SACRAMENTO — Millions of Californians have little or no choice when it comes to choosing a state legislator. In 24 of the 100 districts on the ballot, only candidates from one party are running. And in 15 of those districts, the incumbent lawmaker is unopposed and all but assured of...
You’ve Been Named California’s Homelessness Czar. What’s Your First Move?
Gov. Gavin Newsom has taken grief for failing to fulfill what seems like a pretty achievable campaign promise: appointing a homelessness “czar” to help the 150,000 Californians living in shelters and on the streets. Newsom’s quest, which at various points had the mayor of Sacramento, the state secretary of health and human services and...
Walters: State Budget Depends on the Rich
The final pages of the 2020-21 budget that Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed this month contain arguably its most important factor — an utter dependence on taxing a relative handful of high-income Californians. Personal income taxes, the budget projects, will generate $102.8 billion during the fiscal year that will begin on July 1,...
AP Exclusive: Early PG&E Blackouts Forewarned Later Problems
SAN FRANCISCO — The state senators grilling the CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. were upset — like millions of other Californians, some spent days in the dark when the nation’s largest utility shut off power during windstorms this fall. The lawmakers demanded that the executive explain why blackouts...
Can We Survive the New Sequel to ‘Frozen’?
Our republic has survived the Civil War, the Great Depression, even the 2016 election. But can it survive the new sequel to Frozen? I doubt it. While this decade has seen autocrats rise globally, no unelected ruler of the 2010s has set as seductive an example of unaccountable authoritarianism as...
Do California Power Shutoffs Work? Hard to Know, Experts Say
SAN FRANCISCO — Millions of Californians spent part of the week in the dark in an unprecedented effort by the state's large electrical utilities to prevent another devastating wildfire. It was the fifth time Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has preemptively cut the power but by far the largest to...
Walters: Housing Shortage Crisis Looms Large
When the state Legislature returns to Sacramento this month after its summer vacation recess, it will have just four weeks to do something meaningful about California’s single most important issue – a housing shortage that takes a heavy economic and psychological toll on many Californians and is getting worse. While...
Worried About Wildfires, Californians Ready for Action on Climate Change
A majority of Californians believe global warming is happening now and that it’s a serious threat to the Golden State’s future, according to the results of a recent poll. What’s more, Californians are ready to cast their votes and spend their money to fight it. The findings from the Public Policy Institute...
How to Help Small Business Owners Afford Health Care
Alma Beltran owns a successful small business, but that doesn’t mean she can afford health care for herself and her family. In fact, the Chula Vista entrepreneur, who is president of Graphic Image Label Inc., is facing a hard choice between the health of her loved ones and the health...
Walters: UC Imposes Political Litmus Test
If you’ve never heard of the Levering Act, you’re not alone. Few Californians are old enough to remember that during the years immediately after World War II, a Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States and its allies generated a wave of popular fear about communist subversion....