Dan Walters Calmatters

Dan Walters is a columnist for CALmatters. He was formerly a political columnist for the Sacramento Bee.

Lobbyists are a growth industry in a state as complex as California

March 21, 2025 at 6:40 a.m.

OPINION- In the late 1990s, the late Jay Michael and I coauthored a book, published by the University of California, that explored why and how interest groups employ lobbyists to represent...

Despite global impact, California depends on Washington D.C. for disaster aid

February 28, 2025 at 6:03 a.m.

OPINION- After voters shunned Kamala Harris and sent Donald Trump back to the White House, California Gov. Gavin Newsom immediately positioned himself as the leader of the opposition.

Colorado river poses another California water conflict that Trump will affect

February 12, 2025 at 6:03 a.m.

OPINION- President Donald Trump’s intrusion into California’s long-running conflict over water management — essentially favoring farmers over wildlife habitat — has drawn massive media and political attention.

One of California’s new ‘trailer bills’ has origins in Capitol’s long history of closed-door politics

February 5, 2025 at 12:33 p.m.

OPINION- As required by law, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget staff this week posted initial drafts of 59 bills they say would be needed to implement the 2025-26 state budget that Newsom proposed a few weeks ago.

California’s carbon crusade

February 5, 2025 at 6:03 a.m.

OPINION- For the past two decades three California governors have committed the state to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to battle climate change.

If California split from the US and became a nation, it would be comparable to Canada

January 25, 2025 at 6:20 a.m.

OPINION- With Donald Trump back in the White House, he’s resuming his long-running feud with California and its political figures, most prominently Gov. Gavin Newsom.

As LA fires rage, Newsom and Bass are targets in the blame game

January 17, 2025 at 6:03 a.m.

When catastrophe strikes, its victims understandably want to know how and why — but their curiosity often morphs into snap judgments and witch hunts by those with ulterior motives. The horribly...

Can new state regulations resolve California’s existential insurance crisis?

December 19, 2024 at 6:03 a.m.

There’s also no law requiring insurance companies to offer coverage in California, but most would prefer to do so in the nation’s most immense concentration of property needing protection.

How California can fix its school crisis. Two projects point the way

December 13, 2024 at 6:18 a.m.

When the state Department of Education released academic test scores of California’s public school students in October, it cast them in positive terms.

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