Infrastructure

Infrastructure issues at California’s public universities are hindering students and faculty’s ability to learn and work on campus. Lawmakers and system leaders are hoping more state support can help them bring down the $17 billion price tag to fix their academic buildings.

For the last century, the money has gone to counties with large amounts of federal land that can’t be taxed. Congress failed to include it in the upcoming budget.

California needs to "facilitate new construction at an unprecedented scale" to solve housing, water and climate issues, a legislative report says.

California's lack of hydrogen fuel infrastructure is restricting its ability to become a legitimate alternative, and the state needs every transportation option to meet its climate goals, argues a hydrogen vehicle owner

Hydrogen is touted as a solution for helping address California's energy and climate crises. However, a hydrogen economy would involve serious risks, and may not actually help the climate.

It’s another make-or-break week at the Legislature before its month-long summer recess. By Friday, bills that have already passed either the Assembly or Senate must get through policy committees in the other chamber to stay alive this session. Most measures have, but there are some that are still in jeopardy as committees busily go through […]

The package of laws aims to speed up lawsuits for solar farms, reservoirs and other infrastructure, and relax protection of some species. Environmentalists and business groups call them a good compromise.

Scheduling note: WhatMatters will observe the Juneteenth holiday on Monday and be back in your inboxes on Tuesday. From CalMatters politics reporter Alexei Koseff: As legislative leaders continue to negotiate a budget deal with Gov. Gavin Newsom ahead of the start of the fiscal year on July 1, expansive “trailer bills” proposed by the governor […]

After weeks of rain, the long-dry Tulare Lake is rising from the San Joaquin Valley floor, endangering farms, towns, livelihoods. Now record snow on the Sierra Nevada is melting. Will the Central Valley be ready?

Between 1949 and 2017, the federal government invested only $10 billion in high-speed rail with $4 billion of that dedicated to the California project, compared to investments of $777 billion in aviation and over $2 trillion in highways. The federal government can’t expect transformative results with piecemeal funding. We must go big.