One weird trick to building a house in CA: This guy

If you want to build a housing project somewhere in California like Los Angeles, you’ll have to wade through an ocean of red tape to secure the right permits. The process isn’t for the faint of heart — some projects, for example, require special permits to have dirt taken away.

So for those who don’t want to endure the tedium, costs and unpredictability, what can you do? You can call someone like Tanner “The Planner” Blackman.

As CalMatters’ Ben Christopher explains, Blackman’s job goes by a few names, like land-use consultant or permit expediter. He essentially helps people get their projects approved by navigating a tortuous housing bureaucracy and securing whatever permits they need to get moving.

• Blackman: “In a perfect world, my job would not need to exist.”

State lawmakers would agree, and in an effort to address California’s housing crunch, they passed dozens of bills over the last decade to speed up approvals for new housing. Still, Blackman isn’t too worried he’ll be out of a job anytime soon.

• Evan Soltas, an economist who studies California housing: “Those jobs exist only because we’ve made the process really difficult. It’s a sad statement of how hard it’s become that this has become its own form of expertise.”

Read more.

An embattled Sacramento charter school is trying to make a fresh start with a new home base and a rebrand — but the school district it’s trying to expand to isn’t having it, reports CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones.

Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools has six locations in Sacramento and serves students over 22, most of whom are low-income immigrants. Though it’s not a traditional K-12 school, its affiliation with a federal workforce training agency enables it to get state money. It also receives federal and local money.

In 2018, an audit by a state agency found Highlands violated more than two dozen laws, including paying for repairs on an employee’s BMW. Another audit in 2025 by the state auditor found evidence that the school had wrongly received nearly $180 million in state funds, and spent money on a $1.2 million hotel bill.

The school disputes the figures. But as it appeals its case, it’s trying to start over by getting a new charter with Sutter County’s Yuba City Unified and renaming itself as the California Learning Academy.

Yuba City’s school board, however, denied its petition in July. Highlands is trying to appeal that decision too.

• Mercedes Geraldo, president of the Yuba City Unified classified school employees union: “What are Highlands’ intentions here? And what are they spending their money on? … I’d prefer they went away.”

Read more.

A dozen years ago California adopted a law to protect people from unexpected insurance cancellations, but it couldn’t help those who bought their policies before it took effect.

That’s the takeaway from a decision at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled against a widow whose husband died four days after his $350,000 life insurance policy lapsed. 

In 2013 a state law went into effect requiring life insurance companies to give new policyholders a “designation form.” These forms give people a yearly opportunity to assign a third party, such as a family member, to receive notice when the policy is about to lapse due to unpaid premiums.

Barbara Linhart’s husband bought a life insurance policy from New York Life Insurance in 2007. His policy lapsed on Aug. 3, 2021. Because California’s law went into effect after he purchased the policy, New York Life was not required to send standalone designation forms to Mr. Linhart, so only he was given notice that his policy was about to end. 

Barbara Linhart sued after New York Life denied her claim, but the appeals court sided with the insurer, arguing that the law “applies only to new policies, and Mr. Linhart’s policy was not new.” 

Insurance companies are beginning to write new homeowner policies in California after years of holding back their business, but the state has not disclosed how many. Meanwhile, a consumer advocacy group crunched its own figures, which insurers are dismissing as “incomplete and premature.” Read more from CalMatters’ Levi Sumagaysay.