Image by Black SalmonOPINION – California was already experiencing a workforce shortage among mental health care workers prior to the pandemic. A 2022 report from the California Health Care Foundation found that the state has less than 12 licensed psychiatrists and slightly more than 44 licensed psychologists per 100,000 people. Since-adopted payment reform has only made it worse.
Illustration by CBProject, via ShutterstockThe 2020 count by the U.S. Census could have a big impact on California’s political districts. The numbers mean everything.
For example, will California lose a Congressional seat if the count comes in lower than expected? Some political observers say yes. If we lose a seat, will it be at the expense of an African American incumbent? Will California gain a congressional seat, giving the state 54th seat in the House?
If so, where will it be? In the Inland Empire? Let’s find out. Let’s ask Paul Mitchell.
A smog-tinged view in black and white of Century City, Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles. (Photo: Trekandshoot, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Local leadership in California faces a threat – SB 1387. This bill would reduce the influence local leaders have on a regional board – the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) – by adding even more Sacramento-appointed representatives. The bill would also allow a state agency to overrule the policy decisions of this regional board.
Voters in Ventura County cast ballots during a recent election. (Photo: Spirit of America, Shutterstock)CA120: Will Orange County, along with neighboring San Diego and the Inland Empire, look a little bluer on Wednesday? If so, is it a harbinger of things to come? Or is it just the impact of the Democratic presidential primary still being contested while Donald Trump has the GOP nomination wrapped up?
Farm workers tending the fields in the Salinas Valley. (Photo: Rightdx, Shutterstock)OPINION: A recent opinion column in Capitol Weekly (Jan. 7, “Moderate Democrats: the slaves of Big Oil?”) was not the real story of last year’s SB 350, an effort to reduce petroleum-based transportation fuels in California by 50 percent. Ironically, the real story of SB 350 is the first line of the author’s eighth paragraph: “The story of inequality in our state is not just one of economics…”