Yue Stella Yu

The measure would have allowed the Office of the Inspector General that oversees the high-speed rail authority to hire more highly trained workers for audits and investigations.

California’s High-Speed Rail Authority paid nearly $600,000 in unallowable travel reimbursements to outside consultants while keeping a poor record to justify them, a state investigation found.

The California Legislature’s secretive earmark process allows lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom to dole out money for projects with little public scrutiny or notice, raising transparency and equity concerns even among some lawmakers.

Lawmakers could tackle climate money, wildfires and California Forever before they adjourn for the year and hit the campaign trail.

California voters will decide on 14 statewide policy proposals come November, including the high-stakes billionaire tax, an $11 billion affordable housing bond and voter ID requirements.

Assemblymember Blanca 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 a “virtual horror show of governmental non-transparency.”

State lawmakers’ budget plan would reject or delay many of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s social service cuts. Now, the budget negotiations begin in earnest.

Gov. Gavin Newsom endorsed new carbon market rules that could drastically shrink the state’s funding for climate projects, threatening the spending deal he struck with legislators last year. Senate Democrats aren’t having it.

California lawmakers want to make it easier for drivers to convert their cars to run on a cheaper ethanol fuel mix.

California tax revenue is soaring thanks to tech stocks. But Gov. Gavin Newsom is proposing more cuts, warning that the boom won’t last and Trump cuts will hit the state hard.

Fellow Democratic candidates are calling on Swalwell to drop out of the race for California governor as major organizations are reviewing their endorsements of him following a report in the San Francisco Chronicle alleging he assaulted a former staffer. Swalwell denied the allegations.

Here’s a snapshot of the top candidates for governor’s incomes and taxes. Billionaire Tom Steyer dwarfs them all.