In the News

Garamendi said the Deepwater Horizon disaster should mark "a turning point in our national discussion on new offshore drilling."

"Enough is enough," Rep. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Creek) declared in a letter to House colleagues seeking support for a bill introduced Wednesday to permanently ban new energy exploration off California, Oregon and Washington state.

More than 40 employers and organizations will be participating in a free job resource fair Saturday at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, according to U.S. Rep. John Garamendi.

A bill reforming America's health care system, what one Bay Area congressman said was "one of the most important bills in the past 40 years," was approved tonight by the U.S. House of Representatives.

"The extraordinary greed of Anthem/WellPoint Blue Cross is a clear indication that this company has put profit before people," said Garamendi, who as California insurance commissioner presided over the merger. "People need to be able to get out of the shark pool with a public-option lifeboat."

A blue sky late last week perfectly backlit a series of monolithic wind turbines in the Montezuma Hills, their unmoving blades casting long shadows that shaded slumbering cattle.

We have seen the defunding of schools, transportation infrastructure, research capabilities, and everything else that helps grow an economy. California's constitution should be re-examined. I believe that California will reach its full potential when majority rule is restored.

As pointed out in Marc Lifsher in the Los Angeles Times, the only real authority the Commissioner has is on an related issue, which is whether Anthem Blue Cross was abiding by a 70% "medical loss ratio" requirement--whether 70% of premium dollars were going to patient care, rather than administration and profit.