accountability

The federal government is clawing huge amounts of unused pandemic benefits for hungry kids in California. The new summer EBT program aims to overcome past failures, but cards have a shorter shelf life.

Lawmakers and the governor use a fund reserved for labor enforcement to plug budget holes, and leave tens of millions unspent. Business and labor agree more of the money could be spent to hire more staff to speed investigations of wage theft claims.

Since Gov. Newsom proposed a 28th Amendment one year ago, there has been far more progress on online petitions than in other state legislatures. His team says the effort will pick up speed in 2025.

Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital is losing money, but it's committed to keeping open its labor ward. Its decision runs counter to nearby hospitals that are walking away from maternity services.

California is hailed as a national leader for voting access. But visually impaired voters and their advocates say they still face unnecessary barriers, despite bills and lawsuits. Some election officials raise security concerns.

Voters passed Proposition 28 to expand arts education in California schools. Some are planning to pay for existing positions, which backers of the initiative say violates its intent.

State lawmakers often don’t know how well a program is working before deciding whether to cut or increase spending. Instead, they hear from advocates, interest groups and sometimes the public. Key budget hearings ramp up this week.

Backers of a tough-on-crime California ballot measure put homelessness at the forefront of their campaign to roll back Prop. 47. But would the measure actually help get people housed?

After a tragedy 25 years ago, state lawmakers and the California Highway Patrol acted to make farmworkers’ commutes safer. But workers still die in crashes — in vans the law doesn’t cover.

Finance and Corrections officials won’t release records on cost estimates for state prisons to comply with rules to protect workers from indoor heat. Prisons have been exempted from the regulations that are in the works.