Commentary

Commentary

California must provide workers with flexibility

Our economy and workforce are transforming, especially in California. We cannot restrict workplace flexibility with bad court rulings, such as Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles. Instead, we need to ensure Californians have the opportunity to choose the terms on which they work.

By Guest Commentary • April 23, 2019

Commentary

California needs lawyers who reflect its diversity

California needs lawyers who reflect the state’s rich diversity. Recognizing the importance of this, lawmakers recently amended the State Bar’s public protection mission to include the furthering of diversity and inclusion in the profession. Admittedly, we have a long way to go.

By Guest Commentary • April 23, 2019

Commentary

When oil industry supports legislators, air quality suffers

One would expect to see growing devotion by the Democratic-led California Legislature to do more to help Californians access electric cars and cut pollution from delivery trucks. Instead, the California Assembly, specifically its transportation committee, has been the graveyard for legislation designed to help advance zero-emission vehicles.

By Guest Commentary • April 22, 2019

Commentary

Can Newsom finally fix state’s tech woes?

Despite California's status as a technological innovator, its state government has seen failure after failure in implementing information technology. Gov. Gavin Newsom is promising to fix this chronic problem.

By Dan Walters • April 22, 2019

Commentary

California faces a sexually transmitted disease crisis. Why aren’t we confronting it?

Failure to respond to California’s sexually transmitted disease crisis will have serious and direct health consequences for Californians, ranging from infertility and blindness at the individual level, to facilitating the development of multi-drug resistant and untreatable gonorrhea infections similar to cases already occurring outside the United States. If Californians don’t demand urgent action to stop this crisis in its tracks, we will doom the current generation of young adults to a legacy of ill health they did not deserve.

By Guest Commentary • April 21, 2019

Commentary

Why is our ‘achievement gap’ so stubborn?

California's "achievement gap" in its K-12 schools has persisted, despite spending many billions of dollars to close it. Two new proposals, a state audit and a system to track students' achievement, may tell us why the gap has been so stubbornly wide.

By Dan Walters • April 21, 2019

Commentary

Weekly Walters 04/19/2019

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

By Dan Walters • April 19, 2019

Commentary

Hard truths about school shootings 20 years after Columbine. Here’s legislation that can help

Despite crime being at historic lows, overall school shootings doubled between 2013 and 2018. Appallingly, in each of these attacks, information known to school officials, law enforcement, counselors, friends and neighbors reasonably should have been used to prevent the attack. Assemblyman Kevin Kiley's AB 1722 would require a common-sense approach to building best practices into our regional school safety plans to avert such shootings.

By Guest Commentary • April 18, 2019

Commentary

Battles over local tax measures heat up

As Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators consider state tax increases, local government ballots are being loaded up with tax proposals and the jousting over them is becoming heated.

By Dan Walters • April 18, 2019

Commentary

Regulating the cannabis market is preferable to prohibition

Because marijuana use may pose potential hazards to both the individual consumer and to public safety that advocacy groups such as mine, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, believe that lawmakers should regulate it accordingly.

By Guest Commentary • April 17, 2019