California Legislature

As UC reacts to the college cheating scandal, some urge them to lock the side door, reconsider the SAT and ACT for admissions and scrutinize athletic recruiting.

In the Legislature, the policymaking—and political pandering—priorities of Sacramento are beginning to take shape. A by-the-numbers overview:

California's green chemistry program can protect families and the environment from hazardous chemicals, and stimulate economic innovation. But after 10 years of progress, California legislators must expand this important effort with a stronger Safer Consumer Products Program.

A new poll released finds Californians feeling positive about Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's priorities and the new Legislature. And a second poll issued the same day indicates that the state's junior U.S. senator, Kamala Harris, has an early home state advantage—just as long as more high-profile Democrats don’t jump into the race.

California’s payday lending regulatory structure is feeble. This state's law ranks as one of the nation’s weakest, and significant ambiguities in the statute’s language and legislative history have been interpreted to favor industry and harm consumers’ interests. Consumers increasingly are vulnerable to myriad dangers.

Civil rights advocates and law enforcement lobbyists have been negotiating behind the scenes with key lawmakers, and legislation is expected to take shape soon. It will likely spur an emotional debate in the state Capitol.

Gov. Gavin Newsom needs legislators to begin the uncomfortable work of making changes to our infrastructure, our policies, and yes, our liability laws, so that we can build a state meets the current challenges of climate change while reducing its impact in the future.

The 2018 election was hailed as the "Year of the Woman," but California still lags behind its Western neighbors and many other states when it comes to female representation. Among the ideas to boost the number of elected women: let campaigns pay for child care.

An investigation commissioned by the California Assembly found that former California Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas of Los Angeles, who resigned abruptly in 2017 citing health problems, likely harassed at least two legislative staff members while he was in office.

After a political "Year of the Woman," what percentage of California's new legislature is made up of women? With Latinos a plurality of California, are they a plurality among state legislators? Who's over-represented compared to their share of the adult population? Who's under-represented by the same metric? Watch to see how these lawmakers' demographics stack up agains the state as a whole.