Commentary

California chronically fails in using technology to improve state government operations, but Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying to fix it.

California’s state and local agencies have $187 billion in unfunded retiree health care and other benefit liabilities that threaten to crowd out public services, such as public safety and education, that Californians expect government to provide. Government must confront the debt.

Donald Trump and Gavin Newsom have similar political problems in delivering on promises they made during their campaigns.

Some people say that climate change has made megafires inevitable. Others claim that forest thinning and fuel reduction treatments may actually increase fire intensity. Neither argument should be an excuse for inaction. So what can be done to reduce the chance of another Paradise type disaster? Here are a few steps:

Public-private partnerships offer opportunities that share risk, save money and yield the best value for all—public agencies, users, and taxpayers. For the sake of commuters and our economy, California lawmakers should reauthorize public-private partnerships.

On Jan. 7, 1919, Gov. William Stephens gave his inaugural speech, as Newsom will 100 years later, to the day. Many of the words he used to set the tone of his governorship echo to this day.

Jerry Brown tends to shun responsibility for problems in state government and he's leaving behind a doozy for successor Gavin Newsom - a managerial mess in the Department of Motor Vehicles.

There probably won’t be 440 press credentials issued for Gavin Newsom’s inaugural on Monday. But although the press corps in Sacramento has declined, it still matters. A relevant press corps can hold officials accountable and help drive positive public policy.

As Gavin Newson becomes governor of California, he's writing a new chapter in the saga of four intertwined San Francisco families.

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