A brush fire approaches residences in Pacific Palisades in May, 2021. (Photo: BrittanyNY, via Shutterstock)OPINION: As hints of fall weather begin, California residents remain mindful that the risks from Diablo and Santa Ana wind-driven wildfires are still to come. Unfortunately, with California’s riskiest months still approaching, consumers in 2021 must also be aware of a new threat in wildfire planning.
The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Cassionhabib, via Shutterstock)On March 23, about 80 people gathered on a Zoom call to launch Daybreak PAC, a political action committee aimed at moving the California Legislature to the left by supporting progressive candidates and policies. The PAC is headed by activist Jackie Fielder, an unsuccessful state Senate candidate who challenged incumbent Democrat Scott Wiener last year in San Francisco.
An elderly patient is comforted by a young caregiver. (Photo: Ocskay Mark, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Every year, the Alzheimer’s Association releases a report providing national and state-level statistics on Alzheimer’s prevalence, mortality, cost of care and impact on caregivers. As a son caring for my father who is living with Alzheimer’s, these statistics simply cannot do justice to the huge emotional, physical and financial toll that this disease takes on families and society at large.
An oil pump at work in Kern County. (Photo: Ronnie Chua, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Gov. Newsom promised accelerated action on climate change. We’re still waiting.
Standing in the ashes of a forest ravaged by California’s worst-ever fire season, Gov. Newsom proclaimed last fall that our state was experiencing a “climate damn emergency,” and promised to accelerate climate efforts “across the entire spectrum.”
The chamber of the state Senate in Sacramento. (Photo: Felix Lipov, via Shutterstock)In simplistic terms, lobbying the state Senate and Assembly floors is similar to lobbying legislative committees, except that the scale is much larger. For example, some committees have as few five members (elected officials), while others have over 20 members. As you would assume, most committees in the 40-member Senate have fewer members sitting on them than do their counterparts in the 80-member Assembly.
Gov. Gavin Newsom at last year's Gay Rights Day parade in San Francisco. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald, via Shutterstock)Gov. Gavin Newsom has been riding a high tide of approval from Californians for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he could be heading for stormy weather. California’s tax revenues are projected to decline more than 22 percent and the state estimates that unemployment for the year will hit 18 percent.
Homes under construction in Riverside. (Photo: Orange Grove, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The California Senate had just voted to defeat the state’s highest profile housing bill, Senate Bill (SB) 50, on January 30 when Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins quickly rose to address her members. “The status quo cannot stand,” she told the chamber. We at the California Association of Realtors® agree as well.
A sign urging protections for drinking water in Yosemite National Park. (Photo: Earl D. Walker, via Shutterstock)OPINION: California has a drinking water crisis. More than 1 million people in California lack access to safe, clean, and affordable drinking water. 400 schools in our state have lead contamination in their drinking water. About 300 public water systems in our state are not in compliance with drinking water standards. This is a public health and environmental crisis.
Pacific Ocean waves lap against beach front properties in Malibu. (Photo: Elliott Cowand Jr., via Shutterstock)While wildfires have gotten much of the attention in California as consequences of climate change, it’s really rising sea levels that will likely wreak the most damage. With more than 25 million people living near the coast, some $150 billion worth of property is at risk.
Gabriel Petek, the new head of the Office of the Legislative Analyst, or LAO. (Photo: Courtesy of Gabriel Petek)A Wall Street public finance expert who says analyzing California’s fiscal condition was the “defining passion” of his career is the state’s new legislative analyst. He is Gabriel Petek, 47, who until recently was Standard and Poor’s chief credit analyst covering California from an office in San Francisco.