blog post Drinking Water Quality: Perceptions and Challenges By David Kordus, Henry McCann Sep 6, 2016 A majority of Californians think drinking water pollution is a more serious health threat in lower-income areas than in other parts of their regions. There is evidence to support this view.
blog post Tackling Safe Drinking Water in the San Joaquin Valley By Lori Pottinger Oct 22, 2018 Unsafe drinking water is an ongoing problem in a number of disadvantaged rural communities. We talked to Maria Herrera about how to address it.
blog post Farming Wetlands to Grow Birds By Lori Pottinger Jan 24, 2018 California has lost 95% of its natural wetlands. Managing what’s left is complicated by inadequate water and infrastructure.
event A Conversation with Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon Jun 28, 2023 Join PPIC president and CEO Tani Cantil-Sakauye for a discussion with California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon about his experiences as a legislative leader and his vision for California’s future.
blog post Governor’s Budget Banks on Voters Passing Water Bond By Caitrin Chappelle, Henry McCann Feb 7, 2018 To pay for most of the water initiatives in his proposed budget, the governor is banking on voters approving a $4 billion parks and water bond.
Report Realignment, Incarceration, and Crime Trends in California By Steven Raphael, Magnus Lofstrom May 19, 2015 When California’s historic public safety realignment was implemented in October 2011, many were concerned about the impact it would have on crime rates. In a 2013 report, we found that realignment did not increase violent crime in its first year, but that it did lead to an increase in auto thefts. In this report, we assess whether these trends continued beyond realignment’s first year. We find that both the prison and jail populations increased slightly since 2012, which means that the number of offenders on the street did not rise from the 18,000 during realignment’s first year. This is likely to change with the implementation of Proposition 47, which further reduces California’s reliance on incarceration. Our analysis of updated state-level crime data from the FBI confirms our previous findings. Violent crime rates remain unaffected by realignment, and although California’s property crime rate decreased in 2013, it did not drop more than in comparable states—so the auto theft gap that opened up in 2012 has not closed. Research indicates that further reductions in incarceration may have a greater effect on crime trends; the state needs to implement effective crime prevention strategies—and it can learn about alternatives to incarceration successfully implemented by the counties as well as other states.
