Andy Liu, Mudd ‘23 Despite opposition from organized labor groups, the most expensive ballot measure in California history won by a comfortable margin last Tuesday, with voters approving Prop 22 by a 58-42 margin. Prop 22 classified rideshare and delivery drivers as contractors rather than employees. This exempted corporations such as Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash,…
By Cade Novara (PO ’23) For the past eight months, the country has been ravaged by the coronavirus. The lack of a cohesive, coordinated response from the government has left the United States with nearly 8 million cases and 217,000 deaths from the virus. Despite claims that the virus does not discriminate among groups, it…
By Rowan McGarry-Williams (PO ’21) Since the 2016 election, California has positioned itself as a site of resistance against the Trump administration. Trump’s recent revocation of California’s authority to set strict auto emissions standards is only the latest escalation in a lengthy conflict, as state Attorney General Xavier Becerra has filed over 50 lawsuits against…
By Kimberly Tuttle (CMC’19) On November 4, 2014, California voters passed Proposition 47, “The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” The initiative reduces certain drug possession felonies to misdemeanors. It also requires misdemeanor sentencing for petty theft, receiving stolen property and forging bad checks when the amount involved is $950 or less. It was intended to…
By Savannah Green (CMC ’20) On the evening of February 11, California Governor Gavin Newsom delivered his State of the State speech and defied Trump on border security, criticizing the “border emergency.” As seen in the news throughout Trump’s presidency, the president has large plans to build a wall along the border between Mexico and…
By Francis Northwood (PO ’21) Back in 2018, Scott Weiner, the State Senator representing San Francisco, introduced California Senate Bill 827 to the floor. The bill’s purpose was to counteract the growing housing crisis in the state by drawing zoning power away from the cities and into the state’s hands. The bill would allow increased…
By Kimberly Tuttle (CMC ’19) California Governor Jerry Brown approved legislation on August 28, 2019 that will abolish California’s cash bail system, effective October 2019. In a statement to the public, Brown said “California reformed its bail system so that rich and poor alike are fairly treated.” Cash bail has been a controversial issue in…
By Daisy Ni (PO ’21) The past year saw the rise and fall of California Proposition 3 (Cal 3), an initiative proposing to split California into three states. Sponsored by venture capitalist Tim Draper, it aimed to divide California into three: Northern California, Southern California, and California. Although Cal 3 gained enough voter signatures to…
By Kaela Cote-Stemmermann (SCR ‘18) Interview Editor Over the past year, the Trump administration has continually rolled back the climate policies passed by the Obama administration. From repealing Obama’s Clean Power Plan that reduced pollution from coal-fired power plants,1 slapping trade barriers on imported solar equipment,2 to withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement, the present administration…
By Wesley Whitaker (CMC ’18) Introduction While discussions of affirmative action typically revolve around the decisions of the Supreme Court, the battle for affirmative action in California played out over the airways and door to door, rather than in a courtroom. The first major piece of civil rights legislation to be voted on by the…