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San Joaquin County Government Articles



Image caption: How does social media affect the minds and well-being of children? According to California and other states, not well.
California Sues Meta For Damaging Kids’ Mental Health

California and 32 other states are suing Instagram’s parent company, Meta, saying that their apps are damaging to children. Is there evidence for those claims? Here’s why social media is under attack.

Image caption: Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled affirmative action policies unconstitutional, some students are recosidering their college choices.
Affirmative Action: How SCOTUS Decision Changes College Admissions

After the Supreme Court ended affirmative action in college admissions, some students are rethinking their school selections. Some colleges are also boosting their student outreach as they seek diversity.

Image caption: House Reps (L-R) Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), Katie Porter (D-Irvine) and Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) lead the race for California's open U.S. Senate seat.
Where California Senate Candidates Get Their Campaign Cash

It’s the highest-profile race next year in California. This is where the leading candidates—Democrats Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff—are raising the most money.

Image caption: Gov. Newsom has signed a bill moving the state toward a single-payer health care system. Not all single-payer backers are happy.
California Takes One Small Step Toward Single-Payer Healthcare

California took the first step toward a single-payer health care system when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 770 this month, but the move is not enough for many backers of universal health coverage.

Image caption: California's Employment Development Department is on the brink of insolvency, leaving the state in a desperate situation if a recession hits.
Unemployment Insurance: California’s ‘Urgent’ $20 Billion Debt Problem

The state’s unemployment insurance debt, which ballooned as a result of the pandemic, is in dire straits with no clear path forward.

Image caption: Only 17 percent of California hospitals comply with a state law requiring racial bias training for maternity staff.
Hospitals Ignore Bias Training as Black Maternal Deaths Remain High

Black women are three times more likely than any other women to die during or immediately after pregnancy. California passed a 2019 law requiring hospitals to train labor and delivery staff on bias in medicine.

Image caption: California, America’s technology mecca, is quickly falling behind in education for the next generation of computer scientists.
California Ranks Low in Tech Education Due to Teacher Shortage

Only 40 percent of California high schools offer computer science classes as California falls behind in technology education nationally. A new law aims to make it easier to certify computer science teachers.

Image caption: As the pandemic safety net is pulled back, poverty among California construction workers is up 14 percent.
Expiring COVID Aid Sending California Workers into Poverty

California’s poverty rate climbed and its working poor grew this spring, says the Public Policy Institute of California. Safety net programs played a major role in poverty rate changes.

Image caption: A ban on assault weapons is just one of 107 California gun control laws.
California Gun Control Laws and Mass Shootings

California has more gun laws than any other state. Here's how it took a series of mass shootings to make the state the toughest in the country on guns.

Image caption: A terrifying incident in which a Cruise car dragged a pedestrian who had been hit by a different car led the DMV to take the cars off the road.
State DMV and CPUC Both Pull Self-Driving Cruise Taxis From Road

A recent incident in San Francisco spurred the Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Public Utilities Commission to suspend the licenses for Cruise’s driverless cars.

Image caption: Warehouse storage is just one aspect of the highly complex logistics industry that keeps supply chains running.
Logistics: the Crucial Industry You’ve Never Heard Of

Logistics is one of the largest industries in California and keeps the state economy running. But it also comes with a heavy cost to the environment. Here are the facts on the most important industry you don't know much about, …

Image caption: California is considering an end to a program that gives tax credits for cow poop–based biofuels.
Climate Credits for Cow Manure: Program May End Soon

California grants climate credits for fuel made from cow manure, but there’s a paradox: The state’s program encourages collection of methane yet promotes natural gas.

Image caption: Though Donald Trump claims, with no evidence, that COVID-era voting practices are fraudulent, California Republicans need every ballot they can get.
Trump Aside, California GOP Now Embraces ‘Ballot Harvesting’

Former President Trump claims mail balloting is rife with fraud. But to win more elections, the state GOP is expanding its efforts to collect mail ballots to boost turnout.

Image caption: Since 1972, the California Coastal Commission has ruled over the state’s shoreline.
California Coastal Commission: Where It Comes From, What It Does

What is the California Coastal Commission? How one of the state’s most powerful agency protects public access to the state’s scenic coast from Mexico to Oregon.

Image caption: California passed a 2020 law requiring coverage a wider range of mental health conditions. But insurers may not be following it.
Senate to Probe Health Insurers’ Compliance With Mental Health Law

A 2020 California law expanded the number of mental health conditions that insurers must cover. Now, lawmakers are reviewing whether the law is working as intended.

Image caption: There is a wind-turbine arms race underway in China, which already manufactures windmills whose blades sweep an area the size of 10 football fields per spin.
Wind Turbine Developments off Central Coast on ‘Fast Track’

Ocean wind farms are essential to electrify California’s grid with 100% clean energy. But they’re a giant, costly experiment—no one knows how hundreds of towering turbines will transform the remote North Coast.

Image caption: Research shows kids with hearing loss suffer developmental setbacks if they cannot use hearing aids.
Newsom Vetoes Hearing Aid Coverage for Kids—Again

More than 30 states require insurers to provide some level of coverage for kids’ hearing aids. California isn’t one of them, and Gov. Newsom for the second time has vetoed a bill to close that gap.

Image caption: To pay for the cost of foster child care, counties routinely appropriate Social Security benefits meant for orphans and disabled kids.
Newsom Vetoes Bill to Stop Counties Swiping Foster Kids Benefits

States across the United States are banning the practice of billing kids for the cost of their foster care. Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar effort in California, citing costs to the state.

Image caption: New law represents departure from long-standing mental health treatment practices in California.
Californians’ Mental Health: Newsom Signs Law to Overhaul System

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature mental health policies allow the involuntary treatment of more Californians with severe mental illnesses. Some fear the new laws will infringe on the civil liberties of people confined against their will.

Image caption: Demonstrators in Sacramento went on a hunger strike to persuade Gov. Newsom to okay a bill banning caste discrimination.
Newsom Vetoes 'Unnecessary' Caste Discrimination Bill

Gov. Newsom vetoes what would have been a first-in-the-nation law banning caste discrimination in education, housing and the workplace. The bill divided South Asian communities in California.

Featured

California's sprawling public education system encompasses approximately 10,500 schools.
California’s Education System: How the Bureaucracy Works
How California's extensive public school system is organized and managed, explained.
States have expansive powers to protect the health of the general public.
The State’s Broad Power to Protect Public Health, Explained
Since long before the COVID-19 pandemic, states have possessed broad authority to protect public health.
RCDs look after the land, whether it’s used for grazing, growing, or getting out into nature.
California Dirt
RCDs were created to avoid a repeat of the Dust Bowl. Now they work with landowners to preserve the air, water and natural habitats that sustain us all.
Mosquitos kill about 725,000 people every year, worldwide.
Taking a Bite Out of the Mosquito Population
How local government tries to control the world’s deadliest wild animal—the mosquito.
There are more than 300 community service districts in California.
Community Services Districts, Explained
Areas that the county overlooks can form their own local governments.
California continues to work on legislation that would make voting easier.
Voting Rites
And more bills are on the way to help you make your mark on Election Day.
Over two weekends last October, residents of Santa Cruz and Watsonville  participated in demonstration rides aboard an electric streetcar on rails.
The ‘Rail Trail’ Movement, Explained
The heated controversy over what to do with abandoned railroad tracks
California transportation history runs from railroads to today’s car culture.
California’s History of Transportation: From Railroads to Highways
The history of transportation in California has shaped the state, from the earliest stagecoach to today’s car culture.
The California mental health crisis is tied to both homelessness and rising crime.
UPDATE: California’s Mental Health Crisis: How We Got Here
The making of Gov. Newsom's plan to help get mentally ill Californians into treatment.
Moss Landing in Monterey Bay is the world’s largest battery storage facility for solar and other renewable energy.
Solar Power and California’s Clean Energy Goals
How the sun is helping push the state toward 100 percent renewable energy.
Owning homes is the primary way the middle class builds wealth, and an option no longer available to most Californians.
Is California’s Housing Crisis Making Inequality Worse?
California has some of the worst economic inequality in the United States. Is housing a cause? Could it be a cure?
The California Supreme Court has defined the state’s legal and political agenda for more than 170 years.
How the California Supreme Court Blazes Legal Trails
From its beginnings in the Gold Rush, the state Supreme Court continues to define the state today.
Zoning laws tell you what you can and can't build on the property you own. How does government get away with that?
How Zoning Laws Shape California and Society
Zoning is everywhere, but is it a way to regulate development or a tool for social engineering?
How California reclamation districts turned millions of acres of wetlands into fertile agricultural land, starting in the earliest days of the Gold Rush.
Reclamation Districts: Turning ‘Swamps’ Into Farmland
From its earliest days as a state, California has been trying to turn marshes into productive land.
Since the Gold Rush era, land reclamation has cost California 90 percent of its wetlands.
How Land Reclamation Hurts California’s Environment
The hidden price tag of “reclaiming” swamps and marshes as usable land.
The Pajaro River levee broke during the 2023 atmospheric river storms, flooding the town of Pajaro.
Is California Ready for More Extreme Weather Driven by Climate Change?
Increasingly extreme weather events are already testing California’s preparedness.
Since 1972, the California Coastal Commission has ruled over the state’s shoreline.
California Coastal Commission: Where It Comes From, What It Does
How a nuclear plant, a real estate development and an oil spill led to a landmark law.
Translated from the Greek, “Democracy” means “people power.” How much power do the people have in California?
People Power! What Is Democracy, and How Does It Work in California?
The Goddess of Democracy is alive and well in California, but that hasn’t always been true.
Long-duration energy storage, such as this thermal energy storage facility, allows renewable energy sources to operate at full capacity without overloading the power grid.
How California Leads the Race For Long Duration Energy Storage
For renewable energy sources such as solar and wind to be viable, ways to store the power they create are essential.
The Baldwin Hills area in South Los Angeles is one region where a state conservancy would keep open land accessible to the public.
California’s 10 State Conservancies: How They Protect Parks and Open Land
Starting in 1976, the legislature began creating agencies to buy up open land, and keep it open.
California has a goal of 6 million heat pumps cooling and heating buildings by 2030.
6 Million New Heat Pumps: Essential to California's Climate Future
Installing 6 million heat pumps by 2030 is essential if California is to reach its goal of net zero carbon emissions.
Does California’s signature environmental law protect the state’s scenic beauty, or cause more problems than it solves?
CEQA: The Surprising Story of CA’s Key Environmental Law
54-year-old environmental law is often blamed for causing the state’s housing crisis. Is it getting a bad rap?
The 1965 law known as the Williamson Act has been responsible for keeping about half of California's farmland out of the hands of developers.
The Williamson Act: How the Law That Protects California’s Farmland Works
More than half of California farmland is under contracts that prevent its development.
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