Posts Tagged: colleagues

Opinion

Caregivers demand a role in fixing nursing homes

A caregiver walks with her patient down a nursing home corridor. (Photo: GagliardiPhotography, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Numbers tell one story of COVID-19’s toll on California nursing homes: Some 9,716 nursing home residents and staff died from the virus, amounting to one in eight COVID deaths statewide. But there’s another story that can’t be told in numbers. It’s the story of what it was like to work in the pandemic’s most dangerous conditions: the stress, the fear, the heartbreak.

News

In the Capitol, new push to unionize staff members

The chambers of the Assembly in the state Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: Felix Lipov, via Shutterstock)

The first time, she had just one co-author; the second time, a dozen. And now, on her third attempt, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez has convinced nearly half of the California Assembly to co-author her bill to grant collective bargaining rights to rank-and-file Capitol staffers.

Analysis

The art of influencing legislation

The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: N.F. Photography)

ANALYSIS: Influencing legislation is a complicated business. There is no high-tech computer model that can predict whether a bill introduced in the California Legislature will become a law and, if so, the form it will take. However, there are many, knowable influences that regularly shape state legislation in California.

News

The staying power of Nancy Pelosi

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at a Capitol news conference in February. (Photo: Albert H. Teich)

In the end, it all comes down to following the money – about $568 million and counting. Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader of the House and former speaker, is no stranger to criticism and this year is no different. But this time, the attacks are coming from fellow Democrats who are calling for the longtime House leader, who turned 77 in March and is a California political icon, to step down. So far, she’s not budging.

Analysis

So you want to be a lobbyist? Read on…

Illustration of lobbyist and other job titles. (Stuart Miles)

There are three initial issues that an individual seeking a lobbying job should consider: First, understand the types of lobbying jobs that are out there. Second, understand what you want to do in the lobbying profession. Third, target potential lobbying jobs that suit your interests and your strengths.

News

Nov. 8: The Democrats’ quest for a supermajority

The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Feoktistoff, via Shutterstock)

Asked about the prospect of a Democratic supermajority in the California Legislature after Nov. 8, leaders of both parties are being, well, supercautious. With a Democratic supermajority, which means majorities of two-thirds or greater in each house, Republicans could go from marginalized to irrelevant.

News

McCarthy: Hard right takes its toll

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, foreground, with House Speaker John Boehner. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP)

He had texted them birthday greetings; he had gone into their districts to campaign for them and raise money; he probably would have washed the dishes. But in the end, it wasn’t enough as the affable and handsome Kevin McCarthy ended his once seemingly inevitable march toward becoming speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

News

Kevin McCarthy bows out of speakership fight

Kevin McCarthy, minutes after announcing he was withdrawing his bid to be House speaker. (Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

Kevin McCarthy, whose meteoric rise in the California Assembly’s GOP ranks was matched only by his rise in Congress, halted his upward trajectory by abruptly withdrawing from the race for House speaker — a stunning move that threw his GOP colleagues into disarray.

News

Privacy getting taken for a ride

A ride-sharing illustration. Photo: PP77LSK, via Shutterstock)

It’s as if they can read your mind: Before customers even ask to be picked up, apps let Uber or Lyft know you’ll need them. That’s because personal data housed in smart phones tell ride-sharing companies when and where their customers most frequently need rides. It’s innovated the car-service industry, critics say, at the expense of users’ privacy.

Opinion

Inside the Capitol: Examining gridlock and compromise

The state Capitol in Sacramento, ground floor near the West Steps. (Photo: Trekandshoot, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: What causes gridlock in the legislative process? Has it been getting worse over time? And, what can be done to lessen the conditions that promote gridlock and increase the conditions that promote compromise?

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