California Senate

If this state is the nation’s laboratory for progressive laws, why has it been unable to keep the police from policing themselves?

Good morning, California. It’s Friday, May 29. “We are walking into the unknown” As most California counties accelerate their reopening pace, some of the first to do so are now hitting the brakes or backpedaling as coronavirus cases mount — a potentially cautionary tale for the rest of the state as restrictions loosen. Sonoma County […]

California senators wore face masks and grilled officials about Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $1.4 billion deal to buy masks and other protective gear — but got few answers during their first hearing on the state’s effort to stem the spread of coronavirus.

Nearly half of all unlimited outside spending comes from old-guard industries: Oil and gas. Realtors. Car dealers. Also some rich folks.

Even by the last-minute, helter-skelter standards of the end of California’s legislative session, the past 24 hours were remarkable. It will go down in Capitol lore having culminated in the Senate’s emergency relocation, a woman’s arrest, and a senator’s morning-after visit to the doctor in accordance with “safety protocols for blood exposure.” At around 5:15 […]

Newsom, legislators have unfinished business on taxes. Vaccination bill faces tough questions. USC sex abuse scandal returns to Capitol.

By setting a 36% annual rate cap on such loans, Assembly Bill 539 by Assembly Banking and Finance Committee Chairwoman Monique Limon, a Santa Barbara Democrat, would provide Californians with protections against high-cost loans similar to safeguards now enjoyed by an estimated 232 million Americans. AB 539's fate is in the state Senate's hands.

California gets more grim homelessness news. Casinos fight to keep tax break. Higher education is no longer the bargain it once was.

Some of the most controversial ideas California lawmakers were considering this year were set aside as the Legislature culled hundreds of bills in a fast-and-furious annual procedural ritual.

Bill aims to expand rights of those injured in e-scooter accidents, Assembly enacts rule to thwart legislation, first partner lobbies for First 5