OPINION: During his 14 years in the Legislature, Darrell Steinberg has been an exemplary public servant and, arguably, the state’s greatest legislative champion of this marginalized and, oftentimes, stigmatized population. He achieved unprecedented success in expanding mental health services.
Two aspects of health care: A claim form and money,. (Photo: Zimmytws via Shutterstock)A high-stakes ballot measure going before voters Nov. 4 has divided California Democrats, with the state party and some of its most prominent politicians on opposite sides. The initiative, Proposition 45, would empower the state’s elected insurance commissioner to approve health insurance rates.
The Marijuana Policy Project, a national group that seeks to legalize recreational marijuana use, says it intends to put the issue before California voters on the 2016 general election ballot. The group’s decision to file a committee with California Secretary of State Debra Bowen on Wednesday means it may start raising funds to help finance signature gathering and qualify the measure in California.
A dispensary's sign on Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley. (Photo: Laurie Avocado)Amid a last-minute flurry of hostile amendments and despite backing from some in law enforcement and the cannabis industry, an attempt to set up the state’s first Bureau of Medical Marijuana has been defeated in the Assembly. The action by the Assembly Appropriations Committee followed intense negotiations between lawmakers, marijuana advocates and law enforcement.
The San Ardo oil field, Monterey. Photo: Loco Steve, WikimediaMost Californians support the state’s landmark law mandating the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, according to a statewide survey released today. More specifically, strong majorities support two aspects of the state’s efforts to address global warming: a requirement that oil companies produce cleaner transportation fuels and the goal that a third of California’s electricity come from renewable energy sources. But residents’ support declines significantly if these two efforts lead to higher gas prices or electricity bills.
An abstract rendering of multi-faceted California. (Flip Bjorkman)While most indicators signal an economic upswing in California, the reality facing many residents of the Golden State is simple: On the ground, the recovery is still sluggish. Nowhere is that more apparent than in a newly developed database that includes detailed economic information on each of California’s 120 legislative districts and 58 counties.
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.
California’s Capitol is ruled by a handful of powerful special interests, according to more than two-thirds of those surveyed by the Public Policy Institute of California. PPIC’s survey of likely voters also noted that despite a recent string of scandals that have tarnished the Senate, the public’s perception of lawmakers has remained constant.
Marijuana plant. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.The field of marijuana initiatives for California’s November ballot has been cut in half in less than two weeks, leaving proponents of the two remaining measures in a narrower race for money and momentum while other drug advocates say the next presidential election in 2016 offers a greater chance for success. (Photo: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service)
California is in the forefront of the nation’s new health care insurance reforms and is following its own drummer, such as when it decided not to go along with the president’s call to give certain policyholders a year-long delay from being kicked off dubious health insurance plans. But the political forces surrounding the Affordable Care Act in California are profound and are all but certain to play a role in campaigns, including the potential reelection of California’s powerful insurance commissioner and whether Californians will approve a high-stakes initiative to regulate health insurers’ rates. (Above, left to right: Covered California’s Peter Lee, Diana Dooley and Susan Kennedy.) Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP)