Dan Walters

A yearly billion-dollar grant to California's local governments to help battle homelessness is up in the air as Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders work on a state budget.

As California regulates the rates of utilities and insurers, officials must not only protect consumers but maintain the profitability of the corporations they oversee.

Stubbornly high inflation is souring how Californians view an economy marked by historically low unemployment. It could affect this year's elections as lower-income families keep absorbing higher prices.

Much of California's November ballot is already decided given the state's political leanings, so the real action will come from as many as 15 ballot measures. Some could have massive financial impacts.

With deadlines looming for California lawmakers to pass a new state budget and finalize ballot measures, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders are trying to make deals on dozens of specific items.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants the state to be carbon-neutral by 2045. However, it's uncertain how that will happen and equally uncertain what impacts it will have on major economic sectors such as Southern California's vital logistics industry.

The notion of bypassing the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to move water from Northern California to Southern California has been kicking around for decades. It finally seems to be approaching the critical moment.

Two pending California Supreme Court cases have again raised the issue of whether there should be restrictions on the use of the initiative process to make new laws.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has publicly shunned tax increases to cover California's multibillion-dollar deficit, yet his budget proposal contains billions of dollars of indirect tax increases on businesses.

Public school funding is the largest chunk of California's state budget. It's also the most contentious, as a new squabble over Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget proposal indicates.