The new state budget that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed includes $55 million for the DMV to build a data-sharing system, a program meant to bring the state into compliance with the federal REAL ID law.
Yue Stella Yu / CalMatters
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Newsom’s parting gift: A budget that delays California’s deep cuts to 2027
Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers reached a final budget deal last week that largely relies on AI revenue projections and new taxes to delay social service cuts and shrink future deficits.
Posted inHousing & Development
Tech billionaires hire Democratic dealmakers in renewed push to build a Bay Area city
Following years of local resistance, tech billionaires are turning to the state to fast-track their plan to build a new city in the Bay Area. They are lobbying for legislation to expedite environmental review of their project, enlisting political heavyweights to make their case.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Billionaire tax, affordable housing: See the measures on California’s November ballot
California voters will decide on 14 statewide policy proposals come November, including the high-stakes billionaire tax, an $11 billion affordable housing bond and voter ID requirements.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
This lawmaker’s proposal could make California ‘the most secretive state in the country’
Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco’s legislation would allow public agencies to delay records requests it deems “improperly” filed, sue for “malicious” requests and charge nearly $90 an hour to produce government records. One good governance advocate calls it a “virtual horror show of governmental nontransparency.”
Posted inPolitics & Policy
California Democrats threaten to block Newsom priorities over imperiled climate deal
Gov. Gavin Newsom endorsed new carbon market rules that could drastically shrink the state’s funding for climate projects, threatening the spending deal he struck with legislators last year. Senate Democrats aren’t having it.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
California bill moves to make cheaper alternative fuel available to more drivers
In the face of the nation’s highest gas prices, California lawmakers last week approved a bill to ease restrictions on E85 conversion kits — devices that let conventional gasoline cars run on a cheaper, mostly ethanol fuel blend.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
California’s race for secretary of state shows partisan divide over how to count ballots
California’s top vote-counter, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, faces a challenge from Republican Don Wagner in the 2026 election.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
California leaders lionized César Chávez. Now, they face a reckoning with his past
Leaders up and down California, many of whom were personally inspired by César Chávez’s life’s work, are grappling with multiple allegations of sexual assault against the late labor leader.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Newsom plans no new journalism funding despite $175 million deal with Google
Gov. Gavin Newsom included no new funding for local journalism in his latest budget proposal, walking back an August 2024 deal with Google to commit $175 million over five years to help the diminishing industry.
