Capitol

A 2015 law to bring more transparency to paid trips for California legislators has led to only two disclosure forms being filed by the sponsoring groups. The law's author says it is being wrongly ignored.

Members of the California Legislature took nearly $1 million worth of trips sponsored by interest groups in 2022. The California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy accounted for 40% of the travel spending. Over the years, some of its trips led to legislation.

The Problem Solvers Caucus, one of 16 non-party caucuses in the state Legislature, wants to put public policy before partisan politics, but that's a tall task. Other caucuses are bipartisan mostly in name only.

At the direction of a bipartisan group of state lawmakers, the state auditor will complete a detailed audit of spending on California homelessness programs. The number of unhoused has grown, even as spending has increased.

A bill to phase out all tobacco sales in California has been shelved, and anti-tobacco groups won't say why they didn't offer support. The bill was amended to focus on enforcing an existing ban on flavored tobacco.

Public transit agencies in California are struggling to avoid a "fiscal cliff" — and to persuade riders to return after the COVID pandemic. Advocates and legislators are seeking more state aid, but there are no simple solutions.

Many more gun owners are seeking California concealed carry permits, even in blue, coastal counties. Gov. Newsom and Democrats in the Legislature are trying again to limit where weapons are allowed.

Advocates and lawmakers are calling for fully independent commissions to decide election districts for cities and counties across California. While about a dozen new commissions drew maps after the 2020 Census, in many other places, politicians or their appointees did.

One in 10 state lawmakers is related by blood or marriage to other legislators past and present. How do spouses, siblings and children get into politics, and what does it mean for lawmaking?

State legislators sometimes exempt themselves from the laws they pass, but this session, they could change course on an emblematic bill: To allow their own staffers to form a union.