Posts Tagged: changes
News
Almost 2 million of California’s poorest and most medically fragile residents may have to switch health insurers as a result of a new strategy by the state to improve care in its Medicaid program. A first-ever statewide contracting competition to participate in the program, known as Medi-Cal, required commercial managed-care plans to rebid for their contracts and compete against others hoping to take those contracts away.
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.
News
California’s coast could experience sea level rise (SLR) ranging from about half of 1 foot by 2030 up to about 7 feet by 2100. Periodic events like storms and high tides will produce even higher water levels and increase the risk of flooding. Rising seas will also erode coastal cliffs, dunes, and beaches which will affect shorefront structures and recreation.
News
As protests mount over police misconduct in California and across the country, attention is turning to a largely obscure policy that has long shielded law enforcement officers — qualified immunity. At least one member of California’s congressional delegation — a Republican — has joined with a number of House Democrats in seeking to overturn qualified immunity.
Opinion
In parched, drought-stricken California, where water is considered liquid gold, the politics of power and wealth are playing out in real-time. The California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) recent decision to allow the California American Water Company (Cal-Am) to proceed with its Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project desalination plant is great news – that is, if you live in Carmel, Pacific Grove or Monterey.
News
By the time today’s infants are in their early 30s, gasoline-powered cars that aren’t electric hybrids could be a rarity in California. That’s the goal of California policy makers who are doing their best to phase those cars out by 2050 and replace them with zero-emissions vehicles like electric cars, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
News
The $3 billion California stem cell agency next Thursday will convene a day-long examination of human gene editing, a field that could be a “gold mine for biotechnology” and perhaps alter the human race permanently. “Easy DNA Editing Will Remake the World. Buckle Up.” is the way Wired magazine put it in a headline on a lengthy overview article last July.
Opinion
Six months after Gov. Jerry Brown called for a special session of the Legislature to fix the state’s crumbling roads, the potholes are just as deep, the motorists are just as irritated and the multibillion-dollar price tag is just as high. The goal is to offer a package to improve the worst of the state’s 50,000 miles of state-run roads and 13,000 bridges, and provide new capacity in freight-clogged zones and provide a regular source of funding over time.
Opinion
OPINION: A piece of legislation that would blur the line between gambling and giving is sitting on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk. Senate Bill 549 would grant an advantageous exemption from existing raffle laws to an exclusive set of nonprofit organizations affiliated with major league sports teams. The bill would allow only these nonprofits to conduct raffles where half of raffle proceeds are awarded to a winner.
Opinion
OPINION: With more than a dozen major tax measures moving through the Legislature or toward the November 2016 ballot, California’s perennial debate about taxes is set to begin anew — with millions of dollars in political campaigns preparing to shape how the state will raise billions of dollars in revenue, and provide public services, for years to come.
A man receives a one-shot vaccination against COVID-19 in Covina. (Photo: Ringo Chiu, via Shutterstock)
