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Dan Walters,
CalMatters Commentary

Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He has written more than 9,000 columns about the state and its politics and is the founding editor of the “California Political Almanac.” Dan has also been a frequent guest on national television news shows, commenting on California issues and policies.

Stories by Dan Walters

Tax Loopholes Cost California and Its Cities $107 Billion but Get Little Scrutiny

Among the hundreds of bills introduced in every session of the California Legislature, a few deal with what state officials term “tax ...

/ 1 day ago

Can New State Regs Resolve California’s Property Insurance Crisis?

There’s no law requiring California property owners to carry insurance, but the vast majority buy it to protect themselves from fire a...

/ 4 days ago

UC Merced, Born Because of Politics, Is CA’s Expensive Stepchild 20 Years Later

The Legislature’s budget analyst, Gabe Petek, is marking the 20th anniversary of University of California’s Merced campus with a...

/ 1 week ago

California Can Fix Its School Crisis by Ditching Gimmicks

When the state Department of Education released academic test scores of California’s public school students in October, it cast them i...

/ 1 week ago

Newsom

Will Resistant Marin County Change After a Pro-Housing Gov. Newsom Just Moved In?

Gavin Newsom has just two years remaining of his governorship. As it winds down, he is stepping up efforts to build a national profile towar...

/ 1 week ago

Californians Send Loud Message: The State Is a Mess

Pundits and academics who have parsed the data of Donald Trump’s presidential victory five weeks ago differ on the fine points but gen...

/ 2 weeks ago

California’s Housing Crisis Has Gotten Worse, Not Better, Over the Last 30 Years

The Public Policy Institute of California, a think tank that conducts vigorous and objective research into vital state issues, is celebratin...

/ 2 weeks ago

CA Needs More Water Storage to Handle Boom-or-Bust Cycles

Each December there’s a new version of an old guessing game about how much water will be provided to agricultural and municipal users in the...

/ 2 weeks ago

California Dems Suddenly Discover It Costs a Fortune to Live Here

It would be fair to say that as voters in last month’s presidential election were giving Republicans control of all three branches of ...

/ 2 weeks ago

Sacramento Region Gained People but Flubbed Economic Opportunities Over 50 Years

Fifty years ago this month I moved to Sacramento and a few months later, just after Jerry Brown became governor, began covering politics for...

/ 4 weeks ago

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Cat House on the Kings Urgently Needs You to Donate Dollars and Adopt Your New Best Friend

6 hours ago

The Surprising Sexual Politics of Nicole Kidman’s Kinky ‘Babygirl’

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Why It’s Hard to Control What Gets Taught in Public Schools

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FDA Approves Weight-Loss Drug to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea

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In a Calendar Rarity, Hanukkah Starts This Year on Christmas Day

7 hours ago

A Look at the $100 Billion in Disaster Relief in the Government Spending Bill

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