Op-Eds

May 3, 2021

California’s highest court recently delivered a major victory for the cause of justice when it ruled that “the common practice of conditioning freedom solely on whether an arrestee can afford bail is unconstitutional.” Under the state Supreme Court’s ruling, judges must now consider a person’s ability to pay when setting bail and can only hold someone in jail before trial in limited circumstances.

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January 27, 2021

Our criminal justice system is supposed to be based on a fundamental premise: “innocent until proven guilty.” In reality, this basic right is not afforded to millions of low-income Californians, particularly those in communities of color.

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August 12, 2020

SB 1079 is designed to help California avoid another takeover of single-family homes that corporations employed in the Great Recession.

 

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August 4, 2020

After the killing of George Floyd, we learned that Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer responsible, had a documented history of misconduct complaints and uses of force, making it even more clear that communities deserve to know about the actions of officers who police them. Which is why I have introduced SB 776 this year.

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July 31, 2020

As righteous as these demonstrations have been and are, we also must come to grips with the fact that we face another grave threat: President Trump and his insidious attempt to exploit protests that sometimes turn violent in order to jump-start his flagging campaign.

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January 17, 2020

While the wealth of each of our families was very different, we both grew up during a time when most families could live comfortably on what they took home after working a 40-hour-a-week job. In those days, a middle-class salary could cover a household’s needs. And the company boss didn’t make that much more than the people who worked for them.

Today, the paycheck from the same middle-class jobs that supported a family when we were growing up can barely make ends meet.

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