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From Justo Robles of CalMatters’ California Divide team:  Dozens of domestic workers laid banners on the state Capitol grounds Tuesday that spelled out the words “racist” and “injustice.” Then they cleaned them up.  It was all part of a rally of several hundred domestic laborers to urge state lawmakers to pass more workplace protections. Aminta […]

The battle over LGBTQ+ students in California public schools and parental rights is heating up again — and this time Attorney General Rob Bonta is going to court. Bonta on Monday announced that he has filed a lawsuit against Chino Valley Unified School District Board of Education over its recent policy to require district teachers […]

California is struggling with the intertwined crises of homelessness and mental illness. But are Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new CARE Courts the right prescription? That depends largely on whether county courts and mental health departments succeed as they roll out the program starting in October. And as CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang details, that’s definitely a work in […]

From CalMatters state Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal: It was a case that some said threatened to erode California’s voting rights law. But after a ruling by the state’s Supreme Court on Thursday, some of its protections are reaffirmed, for now.   The case, filed by the Pico Neighborhood Association and others in 2016, alleged that Santa […]

From CalMatters investigative reporter Robert Lewis: State lawmakers held a joint oversight committee hearing Wednesday to question officials from California’s Department of Toxic Substances Control about how it’s going with various reform efforts. (It was definitely more of an annual teeth cleaning than a root canal.) Among the topics of discussion was an ongoing CalMatters […]

From CalMatters health reporter Kristen Hwang:  If Gov. Gavin Newsom was hoping amendments introduced to his mental health overhaul last week would sufficiently appease critics, Tuesday’s back-to-back committee hearings only revealed how much further he has to go to reach a compromise. The big idea: Newsom wants counties to prioritize behavioral health spending on homeless […]

It was a tale of two opposing events on parents’ role in California schools — though one was postponed because of Tropical Storm Hilary. In one corner was the California Family Council, a nonprofit, religious organization rallying at the state Capitol on Monday with pastors, attorneys and Sonja Shaw, Chino Valley Unified School District board […]

California received a one-two punch from Mother Nature as Tropical Storm Hilary unleashed torrential record rains and flooding across Southern California, and an earthquake struck near Ojai — all during what has historically been the state’s wildfire season. The wild weekend prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to head south, declaring a storm state of emergency even […]

San Francisco isn’t going to take last week’s robotaxi decision by the California Public Utilities Commission lying down. Joined by the city’s transit authority board, fire department and board of supervisors, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu filed motions on Wednesday to halt the unrestricted expansion of autonomous vehicles for commercial use. Last Friday, the […]

The California Chamber of Commerce has its annual “job killer” list, with a track record of spiking bills that is the envy of other industry groups. By its count, only 58 of the 824 bills labeled “job killers” between 1997 and 2022 made it into law without at least significant changes it wanted. Similarly, California […]