WhatMatters

Gov. Jerry Brown proposed Tuesday that the state ease the liability standards when electricity providers’ equipment sparks fires that destroy property. Utility stock rose. Insurance industry blasts the idea.

Democratic Assemblyman Ed Chau became so verbally abusive toward workers for the Secretary of State this spring that one of them pressed a “panic button.” Security officers who escorted Chau out of the building.

California schools may need to use more than half of all new tax revenue to cover growing pension obligations, leaving little extra for classrooms. The unfunded pension liability is $107 billion.

Jerry Brown asked the California Supreme Court to act on an important pension case before he leaves office. The Supreme Court is short-handed because Brown has left a vacancy unfilled for nearly a year.

California Supreme Court kicked Timothy Draper's CalExit initiative off the November ballot. Justices agreed to hear Draper's arguments, leaving open the possibility the initiative could appear on a future ballot.

Candidates for superintendent of public instruction tangled over prison officers' pay. Marshall Tuck said Tony Thurmond should not have voted to raise correctional officers' pay by 5 percent, at a cost of more than $114 million.

Gov. Jerry Brown, who began his career nearly 50 years ago by winning a Los Angeles community college seat, visited the Community College Board of Trustees Monday to describe his vision for the future of online education.

California voters will have a chance to vote on an $8.9 billion water bond that would pay for environmental restoration, clean drinking water and help rebuild the Friant-Kern Canal, damaged by subsidence.

California legislators confront the question of how to pay for fire damage. Should PG&E be relieved of costs related to devastating 2017 wildfires, and should the law be changed for future fires?

The Air Resources Board announced greenhouse gas emissions fell in 2016, even as fuel consumption increased. The main reasons: Greater use of solar, wind and hydropower.