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The move to reclassify contractors comes amid heated political commentary on the topic — 2016 presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush have weighed in on the matter — and mounting lawsuits from workers. In addition to Instacart, courier service Shyp, valet-parking service Luxe Valet and home tech-repair company Eden have each changed at least part of their workforce from independent contractors to employees. Among those facing lawsuits: ride-booking company Lyft, on-demand laundry service Washio, repair service Handy, delivery service Postmates, as well as Instacart and Shyp.

A union-backed proposal to raise California’s minimum wage to $15 an hour was cleared Monday to begin collecting signatures for a ballot initiative next year as local efforts continue nationwide to boost the minimum wage to better reflect the cost of living.

In the Bay Area, planners now mandate that all growth in the next 25 years will take place on 4 percent of the land, essentially contrary to the largely suburban growth that has characterized the region. It’s hard to see how this approach will do anything but spike real estate prices even higher.

A solid majority of Californians believe that global warming is already having an impact, and nearly two-thirds of residents say it has contributed to the state’s current drought, according to a statewide survey released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).

The Wednesday night poll by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) finds strong support for not only the idea that climate change is linked to the state’s historic drought, but also equally robust support for a handful of legislative ideas to double down on the state’s response.

The WCIRB report says that despite steps to curtail costs, total premiums paid to workers’ compensation insurers hit $16.5 billion in 2014, up from $14.8 billion the year before and 27 percent of all such premiums in the nation. It pointed out, however, that the premium jump reflected not only higher rates being charged by insurers to compensate for rising costs, but increases in the number of Californians on payrolls as the state recovered from recession.

Guarantees that organized workers should be allowed to bargain for a subminimum wage appear to have scant legal justification, some experts said. They are not a universal feature of local wage ordinances, in California or other states. San Diego, the largest California city to raise its minimum wage in recent years before L.A., did not include such an exception.

Thus, whatever happens here – even slashing California’s emissions by three-fourths to 2 tons per capita – won’t have a major, or perhaps even measurable, physical impact. Its effect, if any, would be metaphysical, as the governor clearly hopes.

Racial and economic inequality may be key issues facing America today, but the steps often pushed by progressives, including minority politicians, seem more likely to exacerbate these divisions than repair them. In a broad arc of policies affecting everything from housing to employment, the agenda being adopted serves to stunt upward mobility, self-sufficiency and property ownership.

Far from turning into a nation of gig workers, Americans are becoming slightly less likely to be self-employed, and less prone to hold multiple jobs. Official government data shows around 95% of those who report having jobs are accounted for on the formal payroll of U.S. employers, little changed from a decade ago.

Tesla Motors has earned more than $295 million in green subsidy emission credits during the past three years for a battery-swapping technology customers weren’t getting, a Watchdog investigation reveals.

More than 350 commissions, committees, councils and boards call California home, but few citizens and elected officials know exactly what they do.

On governance and budget matters, Gov. Jerry Brown has earned a reputation for being reasonable and moderate. Even many Republicans describe him as the “last adult” in the Capitol, given his refusal to embrace far-reaching programs. Yet when it comes to global warming, the governor is anything but measured these days.

The governor is in Europe saving the planet. The Legislature is on a monthlong vacation. And we motorists keep getting our cars beat up on California highways.

Change did not come as swiftly as Pavley and Schwarzenegger had hoped. Democrats and some Republicans in Congress tried to pass a bill that would cap greenhouse gas emissions nationally, but it failed. Pavley’s effort to clean up cars’ tailpipes did eventually become the basis of a national policy. But federal rules on climate change still lack the breadth of California’s. Nations like China and Brazil have also moved slowly, at least until recently.