Gov. Pete Wilson tried to wrest key powers from the CalPERS board. A labor-led counterattack left the board more independent than ever.

What is CalPERS? | Where does the money come from? | How much do employees contribute toward their pensions?

The state’s electric-car adventure got off to a shaky start. Here's the problem.

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: This is the rare ballot measure that requires you to think about sex. Because here in California—home to a $9 billion pornography industry—that most personal of acts is also a jobs issue and a public health concern. Four years ago, […]

Background: Many Americans are angry about rising pharmaceutical prices and politicians have taken notice. Presidential candidates this year debated how to contain costs, and California lawmakers proposed fixes that never passed out of the statehouse. Drug prices are a big deal not only for consumers who are forced to pay more for prescriptions, but also […]

 Prop. 62  Prop. 66 1oo percent of precincts reporting partial returns—will be updated when all results are certified. Background: Whether for or against the death penalty, both sides agree the criminal justice system isn’t working. Since the 1978 passage of the death penalty in California, 15 of the 930 individuals who received a death sentence […]

1oo percent of precincts reporting partial returns—will be updated when all results are certified. Background: Even though California has some of the toughest gun restrictions in the country, political will intensified this year to pass even stiffer laws. Motivated in part by the December shooting in San Bernardino that left 14 people dead, Democrats in […]

1oo percent of precincts reporting partial returns—will be updated when all results are certified. Background: The push for marijuana legalization is on the ballot in at least nine states this November, with California’s Prop. 64 the most watched. Although four other states previously have legalized recreational pot, a vote by the nation’s most populous state […]