A Californian casts a ballot. (Photo: Vepar5 via Shutterstock)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.
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A powerplant at sunset. (Photo: David Crockett)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.
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.
Photo of Dominga Sarabia by Lily Dayton, design by Cathy Krizik (HealthyCal.org)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.
Students at a Murrieta Valley Adult and Community education facility. (Photo: Murrieta Valley Adult School) Adult education in California may see its first funding increase in the state budget, following years of school closures and savage cuts stemming from the recession. The Department of Education estimates 100 school districts have closed their adult schools since districts were permitted to use “categorical” money in their budgets.
The apparent suicide last week of Alfred Villalobos, who faced a bribery trial next month, is a sad end for a former CalPERS board member paid more than $50 million by firms seeking money from the big pension fund. Most of his fees came from private equity firms during the years leading up to the financial crisis in 2008. Some call the period private equity’s “golden years,” when leveraged buyouts of corporations yielded huge profits.
The figure at the center of a corruption scandal involving the California Public Employees’ Retirement System apparently shot himself to death at a Reno gun club, just weeks before his trial was scheduled to begin in federal court.
The state Capitol in Sacramento, ground floor near the West Steps. (Photo: Trekandshoot, via Shutterstock)OPINION: What causes gridlock in the legislative process? Has it been getting worse over time? And, what can be done to lessen the conditions that promote gridlock and increase the conditions that promote compromise?
OPINION: Now that oil industry fear-mongering over gasoline prices has turned out to be completely phony, it’s time to take a serious look at the real impact of California’s climate change and clean energy policies on communities around our state. Simply put, the news is good and getting better. These successes and stories haven’t been widely shared, however, and we’re hoping to change that.