California Voices

Gov. Gavin Newsom doesn't like Pacific Gas & Electric Co.'s plan to emerge from bankruptcy, but does he want a state takeover of the utility?

Joel John Roberts, PATH and PATH Ventures: We need to respond to homelessness like it is a natural disaster. That means not building a limited number of permanent buildings for shelters, but setting up enough temporary structures immediately, perhaps on county and city property, to get people off the streets now. A half a million-dollar studio apartment for one homeless person feels like a design-by-committee solution.

Marcie Frost, chief executive officer of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System: CalPERS is using its voice, shareowner votes, and investment dollars to minimize climate risk to our portfolio and investments while teaming up with others to ensure we see action, not just words.

A former state Assemblyman who pleaded guilty last month to charges of misleading investors was an enigmatic figure during his terms in the Capitol.

Re “California is a wondrous place. I’m leaving,” Dec. 15, 2019: California’s history is full of people like Andrew Malcolm. They come expecting California to live up to some Hollywood ideal; they leave disappointed.  California is a real place. We have real wonders and real ugliness. Accepting any place as your life home requires a […]

Andrew Malcolm: California is a special place. I've lived here by choice twice, nearly a quarter-century in total. I have no regrets about living here. And I don't regret leaving here. As the neighbor said, "California's not the same anymore."

Dane Strother, Sacramento-based Democratic strategist: I moved to California to learn. I’m here to watch. I’m here to work. I’m slowly not adding three hours every time I check the time. I’m grudgingly waiting for the walk sign. I have one professional chapter left to write in life and the new drawings on the Etch-A-Sketch are of new friends and a place I believe in.

California voters and politicians tend to issue sweeping policy changes but then settle for half-a-loaf implementation.

Erica Costa, former Assembly Fellow: Differences between Republicans and Democrats permeate much of what occurs in the Capitol. But the California’s Assembly Fellowship Program can prepare people for meaningful careers in a highly charged partisan atmosphere, regardless of their party affiliation.

It appeared that California voters would be deciding two multi-billion-dollar tax increases next year, but one was dropped and the second is not a slam dunk winner.