Posts Tagged: existing

News

A deep dive into Newsom plan to overhaul mental health policy

Californnia Gov. Gavin Newsom, chatting with a homeless man in Fresno, has proposed a sweeping overhaul of California's mental health care system. (Photo: Governor's office)

Newsom’s plan would create an entirely new system of civil court supervision, connecting individuals with intensive treatment and, equally important, housing. By his estimate, it would help 7,000-to-12,000 severely mentally ill people each year, many with chronic physical conditions that are worsened by life on the streets, clearly unable to care for themselves. It would not replace existing programs.

Opinion

Capitol Annex Project: No transparency and too costly

California's state Capitol in Sacramento, viewed from the 10th Street side. (Photo: Kit Leong, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Have you heard of the Capitol Annex Project? Probably not, though with a price tag of more than $1 billion (coming from taxpayers’ wallets), you should have. It’s no surprise the general public isn’t aware since this plan to uproot the Capitol grounds has been mired in secrecy since its inception.

Opinion

Voters can halt property tax ‘moving penalty’

A view of San Francisco's iconic row houses. (Photo: Natasha Kramskaya)

OPINION: California has long been a state that has made a priority of protecting seniors, people with disabilities and victims of natural disasters. Regardless of the challenge, Californians always rise up to support one another.

Opinion

Prevention: The best way to fight meningitis

Illustration by Tasha Tuvango, via Shutterstock

Recent cases of meningitis B on the campus of Santa Clara University have reinforced the threat of vaccine preventable illnesses and the importance of education and vaccination in the fight against meningitis B. Meningitis is a dangerous bacterial infection that can cause neurological injury, loss of limbs and even death.

Opinion

Putting ‘community’ into community colleges

Students attending class at Glendale Community College. (Photo: Wayne Thom)

The leaders of California’s vast community college system this week unanimously adopted a reform agenda with amazing ease – given how fundamentally hard the decision was to engineer. The Board of Governors decided to endorse comprehensive recommendations to better align career technical education (CTE) programs with the workforce needs of California’s employers. It could be the linchpin in a more strategic statewide effort to reduce poverty and reverse the growing opportunity and income gaps.

Opinion

Raffle bill unfairly aids nonprofits linked to pro sports

Fans enter the Staples Center prior to a Clippers game. (Photo: Eric Broder Van Dyke, Shutterstock)

OPINION: A piece of legislation that would blur the line between gambling and giving is sitting on Governor Jerry Brown’s desk. Senate Bill 549 would grant an advantageous exemption from existing raffle laws to an exclusive set of nonprofit organizations affiliated with major league sports teams. The bill would allow only these nonprofits to conduct raffles where half of raffle proceeds are awarded to a winner.

Opinion

A drought-fighting strategy: ‘All of the above’

Islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an aerial view. The Delta is home to about half of California's drinking water. (Photo: Worldislandinfo.com

As part of the newly formed Californians for Water Security, we support moving forward with Governor Jerry Brown’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP), a bold strategy to ensure our state is making the most of our limited water supplies. That’s why we are disappointed to see certain groups opposing the plan to build a modern water pipeline to fix California’s aging statewide water distribution infrastructure.

Opinion

Retiree health care debt: Brown and his accounting loophole

A physician flanked by the California flag. (Illustration: Niyazz, via Shutterstock).

OPINION: Imagine your friend built up $10,000 of debt from buying Christmas presents on credit. When he announces an intention to eliminate that debt, you ask how. He answers that, from now on, he’s going to purchase Christmas presents only with cash. Confused, you ask, “How do you pay off debt by not incurring more debt?” His response: “I don’t know, but my accountant says it works!” Believe it or not, that is the proposal California Governor Jerry Brown just made to eliminate $72 billion in state retiree health care debt.

Opinion

First things first: Protect the mountain watersheds

The Mokulumne River. Photo: Mountain Counties Water Resources Association)

OPINION: Mountain watersheds can survive without the Delta, but the Delta cannot survive without the watersheds. In focusing on conditions in the statutory Delta, the California Legislature left out any consideration of the mountain watersheds and the ecosystems that provide the water to the Delta.

News

Transgender ballot battle looms?

Six weeks before California’s first-in-the-nation law takes effect to guarantee certain rights to transgender students, foes of the new statute say they have collected enough signatures for a statewide referendum next year to let voters decide. The new law, signed by Gov. Brown in August after it was approved by the Legislature, takes effect Jan. 1.

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