In summary
Highlighting all of CALmatters’ work over the past week
Recent Articles
‘Common sense regulations’ or ‘an extended middle finger’—how far will California go on charter schools?
By Ricardo Cano
The transparency mandate newly signed into law is just the first in a flurry of bills aimed at curbing California charter schools.
Everyone is saying they just won a big court case on pensions. What does that mean for you?
By Judy Lin
If all sides are declaring victory in the California Supreme Court’s new pension ruling, it’s because the decision had a little something for all the combatants in the state’s pension wars.
With a whopping 2,628 bills pending, here’s the one most popular among California legislators
By Ben Christopher
In the Legislature, the policymaking—and political pandering—priorities of Sacramento are beginning to take shape. Here’s a by-the-numbers overview.
Could the path of a GOP revolt against Trump run through east Los Angeles?
By Ben Christopher
A quirk in the Republican Party’s nominating process gives outsized influence to its voters in the bluest districts. Will they stay with Trump?
Meet California’s new environment czar, who walked the state to ‘reset’
By Julie Cart
What better way to decompress from a stressful federal government job than by walking 2,600 miles from Mexico to Canada? Jared Blumenfeld, the new head of the California Environmental Protection Agency, did just that.
To help people off the streets and into shelters, welcome their pets?
By Elizabeth Castillo
Most shelters for people experiencing homelessness still don’t accept pets. But a bill under consideration in the California Legislature would create $5 million in grants to reward shelters that welcome people and their pets.
California raised taxes to pay doctors for the poor—and is still waiting for them
By Elizabeth Aguilera
The tobacco-tax hike passed in 2016, but it’s still unclear whether more medical providers will accept Medi-Cal, the state’s health plan for low-income Californians.
Centrist summit encourages California GOP to go its own way
By Ben Christopher
A centrist summit in California has a message for California Republicans: you don’t have to be like President Trump. You don’t even have to like him.
Commentary
1872 law gives police a license to kill
By Dan Walters
Shooting first and asking questions later might have been acceptable police conduct in 1872 California. It can’t be in the 21st century.
Why Big Tobacco’s investment in e-cigarette maker Juul ought to alarm you
By Dr. John Maa
Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disability in America and worldwide. Public health experts understand that it’s a short step from vaping to smoking. That’s why we must act before e-cigarettes hook the next generation on nicotine.
Newsom housing plan may have fatal flaw
By Dan Walters
Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking a carrot-and-stick approach to California’s housing shortage, but it may have a fatal flaw.
Tax hikes are unnecessary. California businesses already pay their fair share
By Robert Gutierrez
Negative impacts of a business tax increase would be felt far and wide, because business taxes get passed on to consumers and shareholders and have a negative impact on wages for jobs that are preserved. The last thing middle-class Californians need is an even higher cost of living, wage stagnation or more risk for their retirement investments.
We must prevent the next Aliso Canyon disaster
By Tambry Lee
At the age of 44, my lungs inexplicably failed and have never recovered. For more than a decade, I’ve had a chronic shortness of breath and a high pulse rate, and I have been dependent on oxygen tanks and inhalers, unable to walk any distance or even carry my purse without triggering deep chest pains. I’m one of the fortunate ones, because I’m still alive.
State Supreme Court ducks key pension issue
By Dan Walters
The California Supreme Court has ducked a fundamental issue in state’s pension crisis, leaving the “California rule” up in the air.
Southern California Edison new rate plan jeopardizes renewable energy
By Brett Bouchy
Californians want to make an investment in renewable energy and encourage electricity use during times when it is being sourced from non-renewable sources. But upcoming changes to Southern California Edison’s “time-of-use” rate plans would discourage solar adoption in pursuit of short-term profits, when we should be ensuring that renewable energy is embraced by as many as possible.
California must make use of ‘renewable’ natural gas. Here’s how
By Sam Wade
Renewable natural gas is produced from the largest waste streams in society today—landfills, diverted food waste, wastewater plants and livestock operations. These waste sources emit methane—a highly potent greenhouse gas—into the atmosphere. RNG projects prevent this from happening, by capturing the methane and converting it into an ultra-low-carbon renewable fuel or electricity.
A telecom merger that can help bridge the digital divide
By Mignon Clyburn
Improving access to 5G-enabled technologies will be essential to creating economic parity in America. The merger of T-Mobile and Sprint represents an opportunity to bridge the digital divide on a scale that we have yet to see.
A crackdown on misusing public funds for campaigns?
By Dan Walters
The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission wants the authority to prosecute local government officials who misuse public funds for campaigns.