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.
On April 21, 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) approved a third readoption of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) to replace the current version, which is set to expire on May 6, 2022.
After months of declining numbers, California has recorded a nearly 30% increase in coronavirus cases over the last week along with smaller rises in hospitalizations, causing some health officials to suspect that the state is headed into a new pandemic wave. The increase coincides with a loosening of COVID-19 restrictions such as mask mandates and ...
California’s population declined again in 2021 for the second consecutive year, state officials said Monday, the result of a slowdown in births and immigration coupled with an increase in deaths and people leaving the state.
Unauthorized immigrants over age 49 who fall below certain income thresholds are now eligible for full coverage by Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, the federal-state partnership that provides health insurance to low-income people.
California’s budget surplus has more than doubled since January to a staggering $68 billion, Senate Democrats said Thursday, prompting a flurry of new spending proposals from lawmakers that include giving $8 billion back to taxpayers in a move that highlights a disagreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom. While the pandemic had prompted warnings of multibillion-dollar budget ...
Nurses from Stanford and Lucile Packard Children’s hospitals who went on strike last week are set to return to work Tuesday after their union reached a tentative agreement on Friday with Stanford Health Care.The agreement, if ratified Sunday, will put an end to the nearly week-long strike that union members had overwhelmingly approved as they ...
California workplace regulators on Thursday extended mandatory pay for workers affected by the coronavirus through the end of 2022, acting more than two months after state lawmakers restored similar benefits through September.
On Monday, the commission finalized that report, which found that health care costs will skyrocket by 30% in nine years under the current system and advocates an overhaul that would eliminate distinctions among private and government coverage, in favor of a new system to provide health care to all Californians.
In-office presence varies by industry in Los Angeles County, with tech and entertainment-related businesses in the forefront, but the easing of pandemic safety restrictions in early March has clearly led to an increase in work getting done at the office instead of at home, landlords said.
Despite recent changes at the federal level, Los Angeles County is continuing to require travelers to mask up when aboard public transit or in indoor transportation hubs such as airports. The new health officer order, which went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday, means the nation’s most populous county again has face-covering rules that go ...