California Voices

Garry South, Democratic consultant: Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures. Gov. Newsom was right–morally, legally and politically—to sign Senate Bill 27 requiring presidential candidates to release their tax returns to appear on the primary ballot. Good for him for being a Democratic governor with the courage to do so, and to take the resulting flak.

Legislators are working on a plan to shift money from California's bedraggled bullet train project to improvements in commuter transit.

Elizabeth Simons, Heising-Simons Foundation: In Gavin Newsom, California finally has a governor who gets the need for high quality, accessible early childhood education and care. And yet California voters rank early childhood spending below other educational priorities. Why the disconnect?

California has become a two-tier society with incomes, housing costs, education and ethnicity its markers.

Re: “California’s other fiscal crisis,” Dan Walters, July 29. Dan Walters does what he does best and makes a complicated and seemingly sleep-inducing issue insight concern. It seems you can’t spell California state government without federal money these days. Walters reminds us that California’s place as the fifth-largest economy in the world is a fine […]

Ruben Honig, United Cannabis Business Association: Cannabis consumers cannot trust that they are using safe products unless they purchase from licensed retailers. Many third-party advertisers in California, as well as apps, encourage cannabis ads whether or not the business is licensed. That is patently unfair to licensed operators, and it is anti-consumer.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara is being hammered by allegations that he took campaign contributions from insurance industry sources and favored contributors.

Jannee Parker Martin, LeadingAge California: For the first time in history, California’s “grayest generation” will outnumber young children. That’s why Gov. Gavin Newsom’s master plan for aging will be so important.

California scored a tactical win in its climate change fight with Donald Trump over auto emissions, but the game of political chicken continues.

Luis H. Sanchez, Community Resource Project: Latinos are truly on the front lines of the fight against climate change. Construction, farming, manufacturing all draw heavily on Latino workers, and they are at greater risk when they must work in extreme weather conditions. Many of these workers develop health issues. In the context of changing climate, this pronounced inequality in healthcare has wrought terrible consequences on Latino families as well.