Report Community College Math in California’s New Era of Student Access By Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Olga Rodriguez, Hans Johnson, Cesar Alesi Perez Dec 7, 2021 In fall 2019, California’s community colleges began implementing AB 705, making reforms to place thousands of students away from remedial courses and directly into the introductory courses necessary to transfer to a four-year college. In this report, we focus on math courses and the progress that colleges and students have made under the new system as of fall 2020.
Report Improving California’s Water Market By Andrew Ayres, Ellen Hanak, Brian Gray, Gokce Sencan ... Sep 14, 2021 Water trading and banking will prove important tools to help California bring its groundwater basins into balance under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). A broad range of policy changes could help improve and expand California’s water market while protecting communities from harm.
blog post California’s Stalled Population Growth By Eric McGhee, Marisol Cuellar Mejia, Hans Johnson Apr 26, 2021 Figures from the first half of 2020 show that California’s population growth continues to slow, driven in part by people moving to other states.
blog post California’s Population Slowdown By Eric McGhee, Hans Johnson Mar 10, 2020 Population growth in California has slowed markedly since the early 2010s, and the state is now a net loser in overall migration for the first time since the Great Recession.
page COVID-19 Mar 1, 2020 The coronavirus outbreak poses a tremendous challenge to California, the nation, and the global community. PPIC’s analyses examine the impacts of COVID-19 and how policy choices and other actions can help address them.
blog post Testimony: Water Supply and Quality Challenges in the San Joaquin Valley By Ellen Hanak Apr 30, 2019 Ellen Hanak, director of the PPIC Water Policy Center, describes how the state can help address difficult water problems in California’s largest agricultural region.
Report What If California’s Drought Continues? By Ellen Hanak, Jay Lund, Jeffrey Mount, Peter Moyle ... Aug 19, 2015 California is in the fourth year of a severe, hot drought—the kind that is increasingly likely as the climate warms. Although no sector has been untouched, impacts so far have varied greatly, reflecting different levels of drought preparedness. Urban areas are in the best shape, thanks to sustained investments in diversified water portfolios and conservation. Farmers are more vulnerable, but they are also adapting. The greatest vulnerabilities are in some low-income rural communities where wells are running dry and in California’s wetlands, rivers, and forests, where the state’s iconic biodiversity is under extreme threat. Two to three more years of drought will increase challenges in all areas and require continued—and likely increasingly difficult—adaptations. Emergency programs will need to be significantly expanded to get drinking water to rural residents and to prevent major losses of waterbirds and extinctions of numerous native fish species, including most salmon runs. California also needs to start a longer-term effort to build drought resilience in the most vulnerable areas.
Report The Central Valley at a Crossroads: Migration and Its Implications By Joseph Hayes, Hans Johnson Nov 16, 2004 Tremendous population growth, much of it fueled by domestic and international migration, has already begun to transform large parts of the Central Valley. Although this influx of migrants is posing new environmental, economic, social, and political challenges, little is known about it or its effects on the region. In The Central Valley at a Crossroads: Migration and Its Implications, Hans Johnson and Joseph Hayes find that the valley’s migration patterns are remarkably complex and vary over time, by subregion, and according to the type of migration. They also find that each subregion has pursued policy strategies to address its specific challenges. Finally, they predict that migration patterns will continue to alter the entire valley’s character and profile for the foreseeable future.
