CALMatters | Palo Alto Online |

CALmatters is a Sacramento-based nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism venture committed to explaining how California's state Capitol works and why it matters. It works with more than 130 media partners throughout the state that have long, deep relationships with their local audiences, including Embarcadero Media (publisher of the Palo Alto Weekly, Mountain View Voice, Pleasanton Weekly and The Almanac in Menlo Park and their websites.)

Here are the most recent stories reported by CALmatters' team of journalists:

JUUL Labs is committed to eliminating cigarettes

The JUUL system represents an unprecedented opportunity to help adult smokers switch off combustible cigarettes.

Mon, Mar 18, 2019 1:29 pm

Legislators test Newsom, school layoffs, mind-bending hemp rules

Legislators to test Newsom with new bills, more school districts plan layoffs, why industrial hemp still isn't legal, panel continues death penalty work

Mon, Mar 18, 2019 4:30 am

Newsom does it again with death row reprieve

Gov. Gavin Newsom's blanket reprieve for those on death row is another headline-grabbing gesture—and it could backfire.

Mon, Mar 18, 2019 12:01 am

I’ve got a secret: Daily struggle for the people’s right to know

Bureaucracies love secrets. They pay lip service to transparency, but have a powerful instinct to dummy up. This predilection for secrecy clashes on a daily basis with Californians’ fundamental right to information about how their government is working—a right granted by statute and enshrined in the state Constitution.

Sun, Mar 17, 2019 7:00 am

Slowing economy could hit state budget

Gov. Gavin Newsom hopes to have a balanced state budget through his first term. But some economic clouds are looming on the horizon.

Sun, Mar 17, 2019 12:01 am

Weekly CALmatters 03/15/2019

Highlighting all of CALmatters' work over the past week

Fri, Mar 15, 2019 8:09 pm

Unionizing daycare? California’s child care workers seek a seat at the big kids’ table

Some at-home child care workers who depend on state subsidies are hoping to join forces with an unlikely ally: organized labor.

Fri, Mar 15, 2019 9:47 am

Weekly Walters 03/15/2019

A collection of commentaries by Dan Walters over the past week.

Fri, Mar 15, 2019 5:46 am

College cheating, UC immigration, drought ends and rent control returns

More college cheating scandal fallout, UC gives legal aid to undocumented students and their families, rent control returns and drought ends.

Fri, Mar 15, 2019 4:30 am

To combat climate change, California must wean buildings off fossil fuels

Construction, heating, and operating of our work and homes account for nearly 40 percent of our nation’s CO2 emissions. But California still doesn’t have a comprehensive statewide plan to help cities cut pollution from homes and commercial buildings. That’s like having a global naval military strategy that omits the Pacific Ocean.

Fri, Mar 15, 2019 4:29 am

Amid Trump’s border showdown, UC immigration lawyer comforts and fights

California is funding immigration attorneys for students and their families as federal courts weigh the fate of DACA and politicians battle over border enforcement.

Thu, Mar 14, 2019 4:59 pm

San Diego’s mayor explains why he became a “YIMBY”

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has a message for his fellow California Republicans when it comes to grappling with the state's housing crisis: Embrace more development.

Thu, Mar 14, 2019 2:44 pm

High-speed rail

Thu, Mar 14, 2019 2:06 pm

Newsom’s death row reprieves, the mob hit that informed his decision, Edison’s fire report

Why Gov. Gavin Newsom issued death penalty reprieves, the mob hit that informed his decision, Southern California Edison power lines sparked the Thomas Fire

Thu, Mar 14, 2019 4:30 am

Don’t leave California’s climate goals stuck in traffic

At the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, we are far from naïve. We understand the political and economic challenges that face the completion of high-speed rail, and we are up for the fight and plan to fight along with every elected leader who is willing to fight for California’s quality of life, climate goals and middle-class jobs.

Thu, Mar 14, 2019 4:29 am

Sales tax bite looms for Internet consumers

Californians who buy things on the Internet have often been able to escape sales taxes. But that will end April 1.

Thu, Mar 14, 2019 12:01 am

Utilities pushed toward fire prevention as Edison is blamed for Thomas Fire

California lawmakers pressure utilities to improve fire safety as Southern California Edison is blamed for the 2017 Thomas Fire and ensuing mudslides.

Wed, Mar 13, 2019 6:42 pm

Newsom moves to end death penalty, college admissions fraud, legislator accused

Newsom to sign death penalty moratorium, Californians caught up in college admissions scandal, legislator charged

Wed, Mar 13, 2019 4:30 am

California can’t afford to skimp on computer science education

Computer science is an essential 21st Century skill for college, careers and civic participation. Yet many California students lack access to meaningful opportunities to learn computer science. If we are committed to closing the academic achievement gap, we must close the growing computer science access gap for all students.

Wed, Mar 13, 2019 4:29 am

Trumpies rightfully reduced Oroville Dam aid

The Trump administration is refusing to pay more than $300 million for repairs to Oroville Dam. California officials should be grateful it's not zero.

Wed, Mar 13, 2019 12:01 am

Saying death penalty no longer “an abstract question,” Gov. Newsom halts executions in California

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a longtime death penalty opponent, has announced a moratorium on executions in California. His move over-rides a decision the state’s voters made in 2016 to maintain capital punishment.

Tue, Mar 12, 2019 7:51 am

Newsom’s housing plan, warnings about new taxes, independent voters

Effort grows to abolish state tax board, legislature weighs new tax proposals, no-preference voters on the rise

Tue, Mar 12, 2019 4:30 am

Trump’s rule gagging doctors is a threat to women’s lives

Despite massive opposition, the Trump administration released coercive and unethical regulations governing Title X. The administration’s anti-abortion agenda has seeped into Title X, a program that doesn’t pay for or provide abortion services. Under these rules, doctors would not be able to tell patients where they can get an abortion, even if they ask. The best doctors could do is give a patient a list of healthcare providers, some of whom provide abortions.

Tue, Mar 12, 2019 4:29 am

California has a giant surplus—of ideas for new taxes. What’s up with that?

Democratic leaders at the state Capitol have pointedly cautioned against broad tax increases on working families. Whether their troops and the governor have gotten the memo, though, isn't clear.

Mon, Mar 11, 2019 9:00 am

The world is knocking at California’s door, and we welcome it

Enriched by the diversity of our communities, California represents a set of human values that nurture and free our minds and our economic system. And the world knows it. That’s why now, more than ever, the world is knocking on our door.

Mon, Mar 11, 2019 8:00 am

Anti-vaxxers, treating the mentally ill and poor, and Newsom’s focus—PG&E

Newsom joins battle over fate of PG&E, anti-vaxxers target new hepatitis A bill, gaps in mental health care persist

Mon, Mar 11, 2019 4:30 am

Both abortion factions try to silence opponents

Those who debate abortion are often willing to use law and politics to shut down the other side.

Mon, Mar 11, 2019 12:01 am

Hard truths about deinstitutionalization, then and now

Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown, two of the most consequential governors ever in California, led the state during two of the most well intended but poorly executed movements in this state’s history. The first was the de-institutionalization of the mentally ill. The second resulted in fewer prison inmates, and significant increases in homelessness and untreated mental illness.

Sun, Mar 10, 2019 8:00 am

Politicians like to keep us in the dark

A new legislative bill and a new threat by the attorney general are the latest attempts to undermine the state's Public Records Act.

Sun, Mar 10, 2019 12:01 am

For families across California, a desperate struggle to get mental health care

Elizabeth Brown’s bedroom holds a trove of evidence of her fight to save herself. Preserved among the Twilight novels, the posters of Korean pop singers and cameras she used for her budding journalism career are clues to the Santa Rosa teenager’s agonizing struggle with the mental illness that claimed her life last year. Next to […]

Sun, Mar 10, 2019 12:01 am

Weekly CALmatters 03/08/2019

Highlighting all of CALmatters' work over the past week

Fri, Mar 8, 2019 6:54 pm

Southern California Edison’s time-of-use plan

Fri, Mar 8, 2019 12:21 pm

California raised taxes to pay doctors for the poor—and is still waiting for them

The tobacco-tax hike passed in 2016, but it's still unclear whether more medical providers will accept Medi-Cal, the state's health plan for low-income Californians.

Fri, Mar 8, 2019 10:00 am

Weekly Walters 03/08/2019

A collection of commentaries by Dan Walters over the past week.

Fri, Mar 8, 2019 4:46 am

PG&E, hedge funds, toxic stew, and challenging Trump

Financial analysts eye PG&E bankruptcy, toxic bills come due for new CalEPA chief, plotting a Republican primary challenge to Donald Trump

Fri, Mar 8, 2019 4:30 am

Tax hikes are unnecessary. California businesses already pay their fair share

Negative impacts of a business tax increase would be felt far and wide, because business taxes get passed on to consumers and shareholders, and have a negative impact on wages for jobs that are preserved. The last thing middle-class Californians need is an even higher cost of living, wage stagnation or more risk for their retirement investments.

Fri, Mar 8, 2019 4:29 am

Could the path of a GOP revolt against Trump run through east Los Angeles?

A quirk in the Republican Party's nominating process gives outsized influence to its voters in the bluest districts. Will they stay with Trump?

Thu, Mar 7, 2019 5:26 pm

A telecom merger that can help bridge the digital divide

Improving access to 5G-enabled technologies will be essential to creating economic parity in America. The merger of T-Mobile and Sprint represents an opportunity to bridge the digital divide on a scale that we have yet to see.

Thu, Mar 7, 2019 8:30 am

Homeless undercounts, UC’s stand, child birth complications

Homeless counts questioned, UC takes a stand on access to scholarly research, birth complications spike for new moms

Thu, Mar 7, 2019 4:30 am

1872 law gives police a license to kill

Shooting first and asking questions later might have been acceptable police conduct in 1872 California. It can’t be in the 21st century.

Thu, Mar 7, 2019 12:01 am

Meet California’s new environment czar, who walked the state to ‘reset’

What better way to decompress from a stressful federal government job than by trekking 2,600 miles on foot from Mexico to Canada? That’s what Jared Blumenfeld, the new head of the California Environmental Protection Agency, did three years ago, setting out on the arduous and beloved Pacific Crest Trail that traces California’s searing deserts, rugged […]

Wed, Mar 6, 2019 7:17 pm

We must prevent the next Aliso Canyon disaster

At the age of 44, my lungs inexplicably failed, and have never recovered. For over a decade, I've had a chronic shortness of breath, a high pulse rate, and have been dependent on oxygen tanks, inhalers and I've been unable to walk any distance or even carry my purse, without triggering deep chest pains. I'm one of the fortunate ones, because I'm still alive.

Wed, Mar 6, 2019 8:30 am

Stephon Clark fallout, childhood trauma, charter schools

Yet another official probe into the Stephon Clark shooting. California's new surgeon general warns of a powerful toxin. Incoming charter school reforms.

Wed, Mar 6, 2019 4:30 am

State Supreme Court ducks key pension issue

The California Supreme Court has ducked a fundamental issue in state's pension crisis, leaving "California rule" up in the air.

Wed, Mar 6, 2019 12:01 am

‘Common sense regulations’ or ‘an extended middle finger’—how far will California go on charter schools?

The transparency mandate signed into law Tuesday is just the first in a flurry of bills aimed at curbing California charter schools.

Tue, Mar 5, 2019 6:28 pm

Centrist summit encourages California GOP to go its own way

A centrist summit in California has a message for California Republicans: you don’t have to be like President Trump. You don’t even have to like him.

Tue, Mar 5, 2019 5:08 pm

With a whopping 2,628 bills pending, here’s the one most popular among California legislators

In the Legislature, the policymaking—and political pandering—priorities of Sacramento are beginning to take shape. A by-the-numbers overview:

Tue, Mar 5, 2019 11:59 am

Southern California Edison new rate plan jeopardizes renewable energy

Californians want to make an investment in renewable energy and encourage electricity usage during times when it is being sourced from non-renewable sources. But upcoming changes to Southern California Edison’s “time-of-use” rate plans would discourage solar adoption in pursuit of short-term profits when we should be ensuring that renewable energy is embraced by as many as possible.

Tue, Mar 5, 2019 8:30 am

Trump’s ‘gag rule,’ mental illness, pensions and damage control

California opens a national Title X battle. Mandated treatment for severe mental illness works, where counties try it. A pension ruling for the status quo.

Tue, Mar 5, 2019 4:30 am

Everyone is saying they just won a big court case on pensions. What does that mean for you?

If all sides are declaring victory in the California Supreme Court’s pension ruling on Monday, it’s because the decision had a little something for all the combatants in the state’s pension wars. In a much-anticipated decision, the high court upheld a major rollback initiated during Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration—a reform that rescinded a long tradition that had […]

Mon, Mar 4, 2019 12:56 pm

The JUUL system represents an unprecedented opportunity to help adult smokers switch off combustible cigarettes.

Legislators to test Newsom with new bills, more school districts plan layoffs, why industrial hemp still isn't legal, panel continues death penalty work

Gov. Gavin Newsom's blanket reprieve for those on death row is another headline-grabbing gesture—and it could backfire.

Gov. Gavin Newsom hopes to have a balanced state budget through his first term. But some economic clouds are looming on the horizon.

Highlighting all of CALmatters' work over the past week

Some at-home child care workers who depend on state subsidies are hoping to join forces with an unlikely ally: organized labor.

A collection of commentaries by Dan Walters over the past week.

More college cheating scandal fallout, UC gives legal aid to undocumented students and their families, rent control returns and drought ends.

California is funding immigration attorneys for students and their families as federal courts weigh the fate of DACA and politicians battle over border enforcement.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has a message for his fellow California Republicans when it comes to grappling with the state's housing crisis: Embrace more development.

Why Gov. Gavin Newsom issued death penalty reprieves, the mob hit that informed his decision, Southern California Edison power lines sparked the Thomas Fire

Californians who buy things on the Internet have often been able to escape sales taxes. But that will end April 1.

California lawmakers pressure utilities to improve fire safety as Southern California Edison is blamed for the 2017 Thomas Fire and ensuing mudslides.

Newsom to sign death penalty moratorium, Californians caught up in college admissions scandal, legislator charged

The Trump administration is refusing to pay more than $300 million for repairs to Oroville Dam. California officials should be grateful it's not zero.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a longtime death penalty opponent, has announced a moratorium on executions in California. His move over-rides a decision the state’s voters made in 2016 to maintain capital punishment.

Effort grows to abolish state tax board, legislature weighs new tax proposals, no-preference voters on the rise

Democratic leaders at the state Capitol have pointedly cautioned against broad tax increases on working families. Whether their troops and the governor have gotten the memo, though, isn't clear.

Enriched by the diversity of our communities, California represents a set of human values that nurture and free our minds and our economic system. And the world knows it. That’s why now, more than ever, the world is knocking on our door.

Newsom joins battle over fate of PG&E, anti-vaxxers target new hepatitis A bill, gaps in mental health care persist

Those who debate abortion are often willing to use law and politics to shut down the other side.

A new legislative bill and a new threat by the attorney general are the latest attempts to undermine the state's Public Records Act.

Highlighting all of CALmatters' work over the past week

The tobacco-tax hike passed in 2016, but it's still unclear whether more medical providers will accept Medi-Cal, the state's health plan for low-income Californians.

A collection of commentaries by Dan Walters over the past week.

Financial analysts eye PG&E bankruptcy, toxic bills come due for new CalEPA chief, plotting a Republican primary challenge to Donald Trump

A quirk in the Republican Party's nominating process gives outsized influence to its voters in the bluest districts. Will they stay with Trump?

Improving access to 5G-enabled technologies will be essential to creating economic parity in America. The merger of T-Mobile and Sprint represents an opportunity to bridge the digital divide on a scale that we have yet to see.

Homeless counts questioned, UC takes a stand on access to scholarly research, birth complications spike for new moms

Shooting first and asking questions later might have been acceptable police conduct in 1872 California. It can’t be in the 21st century.

Yet another official probe into the Stephon Clark shooting. California's new surgeon general warns of a powerful toxin. Incoming charter school reforms.

The California Supreme Court has ducked a fundamental issue in state's pension crisis, leaving "California rule" up in the air.

The transparency mandate signed into law Tuesday is just the first in a flurry of bills aimed at curbing California charter schools.

A centrist summit in California has a message for California Republicans: you don’t have to be like President Trump. You don’t even have to like him.

In the Legislature, the policymaking—and political pandering—priorities of Sacramento are beginning to take shape. A by-the-numbers overview:

California opens a national Title X battle. Mandated treatment for severe mental illness works, where counties try it. A pension ruling for the status quo.

Get the latest headlines sent straight to your inbox every day.

Index