Capitol

A quarter-century after California elected Sheila Kuehl as its first openly gay or lesbian legislator, its LGBT caucus has a series of successes and a to-do list for the future. Said Kuehl: “You don’t get any respect unless you’re in the room where it happens. And that is symbolic sometimes but it is noticed by society—because you’re making policy for your community as well as for everybody else.”

The 2018 election was hailed as the "Year of the Woman," but California still lags behind its Western neighbors and many other states when it comes to female representation. Among the ideas to boost the number of elected women: let campaigns pay for child care.

An investigation commissioned by the California Assembly found that former California Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas of Los Angeles, who resigned abruptly in 2017 citing health problems, likely harassed at least two legislative staff members while he was in office.

The governor put the surplus into three buckets: $3 billion for education and social services, $8.5 billion in one-time spending and $10 billion to build what he is calling “budget resiliency.”

After a political "Year of the Woman," what percentage of California's new legislature is made up of women? With Latinos a plurality of California, are they a plurality among state legislators? Who's over-represented compared to their share of the adult population? Who's under-represented by the same metric? Watch to see how these lawmakers' demographics stack up agains the state as a whole.

A huge surprise surplus, a big push on affordable housing, help for college students, working poor tax credits, credit cards at the DMV, kindergarten potties.

The governor proposes extra payments and offers to help school districts meet their pension obligations as retirement liabilities top $256 billion.

Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget proposal provides a good sense of his priorities to combat what he has called “the issue when it comes to California poverty”—affordable housing.

Before Gavin Newsom can expand preschool, California will first have to get to full-day kindergarten by building classrooms with those little toilets attached.

There are (still) more white men named James or Jim in the California Legislature than African-American and Asian-American women combined. Throw in some white Robs, Bobs and Roberts, and you have a pretty sizable “JimBob” caucus with a membership larger than the number of Republican women, openly gay or lesbian legislators, or women from any party under the age of 40. A data dive into diversity, or lack thereof.