In summary
Highlighting all of CALmatters’ work over the past week
Recent Articles
CALQuiz: Rent control, cancerous substances and hijacked dreams
By John Osborn D’Agostino
Californians: Test your knowledge about the new of the week in your state.
Exploring the promise — and unintended consequences — of rent control
By Chris Nichols, Capital Public Radio
As California rents have increased, so have calls to strengthen rent control laws across the state. Voters this fall will have the chance to weigh in on a potential first step.
What the new plan to deter Capitol sexual harassment really addresses—and avoids
By Laurel Rosenhall
California’s legislature is on the cusp of approving a new plan for responding to—and trying to prevent—sexual harassment in its own ranks. But
Out with soda, juice and chocolate milk—California could become first state to restrict kids’ meals
By Elizabeth Castillo
A bill advancing in the Capitol would require restaurants to offer only water or milk with meals marketed for children.
WHATmatters
Truce in privacy war. Will it hold?
By Dan Morain
Net neutrality bill is hijacked, gutted
By Dan Morain
Net neutrality showdown; What Nancy Pelosi says
By Dan Morain
Ballmer takes his shot; Why attorneys general matter
By Dan Morain
Gas price politics; Initiative wars ahead
By Dan Morain
Commentary
Democrats try to flip California’s second largest county
By Dan Walters
San Diego County, California’s second largest county, has become a microcosm of the state’s political profile and its five-member Board of Supervisors has become a battleground in the struggle for partisan control.
Budget trailer bills have become Christmas trees
By Dan Walters
“Trailer bills” to the state budget are meant to enact the budget’s financial decisions, but they have become convenient vehicles for enacting non-budgetary laws that have nothing to do with the budget.
The Capitol weighs another big, dicey power play
By Dan Walters
Twenty-two years after the Legislature and then-Gov. Pete Wilson made a horrendous error in reconfiguring California’s electric power system, lawmakers are weighing another big change, this time integrating California’s grid with those of other Western states. Politicians should be very cautious of the new scheme.
Two victims of a blood sport: politics
By Dan Walters
The duplicitous campaigns against Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman and Republican Assemblyman Rocky Chavez are harsh reminders that California politics is not a game of tiddlywinks.
Resistance State
The battle over California’s ‘sanctuary’ laws
By David Gorn
On the same day President Trump ordered an end to the practice of separating migrant families at the U.S. border, court action commenced in the federal lawsuit over California’s “sanctuary” policy.