WhatMatters

From CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu:  There is no shortage of political wealth in California — and certainly not in the 2024 U.S. Senate race. With less than five months until the March 5 primary, the five top Democrats and Republicans have collectively raised roughly $50 million — more than the $40 million the […]

From CalMatters environment reporter Julie Cart:  Ocean waters off California’s coast are being prepared to host a massive experiment, floating beyond the continental shelf: Platforms with giant turbines and spinning rotors will capture the Pacific Ocean’s prodigious wind energy. Hundreds of square miles of the ocean about 20 miles off the coasts of Humboldt County […]

In what it described as a “historic agreement,” the California Department of Managed Health Care announced Thursday that it has settled with Kaiser Permanente over the company’s failure to deliver adequate behavioral health care services to its patients.  The settlement, CalMatters’ health reporter Ana B. Ibarra writes, includes a $50 million fine (the department’s biggest […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom greenlit 56 bills Wednesday to help ease the state’s affordable housing crisis. And with three days left to take action, he’s gone through most major bills on other pressing issues as well. But there are still a handful of significant ones he has yet to decide. Perhaps the most contentious is Senate […]

World Mental Health Day started bright and early Tuesday with Gov. Gavin Newsom announcing he has signed a key part of his overhaul of California’s mental health policy that will loosen rules about who is eligible for involuntary treatment. As CalMatters’ health reporter Jocelyn Wiener explains, under the new law, the legal definition of who […]

Gov. Gavin Newsom took a day off from bills signings and vetoes on Monday.  But he unleashed such a big flood of bill decisions over the weekend — about 470 — that legislators and advocacy groups, not to mention reporters, are still catching up. Some key ones signed: Some consequential vetoes: Teacher turnover: From our […]

Up against an Oct. 14 deadline and with more than 700 bills on his desk heading into the weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom decided the fate of bills —  a lot of bills.  The governor’s office put out a big batch of nearly 150 actions on Saturday, a second one on Sunday of about 130 and […]

A California political who’s who gathered Thursday to honor Sen. Dianne Feinstein, whose unexpected death last week could reshape next year’s election. Members of Congress — including Reps. Barbara Lee and Adam Schiff, who are running to succeed Feinstein — flew from Washington, D.C., with Vice President Kamala Harris on Air Force Two to be […]

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal:  Starting next year, workers in California will be entitled to at least five days of paid sick leave — up from the current three days.  Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature is a win for labor groups, for whom the bill authored by Sen. Lena Gonzalez was a top priority. But […]

From CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu: Two Californians made history Tuesday in our nation’s capital — one starting a new job, the other losing theirs. Laphonza Butler took the oath of office as a U.S. senator, succeeding the late Dianne Feinstein and becoming the first Black and openly LGBTQ woman to serve in the […]