Guest Commentary

Rob Lapsley and Allan Zaremberg, Business Roundtable and California Chamber of Commerce: A split-roll initiative would remove Proposition 13’s protections for commercial and industrial property and raise their property taxes by billions of dollars a year. Businesses would have no choice but to pass those increased costs onto you and me, raising the prices on everything we buy, from gasoline to groceries, while also raising our utility and healthcare bills.

Joe Nation, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research: Legislative attempts at reform of public employee pensions barely made a dent in the problem. Public pension debt will continue to grow. The question is whether California’s leaders have the courage to acknowledge and implement the aggressive and comprehensive reforms that are so clearly required.

Gary E. Mead, former associate director of the U.S. Marshal Service: If private prisons are not meeting the needs of the state, steps should be taken to address those needs. But a ban on much needed private prisons is not the answer, at least not if Gov. Newsom’s goal is to improve the conditions for state inmates, and the treatment of immigrants in custody.

Rich Gordon, California Forestry Association: California’s biomass market is ripe for expansion and offers an environmentally responsible way to reduce forest fuel loads, fight climate change, and produce renewable energy. Without leadership, however, a crucial opportunity will be lost.

Jerry Butkiewicz, San Diego County Water Authority and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California board member: Threats to our quality of life are very real. Clean air, clean water, the Endangered Species Act and worker health and safety are important values worth preserving. We must work together to protect California from the damaging actions of the Trump administration. That’s why SB 1 is so important.

Jessy Rosales, justCARE campaign campus coordinator at the Women’s Foundation of California: Every student should be able to make the decisions we believe are best for our health, our circumstances, and our future. SB 24 would ensure the full range of reproductive and sexual health services are available to all California students, no matter where they live, go to school, or how much money they make.

Assemblyman Adam Gray, Democrat from Merced: Given how little we know about vapes and their link to the lung illnesses being reported across the country, it may be time to impose a moratorium on the technology as a whole, regardless of what drug it is being used to deliver. If we are unwilling to put a moratorium in place, then we must radically alter our current approach to regulating vaping technology.

Juan Novello and Micah Weinberg, California Latino Economic Institute, and California Forward: Nearly four in 10 Californians are Latino, but not nearly enough are in the middle class. Growing California’s middle class is an economic imperative if more Californians are going to participate fully in the pursuit of the California Dream.

Jaime Soto and Jessica Manzo, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento: Women deserve safer, more respectful, environments on campuses, not more ways for the universities to hide their victimization.Senate Bill 24 is not about health care. It is an example of partisan posturing, consolidating the the state’s aversion to any restrictions of abortion.

San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and David Leonhardi, San Diego County Deputy Sheriff’s Association: First responders run toward danger when others are running away. But while first responders are protecting us, who is protecting them? Nationally, more first responders lose their lives to suicide than in the line of duty. San Diego County is trying to help.