Gov. Gavin Newsom devoted most of his State of the State address this month to California’s ever-growing crisis of homelessness, outlining a broad new approach and pledging that he will make it work. “I don’t think homelessness can be solved,” he concluded, “I know homelessness can be solved. This is our cause....
California Analysts Urge Lawmakers: Reject Gov. Newsom’s $1 Billion Climate Loan Proposal
Nonpartisan policy analysts took aim at Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to use $1 billion in state funds to seed innovative climate change efforts, questioning the state’s ability to even identify the right projects. The Climate Catalyst Loan Fund, which Newsom called for in his $222.2 budget proposal for next year, would offer low-interest loans to...
Newsom Sues Trump Administration to Block Water Rules
Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration on Thursday to block new rules that would let farmers take more water from the state's largest river systems, arguing it would push endangered populations of delta smelt, chinook salmon and steelhead trout to extinction. The federal rules govern how much water can...
California Settles Lawsuit With Agreement to Spend $50M for Kids Who Can't Read
The state of California on Thursday agreed to settle a years-long, high-profile lawsuit that accused the state of depriving low-income students of color of their constitutional right to a basic education — by failing to teach them reading skills. Under an agreement reached with plaintiffs in the complaint, Ella T. v....
Newsom Makes Homelessness the State's No. 1 Issue
California should lower the legal bar for providing forced treatment to the mentally ill and building more homeless shelters, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday in his second State of the State address. He took the unusual step of devoting most of the annual speech to just two related issues: affordable...
Homelessness, Mental Health Top Newsom's Wednesday Address
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to call for better mental health care to help the state's huge homeless population when he addresses one of the state's most pressing problems in his second State of the State speech. Last month, Gov. Newsom offered what he called “a little preview”...
Walters: Newsom’s Spending More, Saving Less
When Jerry Brown returned to the governorship in 2011, he faced what he called a “wall of debt” from years of severe economic recession and deficit-riddled state budgets. Accordingly, he made paying off that debt, more than $30 billion, and armoring the budget against future recessions his top priority. Brown...
Want to Switch Parties on Election Day? Now You Can.
Voters across California will now be able to change their party affiliation on election day under a new law approved just in time for the March 3 Democratic primary. The change will allow the state’s 5.6 million independent voters to register with a party by signing off on only one...
Newsom's Homeless Plan Faces Skepticism from Lawmakers, Mayors
Some lawmakers and mayors expressed skepticism Thursday over Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposal to give $750 million to regional administrators, selected by the state, rather than to local governments to address homelessness, signaling a potential budget fight. The comments were made at a budget subcommittee hearing that came on the heels...
California to Move Some Condemned Inmates off Death Row
SACRAMENTO — More than 700 condemned inmates on California's largest-in-the-nation death row soon will have a chance to transfer to one of eight state prisons, a move a former district attorney termed “a slap to the face" of victims. The voluntary transfers from San Quentin State Prison’s all-male death row...