Posts Tagged: Californians
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.
News
The sky was rust-colored, ashy, Blade Runner-esque, the result of northern state wildfires that had drifted for days into the Bay Area. It was Sept. 9, 2020 in south Berkeley. Six months into the pandemic, the joy of simply walking outside and escaping domestic confinement was suddenly stripped away.
Opinion
OPINION: No one wants to see bad officers removed from law enforcement more than good officers do. When officers act in a way that is grossly inconsistent with the missions and goals of our profession, it only harms our ability to build trust between officers and the communities they have sworn to serve.
Opinion
OPINION: The COVID-19 pandemic has taught us the hard way that too many Californians face barriers to opportunity. As California looks to recover, it’s time to reexamine our old institutions and programs to determine if they meet today’s needs and serve residents as intended. One such program in need of reform is the Cal Grant system.
News
PPIC: One year after the state’s schools halted in-person learning due to COVID-19, more than eight in ten Californians think children are falling behind academically during the pandemic. Most Californians approve of how Gov. Newsom is handling the state’s K–12 public education system, though six in ten are concerned that California’s K–12 schools will not be open for full-time in-person instruction this fall.
Opinion
OPINION: The California Department of Insurance, having identified a disparity, has established a worthy goal of expanding auto insurance discounts to more low-income consumers and communities of color. But as it pursues that goal, the department must keep in mind a foundational principle in healing problems: Do no harm.
Opinion
OPINION: All Californians deserve not only a clean energy future, but assurance that the programs we invest in will achieve this goal equitably and at the least possible cost. This is particularly important for seniors living on a fixed income and working families already struggling to make ends meet.cThis is why it is critical that reforms are made to the state’s rooftop solar subsidy program called Net Energy Metering (NEM).
Opinion
OPINION: COVID-19 has tested our mettle and shined a light on long-held systematic deficiencies, forcing a re-prioritization of our “policy to-do list. “While the lack of equitable broadband accesshas served as a barrier to innovation, opportunity and connection among Californians for more than two decades, this inequity has caused more harm in one year of a pandemic than in the previous 25.
Opinion
OPINION: Although science and innovation are the cornerstones of the California economy, patients living with chronic pain have been largely left behind when it comes to significant medical breakthroughs. Beyond opioids, which can be effective but are also addictive, the choices that patients have available to treat pain remain limited to non-clinical options that only provide so much relief.
Opinion
OPINION: As legislators reconvened this month, they returned to a relatively empty Capitol building. Why, then, are they pursuing a $1.3 billion Capitol Annex “renovation” project? Cognitive dissonance is the most charitable explanation I can conjure for this costly boondoggle proceeding amidst the COVID-induced economic disaster that’s destroying the lives of Californians and plunging countless in the state into poverty
The California state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Steven Frame) 
