California’s legislative advisors last week lambasted the state’s ambitious proposal to regulate urban water conservation, calling the measures costly and difficult to achieve, “in many cases without compelling justifications.” The proposed rules, unveiled in August, call for more than 400 cities and other water suppliers serving about 95% of Californians...
A ‘Pocket of Hope’: This California School District Made a Difference on Black Students’ Scores
For most K-12 student groups in California, test scores have been maddeningly flat since the pandemic. But for Black students, stagnant scores have been particularly frustrating: Black students’ math and English language arts scores inched downward for most grade levels last year, notching some of the lowest scores among any...
Led by Sen. Wiener, CA Housing Advocates Turn the Tide Against NIMBYs
If California wants to build its way out of its long-term housing shortage, plenty of things stand in its way in 2024: high interest rates, sluggish local approval processes, and a persistent shortage of skilled construction workers, among others. But a slew of housing bills from the 2023 legislative session...
Year in Review: California Tackles Mental Health, Fentanyl
When it comes to health and wellness, perhaps few things weigh heavier on the minds of Californians than the mental health crisis and the fentanyl epidemic. California is undertaking ambitious — and at times controversial — efforts to provide some relief to those in mental health distress. For example,...
San Diego Uses Wildfire Reduction Work to Treat Homelessness. Would It Work in Fresno?
A potential solution to reduce homelessness and ease the effects of climate change came from a man living in a San Diego canyon. Mark had built an apartment-like camp in a drainage tunnel on the Allen Canyon Nature Trail in Mission Hills. It had a wooden floor, a couch,...
Year in Review: California Homelessness Worsens Even as Housing Bills Pass
If there was ever any doubt, 2023 made two things very clear. First, California lawmakers are now fully committed to the idea that the state needs to build many more homes to tackle the state’s long term housing crisis. Second, that crisis isn’t going away anytime soon. California’s steady...
Year in Review: Danger Signs Aplenty for California’s Economy in 2024
California is ending the year facing a multitude of economic challenges, including a budget deficit, flat tax revenue, sluggish job growth and massive unemployment insurance debt. The state’s budget surplus turned into a $32 billion deficit in 2023 — a result of its heavy reliance on personal income taxes,...
CA Drivers Frustrated by How Tough It Can Be to Get Car Insurance
California’s insurance commissioner is warning of a possible crackdown against insurers that fail to offer and sell auto insurance to the state’s good drivers. Commissioner Ricardo Lara says that the insurance department has received “numerous” consumer complaints about waiting periods, questionnaires, and other insurer practices that could violate state laws,...
Domestic Violence Shelters, a Guardrail Against Homelessness, Face Steep Funding Cuts
By the time the 2,000-plus domestic violence survivors come to the Family Violence Law Center, both their safety and housing are often at risk. A survivor who’s successfully gotten an abusive partner ordered out of their shared apartment must next shoulder the rent on their own, said Erin Scott,...
Year in Review: California Closes Prisons and Transforms Others
The long, loud fights over prison closures in 2022 spilled into 2023 as communities dependent on prison dollars continued to argue for their own survival. Despite protests, lobbying and lawsuits by the affected cities, California still plans to close another five prisons by 2027 as inmate populations keep falling....