade: Fix needed now on regulation

A powerplant at sunset. (Photo: David Crockett)

by SHELLY SULLIVAN posted 01.23.2015

Gov. Jerry Brown proposed in his recent state-of-the-state address that California should take steps to approve an aggressive new greenhouse gas reduction goal for 2030. This additional proposal would take California beyond the current 2020 goal set by Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The AB 32 Implementation Group is concerned that creating a 2030 goal will shift attention away from current regulations that are intended to meet the greenhouse gas emissions goal California’s elected officials adopted in 2006 for 2020.

News

Distrust part of independent voters’ makeup

A Californian casts a ballot. (Photo: Vepar5 via Shutterstock)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 01.22.2015

Skeptical, younger, grumpy and suspicious – that about sums up California’s independent voters. Distrustful of institutions, disenchanted with government and leery of the major political parties, the reach of the independent voter is widening, according to the head of a top research institution.

News

Redistricting panel prepares U.S. Supreme Court filing

by JOHN HOWARD posted 01.21.2015

California’s voter-approved commission that draws the boundaries for legislative and congressional districts is going to the U.S. Supreme Court to support a similar commission in Arizona, which is locked in a power struggle with that state’s Legislature.

News

No way in: Millions of people excluded from ACA

Photo of Dominga Sarabia by Lily Dayton, design by Cathy Krizik (HealthyCal.org)

by LILY DAYTON posted 01.21.2015

California Health Report: An estimated  2.6 million undocumented California residents are explicitly barred by law from the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The legislation has been a huge boon for many Californians: More than 3 million previously uninsured Californians gained health insurance since the start of the ACA’s first enrollment period. Almost 30 percent of the remaining uninsured, however, are undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for both Medi-Cal and assistance through Covered California.