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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

California Democrats Score Big Win as Supreme Court Blocks Anti-Tax Ballot Measure

The century-long and often tortured history of California making law through ballot measures took a new turn Thursday when the state Supreme...

/ 17 hours ago

California’s Budget Process Has Once Again Become Secretive and Needs Reform

A minor miracle occurred in the California Capitol 50 years ago this month when a bipartisan majority of state senators refused to accept a ...

/ 2 days ago

Supreme Court Deals Blow to Environmental Law Relied on by Housing Opponents

A plot of land where Interstate 5 crosses the American River in Sacramento was once occupied by the Rusty Duck and Hungry Hunter restaurants...

/ 1 week ago

As Californians’ Stance on Crime Hardens, Republicans Try to Regain Relevance

Over the last dozen years, Democrats have gained, lost, and finally nailed down supermajorities in the California Legislature. Now they hold...

/ 1 week ago

California Restaurants Want an Exemption from State’s New Hidden Fees Law

In “1984,” George Orwell’s novel about a dystopian future, he describes “newspeak,” a propagandistic language of euphemisms and inversions u...

/ 2 weeks ago

High School Free Speech Controversy Jogs Memories of My Start in Journalism: Dan Walters

Students at Sacramento’s McClatchy High School learned last month that if officialdom feels uncomfortable, it will trample on free speech. ...

/ 2 weeks ago

California Seeks a More Resilient Water Supply as Familiar Sides Battle for Access

California is a semi-arid state in which the availability of water determines land use, and in turn shapes the economy. Dan Walters CalMat...

/ 2 weeks ago

Homelessness Funding on the Chopping Block. Will It Make the Final CA Budget?

It’s the billion-dollar question. That’s how much cities and other local governments have been receiving from the state each year to deal wi...

/ 2 weeks ago

Why California Regulators Have to Protect Both Consumers and Company Profits

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Southern Pacific Railroad wielded almost total control over California’s politics, angering f...

/ 3 weeks ago

Inflation Hits California Families Hardest. It’s Shaping Their Views on the Economy

On paper, the U.S. economy seems to be doing well with historically low unemployment. Yet most Americans have a sour view in recent polls, w...

/ 3 weeks ago

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11 hours ago

Obesity Drug Used in Mounjaro and Zepbound May Help Treat Dangerous Sleep Apnea

11 hours ago

At Least 6 Heat-Related Deaths Reported in Metro Phoenix So Far This Year as High Hits 115 Degrees

11 hours ago

Coffee Research Center at UC Davis Poised to Deliver a Jolt

Photo of the entrance to Walt Disney World

12 hours ago

Workers Sue Disney Claiming They Were Fraudulently Induced to Move to Florida from California

12 hours ago

Fresno Suspect Arrested in Armed Home Invasion, Earlier Burglary

13 hours ago

A Half-Century of Roaring Passion: Cobras, Shelby Mustangs & The People Who Love Them

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