Chris Nichols, Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, Peter Cohen, Mark Stivers and Chione Fleagal at A Conference on Housing, March 9, 2023. Photo By Scott Duncan, Capitol WeeklyCAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Housing, and presents Panel 2: Affordable Housing.
A physician checks the medical history of a hospital patient. (Photo: L.O.N. DsIr Cameravia Shutterstock)OPINION: In working closely with our main partner, Health Net, I was both disappointed and disheartened to hear that the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) recently announced their intent to drop Health Net as an option for Medi-Cal patients in Sacramento County — a decision that is sure to affect the physical and mental health needs of the unhoused patients we serve.
Construction on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which was rebuilt following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. (Photo: Karin Hildebrand Lau, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Thoughtful planning and robust public participation are essential to successful infrastructure development. Our state is lucky to have the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to help us get it right. CEQA may be our most misunderstood statute.
Solar panels clustered in an urban environment to provide energy to surrounding buildings, homes. (Photo: Gengwit Wattakawigran. via Shutterstock)OPINION: All Californians have the right to access affordable clean energy. However, the majority of Californians are unable to take advantage of solar energy generated at their home because they are renters or homeowners without a suitable roof. These significant barriers are not adequately addressed through California’s existing clean energy programs.
An encampment for the homeless in Los Angeles near a freeway offramp. (Photo: image_vulture, via Shutterstock)OPINION:Data from 2020 shows more than 66,000 people are experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County; about two-thirds of them are in the City of Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, the debate over “how to deal with homelessness” distracts from the core issues of how individuals become housing-insecure or unhoused in the first place.
A facility run by CoreCivic, a private-prison company. The photo was taken in November 2019, shortly before private prisons were outlawed in California. (Photo: Shuttertstock)In January 2020, Californians thought they were getting out of the private prison business. They are, but under a new law, AB 32, which went into effect at the first of the year, the state remains heavily invested in backing for-profit correctional services — including facilities that resemble detention centers run by the same companies who operate private prisons.
Scott Lay (Photo: John Howard)In the months after California voters removed Gray Davis from office, I would roll out of bed at 5:30 a.m. and log on to find a document waiting for me. It was from Scott Lay. The document was the rough draft of that morning’s edition of The Roundup, a daily email digest of California political news and information that went to nearly 10,000 subscribers.
Nick and Amanda Wilcox of Penn Valley with a portrait of their daughter Laura, whose murder inspired "Laura's Law." (Photo, Laura Mahaffy, The Union)In a significant policy shift spanning nearly two decades, 30 counties in California – including all of the larger counties with an estimated 80 percent of the state’s population – have now adopted a 2002 state law giving families a legal avenue to get severely mentally ill relatives into treatment.
Graduation ceremonies, pre-pandemic, at Santa Monica City College. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)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.
Gunsmith working on an 300 Blackout AR rifle upper receiver in a vise at a gun shop in CaliforniaOPINION: As gun sales and gun deaths have continued to surge since the onset of the pandemic, California’s underinvestment in violence intervention programs has become a glaring policy failure. Even after January 2021 proved to be California’s single deadliest month for gun homicides since 2007, the governor and state legislators have still not agreed to make funding the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) grant program a priority.