Elections

In California’s Democrat-dominated statehouse, big business usually plays defense. Liberal groups—like labor unions and environmentalists—typically push for new bills, while corporate interests work to kill them. Legislators feel that push and pull. A similar dynamic is now at play on California’s ballot, where major industries are spending big bucks to defeat policies backed by progressives. […]

Andrew Naylor was working at a digital advertising firm in Silicon Valley when the “a-ha” moment struck. It was 2008, and money—more than $83 million—was gushing into the advertising world as Californians prepared to vote on Prop. 8, the measure to limit marriage to heterosexual couples (later ruled unconstitutional.) “I saw what was happening with […]

This fall, California voters will decide whether to approve the biggest jump in cigarette taxes since the state began taxing tobacco in 1959. Prop. 56, backed by a wide coalition of public health, healthcare and union groups, would impose an additional $2 per-pack excise tax on cigarettes—raising the current state levy from 87-cents per pack […]

1oo percent of precincts reporting partial returns—will be updated when all results are certified. Background: Rising healthcare costs remain at the top of the national agenda—not just for patients but for the hospitals who treat low-income patients. Hospitals rely on both state and federal matching funds for reimbursement. In the past, however, California, has used […]

1oo percent of precincts reporting partial returns—will be updated when all results are certified. Background: Gov. Jerry Brown has championed two major infrastructure projects: a high-speed rail system to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, and a pair of massive tunnels in the Delta to move water from the northern to the southern end of […]

1oo percent of precincts reporting partial returns—will be updated when all results are certified. Background: Most bills winding through the Legislature follow a months-long process with multiple votes by lawmakers and lots of opportunity for the public to give input. But not always. The political majority (currently Democrats) can waive the normal rules and jam […]

1oo percent of precincts reporting partial returns—will be updated when all results are certified. Background: Californians voted to increase taxes on the state’s wealthiest earners in 2012, seeking to replenish education funding accounts depleted during the recession. Four years later, the economy is recovering and the tax increase is slated to end after 2018. Education […]

1oo percent of precincts reporting partial returns—will be updated when all results are certified. Background: Tobacco is often the target of politicians seeking money for state programs, with mixed success across the country. In California, voters have rejected multiple ballot box attempts over the years to raise taxes on cigarettes, and the state is among […]

1oo percent of precincts reporting partial returns—will be updated when all results are certified. Background: Four decades ago, Gov. Jerry Brown embraced tough-on-crime laws that filled the state’s prisons. The overcrowding led the U.S. Supreme Court to rule the state must reduce its prison population and improve medical care to inmates. California has moved lower-level […]

1oo percent of precincts reporting partial returns—will be updated when all results are certified. Background: Swept up by anti-immigrant politics nearly 20 years ago, California voters approved an initiative that required school children be taught almost exclusively in English. The measure triggered anger in some immigrant communities, where it was viewed as an attack on […]