Economy

Why did a lawmaker need to bring her newborn to the COVID-exposed state Capitol to do her job? To help pass a new family leave law.

State lawmakers aimed for a $600-a-week unemployment extension and billions in tax vouchers. Federal inaction, economic anxiety and the pandemic derailed those plans.

In a year when the coronavirus pandemic upended every aspect of normal life, the impact in the California Capitol was also dramatic. Lawmakers took an unprecedented two-month pause in the spring, when Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide order for people to stay home to prevent the spread of the virus. They returned to the […]

Starting Aug. 31, hair salons and barber shops will be allowed to reopen statewide with precautions. Other industries, including nail salons and breweries, didn’t get as lucky under a new tiered state monitoring system.

Cuts in service could be just the beginning, local agencies warn, as they face unprecedented tax and fare shortfalls that threaten bus and rail lines next year, too.

CalMatters invited readers to share how they're getting by since the federal $600 weekly boost to unemployment benefits expired. These are their stories, in their words.

After a spring of crisis education, teachers’ unions hope to parlay many successful reopening battles into bigger electoral victories. But they're also bracing for layoffs of up to 60,000 educators, and some teachers are still scrambling for bare-minimum supplies.

Health care workers make up nearly 40 percent of those seeking wage and medical benefits from the program.

The pandemic has revealed a schism between progressive Democrats and moderates, wrestling with the needs of hard-hit businesses and working parents and caregivers.

A “CEO tax” targeting San Francisco’s most unequal salaries. A signature-gathering campaign to tax Palo Alto’s millionaires. And now, a new statewide bill that would levy a yearly 0.4 percent tax on every Californian worth more than $30 million. California is suddenly reckoning with an unusually heated debate over taxing the rich as the coronavirus’ economic impact […]