Will this make CA’s electorate more representative?

More than 7.7 million Californians voted in the March primary — a turnout of 35% among registered voters that was nearly 2 percentage points higher than the June 2022 primary.

But it was only 29% of all those eligible to vote, which reinforces a key priority for voting advocates: Millions of Californians who could vote aren’t even registered. 

The latest effort to boost voter rolls calls for automatically registering eligible Californians when they go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to renew their license, get an ID or change their address, explains CalMatters Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal.

Currently, the DMV registers people if they indicate they’re eligible to vote and don’t opt out. The bill proposes to register everyone who is eligible and inform them afterward with a postcard. 

The bill’s author, Sen. Monique Limón, said in a statement that it is “unacceptable” that people from working-class communities of color who are eligible to vote but are unregistered “are left out of access to political power.” 

Limón, a Santa Barbara Democrat: “We must take the necessary steps to ensure that California’s diverse population becomes a diverse electorate that truly represents the power of our state.” 

But critics of the bill, which include groups that have historically supported expanding voter access, are concerned over its potential pitfalls. The League of Women Voters of California and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California say that registering to vote should be voluntary and that the measure runs afoul of privacy and First Amendment rights. 

Rosalind Gold, chief public policy officer for NALEO Educational Fund, another bill critic: “This is a solution looking for a problem. Right now, California should not be spending its scarce resources on something that is not going to have any kind of negligible impact on strengthening our democracy…” 

Increasing registration also doesn’t guarantee that voter diversity or voter turnout will increase. In a March Public Policy Institute of California report, researchers found that the current motor voter law only increased registration rates for historically underrepresented groups by a small amount. New registrants also tend to be less familiar with elections and are less likely to actually vote. 

Instead, bill opponents say that voter outreach programs — such as community-based organizations that can explain to residents how to vote and what the issues are — can be more effective at increasing political participation. Advocacy groups are also trying to expand voting access for visually impaired and non-English speaking residents.

Read more about the registration debate in Sameea’s story.

To address California’s housing and homelessness crises, state lawmakers over the last decade have passed a litany of pro-development measures. But for cities that want to skirt those laws, a peculiar loophole has emerged, writes CalMatters housing reporter Ben Christopher.

In April, a Los Angeles County judge ruled that a 2021 law that lets homeowners split up their houses into separate units regardless of local zoning restrictions, did not apply to Carson, Del Mar, Redondo Beach, Torrance and Whittier because they were “charter cities.” Charter cities have their own municipal constitutions that grant them more autonomy. Out of California’s 482 cities, more than 100 are charter cities.

Since the ruling, three San Francisco Bay Area suburbs (Pleasanton, Brentwood and Atherton) have started efforts to become charter cities. Julie Testa has been leading the charge for Pleasanton as its vice mayor, and says the state Legislature has “declared war on our cities.”

Testa: “I do believe that we must do what we can do to defend our constitutional right to local control.”

But legal experts are skeptical that the April ruling will be upheld, or that if it is upheld, it could be used to evade state land use laws. Said one land use attorney: “The courts generally have not been very receptive to charter city arguments given the housing crisis.”

Learn more about the issue in Ben’s story.

The heat wave, combined with high winds and low humidity, is sparking a series of wildfires across the state. As of Monday evening, Cal Fire reported 18 active wildfires, including eight that started Monday. 

So far, the largest is the Post Fire in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. More than 1,000 firefighters are battling the blaze, which started in Gorman, has grown to nearly 16,000 acres and is only 20% contained. At least 1,200 people from nearby Hungry Valley Park were evacuated and one injury was reported. 

In Northern California, about 400 firefighters are attempting to extinguish Sonoma County’s Point Fire, which ignited Sunday in Healdsburg. It has burned 1,190 acres and is 20% contained. Several hundred residents were under evacuation orders, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and one firefighter was injured. The fire is threatening dozens of wineries and vineyards and also prompted air quality advisories, warning that the wildfire’s smoke may be unhealthy for children, the elderly and those with respiratory illnesses.

Despite the millions of residents across the state and country being harmed by intense heat and smoke during wildfire season, the Federal Emergency Management Agency still does not consider either as a “major disaster,” reports The Los Angeles Times. On Monday, a coalition of environmental, health care and labor groups submitted a 77-page petition urging FEMA to change its rules so that state, tribal and local governments could potentially receive federal aid to combat the two hazards.

For more information, check out CalMatters’ wildfire tracker, which includes live updates on active fires, a FAQ and other information.

A bill to raise penalties for assaulting emergency room doctors and nurses is dividing Democrats in the Legislature, as CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow explained. He and producer Robert Meeks have a video version of his story. Watch it here.

The segment is part of SoCalMatters, which airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal and is available on YouTube.