Residential housing units under construction. (Photo: Orange Grove, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Our state’s high cost of living is driven in large part by exorbitant housing prices.
Skyrocketing rents and record-high home prices are forcing many families to make the heart-wrenching decision to leave our state altogether. Californians of all backgrounds are calling out for action: We need housing now.
A bank customer receives cash from his savings account. (Photo: Syda Productions, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The California Legislature has just passed AB 539, which will significantly reduce the ability of millions of Californians to access credit when needed. Legislators will tout the bill passing as a success, when in reality, it benefits a small group of lenders at the expense of everyday Californians with less-than-perfect credit.
Labor union supporters rally at the state Capitol. (Photo: Karin Hildebrand Lau, via Shutterstock)OPINION: If history has taught us anything, it’s that elections are less about choices in partisan ideology than they are about the real world impact that policies have on the lives of everyday people. In 2018, Americans overwhelmingly turned away from Republican politicians.
The photo gallery in the main entrance of CalSTRS' West Sacramento headquarters. (Photo: CalSTRS)The main California State Teachers’ Retirement System pension fund is seriously underfunded, and school district pension costs are more than doubling, biting deep into classroom budgets. But the agency, called CalSTRS for short, has an inflation-protection fund with a growing $9.8 billion surplus and an eye-popping positive cash flow.
The California Supreme Court, left to right, standing: Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, Carol Corrigan, Goodwin Liu, and Leondra Kruger. Seated: Kathryn Werdegar, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, and Ming Chin.Calpensions: The state Supreme Court last week agreed to hear an appeal of a groundbreaking ruling that allows cuts in the pensions earned by current state and local government workers, including judges. When judges have an obvious conflict of interest and excuse themselves from ruling on a case, the legal term is “recuse.” But the seven Supreme Court justices seem unlikely to recuse themselves from a possible landmark ruling on this Marin County pension case.
The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)A Moraga-Orinda fire chief drew national attention six years ago for retiring at age 50 with a pension much larger than his base pay. He went back to work as chief the following Monday, hired as a consultant with full salary. “People point to me as a poster child for pension spiking, but I did not negotiate these rules,” Peter Nowicki said.