California Politics & News
Stay updated with California news, including reporting, analysis, and commentary on state government, progressive overreach, and the conservative response to Golden State policies.
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news
How Unions Hope to Win a $15 Minimum Wage in California
Labor unions are pushing to raise California’s minimum wage to $15 an hour with two initiatives competing for voters’ approval. Two different unions are trying to get questions on the ballot for Californians to have a say on a $15 minimum wage. “One in four Californians is living in poverty because wages are too low to… -
opinion
California Joins the Effort to Persecute, Suppress Scientific Dissent on Climate Change
California Attorney General Kamala Harris has joined New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in trying to prosecute ExxonMobil for supposedly lying to its shareholders and the public about climate change, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Times reported that Harris is investigating what ExxonMobil “knew about global warming and what the company told investors.”… -
news
Meet the California Teacher Taking On the Unions
For teachers standing in the cold outside the Supreme Court on Monday, as well as thousands of educators across the country, California teacher Rebecca Friedrichs is mounting a battle that could change the power of public-sector unions. In the Supreme Court case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association that went before the nine justices today, Friedrichs is… -
news
California Teachers Gear Up to Take Fight Against Unions to Supreme Court
On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. Rebecca Friedrichs and nine other teachers are calling into question the agency fees that public-sector workers are required to pay to unions, which they say violate their First Amendment rights. If the Supreme Court rules in Friedrichs’ favor,… -
news
California Governor Hails ‘Coercive Power of Government’
California Gov. Jerry Brown raised some eyebrows while attending the U.N. Climate Summit in Paris this month, proclaiming that the “coercive power of the central state” is needed to promote good public policy, specifically when it comes to a cleaner environment. Taking part in an onstage presentation with billionaire and climate activist Tom Steyer, Brown said… -
opinion
California Close Encounter Shows Why Drone Registry Will Be Ineffective
Last week, a drone and a California Highway Patrol helicopter nearly collided 700 feet above the California city of Martinez. Shortly thereafter, the reckless drone pilot was apprehended by police. The man, a Chinese exchange student, was questioned but ultimately not arrested. This is exactly the sort of situation the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is… -
news
California College May Be Next Mizzou: ‘Our No. 1 Goal Is to Get President Veitch Out of His Office’
Students at Occidental College in Los Angeles have staked out tents and sleeping bags as they stage a week-long protest to support diversity on campus, and call for the removal of the college president. Over 400 students, encouraged to wear all black, occupied the Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center at the Eagle Rock campus on… -
news
Group Challenges California Law Forcing Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers to Comply With ‘Pro-Abortion Agenda’
Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit legal organization that works to defend religious liberty, has filed a complaint in federal court against a California law that forces pro-life crisis pregnancy centers to promote abortion providers. The Reproductive FACT Act, recently approved by the California Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, D-Calif., requires pregnancy centers to… -
news
Disability Rights Advocates Fight Back After California Passes Assisted Suicide
Disability rights advocates are fighting back after Gov. Jerry Brown, D-Calif., authorized assisted suicide in California. In a letter to lawmakers explaining his decision, Brown wrote that he considered “what I would want in the face of my own death.” “I do not know what I would do if I were dying in prolonged and excruciating… -
opinion
Fair Pay Act Will Hurt Women in California
California’s attempt to reduce the so-called pay gap through its recently passed Fair Pay Act will hurt women. Women should be paid the same amount as men when they perform the exact same job. No one disputes that. Equal pay for equal work has been the law in California for 66 years. But now, under… -
opinion
California Democrat Governor’s Conservative Move
Enough is enough when it comes to overcriminalization. That is the message expressed in California Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent letter to the California legislature. In it, he refused to sign nine bills that “multiply and particularize” existing crimes. More than that, he rebuked the practice of overcriminalization. His directive to the legislature was simple: no… -
news
California Labor Union That Fought for $15 Minimum Wage Now Wants an Exemption
The labor union that led the charge for a $15 minimum wage hike in cities across California is now moving to secure an exemption for employers under union contracts. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor buried the exemption on the eighth page of its 12-page proposal for the Santa Monica City Council to review… -
opinion
California’s Drought: Not an Environmental Problem. An Environmentalist Problem.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—I was walking through downtown Sacramento recently when raindrops started falling. People on the street stopped dead in their tracks, looked up at the sky, and began acting giddy. “What’s that?” I asked a man. “I think it’s something called rain,” he responded. Such is the gallows humor in a state that hasn’t seen substantial… -
news
California Governor Vows to Override Democrat-Led Legislature on Climate Change Regulations
Jerry Brown isn’t used to losing in the California Legislature. And even though defections from a raft of fellow Democrats in Sacramento forced the second-term governor to abandon two sweeping anti-carbon measures, Brown vows to implement them anyway—through executive order. “I’d say oil has won a skirmish, but they’ve lost the bigger battle, because I am… -
news
California Republican Resigns From Conservative Group Over Tactics
A California Republican has resigned from the conservative House Freedom Caucus, arguing that the group’s tactics have done more harm to conservative policy than good. In a letter delivered to Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Rep. Tom McClintock criticized the strategy used by the conservative group in fights over Planned Parenthood, immigration, and trade…. -
news
13 Photos of the Devastating California Wildfires
More than 550 homes in flames, 62,000 acres scorched, and one death — the Valley Fire in Middletown, Calif. is only 30 percent contained, according to the Los Angeles Times, and doesn’t look like it is anywhere near done raging through Northern California. Its cousin, the Butte Fire, now about 45 percent contained, forced evacuations and… -
news
California Assembly Approves Legislation to Legalize Assisted Suicide
The California State Assembly passed a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide on Wednesday. According to a report by Reuters, the bill is likely to be approved by the state Senate, but Gov. Jerry Brown, D-Calif., has not made his position on the bill known. The bill, ABX2-15, requires a patient seeking life-ending drugs to make a… -
news
5 Million People Left California Over the Past Decade. Many Went to Texas.
About 5 million California residents left the Golden State during the past decade, marking an “unprecedented” number according to a report released this week. The Sacramento Bee analyzed tax return data from the Internal Revenue Service between 2004 and 2013, the height of the housing crash and recession, which impacted California more sharply than most states…. -
news
A Year After Obama Visits, California Farmer Struggles to Keep His Farm, Fighting Drought, Regulations
Joe Del Bosque has been a farmer for most of his life. He believes that regulations are one reason why he may be losing his farm, his American dream. His farm, which President Barack Obama visited in 2014, has also been severely affected by California’s drought. -
opinion
What We Can Learn From California’s Failed Green Jobs Plan
In the eyes of the Obama administration, California is the gold standard for state energy policy. The feds lavishly laud the Golden State’s aggressive green energy mandates and stringent energy efficiency requirements. But few states have jumped on California’s green energy bandwagon—and with good reason. Exhibit A: The green jobs initiative passed in 2012. Turns…