Posts Tagged: reasonable

Opinion

Kidney transplants: Correct the flaw in the sytem

A surgical team performing an operation in a California hospital.(Photo: Hernndorff, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: So after seven years of waiting, I finally received a kidney transplant in 2006. That same kidney has kept me alive, and I am grateful I have never had to go back to dialysis. Part of the reason I have stayed healthy is because my continuous health insurance pays for the medication to prevent my body from rejecting the transplanted kidney. But there is a flaw in our system that could prevent kidney transplant recipients from getting this kind of care.

Opinion

A power grab by Caltrans?

A California freeway sign provides information for motorists. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

OPINION: Flashing Amber Alerts, public safety messages and directional traffic alerts – for decades, Californians have agreed this type of information is what belongs on the changeable outdoor message signs along our highways’ public spaces. Common sense and public policy says it is in the best interest of the public to keep this public right-of-way space limited to such content and free of blight.

Opinion

Deadly force proposal needs work

Police officers deployed at a Los Angeles parade. (Photo: Betto Rodrigues)

OPINION: California’s Assembly Bill 931, which would modify the state legal standard governing police officers’ use of deadly force, is a promising advance on existing law, but the current proposal is deeply flawed. To meaningfully reform police practices and properly regulate the use of deadly force, some significant amendments are necessary.

Opinion

Help elephants, ditch the ‘bullhook’

An elephant at a Botswana waterhole. (Photo: Mike Dexter, via Shutterstock)

OPINION:At a time when the news is filled with political campaigns accusing each other of exhibiting divisive behavior and tactics, there is one piece of legislation on Gov. Brown’s desk that is actually bringing organizations together. Senate Bill 1062, by Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) asks California to follow the lead of the cities of Los Angeles and Oakland by banning the use of a sharp device designed to inflict pain for the purpose of training or controlling the behavior of elephants.

News

Pension initiative tracks Utah law

Protesters picketed the recent appearance of pension-change advocates Chuck Reed and Carl DeMaio at the Reason summit. (Photo: Ed Mendel, Calpensions)

Calpensions: One of the two initiatives filed by a pension reform group last week would cap state and local government spending on retirement benefits for most new hires at 11 percent of pay, much like a Utah pension reform five years ago.

Opinion

What’s next in the public pension debate?

OPINION: Ventura County citizens scored a victory earlier this month when a Superior Court Judge affirmed that any changes to the county pension plan must be made through the collective bargaining process — not at the ballot box. Actuarial analyses showed that closing the existing retirement plans and forcing new employees into risky 401k style plans would increase immediate costs to taxpayers, while forcing new employees to put their retirement security at risk in the hands of Wall Street.

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