Honey bees across the country are under attack from tiny, eight-legged parasitic mites. These mites burrow between the segments of the bees’ adult bodies or invade their larvae and infect them with viruses — deforming their wings and leaving them flightless.
That’s not only problematic for the bees — whose entire colonies can collapse from a mite invasion — but also for California, which relies on the bees for its food production and economy.
Earlier this month the state Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill that would direct the California Department of Food and Agriculture to establish a health program for managed honey bees. The department would work with beekeepers, farmers, scientists and other stakeholders to provide grants for projects and research that support managed honey bees.
Honey bees are essential for pollinating almonds, which are a lucrative multibillion-dollar industry. The bees also produced 13.3 million pounds of honey in 2024, or nearly 10% of the country’s supply, valued at $32.8 million.
But beginning in the late 1980s, Varroa mites native to Asia began infiltrating bee colonies in the U.S. By the early 2000s, they were “in everyone’s hives,” said Ryan Burris, the president of the California State Beekeepers Association.
Pesticides and other pest management methods stabilized the bee population over the decades. But commercial honey bee deaths have been soaring in the U.S. in recent years, and the reason why remains unclear. Between June 2024 and March 2025, 1.6 million colonies were lost, with commercial beekeepers reported losing an average of 62% of their colonies.
The proposed program would provide grants to help beekeepers and farmers plant more crops or purchase probiotics to improve the bees’ health, among other things.
The bill is currently before the Senate Agriculture Committee, where it could be considered as early as mid-July.
More ways to get CalMatters news: We have an app, available for both iPhone and Android users. You’ll get a notification each morning about the day’s top stories, and you’ll be the first to know about important breaking news. And we can send you text alerts on our latest investigations, political coverage and more. Sign up here.
Other Stories You Should Know
Newsom slows roll on return to office mandate
From CalMatters deputy editor Adam Ashton:
Gov. Gavin Newsom is open to giving California public employees a temporary break on his return-to-office mandate.
The union representing about 14,000 state engineers made a deal that delays the four-day-a-week order for one year. It was supposed to take effect July 1.
The Professional Engineers in California Government disclosed that agreement alongside a new contract that includes some concessions Newsom wanted to trim payroll expenses as he tries to shore up a $12 billion budget deficit.
Workers represented by the union will get a 3% raise next week, but it’d be offset by mandatory unpaid time off that would basically negate the pay increase for two years. That’s similar to the terms of a deal Newsom made last week with the union representing state prison guards.
- Ted Toppin, PECG’s executive director: “These two agreements are the best terms possible for our members at this time. … The PECG Team worked hard to deliver on the items that are most important to PECG members and make improvements in their pay and benefits, despite challenging times.”
Newsom embraced telework policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. He brought public employees back to the office twice-a-week last year, and ordered a bigger move to four-days-a-week in May.
Congress follows up on CalMatters investigation
After CalMatters and The Markup published an investigation in April that found that Covered California shared enrollees’ personal data with LinkedIn, Congress is demanding answers.
As Colin Lecher and Tomas Apodaca explain, Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives sent a letter last week to the executive director of the state’s health insurance marketplace expressing their concern about the “the privacy and security implications” revealed by the investigation.
When visitors filled out forms on Covered California’s website, trackers sent information to LinkedIn, including information about whether visitors were blind, pregnant, used a high number of prescription drugs or reported that they were transgender or possible victims of domestic abuse. The data tracking operated for more than a year.
Since the publication of the story, most ad trackers have been removed from the site, and Covered California said it paused its use of trackers entirely. Four other state-run health care sites were also found to be sharing information with tech companies.
And lastly: CA Ozempic users; and rooftop solar customers
Newsom wants to cut back coverage of weight-loss drugs under Medi-Cal to help address the state’s budget shortfall. CalMatters’ Ana B. Ibarra and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video on what this could mean for patients taking Ozempic as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.
And check out another video from CalMatters’ Malena Carollo and Robert about a California Supreme Court case that could determine how much solar rooftop customers are paid for the excess energy they generate. Watch it here.
SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.
California Voices
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: California’s struggling farming industry has reached a tipping point — but lawmakers seem more willing to assist the state’s film industry instead.
There are a number of interim solutions between living on the street and finding permanent housing, and bills bolstering this framework would help California reach functional zero for unsheltered homelessness, writes state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, an Encinitas Democrat representing California’s 38th Senate District.
Other things worth your time:
CA urges court to answer how long Trump can keep National Guard in LA // KQED
CA has had more measles cases so far this year than in all of 2024 // The Mercury News
Survey shows Californians want ballots in more languages // Los Angeles Times
The SF lawyer rewriting civil rights in Trump’s America // The San Francisco Standard
‘I feel betrayed,’ CA Marine says of seeing his father punched by federal immigration agent // The Mercury News
Immigrants are disappearing from the streets — can US cities survive? // The Guardian
Hundreds of SF protesters condemn Trump for bombing Iran // San Francisco Chronicle
LA’s Iranian community has ‘mixed and complicated’ feelings about US attack // Los Angeles Times
As ICE raids intensify, how do San Diego employers know if their workers are legal? // The San Diego Union-Tribune
