CALMATTERS

• California turns to minimum wage hikes to offset high living costs. There’s a downside
  June 19, 2026
  California frequently turns to minimum wage hikes to offset the state's high living costs, but that creates economic pressures that can also squeeze households stuck in the middle.
• On Juneteenth, Californians should ask: What will it take for Black communities to thrive?
  June 19, 2026
  Amid a national backlash, is California willing to move from celebrations of freedom to building the structural conditions for Black people to permanently thrive?
• Cal State faculty push to prevent AI tools from replacing them as schools and staff experiment
  June 19, 2026
  The union representing California State University professors is contesting the system's use of artificial intelligence tools and backing legislation that would protect their jobs from the technology.
• California se encuentra en un punto muerto con el Departamento de Vehículos Motorizados por compartir datos de licencias de conducir con otros estados
  June 18, 2026
  Los legisladores de California están reteniendo los fondos que la administración de Newsom solicitó para una base de datos nacional de licencias de conducir, debido a la preocupación de que la información pueda conducir a […]
• California is getting ready to increase a health insurance tax. Will it affect your premium?
  June 18, 2026
  A balance act: To help fund the safety net, lawmakers have voted through a health tax extension that could increase premium costs for Californians with private insurance
• This lawmaker’s proposal could make California ‘the most secretive state in the country’
  June 18, 2026
  Pacheco’s legislation would allow public agencies to delay records requests it deems “improperly” filed, sue for “malicious” requests and charge up to $66 an hour to produce government records. One good governance advocate calls it […]
• State workers fight Newsom’s return-to-office mandate
  June 18, 2026
  Scheduling note: WhatMatters is taking Juneteenth off and will return to your inboxes Monday. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate for state workers to return to the office four days a week is back on, and many […]