California at its best can be forward-thinking and enlightened. But throughout most of our state’s history, the halls of power inside the state Capitol have been an old boys club. In the 174 years California has been a state, the Legislature has never achieved gender parity. That could change this year.
Op-Eds
Homekey, which quickly transitions unsheltered people into supportive or permanent housing, has been a remarkable success.
The record heatwaves and devastating wildfires that California has experienced in recent years have often forced utility companies to turn off the power, leaving our homes and businesses without electricity.
President Joe Biden is right. The massive tax cuts under the Trump administration turned out to be nothing more than a giant giveaway to the world’s largest corporations.
Mega corporations like FedEx, Nike, General Motors, Ford, Chevron and dozens of others have paid nothing or almost nothing in federal taxes, while raking in billions of dollars.
Exxon collected $6.3 million an hour. Chevron last year doubled its 2021 profits and boasted about “outstanding results” in an earnings call. Valero made nearly 10 times more.
In Ohio, a 10-year-old had to cross state lines to get life-saving abortion care. In Texas, doctors who perform abortions now face possible life sentences in prison. And in Missouri and 11 other states, abortions are now banned even in cases of rape and incest.
It’s no secret that college sports is a multibillion-dollar business that mostly ignores the needs of student athletes. That’s why I authored a 2019 law that made California the first state to give college athletes the right to earn money from their name, image and likeness.
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 circumstanc