California

How states can give released inmates the best chance of staying clean

A Medicaid waiver can help state corrections facilities finance reentry services aimed at keeping former inmates in recovery and curbing the opioid crisis.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Powering down: To prevent wildfires, states try turning off the grid

COMMENTARY | The trend started in California, but now more states are opting to shut off power to parts of the grid in extreme conditions.

  • By Kyri Baker, The Conversation

California’s new rules allow solar and batteries to help out the grid

Utilities tend to treat solar and batteries as threats to their power grids. California’s policy will now tap their flexible power to benefit the grid instead.

  • By Jeff St. John, Energy News Network

Is the US privacy policy good enough?

COMMENTARY | A disjointed approach plagued by compromises is making American data privacy policy more complicated and less effective in delivering the protections people desperately want and need to see.

  • By Gal Ringel

California prison drug overdoses surge again after early treatment success

Drug overdose deaths in California state prisons rebounded to near record levels last year, a big setback for corrections officials who thought they were on the right track with medication-assisted treatment efforts. Officials blame fentanyl.

  • By Don Thompson, KFF Health News

California is poised to protect workers from extreme heat—indoors

Only two other states have adopted heat rules for indoor workers. Nationally, legislation has stalled in Congress, and a process initiated by the Biden administration to establish national heat standards for outdoor and indoor work could take years to finalize.

  • By Samantha Young, KFF Health News

In new year, all immigrants in California may qualify for Medicaid regardless of legal status

New enrollees will join more than 655,000 children, young adults through age 25, and adults 50 or over who have already signed up for Medi-Cal through previous expansions to residents lacking legal authorization.

  • By Bernard J. Wolfson, KFF Health News

The latest youth climate lawsuit tries a novel argument: The unique environmental vulnerability of children

Eighteen California children say the EPA fails to recognize the unique physical and mental impacts climate change has on kids.

  • By Katie Myers, Grist

Mental health funding is fast becoming “the bipartisan issue of our time”

States from California to Texas are increasingly investing in mental health as a recognition takes hold that the status quo isn’t working.

  • By Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene

California’s budget troubles are unique—at least for now

The Golden State could face a $68 billion deficit through mid-2025. But other states appear to remain fiscally strong, with many still spending surpluses. Plus, more news to use from around the country in this week's State and Local Roundup.

  • By Daniel C. Vock

California wins big as Biden administration doubles down on high-speed rail

The Golden State will benefit from $6 billion in new grants to provide connections in the Central Valley and between the Los Angeles suburbs and Las Vegas. An East Coast route is getting big money too.

  • By Daniel C. Vock

Cloud a ‘game-changer’ for health insurance marketplace

When California’s health insurance marketplace migrated to the cloud, it cut costs, improved consumer experience and gained the ability to scale to demand.

  • By Frank Konkel
Featured eBooks
The State of Trust in Government
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Building Data Literacy in the State and Local Workforce

Generative AI has ‘significant, beneficial’ uses for state government

A report from California on the technology found that it could improve performance and make services more accessible to residents, but risks must be mitigated.

  • By Chris Teale

DELETE Act closes ‘big loophole’ and tightens regulations on data brokers

California is the first state to allow residents to request that data brokers delete their personal data, but some worry it will be difficult to implement and enforce.

  • By Chris Teale

New California law offers fresh protection from steep ambulance bills

The law prohibits ambulance companies from balance billing patients, or charging them for any unpaid costs after insurance. Patients can expect to save an average of nearly $1,100 per emergency ambulance ride, experts say.

  • By Bernard J. Wolfson, KFF Health News

How one city is streamlining housing construction

San Francisco is required by state law to build 82,000 housing units by 2031, but it won’t even come close if the city maintains its current pace. Mayor London Breed hopes that reducing fees and red tape will spur more development.

  • By Molly Bolan

Communities boost climate resilience by protecting pollinators

More cities are planting native plant-based gardens to slow loss of pollinators, which play a critical role in achieving climate adaptation goals.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Exxon, Apple and other corporate giants will have to disclose all their emissions under California’s new climate laws that will have a global impact

COMMENTARY | California is the world’s fifth-largest economy. Laws tested there often spread across the U.S. and around the world.

  • By Lily Hsueh, The Conversation

In scrapping its LGBTQ-related travel ban, California pivots to ‘hearts and minds’

Lawmakers nixed a seven-year ban on state-funded travel to states that enact discriminatory laws.

  • By Matt Vasilogambros, Stateline

Should public officials be allowed to block constituents on social media?

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to answer that question as a new term gets underway. The justices will hear two cases on the issue out of California and Michigan in which lower courts ruled differently.

  • By Chris Teale

California enters the ring of drug manufacturing. Could others follow?

As insulin prices have skyrocketed, states have intervened to lower them with price caps. Now, California’s decision to manufacture its own is leading other states to consider similar steps in an effort to ensure essential medicines are affordable to the public.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson