As California’s legislative session comes to an end tonight, the priorities and focus of the closing days have been heavily shaped by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who in the final year of his first term has taken significant steps to execute his agenda through legislation like never before. His first three years in office saw Newsom […]
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Help Paying Water Bills May Be Coming for Low-Income Californians
María Dolores Díaz sighs when she opens her water bill every month because she knows what she’ll see: another bill that she’ll struggle to pay. Diaz looks at the envelope and doesn’t want to open it because she wonders: How much, this time? “Ya nomás miro la carta y ‘aí ya no lo quiero abrir!’ […]
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‘Close to the Line:’ California’s Top Campaign Finance Watchdog Wants a Deeper Look at Donor Network
California’s campaign finance regulator will not investigate a complaint into Govern For California, the subject of a CalMatters investigation that explored the nonprofit’s role influencing legislative elections and “pushing the envelope” of state campaign finance law. But the chairperson of the Fair Political Practices Commission said he would seek to develop new regulations more clearly […]
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Electric Day in California: State to Phase Out Sales of Gas Cars
UPDATE: According to media reports, the California Air Resources Board voted to move ahead with phasing out the sale of gas cars in the state in an effort to combat climate change. PREVIOUS: In its biggest move yet to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and fight climate change, California is poised today to enact the […]
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What’s Behind Newsom’s Safe Injection Sites Veto?
Read between the lines of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Monday veto of a controversial bill that would have allowed San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles to launch trial supervised drug injection sites in a bid to curb California’s epidemic of fatal overdoses, and you might catch a glimpse of the political tightrope he’s walking. Although the […]
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California’s Fast Food Bill Could Link Chains to Wage Theft and Other Workplace Violations
California lawmakers this month are considering a fast food bill that would significantly shift the relationship between restaurant workers and the corporate chains whose products they sell. If Assembly Bill 257 passes, California would be the first state to assign labor liability to fast food corporations and not just their individual franchise owners. The bill’s […]
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Back to School: California Republicans Bet Big on Local Board Races
When California Republicans gathered in Anaheim this spring, attention focused on candidate speeches and endorsement battles as the party tries to win its first statewide race since 2006. But a little-noticed, hour-long session in a small conference room at the Marriott could very well be more consequential for the state GOP this election. The meeting […]
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California Monkeypox Response is Bumpy, but Builds on Some Lessons from COVID
Hundreds waiting hours for a monkeypox vaccine only to be turned away. Residents taking to social media to detail struggles getting diagnosed and treated. State and local leaders demanding federal action. Emergency orders declared. At face value, these details paint the picture of a country and state in crisis, struggling to apply lessons learned from […]
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Is it Too Easy for Write-in Candidates in California Elections?
Rich Kinney readily concedes: Making it onto California’s November election ballot is a miracle. The 66-year-old associate pastor and former mayor of San Pablo in the Bay Area is running to unseat Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks out of staunch opposition to her support for abortion rights. What did it take for him to make the […]
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Some COVID Orphans in California Will Get Financial Help
In a small town in California’s Central Valley, a trio of siblings lost both their parents to COVID-19 within two weeks of each other in 2021. Their deaths made the oldest son a pseudo-parent to his teenage siblings overnight and forced the brothers and sister to figure out a future without their mom and dad. […]
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California Counties Siphon Social Security Benefits from Some Foster Kids
When she was 15 and had been a ward of the courts for half her life, Kristina Tanner learned the cost of her stays in group homes and with foster families was coming out of her own pocket. She had qualified for monthly survivor benefits checks, a Social Security program for children whose parents had died. […]
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Some Seniors and Disabled People Will Miss Out on New California State Payments
Some 23 million Californians’ bank accounts will get a boost of $200 to $1,050, thanks to a new round of payments approved by state lawmakers. But the payments, aimed at mitigating higher prices for gas and other goods, will leave out lots of low-income Californians. Among those passed over are some seniors, many living on […]