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It was their last chance to critique each other on live television, but some of California’s four top U.S. Senate candidates took more advantage than others Tuesday night.  Rep. Katie Porter — who recent polls indicate may not get into the top two in the March 5 primary — noticeably went after frontrunner and fellow […]

With the dust settled after Friday’s bill introduction deadline, the California Legislature’s count for new bills this year is 2,124. That includes 1,505 in the Assembly and 619 in the Senate, according to lobbyist Chris Micheli. The total is close to the recent average, though many measures never reach the governor’s desk. That’s because some […]

Scheduling note: WhatMatters is honoring America’s presidents on Monday and will return to your inboxes on Tuesday. Nearly four months after forming a bipartisan select committee and two hearings later, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas announced legislation Thursday to combat shoplifting and organized retail theft — just beating today’s deadline to introduce new bills. He joined […]

With Friday’s deadline to introduce new bills this session, it’s been a flurry of activity at the state Capitol. A few interesting proposals: But if any of these bills are signed into law, how much follow-up will there be on whether they’re working? Not a ton, CalMatters’ data reporter Jeremia Kimelman and Capitol reporter Sameea […]

Culture wars have always had a presence in American public education. But heated debates concerning book bans, parental rights and the safety of LGBTQ students flared last year inside some California classrooms. These contentious topics were at the center of a CalMatters panel on Tuesday, which was moderated by CalMatters K-12 education reporter Carolyn Jones. […]

Californians have three more weeks to vote for the next U.S. senator — and it doesn’t appear the candidates’ second televised debate Monday night dramatically changed the dynamics of the campaign.     The hour-long debate, hosted by KRON in San Francisco and aired by Nexstar Media Group stations across California, covered a lot of the same […]

The three leading Democrats who want to be a U.S. senator — and who face off tonight in their second televised debate — all say they’re not accepting corporate PAC money so they can show their independence from Big Business. But what does that actually mean? CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu talks to experts […]

Flanked by a turtle mascot and “Plastic Monster” (a person covered in plastic bags), state Sens. Ben Allen and Catherine Blakespear on Thursday announced a new measure to ban plastic bags statewide — particularly the thicker ones billed as “reusable” that are currently distributed by grocery stores and restaurants. Senate Bill 1053 — and its […]

Last year during “hot labor summer,” unions, worker advocates and their supporters in the Legislature pushed, often successfully, for wage increases and more benefits. This year, they’re focusing more on enforcing worker protections. That was the message from an Assembly Labor Committee hearing on Wednesday, where farmworkers and their advocates complained that Cal/OSHA, the state’s […]

With more than $12 million in its war chest and the backing of Gov. Gavin Newsom, the campaign for Proposition 1 — the only statewide measure on the March 5 primary ballot — has all the money and many high-profile endorsements on its side. In comparison, opponents of Prop. 1 have raised only about $1,000 […]