Workers at an agricultural plant in Newell sort through material on a picking line. (Photo: My Photo Buddy, via Shutterstock)Tired of losing billions to worker lawsuits, California business leaders are betting millions that voters will eliminate the lightning rod Private Attorney General Act and give enforcement authority to a historically underfunded state agency.
Rush-hour traffic in downtown Los Angeles. (Photo: TierneyMJ, via Shutterstock)Top law enforcement officials in California and New York are leading 10 other states in an attempt to retain tougher penalties for automakers that violate fuel economy standards. They filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging the federal government’s decision to block a scheduled increase in the penalties for those who fail to meet fuel economy standards.
Traffic approaching the toll plaza for the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge. (Photo: Ann Baldwin, via Shutterstock)Skipping out on paying a highway or bridge toll has long been a surefire way to get hit with a big fine. But if a raft of pending lawsuits seeking to overturn how toll operators share information about scofflaws is successful, California toll operators say taxpayers may end up taking the biggest hit.
An illustration of medical insurance covering a family. (Image: Andrey_Popov, via Shutterstock)Claire Haas and her husband are at a health insurance crossroads. If they were single, each would qualify for a federal tax credit to help reduce the cost of their health insurance premiums. As a married couple, they get zip. “We talk about getting divorced every time we get our health care bills,” said Haas, 34, of Oakland. She has been married to her husband, Andrew Snyder, 33, for two years.
Migrant laborers work a Salinas, Calif., strawberry farm during harvest season. (Photo: David Litman, via Shutterstock) For the second time in recent months, the U.S. Department of Labor has extracted penalties from a California farm business blamed for the deadly crash of a vehicle transporting migrant field workers to their jobs. The Labor Department announced this month that Fisher Ranch LLC — a major produce farm near Calexico, close to the Mexican border — has agreed to pay $49,104 for violating the Migrant Seasonal Workers Protection Act. The case stemmed from a March 2017 van crash that killed one laborer and hurt six others.
California drivers in a Los Angeles traffic jam.(Photo: ShutterStock)A motorist who faced more than $1,600 in fines for a traffic violation is suing the Department of Motor Vehicles and the state Judicial Council in federal court, contending that millions of California drivers had their licenses suspended illegally because they were unable to pay spiraling fees. “Traffic courts in California routinely impose exorbitant penalty assessments, fines and fees on all traffic court cases over and above the statutory fines” required for public safety, the pending suit contends.
California motorists in a traffic jam. (Photo: Shutterstock)With one in six California drivers – about 4.2 million people — having suspended licenses because they can’t pay court fines, a lawmaker has proposed reducing the suspensions in non-violent cases and setting up an amnesty program to help motorists.
A drought-stricken farm in Central California. (Photo: Johnny Habell)As California suffers through its third-driest year on record, the effects of the drought are hitting home in some of the nation’s richest farmland. The state’s $37.5 billion-a-year agricultural yield represents about 12 percent of the nation’s total. Agriculture uses about about 80 percent of the state’s water.