Even blue California wants lower taxes and smaller government

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We live in a blue state that elects Democrats year after year. But a slim majority of us would prefer a smaller government and lower taxes. 

That’s one of the key findings from an August report by the Public Policy Institute of California, which examines the varied political, ideological and economic dimensions among 46 distinct regions that make up California.

It could be meaningful this November when voters will see five ballot measures related to taxes, including the big one that would levy a one-time tax on billionaires to prop up healthcare spending. 

The report found the majority of voters view immigrants as a benefit and support state action on climate change. A smaller majority, albeit a majority nonetheless, also prefers a state government that provides fewer services and lower taxes.

• Eric McGhee, PPIC’s policy director and senior fellow: “It’s an interesting quirk of the state’s politics given how Democratic the state is.”

The report also documented a geographic shift in California conservatism. Orange County was once considered the birthplace of the state and country’s modern conservative movement. But now the conservative core is in the far north, the region that sometimes refers to itself as the State of Jefferson.

“This includes the suburbs northeast of Sacramento, but also the Red Bluff/Redding area, is the heart beat of conservatism in California today,” McGhee said. 

The Bay Area is an outlier both politically and economically. The region leans more liberal than the rest of California, and is the most pessimistic about the broader economy. Yet, the affordability crisis isn’t hitting the region as hard as other parts of the state, with Bay Area respondents reporting the least amount of concern about paying their bills.

Citing last-minute changes they do not agree with, California community colleges are opposing two bills they had once supported that aim to help them issue more bachelor’s degrees, writes CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn.

Community colleges have been trying for years to offer more bachelor’s degrees. Two bills on their way to the governor would introduce new mechanisms for determining when colleges can create bachelor’s degrees and how many they can offer. The proposals include accountability metrics, allowing colleges to offer additional degrees depending on student completion rates. Colleges would also need to prove that there’s a workforce need in their region to justify the creation of a bachelor’s degree.

Community college leaders backed the bills at first, but now are saying legislators adopted amendments that are too unclear and complicated. They take issue with the newly created caps on the number of degrees community college districts can offer, and the stipulation that districts’ student completion rates would be judged against the statewide average.

Read more.

California hospitals are crying foul over new state rules that would punish them for spending more money than a new healthcare affordability office allows, reports CalMatters’ Ana B. Ibarra.

The California Office of Health Care Affordability limits health providers from increasing spending by more than 3.5% a year. By restricting how much health entities can spend, the thinking goes, health costs will grow more slowly. 

Last week the office approved a penalty framework that would require hospitals, insurers and medical groups to pay up to 125% of the total they spend over the cap.

Consumer advocates and experts say penalties allow the agency to hold the health industry accountable: 38% of Californians report having medical debt in 2024, and California health care costs increased 30% from 2015 to 2020.

But health industry leaders argue that the spending targets and penalties are too strict. They warn that limiting providers’ spending could force them to reduce services, which directly affect patient care.

Read more.

The Online Journalism Awards honored CalMatters with two first-place awards in the global Online Journalism Awards.

CalMatters, with co-creators Evident Media and Bellingcat, won first place for “Agents of Chaos: Tracking Border Patrol Operations Across the US” for a digital video series, by a small or medium-sized newsroom. Judges praised the “innovative use of open-source videos.

And CalMatters won first place for “License to Kill” for explanatory reporting by a medium-sized newsroom. Judges recognized the project for “its ability to reveal systemic failures through deeply human stories.”