Satellite dishes overlooking San Diego. (Photo: Jimmy W, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Fortunately, there is an agenda California can pursue that will benefit these people and will help to ensure a thriving economy for years to come. Three priority areas in on which we have the chance to make a major difference this year are broadband for all, housing affordability, and climate adaptation.
The state Capitol in Sacramento. Photo: Feoktistoff, via Shutterstock)It’s a time-honored habit around the Capitol: Fevered speculation about who may be appointed to fill an empty and important statewide office. Sometimes, the speculation even extends to who is going to be appointed to fill the vacancy left by the first appointment. This time around, it’s all about whom Gov. Gavin Newsom will name as California’s attorney general to fill the vacancy to be left by presumably departing Xavier Becerra.
Out for a spin on a California coastal road. (Photo: oneinchpunch, via Shutterstock)OPINION Rather than imposing climate austerity measures that perpetuate poverty, there are wiser investments we can make today that will have a greater impact on reducing wildfires and creating healthier forests without adversely impacting disadvantaged communities, people of color, and the struggling middle class in our state.
California's state Capitol in Sacramento, home of the goverrnor's office and Legislature (Photo: Shutterstock)IGS Poll: As Gov. Gavin Newsom approached the mid-point of his term as governor, the Berkeley IGS Poll asked California registered voters for their opinions of the job Newsom has been doing both overall and across a wide range of issues that voters feel are important for the state to be addressing. The results indicate that Californians offer a very positive overall assessment of the Governor’s performance, but give him lower marks in a number of specific areas.
5.0.2Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an Executive Order today to outlaw the sales of new gasoline- and diesel-powered cars and light trucks in California by 2035. California is the nation’s largest market for zero-emission vehicles: Half of all electric vehicles sold in the U.S. are sold in the state. We asked Dave Weiskopf, a senior policy adviser at NextGen, to chat about it.
Illustration of school children, education and the pandemic. (Photo: Felipe Sanchez, via Shutterstock)OPINION: California is dealing with cascading crises the likes of which have never been experienced before. Between February 2020 and today, California’s unemployment rate rose from a record low of 3.9% to 13.3%. Nearly two million Californians who were working then aren’t working now. And California’s clean energy economy — which employed 3% of the state’s workforce before COVID-19 — has also taken a hit.
The power plant in El Segundo, Calif. (Photo: Don Solomon, via Shutterstock)OPINION: As temperatures soared and wildfires burned across the Southland, California electricity customers recently experienced rolling blackouts for the first time since 2001. Although investigations continue, it appears that there just weren’t enough energy resources available to meet customer demand.
An aerial view of a traffic-clogged intersection in Los Angeles. (Photo: TierneyMJ, via Shutterstock)OPINION: California government agencies have focused on reducing traffic congestion when looking at the pollution impacts caused by new development and transportation projects. The result has been a lot of bad decisions that, taken together, have led to longer commutes, urban sprawl, and a failure to invest sufficiently in public transit, bike lanes, and pedestrian pathways.
An aerial view of the freeway system feeding downtown Los Angeles. (Photo: trekandshoot, via Shutterstock)California’s vulnerability to climate change — from deadly fires to sea level rise — has been well documented. But the Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal adviser says the state, with rare exceptions, has only just begun to assess the risk climate change poses to roads, dams, parks and schools.
A pipeline carrying natural gas near San Jose. (Photo: Sundry Photography, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Climate change is one of the most important challenges of our time. And in California, we have felt the brunt of both the economic impacts of climate-driven disasters, as well as aggressive technology innovation that is trying to address it.