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Author Archives: Dan Walters

Dan Walters has been a journalist for more than 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times in Eureka, while still attending high school, and turned down a National Merit scholarship to continue working as a journalist. At one point in his career, at age 22, he was the nation’s youngest daily newspaper editor. The Hanford Sentinel was the first of three newspaper editor positions before joining the Sacramento Union’s Capitol bureau in 1975, just as Jerry Brown began his governorship. Walters later became the Union’s Capitol bureau chief, and in 1981 began writing the state’s only daily newspaper column devoted to California political, economic and social events. In 1984, he and the column moved to The Sacramento Bee and in 2017 to CalMatters.org. He has written more than 10,000 columns about California and its politics and his column has appeared in many other California newspapers. Walters has written about California and its politics for a number of other publications, including The Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor. In 1986, his book, “The New California: Facing the 21st Century,” was published in its first edition. He is also the founding editor of the “California Political Almanac,” the co-author of a book on lobbying entitled “The Third House: Lobbyists, Money and Power in Sacramento,” and contributed chapters to two other books, “Remaking California” and “The New Political Geography of California. He also has been a frequent guest on national television news shows, commenting on California politics.

dan@calmatters.org
Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at an event in anticipation of signing a bill on his proposed profit penalty plan in Sacramento on March 28, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr. , CalMatters
Posted inCommentary

Newsom burnishes his national image by waging new attack on oil industry

by Dan Walters September 20, 2023September 19, 2023

Emulating previous California politicians, Gov. Gavin Newsom is singling out the oil industry as he tries to build his national political image.

Fast food workers rally at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Aug. 31, 2023. Photo by Rahul Lal for CalMatters
Posted inCommentary

Few California workers belong to unions, but they scored big in Legislature this year

by Dan Walters September 19, 2023September 18, 2023
Fast food workers rally at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Aug. 31, 2023
Posted inCommentary

Compromise settles dispute over status of franchises in fast food industry

by Dan Walters September 18, 2023September 18, 2023
A view of the stagnant water above Iron Gate dam, one of three dams being removed on the Klamath River on July 17, 2023. Once the dams are removed, this water reservoir will be restored to a flowing river. Photo by Semantha Norris, CalMatters
Posted inCommentary

Water rights reformers scored only a minor victory in the Legislature

by Dan Walters September 17, 2023September 13, 2023
In this photo illuminated by an off-camera flash, several homeless people stand next to their tents across the street from a luxury apartment building in Los Angeles on Jan. 17, 2023. Photo by Jae C. Hong, AP Photo
Posted inCommentary

California keeps its title as having the nation’s highest poverty rate

by Dan Walters September 13, 2023September 13, 2023
Gov. Gavin Newsom stands offstage during a press conference on Feb. 1, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Posted inCommentary

Gov. Gavin Newsom may regret pledges to Black Californians

by Dan Walters September 12, 2023September 12, 2023
People's Park in Berkeley on Aug. 16, 2022. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he'll work this year to reform a landmark state environmental law that he says has been weaponized by wealthy homeowners to block badly-needed housing for students at the University of California, Berkeley. Photo by Eric Risberg, AP Photo
Posted inCommentary

California housing policy takes two steps forward and one back

by Dan Walters September 11, 2023September 8, 2023
A truck arrives to pick up a shipping container at the Port of Los Angeles, on Nov. 30, 2021. Photo by Damian Dovarganes, AP Photo
Posted inCommentary

Shipping needs at odds with California’s climate goals

by Dan Walters September 10, 2023September 7, 2023
A chimney stands at a destroyed building as the McKinney Fire burns in Klamath National Forest on July 31, 2022
Posted inCommentary

Insurance looms as California Legislature nears end of session

by Dan Walters September 6, 2023September 6, 2023
A row of flags at the Capitol Rotunda before Gov. Gavin Newsom signs into law his oil profit penalty plan in Sacramento on March 28, 2023. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters
Posted inCommentary

High-tech California struggles to use technology managing state government

by Dan Walters September 5, 2023August 31, 2023

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