Digital Democracy

Gov. Newsom vetoed a California bill to temporarily halt large transactions if a financial institution suspects elder fraud. He raised concerns that the bill would prevent seniors from accessing their bank accounts for legitimate expenses.

A California Democratic lawmaker took a shot at the salaries of nonprofit CEOs after they opposed her union-backed bill that would add new disclosure requirements for local government contractors.

Progressive groups, labor and civil rights organizations do well, while anti-tax, business and police fare poorly, according to a CalMatters Digital Democracy analysis.

A bill to allow local advisory boards to keep COVID remote meeting rules fails in the Legislature. The debate centered over making it easier for board members to participate — or giving Californians the chance to address public officials face to face.

A bill that would increase penalties for those who assault hospital emergency department workers is facing the same pushback that other recent tough-on-crime legislation has from progressive Democrats leery of increasing incarceration rates.

California cities funnel $1 billion in online sales taxes back to wealthy corporations, but the state Senate killed a bill that would change the rules for those arrangements. The vote came down to whether senators represent a city with a major retailer in a tax-sharing agreement in their districts.

Only one legislator in the California Assembly voted against a controversial shoplifting bill while dozens of progressive lawmakers declined to vote.

Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin may be the Legislature’s top tech industry expert and its occasional champion. Now, she’s taking on tech over artificial intelligence.

The Democrat-controlled Assembly has passed a bill, similar to laws enacted in conservative states, that would require porn sites to verify visitors are adults.

Pending legislation would lift requirements for California’s doctors to report all domestic abuse cases to police. The Assembly’s three physicians had different opinions.