Rush-hour traffic on the 405 in L.A. (Photo: Vince360, via Shutterstock)OPINION: We now know that good and responsible drivers in predominantly African-American and Latino communities are being punished and penalized based on where they live, rather than how they drive. We have the power to change that by giving consumers the option of using technologies such as telematics.
Homes under construction in Riverside. (Photo: Orange Grove, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The California Senate had just voted to defeat the state’s highest profile housing bill, Senate Bill (SB) 50, on January 30 when Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins quickly rose to address her members. “The status quo cannot stand,” she told the chamber. We at the California Association of Realtors® agree as well.
A view of Los Angeles and its smog. (Photo: IM_Photo, via Shutterstock)OPINION: It is important that state leaders stay firm on their resolve that PG&E is restructured in a way that both hardens our electrical grid and keeps our commitments to California’s climate and clean energy goals. Right now is no time to walk back on our climate change commitments.
Sunrise over the Sacramento River in the delta. (Photo: Chris Briggs, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Access to reliable, clean drinking water should be a fundamental human right for all Californians. Unfortunately, many disadvantaged communities throughout the state lack access to clean drinking water, and our aging water delivery infrastructure threatens water reliability for millions of California residents.
Drugs on a shelf for sale at a pharmacy. (Photo: i viewfinder, via Shutterstock)OPINION: With the rising cost of health care at forefront of nearly every Californian’s mind, lawmakers in Sacramento are rightly considering a range of potential policy proposals to help rein in costs. In 2018, legislators took positive initial steps to regulate some of the egregious business practices of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) – little-known middlemen in the health care system who have contributed to rising costs.
An older man jogs up a desert mountain peak in California. (Photo: Sirtravelalot, via Shutterstock)OPINION:“OK Boomer” has gained popularity as a sarcastic refrain, but if millennials and all other generations fail to take baby boomers seriously, we will all share in the consequences. The 2020s will be the decade of the baby boomer.
An aerial view of a residential neighborhood in San Francisco. (Photo: Sundry Photography, via Shutterstock)OPINION: There is general agreement that California remains in a housing affordability crisis that is hitting the state’s working families extremely hard, forcing long polluting commutes and causing spiraling rates of homelessness. But opinions differ markedly on the appropriate response to the increasingly dire situation.INI
Materials for preparing for the SATs on a shelf at a Laguna Niguel book store. (Photo: David Tonelson, via Shutterstock)OPINION:As a proud first-generation American, I have a deep personal connection to the one thing that helps create opportunities for people from all backgrounds: education. When my parents immigrated to the U.S. from Colombia with limited financial resources, they understood the power that education has to change lives. Yet, the doors to my future were only truly opened when I took the PSAT/NMSQT, which helps students prepare for the SAT, qualifies them for National Merit Scholarships, and is connected with hundreds of colleges and many scholarship opportunities
Palm trees with the smoggy L.A. skyline in the background. (Photo: J Dennis, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Californians know that climate change is here, climate change is real, and climate change is the biggest threat to our planet’s future. Less known but recently more proven is that racist and discriminatory policies of the past, like redlining, have locked in pollution exposure among low-income communities of color and dramatically increased their climate-related risks.
Automobiles in a wrecking yard awaiting dismantling. (Photo: 1Roman Makedonsky, via Shutterrstock)OPINION: Imagine a business that is unregulated and not held accountable for the improper handling of hazardous materials and fluids that make their way into our drinking water and the waterways that support our wildlife. Then consider that these cash-only businesses fail to provide their employees with a safe working environment or fair wages, accept stolen goods and do not pay taxes.