Economy

Technology

Who’s selling your digital data? California gives you tools to protect your online privacy

About 450 companies are on the data broker registry in California, and a law passed last year will make it easier to delete the data they collect about people.

By

Khari Johnson

• April 24, 2024

Economy

How some programs help with post-prison life: ‘I’m signing checks. This is crazy.’

Anti-recidivism nonprofit helps formerly incarcerated people start businesses and get tech jobs.

By

Levi Sumagaysay

• April 24, 2024

Economy

California to expand re-entry programs for formerly incarcerated individuals. Here’s how they work

State touts transitional programs that aim to help individuals become self-sufficient after they leave prison.

By

Levi Sumagaysay

• April 24, 2024

A worker wearing a yellow vest scans items and places them into yellow bins as they move through the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Sacramento in 2018. Photo by Rich Pedroncelli, AP File

Capitol

California tries again to protect workers from indoor heat — except in prisons

State workplace safety officials plan to protect employees from indoor heat this summer. But due to cost concerns, a separate rule is in the works for state prisons that will take more time.

By

Jeanne Kuang

• April 18, 2024

Technology

Californians get hacked all the time. The state’s top cybersecurity job is vacant

Gov. Newsom has yet to appoint a commander who is tasked with informing businesses and governments of cybersecurity threats.

By

Khari Johnson

• April 11, 2024

Economy

California insurance chief, Farmers CEO ‘look outside’ for answers to insurance crisis

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said insurers need to come up with ideas beyond increasing rates to help solve the insurance crisis.

By

Levi Sumagaysay

• April 11, 2024

Governor Gavin Newsom poses with cheering workers after he signed legislation supporting fast food workers and boosting wages to $20 an hour, at a press conference at SEIU Local 721 in Los Angeles on Sept. 28, 2023. Anneisha Williams, a fast food worker cheers beside him to the right. Photo by Alisha Jucevic for CalMatters

Capitol

Which fast food workers will get paid more in California?

The state is still working out who will benefit from the $20 minimum wage for fast food workers that starts Monday. Employers have been asking for guidance since last October, according to emails obtained by CalMatters through a public records request.

By

Jeanne Kuang

• March 28, 2024

The remains of a burned home in Berryessa Highlands on Sept. 21, 2020. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters

Economy

California insurance market ‘in chaos,’ says former insurance chief. Can this chief fix it?

Insurance non-renewals continue even as Commissioner Ricardo Lara introduces regulations favored by the industry.

By

Levi Sumagaysay

• March 25, 2024

A warehouse worker sorts packages at an Amazon fulfillment center on Nov. 11, 2010. Photo by Ross D. Franklin, AP Photo

Capitol

California workers must wait even longer for indoor heat protections

California workplace safety rules for indoor heat protection are five years late, and the Newsom administration wanted to delay them again over state prison cost concerns. But the safety board rebelled and passed the rules anyway.

By

Jeanne Kuang

• March 21, 2024

Technology

If California government wants to use AI, it will have to follow these new rules

State agencies must follow a new set of rules when signing contracts that deal with generative AI, but don’t address harmful forms of AI used in the past

By

Khari Johnson

• March 21, 2024