Ending the plague of human trafficking is one of my top legislative priorities. Sadly, California is prime hunting ground for pimps and gangs to exploit human trafficking. There are a number of reasons for this including: The state’s growing under-18 population. The state’s network of highways providing quick access to...
Voters Beware of Our Populist Threat From Right and Left
We stand at the precipice of a significant tectonic shift in our political system. Similar to the profound disruptions the newspaper, music and transportation industries underwent some years ago, our democratic system, which is designed to be a lagging social indicator, is struggling to find a working model for a...
Injuries at Fresno’s Amazon Warehouse Are Triple Industry Average
Amanda Caballero wishes she could go back to work at Amazon. She made $15 an hour at the Fresno fulfillment center — several dollars more than the state’s minimum wage — and received more than three months of paid maternity leave. Her generous health insurance package covered her husband and...
Lyme Disease Led to My Daughter’s Death. Join the Fight Against Tick-Borne Disease.
My cause is personal, and my goal will not be deterred as I, and those joining with me, work to see that no other person suffers the way my daughter did. A small tick bit her. That eventually led to her death. In 21st Century America, this should not have happened....
Next Stop for Free College: Cal State University?
In yet another push to make higher education more accessible in California, a bill filed in the state Legislature last week would extend the state’s tuition-free college guarantee to four years — and beyond community college — for some students, making it one of the most generous programs in the...
Why One County Might Give $1,000 a Month to Youth Aging out of Foster Care
When Dontae Lartigue left foster care right before his 19th birthday in 2009, finding housing in Santa Clara County was one of his biggest obstacles. He struggled to find places he could afford on his $12 an hour wages at Walmart, and with a limited income and no rental history,...
GOP to Newsom: You’re Failing the People You’re Supposed to Serve
In his inaugural address one year ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom said of California, “This is where America’s future is made. This is our charge. That is our calling.” Gov. Newsom has had a full year, and a supermajority of Democrats in the Legislature. And yet with this power and ability...
Nearly Half of California Students Can’t Read at Grade Level. Here’s What We Must Do About It.
The number of California students who cannot read is shocking. Results from the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress show that only 32% of fourth-graders are reading proficiently. These results put California below the national average and behind 25 other states. While the ranking is cause for concern, the difference in absolute...
‘Not the Golden State Anymore’: Middle- and Low-Income People Leave California
In 2017, Susanna Cardenas-Lopez left her home in Salinas to visit her brother in Idaho. Three days into her trip, she called her husband and told him they needed to move there. Back in Salinas, Cardenas-Lopez and her husband were left out in the cold after their landlord decided to...
Last Year’s Hottest Housing Fight Just Got Resurrected — Here’s What to Know
For the third year in a row, California lawmakers will consider a controversial housing proposal that would force neighborhoods to allow taller, denser housing near public transportation and job centers. San Francisco Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener — whose Senate Bill 50 has twice been beaten back, in different forms, by an assortment of...