The Harbor Freeway at rush hour in Los Angeles. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock) OPINION: The California Department of Insurance, having identified a disparity, has established a worthy goal of expanding auto insurance discounts to more low-income consumers and communities of color. But as it pursues that goal, the department must keep in mind a foundational principle in healing problems: Do no harm.
A check-cashing outlet in Los Angeles, often used by low-income families. (Photo: image_vulture, via Shutterstock)A solid majority of Californians say children growing up in the state today will be worse off financially than their parents, while more than two-thirds say the gap between rich and poor is widening. In the past year, more than four in ten households with annual incomes below $40,000 had work hours or pay reduced, and an equal share had to cut back on food.
Voters casting their ballots at a local precinct. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, Shutterstock)Proposition 209, the constitutional amendment intended to prevent discrimination or preferential treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity, or sex in areas like public education and contracting, was approved by California voters a generation ago. In November, they will decide whether to get rid of it.
Residents of San Francisco's Chinatown take a stroll through their neighborhood. (Photo: photo-denver, via Shutterstock)One of the least-talked-about symptoms of the COVID-19 pandemic is a rise in anti-Asian discrimination, harassment and violence. While there has been abundant anecdotal evidence of this phenomenon, only recently has anyone tried to quantify the bigotry. Two California-based groups and a professor from San Francisco State University are taking a lead on the issue.
Rush-hour traffic on the 405 in L.A. (Photo: Vince360, via Shutterstock)OPINION: We now know that good and responsible drivers in predominantly African-American and Latino communities are being punished and penalized based on where they live, rather than how they drive. We have the power to change that by giving consumers the option of using technologies such as telematics.
A photo illustration of a young girl in custody. (Image: structuresxx, via ShutterstockThe woman, writing to Gov. Gavin Newsom about Senate Bill 233, called herself voiceless.In her letter she told the governor about rapes she’s suffered while homeless and on the streets. Pimps had beaten her. One once threw her out of a hotel, leaving her naked in the parking lot.She feared to call police. They never listened to her before, the unnamed woman wrote.
Employees in an open work space. (Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Shutterstock)OPINION: I recently signed a letter with state Sen. Connie Leyva, chair of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, and six other prominent women in California calling on J.J.Jelincic Jr. to drop out of the race for the CalPERS board after his history of harassing women was revealed by the Sacramento Bee. It matters that three women at CalPERS felt so uncomfortable working with Jelincic that they filed harassment charges against him, and that their allegations were upheld by the California State Personnel Board.
A photo illustration of opioid addiction. (Photo: Kimberly Boyles, via Shutterstock)OPINION: A key focus of this year’s California legislative session is the nation’s opioid crisis, and rightly so. According to the California Healthcare Foundation, an estimated 2,000 Californians died of an opioid overdose in 2016. The opioid epidemic confronting California and the rest of America is a growing public health crisis from which no state is immune.
California, home to the largest number of older adults in the nation, would become the third state after Colorado and Montana to prohibit using sex as a means to differentiate the prices in long-term care policies — if the measure ultimately becomes law. “I term out in November… so this is my first and last opportunity — as an Assembly member anyway — to take this issue up,” said Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, D-Davis. Her bill is AB 1553, introduced Jan. 27.