Posts Tagged: budget
Recent News
OPINION: Amid the ongoing health crisis, California’s Medi-Cal Rx transition threatens the stability of over 1,300 community health centers that serve more than 7.2 million people throughout the state. In a noble attempt to discount rising prescription drug prices, a huge gap in savings is created for community health centers. Ironically, the transition disproportionately impacts the very same people it aims to help: California’s diverse population.
News
More than three years after lawmakers unanimously called for it, the Secretary of State has yet to compile a searchable database to help voters get in touch with the people they put in office. Voters, it was envisioned, would then have one-stop easy access to office contact information for elected officials at all levels of government. That hasn’t happened.
News
The folks in Orange Cove in California’s agriculturally rich Central Valley care about the cost of health care. It is part of their struggle each day as they try to live on $27,000 a year, the lowest median household income of any town in the Golden State. Over in Oakland at the headquarters of the $12 billion state stem cell agency, the folks there are also worried about the cost of health care, particularly cell and gene therapies that may well cost upwards of $2 million.
Opinion
OPINION: Nearly two months into the new fiscal year. Four budget bills and approximately 50 budget-related policy bills later, Californians continue to wait for solutions to our state’s most pressing crisis — drought, water storage, and wildfire mitigation. Meaningful reforms to fix state agencies like EDD, or the replenishment of the $7.8 billion borrowed from the state’s Rainy Day Fund last year have not yet been addressed.
Opinion
OPINION: Everywhere you turn these days we’re being told that government doesn’t work, that our democracy is too polarized to deliver for everyday people. The budget Gov. Newsom recently signed tells a different story. It will help turbocharge our recovery from COVID-19 and make a historic commitment on another urgent public health crisis: Alzheimer’s.
News
California lawmakers have approved a dramatic expansion of the state’s commitments to all-electric vehicles, with the goal of ultimately increasing the number of electric and zero-emission cars on the road. The $2.7 billion piece of the 2021-22 state budget was sent to the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk on June 28. Newsom has not yet acted on it.
Analysis
ANALYSIS: For someone who is interested in the activities of the California Legislature and tracks the budget closely, the last two legislative sessions have brought some interesting developments, as well as a recognition of the tremendous work that legislators, staff, and the governor’s administration put into crafting the state’s spending plan each year.
News
Amid a pandemic that has pushed millions of mothers out of the workplace, caused fertility rates to plunge and heightened the risk of death for pregnant women, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic lawmakers are seeking a slate of health proposals for low-income families and children. Newsom, a self-described feminist and the father of four young children, has long advocated family-friendly health and economic policies.
News
That $26 billion dollar “windfall” that California lawmakers learned about last month may not withstand a second round of economy-squelching lockdowns, and the risk of losing what little leverage they have is a top concern for state budget writers.
Opinion
OPINION: Every year during the end-of-session debates in the Legislature, bills that had previously stalled suddenly get new life. Sometimes, it’s the result of a grand bargain struck to advance long-held policy objectives. Other times, it’s the result of public pressure created by an emerging crisis.
Personnel at the Sacramento Native American Health Center. (Photo: SNAHC)
