Posted on August 2nd, 2005 — in Health Care
In 1974, Ronald Reagan was governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the reigning Mr. Olympia and Fabian Nunez was eight years old. But that’s the last time California updated the Medical Mutual Aid Plan, which the State Auditor says in a new report is a critical plan for responding to infectious disease emergencies.
Emergency Preparedness: More Needs to Be Done to Improve California’s Preparedness for Responding to Infectious Disease Emergencies
Posted on August 1st, 2005 — in Children and Families
A reputation for healthy lifestyles notwithstanding, childhood obesity may be worse in California than across the country. The California Center for Public Health Advocacy reports that the problem is getting worse in the state, and among kids younger than 5 the obesity rate is higher than across the nation. Be sure to look at the map that portrays childhood obesity by Assembly district. No surprise, but the outdoorsy Bay Area is significantly thinner than the car-obsessed Southland. Also, what happened to gym class? Daily participation in physical education classes is down from 42 percent to 28 percent among U.S. high school students, and in California 15 percent of teenagers say their schools do no require or in some cases even offer such courses.
The Growing Epidemic: Child Overweight Rates on the Rise in California Assembly Districts
Posted on August 1st, 2005 — in Public Finance
Two interesting items in a new report from the California Budget Project. First, it’s a myth that California is beset with a huge government bureaucracy, at least by comparison to other states. In number of estatemployees per 10,000 people, here’s our ranking among the 50 states: 47th. Second, the new state budget assumes $1.5 billion in revenues from the sale of bonds that have thus far been blocked by the courts. (They are pension obligation bonds and bonds backed by revenues from tribal gaming.) Plus assorted other details about how to spend $90 billion in 12 months.
Budget Watch, August 2005