In the News

Sunday, December 22, 2019

By Sen. Bill Dodd (Davis Enterprise)

Anyone who’s ever noticed the same advertisements following them around the web knows their personal data is anything but private.

Companies collect information on all your online activities -- from the things you buy to your Google searches. They sell it to other businesses looking for clever ways to pitch you on more products – or worse.

Monday, July 15, 2019

By Sen. Bill Dodd and Sen. pro Tempore Toni Atkins (Vallejo Times-Herald)

As California enters peak fire season, we take stock of the horrific wildfire disasters that are less than a year old, and of the urgent actions Gov. Newsom and the Legislature have taken to ensure those disasters don’t happen again.

No one can predict the future, and wildfires will always be part of our natural landscape. At the same time, state leaders have taken aggressive steps to address the underlying causes of these fires even as we know we have much more work to do.

Monday, April 1, 2019

By Bill Dodd

(The Press Democrat, March 24, 2019)

The smell of smoke and the sound of sirens shouldn’t be the first indication to Californians that another wildfire is near. As we’ve seen in our own communities and, more recently, in Butte County, that approach has deadly consequences.

Tuesday, August 14, 2018

By Bill Dodd

(Sonoma County Gazette, August 3, 2018)

At a time when the federal government is rolling back protections, we are moving forward here in California.

On so many fronts – from safeguarding the environment to helping undocumented immigrants – we lead the nation, setting standards for things like stewardship and human rights that we hope other states will follow.

Saturday, August 4, 2018

By Bill Dodd

(The Davis Enterprise, 8-1-18)

Protecting consumer personal and financial information is not only the responsible thing to do. It’s good business.

Last week, Facebook found out the hard way that to act otherwise can affect the bottom line. It suffered the largest drop in Wall Street history, losing $120 billion in stock value, on projections of slower user growth tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Clearly, being reckless with data can have disastrous effects. And consumers are demanding better safeguards.

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

By Bill Dodd

(The Press Democrat, 6-17-18)

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That’s especially true in light of last year’s fire season, which underscored the need to think innovatively and proactively about fire prevention. Policymakers have a moral imperative to act – we cannot sit idly by and wait for the next disaster. That is why my partners in the Legislature and I are working to help victims and communities recover, while also taking steps to prevent fires, implement best practices and reduce harm. 

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

By Bill Dodd

(San Francisco Chronicle, 7-27-18)

A committee of California lawmakers this week took the first step toward addressing one of the biggest problems facing our state — the stunning rise in devastating wildfires. 

In the first in a series of hearings expected to play out over the next month, members of the bipartisan Senate-Assembly conference committee in Sacramento heard from experts on a range of issues — from the role of electric utilities and climate change, to what might be done to prevent future fires to finding a way to make needed investments.

Monday, July 30, 2018

By Bill Dodd

(Sacramento Bee, 7-24-18)

We all agree something must be done to address the alarming rise in wildfires. That is why Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders are convening a Senate-Assembly conference committee to come up with a plan. The first hearing is Wednesday in Sacramento.

As co-chairman of the committee, I want to make my priorities crystal clear. First and foremost, we must fight for those devastated in the 2017 fires and to prevent utilities from sparking future wildfires and claiming new victims.

Monday, July 30, 2018

By Bill Dodd 

(Napa Valley Register, 7-25-18)

Monday, April 18, 2016

When Californians want to buy a car, data on fuel efficiency, safety, performance and virtually every factoid imaginable are just a quick online search away. However, California’s water managers have to do extensive research just to piece together the basic facts.

By making California’s existing water data open, transparent and publicly accessible, we could significantly improve our drought resilience. The problem isn’t a lack of information so much as a lack of accessible, user-friendly data.