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Though California leaders like to tout the state as the world’s fifth largest economy, it can appear that California has two economies: One where some workers still aren’t paid what they’re owed, and another where some California corporations are raking in big bucks. In one major case, the state’s Labor Commissioner’s Office is having a […]

The high in the Bay Area city where I live was 95 degrees Tuesday, which caught me so off guard that I thought my phone’s location setting was stuck in Sacramento. But it wasn’t. And it was hot. This week’s unusual and brutal heat wave in California is expected to cool off starting today, but […]

While Gov. Gavin Newsom is in Mexico to attend the inauguration of its first female president, legislators’ work isn’t done — and some who also planned to go aren’t thrilled to be stuck in Sacramento.  Today, Assemblymembers will meet in a special session called by Newsom to consider legislation that seeks to ease gas price […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom has until midnight tonight to act on the fewer than 40 bills remaining on his desk. As of Sunday, the proportion of bills that Newsom has vetoed since the Legislature adjourned Aug. 31 is about 19% (or 181 of nearly 960 measures).  Some notable bills the governor spiked over the weekend: Gov. […]

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m Wendy Fry. A Sonoma County wine grape and vegetable grower will have to pay $31,102 in back wages and $18,154 in civil penalties for violating several requirements of the federal H-2A visa program, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The H-2A program allows U.S. employers to hire temporary […]

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff: Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to combat gasoline price spikes appears headed to a long-awaited Assembly floor vote next week after passing out of committee on Thursday. But the politics of oil industry regulation are never that simple in California. To pass Assembly Bill X2-1, which would require refineries to […]

It’s crunch time on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s special session: This morning, an Assembly committee will hear — and possibly vote on — his bill that would authorize the California Energy Commission to require oil refineries to keep a minimum stock of fuel as a way to curb gasoline price spikes. That’s an argument Republican legislators […]

Many California farmworkers have long lacked safe and affordable places to sleep — an issue thrown into sharp relief after last year’s mass shooting in Half Moon Bay, which left seven agricultural workers dead.  To improve farmworker housing, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two bills on Tuesday at the Fresno headquarters of the nonprofit Central Valley […]

I’m back from holiday and am remaining decidedly happy to fight off any post-vacation blues. But most Californians, apparently, aren’t feeling too happy — a stark reality that the Legislature just tried to dig into. In the latest survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, most California adults (55%) said that the state is […]

I’m CalMatters higher education reporter Mikhail Zinshteyn, filling in for Lynn, who will return to your inboxes on Tuesday: Student advocacy was no match against institutional forces: The University of California Board of Regents approved the purchase of less-lethal weapons, and Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have let undocumented students work on […]