California Watch
News stories in this section spotlight activities in California, including actions by the state Assembly and state Senate; proposed legislation; regulators like the Department of Managed Health Care and Department of Insurance; and the state ACA exchange, Covered California.
The California Chamber of Commerce and a coalition including numerous local chambers of commerce are supporting legislation that allows for an employee-selected flexible work schedule. AB 1761 (Voepel; R-Santee) relieves employers of the administrative cost and burden of adopting an alternative workweek schedule per division, which accommodates employees, helps retain employees, and allows the employer to invest these ...
Last spring, Lags Medical Centers, a sprawling chain of pain clinics serving more than 20,000 patients in California, abruptly shuttered amid a cloaked state investigation into “credible allegations of fraud.” Tens of thousands of patients were left scrambling for care, most of them low-income Californians covered by state and federal insurance programs. Many have struggled ...
This was supposed to be the year that low-income Californians could hire a doula to guide them through pregnancy and advocate for them in the hospital.
Millions of Californians face the prospect of losing health coverage this year as federal measures that vastly expanded the ranks of the insured amid the COVID-19 pandemic are set to expire this year.
When will workers get back into the office? My trusty spreadsheet reviewed Property Shark’s stats on statewide office-building investments, looking at last year vs. 2019. This data is one indicator one when workplace life returns to the water-cooler routine.
When Gov. Gavin Newsom took office in 2019, he promised to lower prescription drug costs for all Californians. But now, as Newsom nears the end of his first term, his ambitious ideas — such as requiring California to make its own insulin and forging drug partnerships across state lines — have failed to get off ...
Federal health officials who reported that nearly half of Californians live in “high-risk” counties for COVID-19 were relying on old data, and only a small number of counties now fall into that category, according to local officials. At stake is whether counties considered high risk should keep indoor masking requirements under new guidance from the ...
As California eases some of its COVID-19 restrictions, state courts have started to move in the same direction, tightening timetables for civil trials and criminal court hearings. Judicial leaders are also considering restoring rules for in-person criminal trials, but may ask lawmakers to continue to let defendants appear remotely. After Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted most ...
California’s mighty work-from-home economic engine continues to create massive value for workers, employers and entrepreneurs—and not incidentally for the state treasury. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst recently released an update to its budget forecast, estimating a revenue windfall for the upcoming budget of between $6 billion and $23 billion. This is on top of Governor Gavin ...
With the Omicron wave of the coronavirus flattening, California is about to make more big moves in its mask rules. Officials said masks will be strongly recommended — but no longer required — for unvaccinated individuals in most indoor settings starting Tuesday.