California Voices

Earthquakes, floods, mega-fires, a recession and other unforeseen events can disrupt the best-laid plans of any California governor. Potential disasters aside, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom should hit the ground running. Here are five policy initiatives for him to consider:

Democrats enjoy political control of California, but are splitting into three factions that struggle for power within the party.

Julie Meier Wright, San Diego This race for Insurance Commissioner was too close to call for more than a week. One could take a different view: that an independent candidate, despite the lack of the institutional infrastructure of the two major parties, as well as the brand—positive or negative—did exceedingly well and gave centrists hope […]

Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom has the opportunity to chart his own course on climate change by addressing one of the state’s greatest challenges: the resilience of our water supplies. If Newsom can modernize the state’s water governance and provide clean drinking water to all, he would truly make his own mark in establishing California as a world leader by building resilience to climate change.

Lindy Rice, Sacramento While fire-preparedness is important, something also needs to be done about power lines, which are causing a lot of our fires. They are outdated technology, like land-line telephones.  We have transitioned from land-line phones to wireless mobile phones in this century, so why not do the same with energy transmission? We need […]

In the truest sense of the word, Harvey Milk was a populist and a fighter for disenfranchised people. He spoke of the "us-es”—the ethnic, religious and sexual minorities, immigrants, women, those who are differently-abled, seniors. He fought for all those who lacked a voice.

How California deals with the financial consequences of this year's devastating wildfires will set a pattern for what Gov. Jerry Brown calls "the new abnormal."

School reform advocates pumped big money into two statewide campaigns this year but lost both as the education establishment's preferred candidates won the governorship and the superintendency of public instruction. Now the "Equity Coalition" must decide to continue their drive for structural change or back off.

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

The state government's budget situation is quite rosy, as Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor points out. But school districts are facing a financial squeeze as enrollment drops and costs, especially pension costs, rise.