California in Focus

(The Center Square) – With a Congressional review of California car and truck standard waivers approved by the Biden administration, Congress appears set to effectively quash three rules, including the 2035 gas car ban. The Environmental Protection Agency, led by Administrator Lee Zeldin, said it is following the law in sending the waivers. Twelve states and the District of Columbia would be subse...

(The Center Square) - A California think tank is suing the state over a law that bans employer-mandated meetings that share the employer’s opinion on religious or political matters, saying the rule violates the First Amendment. The law’s proponents cited a Pittsburgh company that told its workers to clock in to work the day of a 2019 visit by President Donald Trump or lose pay — attendance at the...

(The Center Square) - Border Czar Tom Homan says information indicates the FBI may have leaked details of an immigration enforcement operation to the media, thereby “putting officers at risk.” He says the U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into the matter and may criminally prosecute the responsible individuals. “[The Attorney General’s office] has promised not only wil...

(The Center Square) - California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills authorizing $50 million in legal funding for lawsuits against the Trump administration and deportation defense of illegal immigrants. Newsom signed the bills after returning from Washington, D.C., to seek relief funding from Congress and the White House, puzzling Congressional Republicans who would have to vote to pass a federal aid p...

(The Center Square) - California Gov. Gavin Newsom is visiting President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. to seek wildfire relief funding just after the state legislature passed bills to fund lawsuits against the Trump administration and deportation defense of illegal immigrants in a Newsom-called “Trump-proofing” special session. Trump has said he supports placing conditions on California wildfir...

(The Center Square) - California Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday signed a new wildfire relief executive order ending an anti-price gouging provision that limited the supply rentals in higher-end Los Angeles neighborhoods that fire-displaced families are searching for homes. His order also closed a loophole that did not apply the anti-price-gouging laws to leases greater than one year in duration, which...

(The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a plea agreement has been reached to result in no jail time for activists who recorded conversations with Planned Parenthood staff about the procurement and sale of tissue from aborted fetuses. In 2015, then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed 15 charges against David Robert Daleiden and, as a co-conspirator, Sandra...

(The Center Square) – Housing and land use experts say a Los Angeles city law could require the Pacific Palisades to include “affordable” housing to replace older buildings, and for new buildings where owners cannot definitively prove that their rental apartments had no low-income renters in the past five years. The new Resident Protections Ordinance taking effect soon requires that “In Higher Opp...

(The Center Square) - After California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued warnings to landlords over anti-price-gouging laws during declared emergencies, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office has provided clarifications on which rules are in effect and for how long. This clarity could bring relief to real estate professionals who have been wary of leasing homes to wildfire victims, especially after the attorn...

(The Center Square) - The California beachside city of Huntington Beach continued its confrontation with the state with its city council adopting a resolution declaring the city “a non-sanctuary city for illegal immigration for the prevention of crime.” Huntington Beach has an ongoing lawsuit against the state’s sanctuary state law that limits cooperation with federal immigration authorities, citi...

(The Center Square) - The monthly payment to purchase an entry-level California home has risen 88% since 2020, according to a new report from the non-partisan, state-funded Legislative Analyst’s Office. With the ongoing wildfires having destroyed over 10,000 buildings in high-income areas, prices are primed to go up even further as wealthy families seek new shelter. “Payments for a mid-tier home w...

(The Center Square) – U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Monday that he supports adding conditions to any federal aid to California over the Los Angeles wildfires, citing his position that state and local leaders were “derelict in their duty.” With the state’s insurers already on the brink of insolvency before the massive wildfires, and the state nonpartisan legislative analyst’s offic...

(The Center Square) - The City of Huntington Beach is suing to overturn the state’s sanctuary state laws protecting illegal immigrants, arguing they violate federal immigration laws and the state and national constitution. Huntington Beach and the state government have long been at odds, with the state government recently winning a court battle requiring the city to follow state housing laws, and...

(The Center Square) – Three major wildfires are tearing through Southern California while firefighters struggle to contain them with major Santa Ana winds getting up to 100 mph. As of Wednesday morning, two people have been killed and over 1,000 homes, businesses and other buildings have been destroyed in Los Angeles County. "Last night was one of the most devastating and terrifying nights that we...

(The Center Square) - California quietly doubled down on its termination of single family zoning, ending loopholes that allowed municipalities to block an earlier state law designed to let owners build four homes on existing single family lots. As reported earlier this year by the Wall Street Journal, fewer than 500 homes have been built since a 2021 law, SB 9, was passed allowing owners to split...

(The Center Square) - A winter storm carried off the end of the Santa Cruz wharf two days before Christmas, indefinitely shutting down the tourist attraction that houses 17 stores and restaurants. City records show a successful environmental lawsuit from local residents to block repairs and upgrades to the over 100-year-old, half-mile long pier may have been the deciding factor in the wharf’s coll...

(The Center Square) - The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a waiver to allow California and the twelve other states that have adopted its emissions standards to ban gas-powered cars in 2035. Starting in model year 2026, which for most car manufacturers begins halfway through 2025, 35% of passenger vehicles sold in California and the states that have adopted California air regulation stan...

(The Center Square) - California lost 156,300 jobs in the first six months of 2024, according to new federal quarterly payroll data, contradicting California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s claims about job growth in the state. Politicians nationwide often cite optimistic preliminary jobs survey data, which is often significantly revised downward once more accurate payroll information is finalized. Adjusted C...

(The Center Square) - Safeway is shutting down its grocery store in San Francisco’s Fillmore District, in part citing “ongoing concerns about associate and customer safety." One year ago, Safeway announced it would be shutting down the location as part of a deal with a developer to turn the store into a mixed-use development with housing and commercial spaces — which could mean space for another g...

(The Center Square) — A quarter of the homeless shelter beds in the City of Los Angeles are empty each night, causing a loss of $218 million from 2019 to 2023, according to a new report from the city controller. The report also notes the city has tripled its homeless shelter capacity since 2019, which led to a reduction in the city’s unsheltered homeless population at the start of 2024. The report...

(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., reiterated the state’s commitment to continued funding for the deportation defense of migrants and undocumented immigrants. President-elect Donald Trump’s promised mass deportations could have a major impact on California, which hosts approximately 2.7 million undocumented immigrants. “If it’s legal assistance, legal advice, legal support, th...

California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office now says unemployment insurance taxes on businesses must rise by 2117% nearly a year after declaring the state’s unemployment benefits program “structurally insolvent.”  The LAO’s new report explains that the state’s unemployment fund runs a structural deficit of $2 billion per year, beyond the $20 billion debt and $1 billion in annual interest payments to...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said if President-elect Donald Trump ends the $7,500 electric vehicle rebate program, he’ll get Californians to pay for new credits. However, the credits would not include Tesla, which is the most popular EV company and the only EV manufacturer in the state. This comes weeks after Newsom and his administration passed new refinery and carbon credit regulations that will...

The federal government has allocated $159 million in FEMA funding to “provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants” in California since 2023, according to federal grants reviewed by The Center Square. California has been a sanctuary state since 2017, and recently enacted a new law allowing individuals convicted of crimes that could impact immigration proceedings to petition for resentencin...

California’s nonpartisan state analysis agency warned the state has “no capacity for new commitments,” and faces annual deficits of $20 billion or more starting in 2026 as spending growth outpaces weak sales tax revenue. For the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said the state faces a $2 billion shortfall — assuming the Trump administration does not withhold any federal fundi...