Santa Cruz County Statewide Articles

New laws banning toxicity testing on dogs and cats, and making rental housing more pet friendly are among a slate of new animal welfare legislation signed by Gov. Newsom in September.

The campaigns for Propositions 26 and 27 on this November’s ballot have made a wide variety of claims, especially about how the money gleaned from sports betting in California will get distributed.

With a midnight Friday deadline to determine the fate of hundreds of bills on his desk, Gov. Gavin Newsom has been a busy man. On Wednesday, Newsom unexpectedly showed up at the vigil that members of the United Farm Workers …

Two days before deadline, after vetoing a similar bill last year and resisting months of marches, vigils and posturing, including a note from President Biden, Newsom changed his mind on a farmworker labor bill

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After its driest three-year stretch on record, California braces for another year with below-average snow and rain. Conditions are shaping up to be a “recipe for drought."

Jail should not punish people just for using drugs; lengthy incarceration won’t help. Rather, we must use the criminal justice system strategically to promote behavioral change in people whose drug use threatens public safety.

The bill by two Assembly Democrats followed a CalMatters investigation that exposed serious flaws in the state’s nursing home licensing system.

Learn how to host your own pizza party this fall to promote nonpartisan civic knowledge for the 2022 election.

When Laura Swartzen saw the email from Sacramento State University’s Title IX office, it felt like her heart skipped a beat.  Swartzen, the Sac State confidential campus advocate, had spent the past nine months supporting a student who reported being …

Surrounded by members of the California Legislative Women's Caucus, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law Tuesday a package of bills he said would advance California's "commitment to pay equity and supporting women." Among them: a bill requiring employers with at …

For nearly two decades, California's state government has struggled to design and implement a comprehensive financial management system called FI$Cal but although it remains unfinished a new law declares it to be complete.

CalMatters journalists stretch beyond traditional reporting to offer unique nonpartisan election insights at live events.

As other states restrict or ban abortions, the California laws aim to improve access and protect patients and clinicians. They will also expand services to accommodate an expected influx from other states.

Black Californians could be due hundreds of thousands of dollars for housing discrimination, incarceration, and health disparities alone, consultants said at reparations task force hearings.

The Legislature should amend California’s tax codes to exempt lands returned to tribes from property taxes.

Several statewide officials’ policies are coming under scrutiny as California's Nov. 8 general election inches closer, heightening the possible political implications. First up: Attorney General Rob Bonta was dealt a major blow Monday, when the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of …

The California Department of Education is - for no rational reason - refusing to release results of last spring's academic tests, which are likely to be negative.

There's too much parking! Why a new law, AB 2097, cutting back on parking space requirements in new housing and business developments could be a game changer for the climate, and the housing crisis.

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