public policy

UCLA’s Dr. Jonathan Fielding chaired panel whose report called for increased coordination both within the Department of Health and Human Services and across federal agencies.

As Americans struggle with obesity and diabetes, UC researchers say that new nutrition labels could help consumers change their shopping choices and ultimately their diets.

UCLA researchers conducted the most comprehensive global study to date of constitutional protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Prescription drug monitoring programs and laws aimed at preventing opioid abuse are not doing much to stem this growing threat to public health.

The L.A. Energy Atlas project, a first-of-its-kind interactive website, enables policymakers and the public to sort energy consumption and emissions by building size, neighborhood and other metrics.

Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board and a UCLA faculty member, is a fierce fighter for the environment. She has championed a difficult cause without succumbing to bitterness or wallowing in the polarization that has crippled Sacramento and Washington.

Law professor Adam Winkler writes that it’s time for Congress to pass a law that safeguards due process and forbids suspected terrorists from purchasing firearms.

California Governor Jerry Brown has been fighting for the environment for decades. He reflects on that history.

The government’s use of land regulations and zoning laws has acted as a de facto form of segregation that keeps lower-income people from moving into more affluent areas.

A report from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research contains key recommendations to overcome the critical gaps in understanding how the law, which takes effect June 9, will work.

Jon Christensen asserts that in analyzing the results of Proposition 84, which allocated more than $5 billion to parks and environmental resources, it’s clear that benefits come when priorities are clearly defined.

Social work professor Mark Kaplan found that an increase in high-risk drinking during the Great Recession may explain the rise in alcohol-related suicides by men — but not women.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall met Tuesday with stakeholders from across the energy ecosystem at UCLA’s Kerckhoff Hall to discuss how Los Angeles can meet its energy goals.

A policy report by the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability finds that Proposition 84 achieved some, but not all, of its ambitious goals.

Law professor Noah Zatz argues that the sentencing concept of “working off debt” violates the 13th Amendment's prohibition against involuntary servitude and disproportionately punishes communities of color.

Jim Newton on how the well-intentioned California Environmental Quality Review Act can be misused, stifling economic development and, ironically enough, harming the environment.

A study by UCLA researchers demonstrates other benefits, too, among states that expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

New survey by the UCLA Luskin School’s Los Angeles Initiative, led by Zev Yaroslavsky, reveals the depth of financial insecurity among county residents.

Measures put in place by the state have mitigated financial impacts that could be expected as costs passed along to electricity, natural gas and gasoline consumers.

Two-thirds of the Californians who didn’t have health insurance in 2014 were actually eligible for coverage, but many did not enroll because of the cost.

The initiative will train a new generation to help achieve a set of ambitious U.N.-approved goals to reduce poverty and hunger, improve health, advance education and make cities more sustainable.

Public policy professor John Villasenor breaks down the background, key points and possible consequences of the iPhone legal dispute.

Yaroslavsky serves as executive director of the new Los Angeles Initiative, a base for his teaching assignments and policy research.

John Villasenor notes that in the battle between Apple and the U.S. government, the ever-accelerating pace of change in technology makes applying older laws a murky proposition.

The report recommends that a state agency and agricultural commissioners evaluate pesticide mixtures and implement regulations to more adequately protect human health.