News
In 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped by almost 9%, and the state’s smoggy skies briefly cleared. This was particularly true during the pandemic’s first months, when schools closed, offices went remote, and statewide shelter-in-place orders kept millions of Californians at home. That spring, clogged freeways went vacant. Fewer semis rattled down roads.
News
Under our outlook, the Legislature would face a budget problem of $25 billion in 2023‑24. (A budget problem—also called a deficit—occurs when resources for the upcoming fiscal year are insufficient to cover the costs of currently authorized services.) The budget problem is mainly attributable to lower revenue estimates, which are lower than budget act projections from 2021‑22 through 2023‑24 by $41 billion.
News
The impacts of California’s interminable drought are well-known. But one aspect has drawn little relatively attention — its relationship with environmental laws. Last year was the second-driest water year on record, with all 58 California counties placed under a drought emergency proclamation, according to California’s official drought website.
News
Voters like taxing the rich, as a rule, but Proposition 30, which would take from millionaires and give to electric cars, headed into election night with nearly as much opposition as support – making it appear to be one of the few cliffhangers on the statewide ballot. But that was short lived: By Wednesday morning, Proposition 30 was soundly rejected by about an 18-point margin
News
California voters — those who hadn’t already voted by mail, anyway — headed to the polls Tuesday on a rainy, blustery election day marked by close attention to key Congressional races and high-stakes ballot propositions, while California’s statewide contenders almost got lost in the shuffle.
News
It was a $137 million day for the Golden State’s stem cell agency — no small event even for an enterprise that is backed by billions. The scientific scope covered by the $137 million was impressive. It ranged from bolstering the vaunted Alpha Clinic Network initiated around the state by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency is legally known, to raising the number of CIRM’s clinical trials to 83.
News
Heading into Election Day we have seen shifts nationally that appear to advantage Republicans, putting the GOP on track to regain control of Congress and pushing a number of competitive races in California into “toss-up” territory. But with Republicans knocking on the door of potential gains, even despite a redistricting that appeared to reinforce Democratic districts and weaken Republican-held seats, could their own messaging on vote by mail get in the way?
News
By expanding California’s existing legal definitions of compostability and biodegradability to cover more products than plastics, and by creating more specific, safer definitions, the single-use disposable products that companies label as “compostable” will now actually biodegrade into safe, usable organic matter. This package of environmental legislation transforms the rules around environmental marketing claims and continues California’s move toward a truly sustainable economy.
News
Several major firms that refine crude oil into gas in California have been doing well lately, a contrast to consumers facing gas price hikes. Against this backdrop, Gov. Newsom has called for a special legislative session in December focused on capping windfall profits (like PBF and Valero’s recently) and a price-gouging rebate for consumers.
News
The first standardized school testing since the pandemic has confirmed what parents knew all along – Covid shutdowns and remote learning hurt student performance and wiped out years of improvement. Repairing the damage won’t be easy. “Pandemic learning loss” presents a unique set of problems for which educators have no playbook.
A nearly empty freeway interchange near downtown Los Angeles, photographed in April 2020. (Photo: Time Media)
