Dan Walters

The state budget approved in June contained authorization for a $750 million loan. But legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom couldn't complete a deal on terms by end of session last week.

California ties Louisiana for the highest share of poor people. Lawmakers say they just passed bills that will lower housing, electricity and gasoline costs.

Fast food prices barely went up but jobs held steady after the wage increase, researchers in a union-friendly economic center wrote. But an industry-backed study said 19,000 jobs were lost.

Two mayors, San Francisco’s Daniel Lurie and San Jose’s Matt Mahan, personify the rising influence of centrists among Bay Area Democratic leaders.

Polling and other political tests show Newsom as the unofficial Democratic frontrunner, three years before voters will elect the next president.

In the final week of the legislative session, state and local officials are arguing over a housing density bill and how much local governments can share in workers' on-the-job injury money.

The tools and tricks employed to close California's budget deficits come from an inventory of techniques developed over decades. A recent lawsuit spotlighted a strategy used in 2004.

The legislation removes environmental delays but includes language that could allow local governments to add "vehicle miles traveled" fees to a project's cost.

As Newsom and other California Democrats posture as saviors of democracy, they are no stranger to infringing on constitutional rights themselves, as recent court rulings on gun rights and free speech show.

George Sheetz could never have imagined a routine administrative transaction levied on a home-building project would turn into a legal dispute that reached the U.S. Supreme Court and remains unresolved almost a decade later.