WhatMatters

Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to unveil his revised proposed 2024-25 state budget at 11 a.m. today — and legislators, advocates and lobbyists are all bracing for likely deep spending cuts to bridge a big deficit.  His plan will account for updated tax revenue data through April. In his initial budget proposal in January, Newsom projected […]

Of the 11 measures now on California’s November ballot (one to add a personal finance class to high school graduation requirements qualified Wednesday), two competing ones focus on taxes — specifically who can raise them and how many votes should be required. On one side, explains CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff, is a coalition led […]

Californians pay more at the pump than residents of any other state — an average of $5.34 a gallon for regular unleaded, compared to the national average of $3.64, according to AAA. Statewide, gas prices have jumped 55 cents a gallon from this time a year ago. It’s also a little more than a year […]

Despite California spending $24 billion on housing and homelessness over the past five years, the number of unhoused people continues to rise and questions persist whether the billions spent have made a meaningful difference. But in a bit of rare good news, the independent research firm Abt Global released a report Monday night that found […]

The number of people dying in California jails continues to increase even as the state’s elected officials urge greater transparency around inmate deaths. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for more scrutiny of California’s 57 county jail systems and signed a law last year to require jails to disclose more information about deaths behind bars. […]

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff: As campus tensions escalate over student encampments to protest the war in Gaza — with canceled classes, violent clashes and mass arrests in recent days — Republican leaders in the California Legislature are calling for the state to use its upcoming budget process to punish demonstrators who they say […]

The student encampments to protest the Gaza war started April 17 at Columbia University, where Tuesday night New York City police stormed an occupied building and arrested more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters. The movement quickly spread to California campuses. At the University of Southern California, Los Angeles police arrested nearly 100 protestors last week and […]

In 2022, California lawmakers tried to stop “pay to play” by local elected officials — taking campaign money from various groups and then approving licenses, building permits and other goodies for the same donors.  The law passed easily, but business groups sued to kill it in 2023. They failed, but now, there’s a move afoot […]

From CalMatters health reporter Ana B. Ibarra:California can buy more overdose-reversing medication at a lower price under a deal Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Monday with a pharmaceutical company, potentially giving law enforcement, schools and others more resources to address the state’s fentanyl crisis. Under a government-run pharmaceutical program called CalRx, California will purchase naloxone […]

California’s Democratic leaders often tout the state as a safe haven for abortion rights. They’re now trying to help women in Arizona get around a potential ban. But as CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff explains in his deeply reported story, there are hurdles to abortion access that remain in California, including in the Democratic stronghold […]