A bill that would require just cause to fire a county’s public defender passed the California Assembly’s Public Safety Committee July 15 with a 7-0-2 vote. Public defenders are currently appointed by a board of supervisors, and serve at will. Senate Bill 485 would require a public defender’

The new law has resulted in a slew of payouts to abuse survivors, most in the range of $5 million to $10 million but some much higher. In 2023 a jury delivered a $135 million verdict against Moreno Valley Unified in Riverside County.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. Sen. Aisha Wahab implored her colleagues to think of hospitalized patients and struggling families as she pitched a proposal to give tenants a full two weeks to pay their past due rent before their landlords could start the

Assembly Bill 288 makes an argument for the Public Employment Relations Board to conduct union elections for as long as the National Labor Relations (NLRB) Board is unable to function.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. A decade-spanning political battle between housing developers and defenders of California’s preeminent environmental law likely came to an end this afternoon with only a smattering of “no” votes.  The forces of housing won.  With the passage of

San Mateo Democratic Assemblymember Diane Papan’s Assembly Bill 882 would lift the ban on recording in civil cases for three years to give the courts time to hire more reporters and ease the shortage.

“By disregarding basic journalistic ethics in favor of malicious propaganda, Fox continues to play a major role in the further erosion of the bedrock principles of informed representative government,” the lawsuit reads.

"So, for example, where you basically try to put law firms out of business because you don't like their clients or you don't like the individuals that may be associated or involved or employed by that law firm, you basically attempt to put them out of business."