Dan Walters

Public school funding is the largest chunk of California's state budget. It's also the most contentious, as a new squabble over Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget proposal indicates.

As California Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators contend with a deficit-ridden state budget, they can't count on a booming economy.

A massive miscalculation in revenue forecasting allowed California Gov. Gavin Newsom to boast of a $97.5 budget surplus that ultimately never materialized. It has since become a $44.9 billion deficit.

California's Public Utilities Commission has approved a new electric power billing plan based on incomes. Its controversial mostly because of the sneaky way in which the Legislature authorized it.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing nearly $34 billion in spending cuts over a two-year span to close a massive budget deficit. Those affected are unhappy.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a revised state budget that increases the projected deficit by billions of dollars and contained real cuts, something his initial version mostly lacked.

State education officials are intervening to address San Francisco Unified's chronic budget problems and stave off insolvency. But it's not the only example of fiscal mismanagement in California K-12 system.

Contending factions have waged political war over California taxes for nearly a half-century. It could reach a climax under a ballot measure this fall, but opponents are asking the state Supreme Court to remove it from the ballot.

As California's homelessness crisis worsens, politicians have shifted from promising to solve the issue to shifting blame for their failure.

California restaurant operators are apparently shocked that a new law prohibiting so-called "junk fees" will apply to their industry, saying it will adversely affect their businesses.