Guest Commentary

Fabian Núñez: Important progress may be threatened by diversions of cap-and-trade funds for investments that are barely related to the original intent of AB 32. The last thing our state and the planet can afford is for cap-and-trade funds to be turned into a slush fund for pet projects that do little or nothing to improve our environment.

Lenny Mendonca, High-Speed Rail Authority chairman: The high-speed rail’s building block approach starting in the Central Valley makes sense. To hear some say that this project is something that is not important to California is insulting. Ensuring that we are all connected is essential to the California Dream. It always has been, and it always will be.

Michelle Doty Cabrera, executive director of County Behavioral Health Directors Association of California, Sacramento California’s public mental health system is unique in that counties serve Medi-Cal, uninsured, and commercially insured individuals. However, we had concerns with how our responsibilities and the availability in certain services was represented in your piece. County mental health plans do […]

Allan Zaremberg, California Chamber of Commerce: The heart of the debate over the gig economy is how can we improve protections for workers, without losing the control and flexibility they value. You can’t have it both ways. Having job security means the employer will schedule your hours. Without that control, you couldn’t get morning coffee if one day all the baristas choose to sleep in.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is poised to sign the largest, most comprehensive set of proposals in years to expand California’s health workforce pipeline—tapping $300 million in the 2019-20 budget to address an often overlooked threat to our health care system: a shortage of qualified health professionals.

Dani Carrillo, UC San Francisco: Undocumented workers comprise 9% of California labor force and contribute $3 billion in state and local taxes each year. They do some of the most arduous work, including landscaping, construction, restaurant work, and taking care of children and seniors. But if their health is compromised, they have few places to go.

Geoffrey Fettus, Natural Resources Defense Council: We need a solution for the waste stuck at San Onofre and the other California reactors. But in their desperation to move the threat away from the Golden State, some California lawmakers are making two grave errors.

Mark Herbert, California director for Small Business Majority, Concord Although California leads the nation in expanding healthcare coverage, too many middle income entrepreneurs and small business employees are struggling to afford health insurance. Something is being done about this problem, but it isn’t quite enough just yet. As part of the next state budget, California […]

Marc Marcantonio: Public drinking water suppliers’ financial stability is threatened if they are saddled with the cost of damage caused by fires they don’t start. And that could put the safety of our drinking water at risk.

John Mirisch: Scores of housing bills circulate in Sacramento, one worse than the next. Collectively, they threaten to destroy our unique and dynamic communities to various degrees, many in the service of Wall Street and other special interest groups. Wall Street is notorious for not caring about the path of destruction it leaves in its wake in search of ever-greater profits.