Even as the coronavirus pandemic finally appears to be receding, Californians are in a funk. They are nearly evenly split on whether the state is headed in the right direction, according to a survey released last month by the Public Policy Institute of California, and gave poor marks to Gov. Gavin Newsom on almost every […]
Alexei Koseff/CalMatters
Posted inNews
Is This Another Way to End California’s Death Penalty?
Instead of outright abolition, opponents of the California death penalty are pushing legislation to limit death sentences. But the blowback to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to dismantle Death Row at San Quentin demonstrates the political risk. Unable to persuade California voters to do away with capital punishment altogether, the movement to abolish the death penalty […]
Posted inNews
Why Single Payer Died in the California Legislature, Again
Despite, or perhaps because of, an aggressive last-minute push by progressive activists ahead of a crucial deadline, legislation to create a government-run universal health care system in California died Monday without coming up for a vote. The single-payer measure, Assembly Bill 1400, was the latest attempt to deliver on a longtime priority of Democratic Party […]
Posted inNews
Gavin Newsom was the Face of Legal Cannabis in California. Can He Fix Its Problems?
When California voters legalized marijuana for recreational use in November 2016, it was also a victory for Gavin Newsom, who spent months traveling the state as the face of the campaign. At an election night party at a San Francisco nightclub, the then-lieutenant governor celebrated this “point of pride,” telling attendees that California had sent […]