SACRAMENTO — The California Senate has passed a bill that would give new wage and benefit protections to workers at so-called gig economy companies like Uber and Lyft. The 29-11 vote late Tuesday sends the bill back to the state Assembly for final approval over strident Republican opposition. Democratic Gov....
Walters: Hot Politics in the Cul-De-Sac of California
Spanish explorer Juan Cabrillo claimed California 477 years ago this month when his three-ship armada sailed into a bay he named “San Miguel,” which we know today as San Diego. Nearly a half-millennium later, San Diego is California’s second-largest city, but in a sense remains an isolated, almost self-contained, outpost....
Vaccine Exemption Bills Get Newsom's Signature
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills Monday to crack down on doctors who write fraudulent medical exemptions for school children's vaccinations. The governor acted without comment less than an hour after lawmakers sent him changes he demanded as a condition of approving the bills. Legislators passed the second of...
California Lawmaker, Governor Reach Deal on Vaccine Bill
SACRAMENTO — The author of a California bill limiting medical exemptions for vaccinations is accepting Gov. Gavin Newsom's demand for additional changes. Sen. Richard Pan on Friday amended a companion bill to reflect the governor's wishes, days after lawmakers sent Newsom a bill cracking down on doctors who sell fraudulent...
California Bans Fur Trapping for Recreation, Commerce
SACRAMENTO — California on Wednesday became the first state to ban commercial fur trapping, ending the practice nearly 200 years after animals like beavers and otters introduced the American West to international trade. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday he had signed a bill into law making it illegal to...
Newsom’s California Vaccine Bill Change Surprises Backers
SACRAMENTO — Medical groups and a lawmaker behind California legislation to crack down on vaccine exemptions said Wednesday they were surprised by Gov. Gavin Newsom's last-minute call for changes to the bill, a move that inserted fresh uncertainty into one of the year's most contentious issues. It was the second...
Newsom Wants Fixes to Contentious Vaccine Exemption Bill
SACRAMENTO — California's state Assembly approved legislation Tuesday designed to crack down on doctors who sell fraudulent medical exemptions for vaccinations. But Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said immediately after the vote that he will seek additional amendments affecting one of this legislative session's most hotly debated issues. The bill by...
California Governor Announces Deal to Cap Rising Rent Prices
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom reached a deal with apartment owners and developers Friday on legislation that would cap how rapidly rents can rise as the state grapples with a housing crisis. The deal would cap annual rent increases at 5% plus inflation, with a 10% maximum increase. That's lower...
California Should Make Clear There Is a Right to Housing, Not Simply Shelter
There are two ways to tackle California’s greatest public safety, public health and humanitarian crisis: homelessness. One way is to marshal resources, build programs, replicate successes, and say, with some justification, that we have helped a lot of people, even if the overall situation isn’t much better. The other way...
NW Fresno Neighbors Object to Upscale Apartment Project
Dirk Poeschel might as well have been on a suicide mission. The planning consultant had the unenviable task of trying to convince hundreds from a northwest Fresno neighborhood that a new apartment complex in their residential area was a good idea. The crowd wasn't buying it, and the end result...