With Election Day now less than two months away, California voters have a lot on their plates. Beyond deciding who will become the state’s next governor and insurance commissioner, residents will weigh in on 14 statewide ballot propositions, choose U.S. House representatives, and fill most seats in the state Legislature. Five of those propositions alone deal with tax policy, adding to an already dense ballot.
Adding to the complexity this cycle is confusion swirling around mail-in voting, driven largely by President Donald Trump’s ongoing push to limit the practice — even though he himself has used mail ballots in the past. A sweeping executive order Trump issued in March directed the U.S. Postal Service to adopt new requirements: states would need to hand over lists of eligible mail voters, redesign ballot return envelopes to meet postal specifications, and add new tracking barcodes. Under the order, voters not listed in a new federal database the administration wants to establish — or those in states that refuse to comply — could be cut off from receiving their ballots through the mail.
California didn’t wait around. Joining forces with roughly two dozen other states, it filed suit to block the new rules and preserve its authority over how elections are run within its borders. Last week, a federal district court sided with the states, issuing a preliminary injunction that keeps the rules from taking effect before or during the November election.
That victory proved short-lived in terms of legal peace, however. On Sunday, the Trump administration filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn the injunction — the second such appeal to the high court in less than a week.
Gov. Gavin Newsom didn’t hold back in response, posting on social media that the latest appeal amounted to “weakness from a failed president masquerading as strength.”
The back-and-forth in the courts, paired with a troubling whistleblower complaint that has surfaced in recent weeks, has left officials in several states uncertain about how to proceed as mail ballots begin going out. North Carolina, for instance, already mailed its absentee ballots last week despite the unresolved legal fight.
Given all this uncertainty, Southern California voters may want to take extra care reviewing their ballots well ahead of time. CalMatters has published a voter guide with quizzes on the various propositions, including a new one focused on the insurance commissioner’s race, along with candidate interviews and other voting resources for anyone looking to get up to speed before casting a vote.
In other statehouse news, lawmakers have sent Newsom two bills aimed at addressing the lingering effects of smoke damage from major wildfires — an issue that has left many Los Angeles County residents unable to return home more than a year after last year’s deadly fires tore through the region. Homeowners whose houses survived the flames have nonetheless been stuck waiting on insurance companies to complete lead and asbestos testing, along with the removal of toxic residue, before they can safely move back in.
One of the two bills would direct the state to establish first-of-their-kind standards for identifying and remediating smoke damage, including testing protocols for lead and asbestos, with a deadline of the end of 2028. The companion bill would require insurance companies to follow those standards once adopted. The two measures are linked — neither can become law without the other.
Jane Lawton Potelle, who heads the advocacy group Eaton Fire Residents United and backed the legislation, said many insurers count on policyholders not understanding their rights. “I want people to know how to protect themselves and stop being afraid,” she said.
Meanwhile, tension is building between Newsom’s administration and the state’s largest public employee union. SEIU Local 1000 announced Monday it will hold a strike authorization vote as negotiations continue over its next contract with the state. Union president Anica Walls called it a “historic step,” saying a “yes” vote would send state leaders a clear signal that members are prepared to walk off the job if necessary.
At the heart of the dispute are wages and Newsom’s requirement that state employees report to physical offices at least four days a week — a mandate that has frustrated many workers who had grown accustomed to remote work flexibility. A strike authorization vote doesn’t guarantee a walkout will actually happen. Local 1000, which represents about 100,000 state workers, came closest to striking a decade ago in 2016, but reached a last-minute agreement with then-Gov. Jerry Brown before members hit the picket lines.
Elsewhere, a story out of rural Northern California is drawing attention to a long-standing gap in the state’s long-term care system. Only 15 of California’s 58 counties currently allow Medi-Cal to cover assisted living costs — care that helps seniors with everyday tasks like bathing and dressing but doesn’t require full nursing-home-level supervision. Without that coverage, many older adults, especially in rural communities, are forced to choose between expensive nursing homes that do accept Medi-Cal or assisted living facilities located far from their families.
One man in Siskiyou County pushed hard to get his sister into an assisted living facility close to home, and his efforts helped spur the creation of a new pilot program that could offer a model for expanding access elsewhere in the state.
Original source: CalMatters
