The California Legislature is in its (sometimes) frantic final week, racing to pass bills by the Saturday deadline. 

Monday, lawmakers pulled some last-minute maneuvering to extend the time allowed for floor amendments (the deadline was last Friday) to five bills, including ones on paid family leave, mental competency of defendants and environmental reviews of hydrogen production facilities.

While there will be some late nights due to floor votes, there will also be plenty of “hurry up and wait.”

• Assemblymember Jim Wood, a Ukiah Democrat, reports Politico: “There will be times when we are not doing anything, or it appears we're not doing anything. We may actually not be doing anything.”

Hundreds of other bills didn’t even get this far. One reason cited by legislators and advocates: Inflated cost estimates calculated by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, which can lead to bills dying in the appropriations committees.

As CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow and health reporter Jocelyn Wiener explain, the committees earlier this month killed four health care bills with questionable cost numbers. 

For instance, the Department of Managed Health Care said that a bill to require automatic reviews when health insurers deny mental health treatment to young people would cost the state $87 million a year by 2028. The Department of Insurance added a $1.2 million annual price tag. Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat and the bill’s author, said these estimates were “outrageous,” and no details were given of how the departments arrived at their numbers.

In an email, a spokesperson for Newsom’s Health and Human Services Agency said its “outrageous and inaccurate” to suggest cost estimates are “artificially inflated.”

But exaggerating costs so that bills can get killed by legislators can be a “tremendous benefit politically for any governor,” said Mike Gatto, a former chairperson of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. That way, the committees “take the arrows (of criticism),” he said.

Learn more about bill cost estimates in Ryan and Jocelyn’s story.

Now on to the bills that are still alive:

• Medical debt: CalMatters health reporter Ana B. Ibarra looks into a bill to remove medical debt from showing up on credit reports. About 4 in 10 Californians report having some type of medical debt, and the proposal would also ban debt collectors from reporting patients’ medical debt information to credit agencies. Sen. Monique Limón’s bill is backed by the California Nurses Association and Attorney General Rob Bonta. A federal proposal is also in the works, but if the Assembly approves the bill by the Santa Barbara Democrat and Newsom signs it, it could take effect in January. Learn more about the medical debt bill in Ana’s story.

• Tracking Newsom’s actions: CalMatters is watching what Newsom does on bills that are on his desk. He announced Monday he had signed 14. The first version of our explainer includes proposals on public safety, elections and transgender care. He has until Sept. 30 to decide on bills passed in the final days. Last year, Newsom vetoed 156 bills and signed 890, or about 15%, a similar ratio as in 2022. Bookmark this page as we update the list as the Legislature approves more noteworthy bills this week.

CalMatters’ Voter Guide now includes details on all 10 propositions on the November ballot, culminating with perhaps the most contentious measure — Proposition 36.

Prop. 36 would overturn parts of Prop. 47, a measure voters approved in 2014 that reduced certain property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors if the value of stolen goods totaled more than $950.

Critics of Prop. 47 blame it for high-profile retail thefts and argue that Prop. 36 — which increases penalties for retail theft and drug dealing — will help combat property crimes and fentanyl-related offenses. Law enforcement groups, district attorneys, most Republicans and a growing number of Democrats support Prop. 36. 

But Gov. Newsom and Democratic legislative leaders oppose the measure. They argue that Prop. 36 will result in mass incarceration that would disproportionately impact communities of color. As an alternative, they championed a separate retail theft bill package that Newsom signed into law earlier this month.

Learn more about Prop. 36 from CalMatters criminal justice reporter Nigel Duara in our one-minute video. And take a quiz from CalMatters data reporter Erica Yee to see how you might vote. 

Presidential ballot: We’re getting questions from readers about the November presidential election, specifically: Do you have to be registered with a candidate’s party to vote for them?

The answer is no. 

Unlike the March presidential primary, when you had to be a registered Republican to vote in that party’s contest, in the general election you can vote for any candidate of any party. There are six on the ballot (and their running mates), including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the American Independent party line, despite suspending his campaign and endorsing former President Donald Trump last week.

Here are stories on some other common voting questions, plus our Voter Guide FAQ.

November election: Keep up with CalMatters coverage by signing up for 2024 election emails. Check out our full Voter Guide, including information on key congressional and legislative races. And read up on the history of ballot measures in California.

California’s school chief Tony Thurmond is scheduled today to lead a hearing about restricting student smartphone use during school hours and the potential harm social media has on young people. The meeting follows a letter Gov. Newsom sent earlier this month to public school districts, urging them to limit phone usage, and reminding schools of the 2020 law that empowers them to do so.

• Thurmond, in a statement: “Regulating smartphone and social media use in schools is essential for creating an environment where students can focus, learn effectively, and develop emotional resilience.”

In addition to district leaders and students, Thurmond will be joined by a handful of legislators, including two who are trying to pass bills in the session’s final days that seek to curb smartphone addiction among students. One, by Democratic Sen. Henry Stern of Calabasas, would allow schools to ban the use of social media. The other, by Republican Assemblymember Josh Hoover of Folsom, directs school districts to create by 2026 a policy to limit or prohibit students to use smartphones on campus altogether. 

Another proposal by Sen. Nancy Skinner to restrict social media platforms from sending notifications during school hours is also being considered by the Legislature, but the Oakland Democrat will not attend the hearing.

As CalMatters reported this month, some California schools are already implementing phone bans. In 2022, the San Mateo-Foster City School District banned phones for four middle schools. Its superintendent said the new rules improved test scores, and an annual student survey for the 2023-25 school year found a decline in depression, bullying and fights compared to the year before.

California Voices

CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: Now that Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted the Democratic nomination, where does Gov. Newsom — whose only realistic chance to run for president is 2028 — go from here?