An array of offshore wind turbines at sunset. (Photo: TebNad, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Offshore wind energy in California would create quality jobs. Legislators should put the state on a path to development. In California, we know that building a clean energy economy means high-quality blue-collar jobs.
A sign at a downtown San Francisco rally urging support for the Affordable Care Act. (Photo: Kim Wilson, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death has placed the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) back in the headlines because the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in November in a case, California v. Texas, that seeks to repeal it. The widely publicized prospect of eliminating health care coverage for more than 20 million Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic should be enough to give our elected leaders and the high court pause.
The forests of Humboldt County in northern California. (Photo: Ethan Daniels, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Right now, families and communities are paying the price of having a president who refuses to believe in science and the advice of experts and has managed to prioritize the well-being of polluters and corporations over public health. This is all completely unprecedented.
An illustration of a tooth and dental tools. (Image: REDPIXEL.PL, via Shutterstock)OPINION: California has made significant progress in improving access to dental care services to many Californians who have limited resources or who live in communities with few providers. For example, five years ago the state passed legislation that further encouraged the advancement of teledentistry paving the way for more children living in underserved communities to receive quality dental care.
A solitary child sits ona park bench. (Photo: Alex Tor, via Shutterstock)OPINION: There are more than 55,000 children in foster care in California and about 34 percent of them will be placed with relatives according to AdoptUSKids — that is, if social workers can find their family. When a child is removed from the home and placed in out-of-home care, relatives are the preferred resource because this type of placement maintains the child’s connections with their family.
A youngster receives a vaccination., (Image: JPC-P:ROD, via Shutterstock)Passions were high as a bill meant to tighten the state’s already strict child vaccination law was approved at its first policy hearing Wednesday before the senate health committee. Just four years after the state eliminated the personal beliefs exemption that allowed parents to skip vaccinations for their children, the new bill would require the state public health department to review all requests for exemptions for medical reasons.
An illustration of the 2020 census in California. (Image: census.ca.gov)Most of us are already doing a lot of business online, from ordering products to banking to even filing our taxes. Now we will be asked to do one more task over the Internet — fill out a U.S. census survey. The next census, the all-important survey conducted every 10 years and next scheduled in April 2020, will be the first to be conducted largely online. People who choose not to will be able to respond over the phone or by mail.
Lines delivering energy and communications along a rural stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway. (Photo: Lux Blue, via Shutterstock)OPINION: California is a national leader in clean energy. Contrary to the perspective of advocates for Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs), the question before the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Sept. 27 is not whether our state will continue to lead the nation in renewable energy, but whether all customers will contribute equitably to the costs of those investments and to system-wide electric reliability.
A senior citizen on a pension displays the remaining funds for this month. (Photo: Gudrun Speck)OPINION: It is no secret that Californians are living longer, but not necessarily better. By 2030, the state’s senior population will increase by 4 million people, yet the state is woefully unprepared to care for this growing and financially unstable demographic. The lack of any strategy or organized master plan has pushed millions of seniors into poverty, unable to access high-quality, affordable healthcare, dental care, housing and supportive services.
Ethernet cables tangled over a digital device. (Photo illustration: Ivan Marc)The latest skirmish in California-vs.-the-Trump-Administration is developing around the repeal of “net neutrality,” in which purveyors of internet access treat all data equally. The Federal Communications Commission, chaired by former Verizon executive Ajit Pai, repealed net neutrality in a Dec. 14 ruling on a party-line 3-2 vote, with the Republican commissioners in the majority.