California Voices

More than a quarter of California homes are still without wireline broadband Internet, and, of these homes that do not subscribe, the majority are low-income, less educated, African American, or Latino. Comcast has a program to help bridge the digital divide.

California unions scored big wins in the Legislature this year, hoping to arrest declining union membership in the state.

Jerry Sanders and Alfredo Pedroza, San Diego Chamber of Commerce: Gov. Gavin Newsom can help improve that vital relationship by signing Senate Bill 558. It’s a bill that will grant official recognition to the importance of our close proximity and shared values, which have resulted in one of the strongest economic, cultural, and social regions in the world.

Dan Jacobson, Environment California: To slow the spread of forest fires, drought, and rising sea levels, we need to accelerate every one of our clean energy strategies. We need to expand our horizons and find a way to harness the wind off our coast to power an electric grid that will rely more than ever on clean, renewable energy.

A 44-year-old political battle about payouts for medical malpractice may be headed back to the ballot, unless doctors and lawyers reach agreement.

LaVarne Burton, American Kidney Fund: For 22 years, the neediest patients in California have turned to the American Kidney Fund for help staying insured. We help only low-income patients. If Gov. Gavin Newsom signs AB 290, signed, the American Kidney Fund will end our program for the 3,700 dialysis and transplant patients we help in California and all those who might need our assistance in the future.

Leslie Teicholz and Leif Wellington Haase, writer and consultant: The need for affordable housing scarcely requires more justification. But now that the state’s largest health care providers and reform advocates are backing affordable housing initiatives, it brings new momentum and ideas to debates in Sacramento.

Becky Boblak, a Berkeley mom: Only about 10% of students travel on their own steam to school. One-third take buses and about 50% get to school via car. I understand why. It just isn’t safe. Too often, the danger is from a car speeding down the street.

Re: “With Gov. Newsom’s veto of SB 1, California seems stuck in same old water fight ‘binaries’,” Sept. 29, 2019. It’s easy to get caught up in the heated rhetoric of the moment as did Kim Delfino in her guest commentary. Water users working to finalize the voluntary agreements were faced with a difficult situation. […]

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a chilling proposal earlier this year to double detention capacity in California with 5,600 new beds, all near those offices. If built, these facilities will further entrench incarceration for generations to come. That’s one reason why Gov. Newsom should sign AB 32. It would provide a critical check on this underhanded move.