Guest Commentary

Ling Ling Chang, Republican Diamond Bar: With sex-trafficked children constantly kept on the move, law enforcement agencies in multiple jurisdictions and non-profit service providers must work together. That’s why I introduced Senate Bill 35. Although Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed this legislation, I remain steadfast in my commitment to combating sexual predators who take advantage of trafficking victims.

Jody Hudson, Alex Hudson Lyme Foundation: With one unnoticed bite, Alex Hudson had gone from a healthy athletic 12-year-old bundle of energy to bearing a decade-long burden of an incapacitating and unknown disease. I still have many questions about how Alex’s condition could have gone undiagnosed for so long. But I choose to look forward in making a positive change, and not look back at what should have happened in her case.

Bill Lucia, EdVoice: Nearly half of California students can’t read at grade level. The key to developing strong readers is providing teachers with the preparation and knowledge. Lawmakers should make teaching practices based on the science of reading a budgetary and policy priority.

Jessica Millan Patterson, California Republican Party: California has serious issues and needs serious leaders to fix them. Unfortunately, Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent much of his first year grabbing headlines with unnecessary fights with the federal government and ignoring the Californians he was elected to protect.

Brendan Rawson, San Jose Jazz: California has overreached in its effort to address the challenges in today’s tech platform gig-work economy. The live music sector, the progenitor of the term “gig” work, is being swept up by this law. The irony would be comical if it were not such a serious problem.

Karthick Ramakrishnan and Robert P. Jones, UC Riverside and PRRI: We must stop painting all Asian Americans with a broad brush. Such a brush erases the distinct cultures and experiences of individuals and harms people who don’t meet a tidy image of quiet, hardworking, striving Asian Americans who will pull themselves up by their bootstraps to achieve the American Dream.

PG&E plunged more than two million people into darkness, many for several days, in October. The utility, whose downed power lines in 2018 ignited fires that killed 85 people and destroyed 10,000 homes, has resorted to what it calls “proactive de-energization” to avoid starting more fires. This well-meaning preemptive move to protect the public has […]

Jeff Davi, Carmel Realtor: For over a century, the Monterey Peninsula relied on the Carmel River as its primary source of water. But the State Water Board has issued orders that will preclude most of that use in the future. A California American Water desalination plant would would remove salt from seawater and make it drinkable, averting what could be a water crisis. The California Coastal Commission should approve the project.

Liz Bergeron, Pacific Crest Trail Association: Shortchanging our public lands is shameful and shortsighted given their value. The Pacific Crest Trail Association not only supports tackling the maintenance backlog, we support full and permanent funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

Joe Buscaino, National League of Cities: Presidential candidates must commit to helping solve our housing and homelessness crises. Candidates should tell voters what their plan is to make sure every person has a place to call home. And whoever is elected in November must commit himself or herself to fulfilling a pledge to provide housing for all.