GUEST COLUMNS
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
Politicians, particularly Gov. Gavin Newsom, are fond of touting California policies and programs as the nation's first and/or foremost.
Large school districts, including San Francisco, Oakland, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland and others experiencing COVID-related school closures, could learn a lot from the Los Angeles Unified School District and United Teachers Los Angeles.
Late last year, California's Employment Development Department launched a clawback program, requiring some 1.4 million people who received federal pandemic unemployment assistance to retroactively prove they were working or seeking work.
Hospitals are expecting COVID-19-positive patients to triple by the end of the month, with admissions peaking in the next four to six weeks.
Friday, January 14, 2022
Twenty-nine TV shows have relocated to California after being promised state funds, part of a yearslong effort to fight an exodus of productions from Hollywood.
Thursday, January 13, 2022
Practitioners representing survivors of sexual abuse sue the State of the Vatican City (i.e., Holy See) because they argue that it has profited from the support of archbishops, among other parishioners, knew of the harm done to survivors of sexual abuse, and actively covered up sexual abuse allegations. However, suing a foreign state like the Holy See presents many challenges for practitioners.
The answer is: It depends
California has no shortage of critical issues – pandemic, water, housing and chronic poverty to name a few.
Assembly Bill 933, authored by Assemblymember Tom Daly, a Democrat from Anaheim, addresses a big problem that most people know little about: the state's prescription drug rebate system.
The Assembly must act on the Guaranteed Health Care for All Act – Assembly Bill 1400 – in January.
On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a $286.4 billion budget proposal, 9% bigger than last year's record state spending plan. Buoyed by a strong economic recovery and tax revenues that continue to roll in even higher than anticipated, his administration projects a $21 billion discretionary surplus for 2022-23, plus tens of billions more in extra cash for schools, pension payments and reserve accounts.
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Centralized health care seems to work fairly well in other developed countries, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, with per capita costs somewhat lower than those in the United States.
While in 2022 we're set to have a second consecutive year of historically high budget surpluses, national data demonstrates that routine pediatric vaccination rates, and primary and preventative services among our most vulnerable children have all steeply declined.
Propelled by approaching term limits, new district lines and a raft of political opportunities outside the state Capitol, more than a dozen California lawmakers have sought employment elsewhere.
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
The U.S. Senate's filibuster rule looms large, threatening to stymie both the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and President Joe Biden's $2 trillion Build Back Better Act, despite the Democratic Senate majority and strong popular support among Democratic voters for both measures. Popular mythology aside, the filibuster's crucial and insidious function is that it enables senators to feign serving their constituent voters while in fact serving their special interest donors. It operates like the orchestration of a particularly debauched bachelor party.
A few days after Howle departed, one of the leftover reports was issued, revisiting a thorny problem that dates back 16 years called Financial Information System for California. It's an awkward title written to justify a catchy acronym, FI$cal.
Recent rains unfortunately do not mean rest for California water policymakers, local governments and regional water agencies. With increasingly severe weather conditions year after year, we anticipate that California will be facing significant water deficits on a recurring basis.
In a déjà vu moment that led to a backlog of cases last year, some courtrooms are halting jury trials, moving some courtroom proceedings online and pushing back their calendars.
Nearly three dozen state lawmakers were absent from floor sessions Thursday morning after many of them, including Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, were potentially exposed to the coronavirus at a farewell event for a colleague on Tuesday night.
As with initial vaccinations, acceptance of the booster shot has varied throughout California: Counties in the far north and rural areas continue to see lower numbers, with as few as 23% of vaccinated people getting a booster in Mariposa, Colusa and Merced counties, according to a CalMatters analysis of state data.
A new year is upon us, and 2022 means not only the arrival of year three of the coronavirus pandemic (yikes), but also the implementation of hundreds of new laws in California.
Monday, January 10, 2022
After two years of not being penalized for declining enrollment during the pandemic, school districts are bracing for a sudden drop in revenues next year as their funding gets recalibrated to match current enrollment, which plummeted since COVID-19 first closed California's schools.
This year's tax filing season is likely to be another challenging one because of pandemic-related tax changes.
Friday, January 7, 2022
The first Europeans to visit California were Spanish explorers who assumed it was an island and named it for a fictional island in a 16th century Spanish novel, occupied by a band of woman warriors led by a queen named Calafia.
There is truly nothing like experiencing a desert oasis.
The scariest story I read over the holidays had nothing to do with winter wildfires, the COVID-flu combo or the threat of Russia invading Ukraine.
Thursday, January 6, 2022
Wendell Berry famously said that eating is an agricultural act. That makes all of us into farmers, and nowhere is that more true than in water terms.
The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the need for universal broadband access.
There's a water fight brewing on the Kern River.
In WAG Acquisition LLC v. Flying Crocodile Inc et al, 2-19-cv-01278 (WDWA Dec. 28, 2021), the Court granted defendants' motion to stay pending ex parte reexamination even though the case had already previously been stayed pending inter partes review
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
Unlike a deed of trust, a mechanics lien is an involuntary lien against real property. Any by "involuntary." I mean you have no say so, nada, over whether someone records a mechanics lien on your or your client's property.
Superficially, California's politics seem poised for a big upheaval in this election year, but appearances can be deceiving.
Another coronavirus variant spreading like wildfire, and another huge state budget surplus: In some ways, 2022 is off to a similar start as 2021.
Tuesday, January 4, 2022
The current problem has shown the notification requirements to be weak links in the protections that the CJP, the California Judicial Council, and the State Bar devised in response to a California Supreme Court fiasco in th 1970s.
"Buy now, pay later" online loans are getting attention from both regulators and the credit industry as consumers increasingly turn to them, and they may soon play a bigger role in credit scores.
Monday, January 3, 2022
First, employers must implement processes to properly complete and maintain Forms I-9 for all employees.
Thursday, December 30, 2021
Especially at a time when many of tech's leaders seem more interested in building new, virtual worlds than improving the world we live in, it is worth praising the technologists who are stepping up to solve some of our biggest problems.
Despite gains in education, employment and earnings in recent decades, American women still face a rockier road to secure retirement than men.
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Visit nearly any marijuana dispensary in the country and you will likely be presented with the option to pay with a credit or debit card. In light of the apparent wide acceptance of electronic transactions at many dispensaries, you may be surprised to find that Visa and Mastercard ban cannabis merchants from their platforms.
Hollywood got its first big case about non-fungible tokens last month when Miramax filed a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles against Quentin Tarantino.
Tuesday, December 28, 2021
More than 60% of the program's funding — $18 billion — went to businesses run by women, veterans and historically underserved groups, mostly during an initial 21-day exclusivity period.
Monday, December 27, 2021
Airlines are moving to qualify frequent travelers by the money they spend, not the amount they fly.
Thursday, December 23, 2021
The question is whether Jack can establish that FTX's Moon Man is similar enough to Jack's marks and whether dilution is likely.
The Fairness for Injured Patients Act has qualified for the 2022 ballot and would make a modest adjustment to an outdated law.
In addition to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, young people face existential threats like climate change, gun violence in schools as well as communities, civil rights crises, and an uncertain educational and economic future.
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Our outdated education system too narrowly defines student success and should move toward a competency-based approach to learning.
Silicon Valley is now awash with stories of people riding seemingly ridiculous crypto investments like Dogecoin, a digital coin based on a dog meme, to life-changing wealth.
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
U.S. District Judge William Alsup set a hearing for Jan. 3 for the utility to admit or deny charges involving two fires. If the company denies the allegations, he will set an evidentiary hearing the following week.
"Under the State Bar's obligation as a regulatory agency whose principal mission is the protection of the public, it has issued subpoenas to only a small number of attorneys who worked with LegalMatch for a limited 10-month time frame in order to obtain relevant referral information for the prosecution of LegalMatch," wrote State Bar General Counsel Vanessa L. Holton.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Lopez will replace U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez in San Diego. Superior Court Judge Jinsook Ohta will replace U.S. District Judge Barry T. Moskowitz.
Designated months that recognize Native American Heritage and governor-appointed advisory councils are opportunities for Californians to reflect on the history of Indigenous peoples in our state, but they are not sufficient for us to redress the historic wrongs suffered by California's tribes.
Four California public universities could have received $47 million more in coronavirus aid if they sought funds from a different federal agency, a recent state audit found. As a result, some students may have missed out on support services and equipment during what has been an unprecedented disruption in schooling worldwide.
Monday, December 20, 2021
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