Posts Tagged: support

News

UC strike over, but questions remain over new contracts

Royce Hall at UCLA, one of four original buildings at the university's Westwood campus. (Photo: Ken Wolter, via Shutterstock)

The longest walkout in the history of U.S. higher education is over, but a critical question remains: Will the new contracts do enough to improve the living and working conditions that drove the academic workers to launch the 40-day strike?

Opinion

Equity in education funding is a right for all students

Students studying in a California classroom. (Photo: GagliardiPhotography, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: One of the charges I hold seriously is to ensure every child in California has the resources they need to succeed. As a product of California’s K-12 public schools in the Central Valley, I can still recall the deficiency in resources as well as the knowledge of those that were appointed to secure that my future endeavors were aligned for excellence.

Opinion

Rare-disease patients seek lawmakers’ support

A medical technician prepares to draw blood from a patient. (Photo: Ruchuda Boonplien, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The worry of a mother for her child never ends. I am the sole caretaker of my adult daughter who suffers from multiple rare diseases. Her conditions hold her from living independently. During her 35 years of life and her 12 years of living with her chronic conditions, I cannot remember the many times that she almost died.

News

Poll: A third of respondents favor Newsom recall

California Gov. Gavin Newsom. (Photo: Amir Aziz, via Shutterstock)

IGS Survey: The latest Berkeley IGS Poll conducted online last week among over 10,000 registered voters finds just 46% approving of Newsom’s performance as governor, while 48% disapprove, 31% of whom disapprove strongly. This represents a big shift in public sentiment from last year when large majorities approved of the job Newsom was doing.

News

A primer for lobbying bills in legislative committees

The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Always Wanderlust, via Shutterstock)

When preparing to lobby legislative committees, the focus is on legislative staff and then legislators. There are two types of staff for our purposes: committee and member. Committee staff, referred to as committee consultants, are those who work directly for the legislative policy or fiscal committees. Member staff are those who work directly for an Assembly member or senator.

News

Newsom: Politics, policy and the pandemic

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.

Opinion

Getting traumatized — again — after violent crime

Crime victim survivors at gathering in Sacramento called Survivors Speak 2019. (Photo: Survivors Speak 2019)

OPINION: My son Tre’ was killed in a shooting in South Sacramento when he was just 21 years old. At the time, I was in a body cast and bedridden, recovering from back surgery.No one buys life insurance on a healthy 21-year-old child. But there I was having to do the unimaginable, bury my youngest child, while trying to recover from surgery, support my children and prepare for my return to the work I love.

News

How a CalPERS-sponsored bill increased pensions

The CalPERS headquarters in Sacramento. (Photo: Kit Leong)

The annual payment to CalPERS for state worker pensions next fiscal year is expected to be $7 billion, a jump from $6.4 billion this year — and a quantum leap from $160 million when a pension increase, SB 400, was approved 20 years ago.

Opinion

Human trafficking: Inspiration from the survivors

Photo illustration of a woman held captive, a victim of human trafficking. (Photo: Structuresxx, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: I’m a survivor of human trafficking. When I was 7, I was sold into trafficking by my abuser. A young woman just a few years older than me, who had also been trafficked, helped free me when I was 11 years old. I didn’t see myself as a survivor until I saw other survivors take ownership over what happened to them and transform their healing to action.

Analysis

CA120: Political intrigue: BOE’s redistricting and the gas tax

Board of Equalization Chair Jerome Horton chats with colleague Diane Harkey in the Capitol. (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

Whether you liked it or not, the state Board of Equalization successfully blocked a gas tax increase.  This saved Californians 4-cents-a-gallon at the pump, but handed Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers a $617 million hole in the state budget. What caused this rather dramatic policy move?  I keep being drawn to the extraordinary events surrounding the 2011 redistricting of the BOE, which has four directly elected members.

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