State lawmakers have been busy considering new bills that address issues including dwindling bilingual education, jury duty and putrid landfills. Let’s dive in:
- Bilingual education: California continues to fall short of providing a quality education to both limited English speakers and students who want to know another language. Bilingual education helps students boost test scores, increase graduation rates and prepare students for college, research shows. One proposal seeks to throw a lifeline to bilingual education by granting school districts $5 million over the next three years to help them purchase or create instructional materials for bilingual programs. Advocates say it doesn’t go far enough. Especially since, they argue, money from a 2021, $10 million grant to help schools expand dual language programs has dried up. Read more from CalMatters’ Tara García Mathewson.
- Jury duty: Assemblymember Bill Essayli isn’t shy about opposing his fellow GOP legislators. In the latest disagreement, the Corona Republican cast the lone “no” vote during a committee hearing for a bill that would permanently allow county probation officers to get out of jury duty for criminal cases. The bill’s author, Republican Assemblymember Juan Alanis of Modesto, says jury duty pulls officers away from their jobs, and that having a probation officer on a jury may “create a perception of bias.” But Essayli argues that the exemption would lead to a slippery slope: “Tomorrow, it’s court clerks, and then it’s going to be prosecutors and public defenders and judges and probably politicians,” Essayli said during the hearing. Read more from CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow.
- Burning landfills: For the past two years, hundreds of Los Angeles County residents have endured the noxious fumes emanating from the nearby Chiquita Canyon landfill. Faced with lawsuits, the landfill company opened a relief fund for residents, and says it expects to pay more than $25 million. The Legislature is considering a bill to exclude residents from paying taxes on the compensation money. Read more from Ryan.
- Threats to schools: A judge dismissed charges against a San Diego resident who repeatedly made threats to carry out a mass shooting at an elementary school. Now lawmakers are weighing a proposal that would make it a crime to threaten schools, even when a specific individual is not named in the threats. Opposing the bill is a coalition that aims to reduce California’s prison population. Read more from CalMatters’ Sameea Kamal.
CalMatters covers the Capitol: We have guides and stories to keep track of bills and your lawmakers; find out how well legislators are representing you; explore the Legislature’s record diversity; and make your voice heard.
CalMatters events: CalMatters will host a symposium on April 16 about the mental health crisis among California youth. Register here to attend in person at the Nixon Peabody Office in Los Angeles.
Other Stories You Should Know
State Farm to justify rate hike at hearing
Two weeks after holding a closed-door, in-person meeting with State Farm executives, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara granted a request from the state’s largest insurer to increase insurance premiums for homeowners by 22% on average, writes CalMatters’ Levi Sumagaysay.
Lara originally shot down the request in February, citing that he needed more information. But he approved the “emergency” rate hike Friday on the condition that:
- State Farm pauses the cancellation of policies through the end of this year;
- State Farm’s parent company provides financial assistance by giving or loaning the insurer $500 million;
- State Farm proves it needs the rate increases at an April 8 public hearing.
If a judge determines that the hike is justified, rates will also rise on June 1 for tenants by 15% on average and rental owners by 38%. These interim increases would come after the average 20% premium rate hike State Farm implemented last year.
CA considering protections for seasonal streams
President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to, once again, change provisions in the 1972 Clean Water Act that could leave vast tracts of California’s waterways unprotected from developers and farmers.
As CalMatters’ Alastair Bland explains, the administration wants to align itself with a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling and change the definition of protected wetlands as bodies of water that have a “continuous surface connection” to permanent navigable waters. Trump made the same change in 2017 during his first term, describing these wetlands as “puddles and ditches.” President Joe Biden’s administration reversed the decision in 2022.
An estimated 80% of all linear miles of streams and rivers in California are short-lived or intermittent. Under Trump’s second term, these seasonal streams, ponds and pools could be in jeopardy. Vernal pools, for example — which are small ponds that fill up in the spring and winter — support rare wildlife and plants. But roughly 90% of the state’s vernal pool habitat has been lost, according to state biologists.
State lawmakers are pushing back, however: A bill introduced in February would, among other things, create further protections for waters and wetlands.
And lastly: Sanctuary policies, ADU dispute
As Trump threatens mass deportations and funding cuts, California Democrats are debating the future of sanctuary policies. CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on why advocates are warning against rolling back immigration protections as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.
And check out another video from CalMatters housing reporter Ben Christopher and Robert about how a Carlsbad homeowners association is resisting one resident’s plan to build an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU. Watch it here.
SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.
California Voices
With the Trump administration gutting health agencies and Gov. Gavin Newsom slashing state budget funds, California won’t be ready for the next public health crisis, write Flavia Mangan Colgan, a political commentator for MSNBC, and Eric Schmeltzer, an L.A.-based political consultant.
Other things worth your time:
California Republicans say they’re making a comeback. Can they keep Trump at arm’s length? // CalMatters
Florida, not CA, is now a solar superpower. Here’s how it happened // Grist
How the EPA’s about-face could upend CA’s climate efforts // Los Angeles Times
Thousands of CA educators issued pink slips again this year // EdSource
Trump opens investigations at three CA colleges alleging DEI-based discrimination // Los Angeles Times
Trump targets two national monuments in CA for elimination // The Washington Post
Musk’s DOGE set to close CA’s NOAA offices that conduct ocean, fishery research // San Francisco Chronicle
After decades of downsizing, SF jails are suddenly packed again // The San Francisco Standard
San Diego students, faculty fear for campus free speech under Trump // San Diego Union-Tribune