California forum letters: Bee readers take on SEIU leadership, conservatorship

Flawed plans

“Special Report: New SEIU leader wants union out of California politics. Bad idea, labor says,” (sacbee.com, July 7)

Although I admire Mr. Brown’s goals for the union, I have to disagree with his belief that the union should stay out of politics. As a retired employee from the California State Employees Association, my experience was that if the union wanted backing for its policies, political allies were a must. It will be interesting to see just how far the union’s agenda will go without political backing.

Sally Lorber

Sacramento

Outdated term

“Pay cuts end for California state workers. When will raises show up on checks?,” (sacbee.com, July 1)

Please stop referring to the State Controller’s Office’s payroll system as “Vietnam War era” software. While it’s fair to criticize the lack of flexibility of the payroll system and the mismanagement of the replacement, I believe it’s unfair to describe it using a controversial war. If you want to communicate the age of the payroll software, please objectively describe the software by the year it was built.

Robert Mar

Elk Grove

American jobs

“Banning gas cars was a good start. Now California needs to make electric vehicles affordable,” (sacbee.com, June 16)

A recent opinion piece urged the state government to boost its efforts to get low-income drivers into electric vehicles, arguing for a more effective buyback program and a more rapid expansion of EV infrastructure. Both will be necessary for California to hit its ambitious emissions reduction targets, but we must also consider the industrial implications of this EV switch. The Senate Environmental Quality Committee held a recent hearing on legislation that updates the rules governing California’s popular EV purchasing incentive. As it stands, this update still won’t require a qualifying vehicle to include any American-made content.

Matthew McMullan

Sacramento

Frivolous recall

“Gavin Newsom recall election date officially set: California voters to cast ballots in September,” (sacbee.com, July 1)

Gov. Newsom has enjoyed a positive rating all throughout his tenure in office. It dipped when he was found to have broken state health guidelines by eating socially at the French Laundry. That doesn’t make him a bad governor. A bad governor was Arnold Schwarzeneggar who tried to mortgage the state with onerous bonds to get us out of debt and sell off our state parks. He was also accused of sexual misconduct. I wish there were a mechanism to substantially punish, via civil court action, those who bring frivolous recall efforts against politicians without serious wrongdoing. The current recall is just that.

Gerald Lance Johannsen

Carlsbad

Saving lives

“Yes, ‘Free Britney’ — but also reform California’s strict conservatorship laws. Here’s how,” (sacbee.com, July 3)

“Grave disability” of the severely mentally ill should be easier to prove but rarely results in conservatorships, which are overused in California. Families here are forced to “street” their loved ones to get them help under California’s execrable Lanterman-Petris-Short Act. Until close to death, their loved ones won’t qualify. Families often wait weeks to be appointed conservators, to make life-saving decisions that conservatorship procedures postpone.

Substituting due process for the two essential decisions requiring conservators — locked hospitalizations exceeding two weeks and involuntary medication — would be more fair, efficient and result in better decision-making, particularly if robust peer review of medication decisions were substituted for court hearings.

Mary Ann Bernard

Sacramento

Refreshing content

“Fourth of July 2021: We celebrate so independently we forget to welcome each other,” (sacbee.com, July 4)

Thank you to all the Editorial Board members for your thoughtful opinion pieces on the meaning of the Fourth of July. I hope The Bee will be able to maintain independence in editing, no matter who owns the company. It means a lot for you to be able to freely express your ideas and experiences. In the age of decreasing diversity of media outlets and increasing monopolization of information sources the pieces were very refreshing and thought provoking.

Diane Mitchell

Woodland

GOP division

“Recall rule changes show California Democrats willing to manipulate laws when it suits them,” (sacbee.com, July 2)

It’s the Republican Party that is changing or flouting the rules when it comes to elections in this country. I’m happy to see the Democrats take countermeasures for a change. Taxpayer dollars will be wasted attempting to recall a governor who hasn’t done anything so awful to warrant it, and who only has one more year left in his current term anyways. This is a cynical attempt to divide Californians by the opportunists that are planning to run against him and will use this opportunity to get higher name recognition as a run-up to the regularly scheduled election next year.

Frank E. Werry

Sacramento

Bring back burning

“Thursday update: Here are the wildfires burning right now in Northern California,” (sacbee.com, July 6)

Let’s bring back rice stubble burning in the Sacramento Valley to increase winter rainfall and slow the fires. Twenty years ago, we gave up this means of clearing agricultural land in favor of rice field flooding to rot away the rice stubble. This approach seemed more environmentally friendly, with reduced air pollution and greater migratory bird habitat on the wet fields. The unintended consequence of this change was the elimination of winter tule fog and the related cloud seeding which caused greater winter rainfall. Now we depend much more on ocean front storms and the occasional atmospheric rivers which are unpredictable and destructive. We also face drought and a longer fire season.

Rice stubble burning and its attendant smoke increased gentle winter rainfall through cloud seeding and went a long way toward measurable valley precipitation and Sierra snowpack totals.

Frank Blaha

Gold River