California Voices

Groundwater basins drawn down by years of drought contain dangerously high levels of nitrates, arsenic and other contaminants. One million Californians don't have safe drinking water and nearly 2 million more are not served by a regulated public water system and may not know if their water is contaminated. The Legislature must step in.

Excluding hydroelectric power from the state's renewable portfolio to reduce greenhouse gases makes no sense. A pending bill would bring some rationality to the situation.

Dawn Hakim, Santa Clarita Our family moved to the Santa Clarita Valley because it was a great community. Since then, our family has seen first-hand the value of school choice. One size does not fit all. Although our local school was great, we quickly concluded it wasn’t a good fit for our son as he […]

Dr. George Tyndall was the only gynecologist available to women such as Vanessa Carlisle at USC. Now, survivors finally do have a choice: Accept a settlement offered by USC, or, if the Legislature approves a bill by Assemblywoman Eloise Reyes, file a separate suit. Legislators should approve the bill.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is scaling back a statewide bullet train and twin water tunnels beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. But both still face high hurdles.

Online retailers have leveraged their power to extract subsidies from cities desperate for tax revenue. Those cities have agreed to give the retailers half or more of the sales tax paid through the retailer not just by their own residents but by people in every city in the state. Online retailers are reaping as much as $1 billion a year in taxpayer dollars through these kickbacks.

California has more charter schools than any state in the union. Yet our haphazard charter laws force school boards to grapple with loopholes and unintended consequences, too often creating havoc in our state.

California not only has the nation's highest rate of poverty, thanks to high housing costs, but its highest level of income disparity, and raising the state's minimum wage may be reducing job creation.

IPOs are bringing rideshare companies tens of billions of dollars in investment. But the companies mistreat drivers who are the backbone of their businesses. Thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers are going on strike across California on May 8 to call for basic rights and protections like those afforded through Assembly Bill 5.

A collection of commentaries by Dan Walters over the past week.