Dan Walters

Gov. Gavin Newsom leaves the stage after addressing attendees at his inauguration for a second term at the Plaza de California in Sacramento on Jan. 6, 2023. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters

Commentary

Gavin Newsom channels Jerry Brown with constitutional amendment proposal

Four decades ago, Jerry Brown proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to bolster his bid for the White House, but failed. Today, Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying the same strategy.

By

Dan Walters

• August 21, 2023

A person walks by a homeless encampment in downtown Los Angeles on Nov. 18, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela for CalMatters/CatchLight Local

Commentary

California spends billions on homelessness, but political squabbling undermines efforts

California has spent billions of dollars on its worst-in-the-nation homelessness crisis but has little to show for it, in part because of squabbling among state and local officials.

By

Dan Walters

• August 20, 2023

A house burns on Platina Road at the Zogg Fire near Ono in 2020. Photo by Ethan Swope, AP Photo

Commentary

Legislature is avoiding key issues, including worsening California fire insurance crisis

The Legislature has returned to Sacramento for the final month of its 2023 session but will adjourn without acting on several major issues, including a crisis in fire insurance availability.

By

Dan Walters

• August 16, 2023

A voter fills out their ballot at a voting site at the Hamilton School gymnasium in central Fresno on June 7, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters

Commentary

Ballot proposal and court ruling open new front in California’s never-ending tax wars

California's 45-year-long war over tax restrictions will be placed before voters next year. But a new appellate court ruling has also opened a new source of conflict.

By

Dan Walters

• August 15, 2023

Visitors play the slot machines at the Valley View Casino & Hotel in San Diego County on July 1, 2019. Photo by Nelvin C. Cepeda, San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS via REUTERS

Commentary

Feud between Native American casinos and California card rooms moves to Legislature

California voters last year rejected a ballot measure that could have settled a long-running feud between casino-owning tribes and poker parlors. Now the battle over betting turf is being revived in the Legislature with a tribe-backed bill.

By

Dan Walters

• August 14, 2023

Assistant General Manager Elisa Gallardo serves customers from inside a takeout window at The Beehive in the San Francisco Mission neighborhood on July 25, 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters

Commentary

While US economic outlook improves, California’s remains muddy and mediocre

With personal income growth stagnant and prices still rising, California's economy is trailing many national trends moving the other direction.

By

Dan Walters

• August 13, 2023

An apartment building under construction in San Francisco on June 2, 2015. Photo by Robert Galbraith, Reuters

Commentary

How a ballot measure and population revisions complicate California housing war

As California's war over land use authority rages on, critics of the state's housing quotas are turning to voters and lower population projections to undercut them.

By

Dan Walters

• August 9, 2023

From left, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and California Governor Gavin Newsom. Photos by Artie Walker Jr., AP Photos and Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

Commentary

California homelessness crisis will haunt Newsom in debate with DeSantis

If California Gov. Gavin Newsom debates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, expect the state's homelessness crisis to be a major point of conflict.

By

Dan Walters

• August 8, 2023

The state Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. on Aug. 22, 2022. Photo by Rahul Lal, CalMatters

Commentary

Proposals in California Legislature would encourage government secrecy

Sunshine is giving way to darkness as California's politicians and bureaucrats try to make it more difficult for the public and the media to find out what they are doing.

By

Dan Walters

• August 7, 2023

Students at a classroom at St. HOPE’s Public School 7 Elementary in Sacramento on May 11, 2022. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

Commentary

Gavin Newsom quickly intervened on banned textbooks. Why not school closures?

Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly acted when the Temecula school board barred textbooks referencing Harvey Milk. But when California's schools remained shuttered longer than other states during the pandemic, Newsom refused to buck teacher unions.

By

Dan Walters

• August 6, 2023