California Divide

A UC Berkeley inequality study finds that, although efforts to reduce inequality are popular, many of the rich or people in “advantaged groups” resist equity policies, believing they’ll be harmed.

Anti-poverty organizations are calling for the state to target some of its projected surplus to families making up to $30,000 a year. 

Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a leading environmental lawmaker, has a bill to create a state fund to support and retrain oil industry workers as California strives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and end fossil fuel production in the state. But the debate over ‘just transition’ is pitting unions against unions.

Michael Tubbs, who now serves as an economic advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom, announces a new nonprofit called End Poverty In California (EPIC) to advocate for statewide policies to reduce the wealth gap.

Nonprofit clinics, tribal organizations and other community groups return to Sacramento for a second year to press for a $100 million health equity and racial justice fund. Gov. Gavin Newsom had left it out of last year’s budget.

As policy experts grapple with how best to address racial inequalities that have worsened in California during the pandemic, a new, more involved policy approach offers promise even as it remains untested.

Essential workers say they are bearing the brunt of the pandemic again but this time, there is less government support. Economists say jobs in California’s low-wage sectors could take longer to recover.

The pandemic gave a chronically homeless veteran in Los Angeles a chance at permanent supportive housing, but his experience differed from what state leaders envision. Can California offer the right support as it adds tens of thousands of new units?

One man's experience transitioning out of homelessness reveals challenges facing California as it ramps up permanent supportive housing.

As union representation has bottomed out in some of the country’s lowest-paid industries, a group of California lawmakers and labor leaders are pushing to test a version of sectoral bargaining, a labor strategy common in other high-income countries. Progressives are pushing for a state-appointed council for the fast food industry to set wages and work conditions, which have historically been negotiated privately between employers and worker unions.