It's Monday. Can California legislate its way to happiness? Plus, a deadly mountain lion attack.
Are you happy? That's the question at the center of a new committee in the California Legislature. The first-in-the-nation group aims to gather data on what makes people truly happy to reframe how state policymakers craft and champion legislation. It may sound silly or pie in the sky, but Assemblyman Anthony Rendon, who started the committee, thinks lawmakers should be seriously pursuing how to increase happiness for Californians. "The fact that we're not focused on that very fundamental question is something that I think ought to be very disconcerting to a lot of us," Rendon said this month at the first public hearing for the Select Committee on Happiness and Public Policy Outcomes. "If we have everybody clothed, everybody housed, everybody has a job and they're miserable, then we've failed at what we're trying to do." The committee heard from experts who shared wide-ranging ideas for making Californians happier — from improving access to green space, to encouraging meditation and charity work, to improving the quality of schooling and available jobs — and reviewed the myriad benefits of happiness. Happy people have more productive careers, are more likely to volunteer, are less likely to fall ill and tend to live longer. Happiness is an area where California and the United States are "very, very far behind the rest of the world in looking at this issue — I think that's a shame," said Rendon, who added that the committee would put out a report on its findings by the end of the year. "But from a California perspective, I think it says a lot about us that we're at least starting this discussion." In California, about 58 percent of adults say they are "pretty happy," 16 percent are "very happy" and 26 percent "not too happy," according to a September 2023 poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. Those numbers line up roughly with nationwide happiness levels, though that's not necessarily inspiring given that the U.S. just received its lowest ever ranking in the United Nations' annual World Happiness Report. In the Golden State, happiness has been declining since the Public Policy Institute of California first began asking about it in 1998. The percentage of "pretty happy" Californians has stayed relatively stable, though the "not too happy" percentage has doubled and the "very happy" nearly halved. The people who tend to be least happy are adults ages 18 to 34, renters, those without a post-high school degree and those with an annual household income of $40,000 or less, according to Mark Baldassare, statewide survey director for PPIC. I spoke to Rendon by phone last week while he watched his 4-year-old daughter, who he said is a major source of happiness in his life. Here's our conversation, lightly edited: So why focus on happiness? We get so bogged down by questions about politics and questions about mathematics — trying to get to a majority plus one in terms of votes, and what will get a bill passed — that we lose track of the fundamental questions about what is right and wrong. Ultimately, I really feel like the only thing we should be concerned about in government in the largest sense is making sure people are living fulfilling and happy lives. What are you hoping to come out of the committee? I don't want this to devolve into yet another New Age-y thing. The point is not to show up and put crystals on the dais and burn incense. The point is to look at data and have really interesting and important conversations about what makes people happy and what we can and can't do. We know that connections are important. We can't make people have a better family, or families that they love, but we can certainly do things to provide meeting places for seniors to help with isolation, for example. What, if anything, did you find surprising about the first hearing? We had a three-hour hearing, and then a bunch of people said, either in the media or were tweeting, "Oh this is going to cost a lot of money." That never came up! People came in with these preconceived ideas about like, "We're going to triple everybody's wages and go down to a two-day workweek," yet nothing in and around money was ever discussed. Yeah, we know that making sure people have housing and people having health care are important and helpful in terms of happiness. But we didn't reach any conclusions. So I was stunned at the extent to which people seemed to come in with their own ideas of what the results are going to be and didn't listen to anything we said. But that's kind of politics in 2024.
The other big thing was that when I think about connections, the 4-year-old who's three feet from me is to a large extent somebody who drives my happiness. But happiness is about connections more generally. For me, it's my daughter. For you, it might be community, it might be your workplace. For other people, it's connection to a sense of purpose. So it broadened my thinking. When I read all the literature and they talked about connections, I immediately thought about my daughter and my wife, but there's lots of ways to be connected and lots of things to be connected to. For more: If you're interested, you can watch video of the happiness committee's first hearing here.
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And before you go, some good newsThe views from Amtrak's California Zephyr train are a sight to behold any time of year — crystalline waters, wooded canyons, snow-capped peaks. But after a spate of winter storms that brought significant precipitation to California's mountain ranges and restored the Sierra's snowpack, the train's scenic views are an even more vibrant treat right now. Javier Panzar, an editor at The Los Angeles Times, recently made the journey across the state on the Zephyr, from Emeryville to Truckee, and recounted the trip in an article for the outlet. The long-distance train, which departs from the East Bay and terminates in Chicago, winds its way through some of the state's most famous vistas and natural landmarks, including Donner Pass, providing spectacular views from its observation car. The trip has other perks, too, including snacks like steak and buttercake, and it offers passengers a chance to strike up a conversation with fellow riders. The trip, Panzar writes, is an essential experience for Californians. Just don't expect to get to your destination on time. "Unlike air travel, most people are content with taking the scenic route at a deliberate pace," Panzar writes. "I passed the time chatting with a teacher from Omaha and a fellow train enthusiast from Japan. He said Japan's trains are definitely faster, but for the scenery, nothing beats America." Thanks for reading. I'll be back tomorrow. — Soumya P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword. Maia Coleman and Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
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Monday, March 25, 2024
California Today: Can a state panel help residents feel more upbeat about their lives?
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