Economic Inequality

California's utility regulators are exploring energy bill reforms that would structure charges based on household income. If done correctly, the change could lower bills for most Californians and shift the cost for maintaining the grid to higher earners who can afford it.

Californians have a unique combination of high living costs, high poverty rates and large amounts of debt, factors that will likely influence debates over the state's budget deficit.

A California program providing trust funds, or "baby bonds," for foster youth and COVID orphans is giving traumatized young people a chance to pursue their dreams just like everyone else.

L.A. County’s Breathe program gives participants $1,000 monthly for three years, more money over a longer period than similar programs.

California has plenty of existential issues. A chronic shortage of workers may have joined the list as public and private employers scramble to fill open positions.

A new scorecard gives California low marks when it comes to the wellbeing of its youth, and calls for spending billions of extra dollars to improve their outlook.

California's utility regulators are considering a fiber-only strategy to close the state's digital divide, but fiber can be prohibitively expensive and time consuming to deploy. Newer generations of fixed wireless offer a promising alternative.

As extra pandemic benefits ended, California poverty rose in 2023. Pay increases in 2024 and labor activism could change the equation.

Although Democrats dominate California's politics, left-leaning organizations feel frustrated in their efforts to remake the state.

Industrialized, third-party resellers have upended the live entertainment ecosystem in California with harmful tactics that hurt fans and artists alike. A proposed reform would rightly ban some of the worst practices.