California lawmakers appear increasingly willing to advance every response to the housing shortage that does not entail building housing. The latest example is legislation by Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, to cap rent increases across the state, which the Assembly took the remarkable step of passing Wednesday. The bill, AB1482, would limit annual rent increases […]
The Bay Area housing market turned noticeably sluggish during April, according to a report released Thursday that sketched a picture of flat prices and tumbling sales. The median price in the Bay Area of a previously owned home remained unchanged in April at $900,000, compared with the same month in 2018, according to a report […]
The numbers in California tell a dire story these days: In 2018, despite low unemployment and high wages, the state’s population grew at its slowest rate in history. Fewer people are coming and more people are leaving because it’s very hard to find a place to live. In the past two years, homelessness is up […]
The sluggish Southern California housing market showed signs of perking up in April, as prices ticked up one month after they fell for the first time since 2012. In a report released Wednesday, real estate firm CoreLogic said the six-county median sales price climbed 1.4% from a year earlier to $527,500. Sales, meanwhile, were up […]
An effort to temporarily protect California tenants from steep rent hikes cleared a major hurdle in the Legislature on Wednesday, even as other measures meant to insulate renters from the state’s rising housing costs continue to fall short at the Capitol. A bill to cap annual rent hikes statewide at 7% plus inflation cleared the […]
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to generously bolster state financial aid to California college students who are parents of dependent children – one of the most important pieces of his higher education plan – is facing strong opposition in the state Legislature. The governor’s plan would have cost an estimated $96.7 million a year and provided […]
Is a student loan bill of rights coming to California? Here’s what you need to know. Student Borrower Bill of Rights On Tuesday, the California Assembly passed a first-in-the-nation “Student Borrower Bill of Rights,” which aims to protect borrowers with student loans. Sponsored by Assemblyman Mark Stone, the bill, AB 376, primarily targets student loan […]
It’s not your grandparents’—or even your parents’—higher-ed system. A young Californian of the Baby Boomer generation, bolstered by the post-war economic boom and the state’s investment in public higher education, could often emerge from college with little to no debt and a clear path to a living wage and homeownership. Today’s California students, by contrast, […]
Nestled in the far northern fringes of Los Angeles County, the undeveloped plains of Tejon Ranch are a portal back to California’s earliest days. One of the last of the native grasslands that used to cover the state, its 270,000 acres of gently sloping hills and golden, oak-dappled meadows are a haven for hundreds of […]
Tesla Inc.promised to start delivering Model 3 sedans built at its new Shanghai plant within six to 10 months—and priced them well below the imported version—as the electric-vehicle maker races to capitalize on booming Chinese demand. Offering up details on its China strategy, Tesla said prices for the locally built Model 3 will start from […]
For motorists driving to Yosemite National Park from the Bay Area, Don Pedro Reservoir is a familiar sight. But the massive lake along Highway 120 just west of Groveland has taken on a new role recently: as a flashpoint in the debate over what should — and shouldn’t — count as renewable energy in California. […]
If President Trump follows through on his plan to impose an escalating tariff on all imports from Mexico, the impact to California’s economy would be huge. California exports more goods to Mexico than from any other state, accounting for 17% of all the state’s exports, according to the California Chamber of Commerce. And the value […]
California just took a major step in rewriting the rules of the gig economy. The state Assembly passed a bill Wednesday that would make it harder for companies to label workers as independent contractors instead of employees, a common practice that has allowed businesses to skirt state and federal labor laws. The bill will now […]
U.S. inflation picked up in April after a very weak start to the year, a development that could help to ease Federal Reserve officials’ recent concerns about tepid price pressures. The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the price index for personal-consumption expenditures, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.31% in April from March and 1.51% from a year […]
A report from the California Business Roundtable says the state’s working poor are finding it harder than ever to move up the economic ladder toward the middle class. The roundtable’s president, Robert Lapsley, says the cost of living is the biggest barrier to upward mobility in the state. Lapsley says that’s in addition to cumbersome […]