A Man with psychologist theraphy social problems concept drug addiction talk to a psychological womanOPINION – California spends over a billion dollars annually on addiction treatment – but doesn’t hold treatment providers to quality standards. A new bill could change that.
A gloved hand is holding a test tube, close to a multi-well plate, within a laboratory setting, highlighting scientific research.OPINION – California patients living with rare diseases and chronic conditions are enrolled into new clinical trials every day – not as a last resort, but as a pathway to better treatment and hope. Yet a bill moving through Sacramento could quietly put that progress at risk.
Rear view of a girl paddling in a kayak on the Sella river descent in Asturias, Spain. Active tourism activities. Rural tourism.OPINION – Republican Gov. Earl Warren’s avoidance of ideological excess established a style of governance that Gov. Jerry Brown, a Warren admirer, aptly described this approach as the “canoe theory”: “The way you have to approach the political process is something like piloting a canoe…. If you paddle a little bit on the left side, then you paddle a little bit on the right side, you keep going right down the middle.”
Image by Thawatchai Chawong. OPINION – As AB 1709 moves to the California State Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee, lawmakers have an opportunity to get this right. Strengthen the definitions. Close the loopholes. Protect student privacy. And most importantly, ensure that parents—not tech companies—remain at the center of decisions about their children’s digital lives.
California State Capitol building in the warm light of the setting sun. Image by rschlieThis week was the legislative spring break so there’s not a lot to report on, but we do have a few nuggets for you…in brief.
Image by romkaz. If a bill by Assemblymember Diane Dixon becomes law, tattoo artists would join a long list of professionals required to be trained in spotting signs of human trafficking, including first responders, healthcare workers, educators, hospitality staff, transportation workers, social workers and more.
Image by ismagilov. Faced with growing concerns that California’s higher education system is outdated and unresponsive to the needs of an increasingly diverse student population, lawmakers are considering more structural changes to the state Master Plan’s vision of university and college education.
Image by Love Employee. OPINION – Modern GLP-1 medicines are evidence-based therapies that help patients achieve meaningful, sustained weight loss and reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke and orthopedic complications. For many patients, these medications can change the course of their health and prevent the very surgeries I perform.
The Langenhop family. Photo courtesy of the Langenhop family and the CIRM. After 21 years of “prospecting,” the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has fetched up its first “nugget” – federal approval of a one-and-done gene therapy for a life-threatening disease.
The California Assembly in session. Photo by APOn occasion, if you listen to the proceedings on the Floor of the California State Assembly, you may hear either a legislator seeking “permission to read on the Floor,” or you might hear a legislator raise a point of order that a colleague is reading on the Floor. What is the basis for either of these two statements?