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Scheduling note: WhatMatters is taking Monday off to honor Cesar Chavez and will be back in your inboxes Tuesday. A handful of legislators rallied near the state Capitol Thursday to promote what they’re calling an “extremely unsexy,” but important, bipartisan bill package intended to put California’s housing development into overdrive.  But one bill stands out […]

From CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow: I had a routine lawmaker profile story in mind — not an investigation — when I went to interview Assemblymember Mike Gipson in his state Capitol office earlier this month in Sacramento. I knew that the Gardena Democrat was a former law enforcement officer whose family had suffered […]

California is one of the country’s most racially diverse states, with its population speaking more than 200 different languages and dialects, as CalMatters reported in 2022.  Several groups have now joined forces to try and make voting easier for those groups:  Backed by good governance advocacy organizations including Common Cause California and the immigrants rights […]

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang: As businesses like SpaceX and Amazon seek to undo the National Labor Relations Board, California unions are trying a novel tactic to preserve labor organizing rights.  They’ve introduced a bill that would give the state a new role in union disputes. Assembly Bill 288 by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor would […]

From CalMatters investigative reporter Lauren Hepler:  A new state bill would add more oversight to California homeless shelters after a CalMatters investigation exposed that many taxpayer-funded facilities are plagued by violence, mismanagement and low re-housing rates. Assembly Bill 750 would build on an existing state law that was supposed to add basic checks on homeless […]

From CalMatters economy reporter Levi Sumagaysay: When Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara testified about California’s property insurance market before the Assembly’s insurance committee this week, he mentioned a recent trip to Bermuda — somewhat defensively.  Lara attended the Bermuda Risk Summit, an insurance industry conference, last week. He gave a keynote address on March 11, the […]

Southern California’s Long Beach and Los Angeles ports move millions of tons of cargo a year, handling 40% of the country’s imports and exports. They shuffle goods including produce, electronics and pharmaceuticals, and are critical to the state and national economies, writes CalMatters’ Alejandra Reyes-Velarde. But with diesel trucks, trains, ships and cargo equipment coming […]

Lake Tahoe is sick, and getting worse. This alpine treasure, tucked in the Sierra Nevada, is facing an array of problems that humans inflict on it: Murky waters, pollutants, toxic algae, development, tourism, traffic. Buffeted by the constant tug between developing the region and preserving it, and attracting visitors while managing their impact, Lake Tahoe […]

Funds for a federal rental assistance program — intended to keep the most vulnerable people housed during the COVID-19 pandemic — are drying up faster than expected, potentially leading to thousands more Californians living on the streets as soon as next year.  As CalMatters’ Ben Christopher explains, the Emergency Housing Voucher program began in 2021, […]

State lawmakers have been busy considering new bills that address issues including dwindling bilingual education, jury duty and putrid landfills. Let’s dive in: CalMatters covers the Capitol: We have guides and stories to keep track of bills and your lawmakers; find out how well legislators are representing you; explore the Legislature’s record diversity; and make […]