Image by Kirk Fisher.OPINION – California policymakers are obsessed with boosting “affordable housing,” which makes sense when housing in the state is out of reach to a large portion of its residents. They’re trying to solve the problem from the wrong end, though. The supply of affordable housing is best expanded not by focusing on building homes with artificially cheap price tags but by increasing the construction pace of all homes.
A groundwater monitoring well used for environmental groundwater sampling. Image by actualreece. OPINION – Across California, regulators maintain extensive records on contaminated bodies of water and hazardous remediation sites, especially in the Bay Area, Los Angeles Basin, and San Diego. Current policy allows polluted sites to be closed once they are deemed stable and pose minimal risk. But groundwater levels are climbing, and contamination that was once submerged is now at risk of being mobilized.
Lea Park-Kim, photo by Ellie Appleby, Capitol WeeklyMost mornings, before the sun can make its appearance, you’ll find Lea Park-Kim out on the water in West Sacramento rowing or coaching with the River City Rowing Club. It’s a practice that reflects her discipline and motivation to continually evolve. That same energy has propelled her to success as the communications director for Sen. Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks).
Sacramento capitol rotunda, image by Reina SmythAround the Capitol, one big bill effort dies and another one comes back from the grave.
Photo courtesy of California Assembly Democrats via YouTubeAB 3024, The Stop Hate Littering Act, would expand the definition of “intimidation by threat of violence” under the Ralph Civil Rights Act of 1976 to include “distribution of hateful materials on the private property of another without authorization for the purpose of terrorizing the owner or occupant of that private property or in reckless disregard of the risk of terrorizing the owner or occupant of that private property.”
Monika Lee, photo by Scott Duncan PhotographyMonika Lee’s story showcases many of the possible avenues for creating meaningful change in Sacramento. In her five years in the community, Lee has moved up the ranks in three different organizations and worked with a variety of issue areas, letting her passion for equity guide her along the way.
Photo by ANDREI ASKIRKA via ShutterstockNine California research organizations will vie behind closed doors this week as the state’s stem cell agency scores their bids to kick off what would be a first-in-the-nation, $80 million manufacturing network to speed the development of revolutionary medical therapies.
West Mission Bay Drive Bridge, San Diego. Photo by Unwind via ShutterstockInfrastructure investments offer a chance to build an economy that is more equitable and resilient, and that offers more Californians a pathway to the middle class.
The California Capitol in Sacramento, surrounded by Capitol Park. (Photo: Merge Digital Media LLC, via Shutterstock)In the final weeks before Election Day on Nov. 8, support for Proposition 30, the state ballot measure on funding to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has slid to less than a majority. On the congressional front, Democrats hold an overall edge across the 10 competitive districts that could determine which party controls the US House of Representatives.
Scant water at Granite Island and River Valley along the North Fork of the American River east of Sacramento. (Photo: Lisa Parsons, via Shutterstock)In 2019, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled what the city calls “The Green New Deal.” This ambitious sustainability plan stipulates many policy and infrastructural changes to prepare the four-million-person city for climate change. To name a few, the Deal includes: transitioning the power grid to 100% renewable energy by 2045; modifying 100% of buildings to be net zero carbon by 2050; increasing zero emission vehicles, and electrifying all Metro and LADOT buses, to reach zero carbon transportation by 2050.