Get up to speed fast on these new California laws taking effect in 2025
CALMatters: "Cannabis cafes and expanded outdoor drinking? An end to a banking fee? More protections for your credit score if you face medical debt? These are among the roughly 1,000 new laws hitting California starting the first day of 2025.
If that sounds like a lot, it could have been much more: California lawmakers introduced nearly 5,000 bills in the most recent legislative session ending this fall, a two-year period that saw nearly half die without a single vote."
California lawmakers are resurrecting these bills for another shot at becoming law
The Chronicle's MOLLY BURKE: "Dr. Shagun Bindlish, a diabetologist at One Medical in Dublin, has seen some of her patients forgo insulin purchases in order to cover their household expenses. Bindlish said that co-pays for insulin, which can financially burden diabetes patients, lead some to ration or improperly use the daily drug to make it last longer.
Bindlish is pushing California lawmakers to pass a bill — vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year — that would cap monthly co-pays for insulin at $35, including for those with private insurance."
2024 year in review: How did California pay for everything?
CALMatters: "To understand what happened with the state budget in 2024, you have to go back to 2023.
That year Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats who control the Legislature decided against raiding the state’s roughly $37 billion rainy-day fund despite a shaky fiscal picture. Those dollars came in handy as lawmakers grappled to plug an estimated $56 billion shortfall this year and next."
DAViD LIGHTMAN, SacBee: "The U.S. Senate confirmed Judges Benjamin Cheeks and Serena Murillo to fill U.S. District Court vacancies in California in what was expected to be its final judicial votes this year.
The confirmations help establish new records for Black, Latino, women and other minority judges."
Healthcare is Newsom’s biggest unfinished project. Trump complicates the task
LAT's ANGELA HART, CHRISTINE MAI-DUC: "Nearly six years after he took office vowing to be California’s “healthcare governor,” Democrat Gavin Newsom has steered tens of billions in public funding to safety net services for the state’s neediest residents while engineering rules to make healthcare more accessible and affordable for all Californians.
More than a million California residents living in the U.S. without authorization now qualify for Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, making the Golden State among the first in the nation to cover low-income people regardless of their immigration status. The state is experimenting with Medicaid money to pay for social services such as housing and food assistance, especially for those living on the streets or with chronic diseases. And the state is forcing the healthcare industry to rein in soaring costs while imposing new rules on doctors, hospitals and insurers to provide better-quality, more accessible care."
Most medical debt can no longer hurt your credit score under new California law
CALMatters's ANA B. IBARRA: "Everyday people across the country skip medical care because of cost. Those who do seek medical help may end up with a balance they can’t pay off. That debt can hurt people’s credit scores, resulting in long-term financial burdens.
Starting Jan. 1, a new state law will prohibit health providers and debt collectors from reporting medical debt information to credit agencies. That means unpaid medical bills should no longer show up on people’s credit reports, which consumer advocacy groups say is a boon for patients with debt."
EdSource’s Best of 2024: Our favorite Education Beat podcast episodes
EdSource's ZAIDEE STAVELY: "EdSource’s “Education Beat” podcast gets to the heart of California schools by highlighting stories from our reporters with voices of teachers, parents and students.
Here are 10 of our favorite podcast episodes from 2024. Take a listen:"
The Santa Cruz Wharf needed repairs. A court battle followed instead
The Chronicle's DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA, MEGAN FAN MUNCE, ROLAND LI: "City leaders and concerned residents have for years grappled with, and at times battled over, how best to protect Santa Cruz’s historic wharf, which partially collapsed following a winter storm on Monday.
After a tsunami slammed into the California coast in 2011, causing an estimated $15 million in damage to boats and docks in Santa Cruz alone, city leaders embarked on a plan to modernize and retrofit the wharf against future damage."
After a Christmas lull, towering waves will wallop California coast again
LAT's TONY BRISCOE: "Stormy seas along the California coast calmed a bit for the Christmas holiday, but powerful ocean waves were expected to return to the Bay Area for the rest of the week.
Waves up to 30 feet high were expected to crash ashore in Northern California between Thursday morning and Sunday afternoon. The National Weather Service issued a high-surf advisory, warning swimmers and boaters to beware of dangerous conditions."
Map shows surprising place that gets the most snow in California
The Chronicle's JACK LEE: "The snowiest place in California is not at a ski resort in Lake Tahoe. And it’s not close to Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada, the highest point in the contiguous United States.
According to a Chronicle analysis of snowfall data over the past 16 seasons, it’s actually just south of Lassen Peak in Shasta County, around Bumpass Mountain. An average of about 45 feet of snow falls there each year. No other area is even close. Only other locations near Lassen Peak reach over 40 feet."
Here’s why the Bay Area is so important for birds — and where to find them
The Chronicle's CHRISTIAN LEONARD, JENNY KWON: "They come in the millions.
From as far as Alaska, massive flocks of birds leave their breeding grounds as fall weather portends the arrival of frigid temperatures and the loss of their best food sources. The journey south is a long one — thousands of miles for many species. Some will travel all the way to South America, where the warmer weather means food is plentiful."
Daughter pauses dream job to raise siblings after Sacramento parents were killed in Mexico
ISHANI DESAI, SacBee: "Three orphans of a Sacramento couple brutally gunned down in Mexico earlier this month are raising money to help stay afloat and bring their parents’ remains home.
Authorities said Rafael Cardona Aguilera, 53, and Gloria Ambriz de Cardona, 50, were shot and killed Dec. 11 while spending time with their grandparents in Angamacutiro, Michoacán, a state besieged by gang violence. They were the brother and sister-in-law of Angamacutiro’s mayor, Hermes Pacheco."
Sacramento man used stolen credit cards to buy nearly $1 million worth of gift cards
ROSALIO AHUMADA, SacBee: "A federal judge last week sentenced a Sacramento man convicted of fraud for using stolen credit cards to buy nearly $1 million worth of gift cards.
U.S. District Judge Dale Drozd on Wednesday sentenced Steven Raymon Waller, 46, to serve three years and three months in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Sacramento announced in a news release."
Sacramento police haven’t used armored track vehicle nearly two years since it was purchased
ROSALIO AHUMADA, SacBee: "A military-style armored track vehicle to protect officers in the line of fire hasn’t been used by the Sacramento Police Department nearly two years after it was purchased.
The Police Department purchased the vehicle, called the Rook, using $430,000 from a federal grant. The Sacramento City Council approved the purchase in late January 2023 after a lengthy and heated debate in which critics, including one council member, said this was “further militarizing” local law enforcement."