Posts Tagged: regulation

News

Note to industry: Electric trucks save lives

An electric big-rig tractor-trailer truck. (Photo: Union of Concerned Scientists)

OPINION: Polluters never miss an opportunity to exploit a crisis for financial gain — and the coronavirus crisis is no exception. As millions of Americans hunker down in their homes, sacrificing their incomes to save lives, truck manufacturers are endangering people in my community by lobbying for delays to the nation’s first electric truck standard, which would slash toxic air pollution from trucks.

Opinion

Wanted, now: More competition in the TV marketplace

A television screen surrounded by viewing options. (Photo: Haywiremedia, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: We all adjust our individual habits in response to positive changes in the marketplace – the ubiquity of smartphones means I now text more often then I call, and consume news on my phone rather than my laptop.  These habit changes are generally a good thing – companies are encouraged to invest in new products and services that satisfy consumers changing demands.

News

Clock ticking on dispute over vaccination exemptions

A young boy watches as he is vaccinated. (Photo: JPC-PROD, via Shutterstock)

A contentious, heavily amended attempt to tighten California’s mandatory vaccination law remains stalled in the Legislature with the deadline less than four weeks away. The measure would crack down on doctors who write fake medical exemptions for children.

Opinion

Environmental regulators: Put people before industry

View toward downtown Los Angeles and surrounding communities on a hot, smoggy day. (Image: IM_Photo, via Shutterstock))

OPINION: The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency offered another boon to the fossil fuel industry when it announced its intent to ignore the scientifically-proven impacts of air pollution on human health. By minimizing and outright denying the health risks of air pollution, the EPA is recklessly devaluing the lives of children and families who are assaulted daily by pollution and climate impacts that threaten their health, safety, and life expectancy.  

Opinion

Brown sharpens teeth in HMO regulation

A photo illustration depicting a medicine and regulation. (Image: one photo, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: With Gov. Brown’s attention on landmark legislation to fight climate change, to address financing of wildfire damage and to give legal teeth to the #MeToo movement, a new law governing HMO mergers was bound to get drowned out. But everyone who was party to the California patients’ rights rebellion of the 1990s knows the governor’s signature on the new law is a very big deal.

Opinion

Net neutrality: Congress should step in

An illustration of digital balance and justice. (Image: Anna Kepa, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: California has long been at the forefront of Internet innovation. Now California stands to be the leader in a different way, substituting litigation for innovation. If legislation pending in the California Senate that would impose state level network neutrality requirements passes, it will almost certainly be struck down by the courts. 

News

CW Interview: Carmela Coyle, California Hospital Association

Carmela Coyle, incoming president of the California Hospital Association. (Photo: CHA)<

Carmela Coyle is the incoming president of the California Hospital Association, a major player in the state’s intensifying debate over health care. Capitol Weekly caught up with Coyle recently in the midst of her hectic schedule relocating to Sacramento from Maryland.

Opinion

Balancing regulation with innovation

OPINION: As the Legislature hurries to complete its final month of work for the year, the Capitol is humming with activity as legislators present and vote on hundreds of bills, advancing them to the governor’s desk. In the case of each bill, the Legislature’s responsibility is the same: To carefully consider its policy merits and its long-term impacts on regular Californians, our economy and our state’s future.

News

Regulations at heart of governance

Photo illustration of a definition of legal terms, including "regulation." ((Photo: Ivelin Radkov)

The 2017 legislative session is in full swing, but let’s turn our attention for a moment from laws to regulations. We have heard from legislators and others who would like to see California’s administrative agencies consider getting rid of expired and outdated regulations, or amending existing regulations that have become problematic for those being regulated. Regulations are the rules that define how laws are put into effect, and they are crucial to governance.

News

In CA, some winners and losers

A political rally during the spring in Santa Monica. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

It’s all over and, with a few exceptions, it will stay that way for two more years. But like any other public event, ranging from bridge tournaments to the Super Bowl, there were winners and losers. Here’s our take on who came out winners and who lost in the 2016 general election.

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