WhatMatters

Come November, California voters will elect the state’s next insurance commissioner. The race comes at a time when California is grappling with an ongoing insurance market crisis, increasing fire hazards intensified by climate change and the aftermath of 2025’s Los Angeles-area wildfires. CalMatters’ Levi Sumagaysay spoke with the five candidates who raised the most money […]

A bill that would extend privacy protections for people who provide legal, health care and other aid to immigrants is facing intense pushback from Republican legislators who say the proposal threatens journalists trying to uncover government fraud. Assembly Bill 2624 would expand the eligibility for California’s Safe at Home Program to immigration service providers. Established […]

A federal appeals court struck down one of California’s signature laws challenging the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and the ruling does not bode well for future measures. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld an injunction prohibiting the state from requiring federal immigration agents to readily identify themselves, a law that Democrats passed […]

Should someone’s work in immigration enforcement during the Trump administration preclude them from having a job in California civil service? Many California Democrats, alarmed by the administration’s aggressive immigration tactics, are prepared to take that step. On a party line vote, legislators in the state Senate’s public safety committee passed a bill Tuesday that would […]

Using years of internal emails, reporters Anat Rubin and Jessica Pishko have traced the development of the 4-year-old case that ultimately led to Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s unprecedented seizure of 650,000 ballots in March. The emails show that: The emails “reveal that his sprawling investigation was based on the thinnest of evidence, and raise […]

Smaller California school districts — especially ones in isolated, rural areas — cost taxpayers way more money per student. But as school enrollment declines across the state, closing these small districts could risk upending entire communities, writes CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones. California has over 1,000 school districts and spends an average of $23,000 per K-12 student. […]

A bill to protect people on online dating apps from violence has critics arguing that the measure would put a “scarlet letter” on certain users. But that’s a feature, not a bug in the proposal.  The Senate’s public safety committee this week passed a bill that would require online dating services to run criminal background […]

A bill intended to protect the identities of patients who have had abortions or received gender-affirming care in California may wind up getting hospitals in hot water for violating federal law if passed. As CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow and Kristen Hwang explain, the proposal would require medical providers or businesses to contact the California attorney general […]

For years, some Central Valley residents have been terrorized by a transnational crime network with threats of violence and extortion. But for those outside the Indian and Punjabi Sikh communities, this campaign of fear has remained largely invisible, writes Gagandeep Singh for CalMatters. In May 2024 the FBI Sacramento field office began urging members of […]

The idea of taxing the rich has gained steam among California progressives and health care advocates as the cost of living continues to rise and federal funding cuts are projected to render health care more inaccessible to the poor. But while taxing the rich to cover missing federal health funding might be popular messaging, backfilling […]