Commentary

Commentary: State’s ‘balanced and progressive’ budget carries big risks for taxpayers

Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders are patting themselves on the back for what Brown describes as a “balanced and progressive budget” for the 2017-18 fiscal year that begins July 1. The “progressive” description of the $185 billion budget alludes to expanding benefits for the very large number of impoverished Californians – at least a […]

By

Dan Walters

• June 18, 2017

Commentary

Commentary: Board of Equalization, an embarrassment for decades, finally getting overhaul

Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislators are on the verge of virtually eliminating the state Board of Equalization, which has been in existence nearly 140 years. It’s about time. The five-member tax agency has been an embarrassment for decades. Four of the five members are directly elected from immense districts and the board, which collects sales […]

By

Dan Walters

• June 15, 2017

Commentary

Commentary: After 9,000 columns, I’m still watching California — now from a new perch

So here I am again, beginning the third incarnation of my running commentary on all things California, but particularly its politics. Having written more than 9,000 California-centric columns over the last 36-plus years, first for the late Sacramento Union and then for 33 years for the Sacramento Bee, I and the column have moved to […]

By

Dan Walters

• June 14, 2017

Health

Reader reaction: A dentist questions safety paradigms

This letter was written in response to A child’s death and the power of the dental lobby, which CALmatters published on April 13, 2016. “There is no evidence that dental anesthesia under this model of care carries a greater risk than dental care with a second anesthesiologist present,” Alicia Malaby, spokeswoman for the California Dental […]

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Reader Reactions

• April 26, 2016

Economy

Opinion: Why California should follow its cities to a higher minimum wage

With wages stagnant, inequality growing, and Washington, D.C., gridlocked, states and cities are taking matters into their own hands by raising the minimum wage. Before 2012, only five local governments in the United States had their own minimum wage laws; now about 30 do. At the forefront are 15 California cities and counties, the largest […]

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Expert Perspectives

• November 22, 2015

Reader Reactions

Opinion: Increasing minimum wage is wrong tool to alleviate poverty

Of late, the minimum wage battle in California appears to be never-ending. No sooner did California increase its minimum wage to $9 per hour in 2013 (slated to increase to $10 per hour in January 2016), did some legislators attempt to accelerate and further increase the minimum wage. More recently, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee […]

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Expert Perspectives

• November 22, 2015