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Dan Walters

CalMatters

Opinion

Six years ago, shortly after the Legislature enacted his first state budget, Gov. Gavin Newsom embarked on a celebratory tour to tout the spending plan’s major provisions.

Newsom’s last stop was in San Francisco, where he bragged about increasing fees on telephone service to finance an upgrade of California’s 911 emergency communication system, whose deficiencies had become painfully apparent during a series of destructive and deadly wildfires.

“During my first week in office, I proposed making crucial updates to modernize our antiquated 911 system,” Newsom said during a media event. “The idea that it’s 2019, and we are using analog systems designed decades ago is ast

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