Public Policy

Three landlords across the state are suing to stop the Judicial Council of California’s eviction moratorium, arguing the council has exceeded its powers and should allow some delinquent renters to be removed from their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With stimulus talks with Congress at an impasse, President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders on Saturday to provide temporary relief to Americans who are suffering from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

With his latest proposal, Governor Newsom has placed the leverage of the state budget behind many priorities of the California Economic Summit and its regional, interconnected approach to solving the state’s complex challenges.

In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, the County must strengthen its commitment to sustainability, equity, and resilience in order to create a pathway for investment in a safe, healthy, and inclusive future.

After a bit of last-minute legislative maneuvering, the list of propositions that California voters will be asked to weigh in on has been — more or less — finalized.

California lawmakers voted Friday to send Gov. Gavin Newsom a $202.1 billion budget that avoids deep cuts, despite a projected $54 billion deficit brought on by the coronavirus, by delaying some payments and using reserves.

California local governments scrambling to find tax revenues during the coronavirus pandemic are turning toward an industry they had considered taboo until now: cannabis.

The COVID-19 pandemic placed a heavy weight on a trillion-dollar global pharmaceutical industry already struggling under the opioid crisis and pricing controversies. Although the drug development process typically takes ten or more years, the urgency of COVID-19 forced government regulators to shed tradition for flexibility.

California lawmakers are returning to work Monday for a furious five-week sprint that will include contentious debates about police brutality, unemployment benefits, hospital mergers and a moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus pandemic.

With a series of temporary protections that helped Californians get through the first few months of the pandemic set to expire soon, Gov. Gavin Newsom hinted he will today extend some programs in another flex of executive power.

With state and federal worker assistance set to expire at the end of July, Gov. Gavin Newsom discussed efforts to extend protections for essential workers, but stopped short of further executive orders to lock in those measures.

List of members of the Governor's Task Force.

Almost 100 days ago, California Gov. Gavin Newsom tapped Apple’s Tim Cook, Disney’s Bob Iger, former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and scores of other business and labor luminaries to chart the state’s economic recovery.

The public is still waiting for a road map.

With a series of temporary protections that helped Californians get through the first few months of the pandemic set to expire soon, Gov. Gavin Newsom hinted he will today extend some programs in another flex of executive power.

California lawmakers are returning to work Monday for a furious five-week sprint that will include contentious debates about police brutality, unemployment benefits, hospital mergers and a moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hotel and travel businesses will have to rehire by seniority. Oakland is the latest city to pass a “right to recall” ordinance, following San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Gov. Gavin Newsom says the new California state budget is balanced, but in reality it has a huge deficit that will be covered by indirect borrowing.

Oakland city officials announced legislation today intended to prevent President Trump from sending federal troops to the city — as he threatened to do last week in response to protests — amid heightened concern following Saturday’s demonstration, vandalism and fire to the Alameda County Courthouse.

One major section of the HEALS Act proposes a drop in enhanced unemployment benefits from the current $600 per week to a new $200 weekly boost, on top of state-administered aid, until the end of September.

A plan proposed Monday by Senate Republicans, the HEALS Act, would lower the unemployment insurance (UI) weekly benefit supplement from $600 per week to $200 per week for the next two months, before capping payments at 70 percent of a worker’s prior income. A new analysis by Century Foundation researchers finds that, if enacted, the proposal would have devastating consequences for American families, businesses, and the economy.

Currently Senate Republicans are offering a proposal to reduce this weekly $600 supplement to closer to $200. This is better than allowing the $600 benefit to go all the way to zero, but this would still lead to GDP that was lower by 2.5% a year from now, and, would lead to 3.4 million fewer jobs created over the next year.

State lawmakers have just five weeks to come up with solutions to massive pandemic-related problems and prevent Californians of all stripes — tenants, landlords, small-business owners, essential workers — from falling off the edge of a cliff.

This report by the Lancet Commission on Public Policy and Health in the Trump Era assesses the repercussions of President Donald Trump's health-related policies and examines the failures and social schisms that enabled his election.

President Trump has declared a national emergency along with 50 governors declaring state emergencies (Figure), which are unprecedented actions. Social distancing aims to flatten the epidemic curve to moderate demand on the health system.

Lobbyists are not required to disclose their work on government contracts, leaving the public in the dark about who’s influencing state spending on the pandemic.

At the Department's telephonic hearing on May 18, 2020, the WCIRB presented its proposed changes to permit, during a statewide California COVID-19 stay-at-home order: (1) a single division of an employee's payroll between Classification 8810, Clerical Office Employees, and a non-standard exception classification when the employee's work is exclusively clerical in nature, and (2) payments made to an employee when the employee is performing no duties of any kind in service of the employer to be excluded from payroll when the payments are equal to or less than the employee's regular rate ofpay.

Today, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a series of actions to better serve workers that have experienced job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the formation of an Employment Development Department (EDD) strike team, and a renewed focus on processing unpaid claims.

Not everyone can afford to take a sick day — much less spend a week or more in quarantine — and that’s a real problem in a pandemic, for them, their family, and their community, according to Los Angeles City Council member David Ryu.

He introduced a possible solution Wednesday, a wage-replacement measure meant to slow the virus’ spread, by putting money in the pockets of those who couldn’t otherwise afford to miss work.

A “CEO tax” targeting San Francisco’s most unequal salaries. A signature-gathering campaign to tax Palo Alto’s millionaires. And now, a new statewide bill that would levy a yearly 0.4 percent tax on every Californian worth more than $30 million.

In the richest nation in the world, King saw no justification for the evil of rampant poverty and chastised the government’s efforts against the ill as “piecemeal and pygmy.” Housing efforts were subject to the whims of the legislature, educational reforms were sluggish, and family assistance programs were neglected; all failed to reach the most profound needs of the poor.