California Voices

Darrell Steinberg & Mark Ridley-Thomas, Gov. Newsom's homeless task force: Ours is a simple plea that the public policy of California clearly state that sleeping safely indoors is an essential first step to helping people and alleviating this ever growing crisis.

Redevelopment, a program supposedly meant to clean up urban blight but often misused, disappeared eight years ago, but a new bill would bring it back with a new name.

James Gallagher, Republican from Yuba City: Wordsmithing has become anathema. It has been replaced by raw and incendiary language; the stronger the better. Nowhere is this more apparent than the debate over immigration.

A new study suggests that California's "red flag" law, allowing weapons to be seized from someone deemed to dangerous, is saving lives, but reaches no firm conclusion.

Tom Martin, American Forest Foundation: California cannot win its fight against wildfires if we do not empower family forest owners with the resources needed to take action. We look forward to the day when our forest conditions let us return prescribed fire safely across the region to increase our forest vitality.

Legislature finally changes long-standing law governing the use of deadly force by police, driven by two egregious cases in Sacramento.

Dr. J. Douglas Kirk and Mel Levine, University of California: ACA 14 would be disastrous not only for hospitals, but for the entire UC. It would prohibit UC from using contracted workers for a wide range of functions, from increased security for commencement and other special events to occasional landscapers who have specialized skills and equipment.

Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, San Luis Obispo Republican: The epidemic of teenage vaping, like those of the past, deserves a robust and comprehensive public policy response. Bipartisan legislation developed in concert with recommendations by health experts is the response our children need and deserve.

Rising costs for public employee pensions threaten city services and will require higher taxes.

William L. Rukeyser, political commentator: Recognizing the powerful effects of negative feelings, and recognizing that some elections are between two widely unpopular candidates, what can we do to harness those emotions and translate them into more public participation? The answer may be simpler than you think.