The battle over legacy and donor admissions to college — the practice of giving special treatment to family of alumni and contributors — is about to heat up in California as critics take aim at what they see as a long-standing barrier for less privileged students to access elite institutions.

Affirmative action is no longer legal in college admissions, after it was outlawed this summer by the U.S. Supreme Court. But many universities still give preference to so-called “legacies”, The children of alumni and prominent donors.

A recent report found that at at least three colleges in California, some of those applicants get in even when they’re not qualified for admission. An attempt to ban legacy admissions in the Golden State fell short four years ago, but now the author of that bill wants to try again.

More than 11 million arrest and conviction records have been wiped clean in the first six months of the implementation of a new California law, marking the largest expungement over that time period in the country’s history.

The mass expungement follows the years-long effort by lawmakers and voters dating back to 2016 — when marijuana was legalized in the state — to clear certain criminal records and open up employment and housing opportunities for Californians.

A proposed ban on “legacy admissions,” favorable treatment for college applicants whose parents were alumni or financial donors, hit a brick wall in the California Legislature in 2019. But the author of the measure says it’s time to take another look now that the Supreme Court has outlawed affirmative action for racial minorities at the nation’s colleges and universities.

Despite a massive budget shortfall, California will increase spending on financial aid for foster youth attending California colleges, and offer more housing support to young adults who live in high-cost areas of the state and are aging out of the child welfare system.  

... On the housing front, a bill to increase rent payments for young adults in extended foster care failed to make it through the Legislature, but was revived in the budget by San Francisco Democrat Assemblymember Phil Ting, who chairs the Assembly Budget Committee.

California saw several new laws take effect on July 1. Here is an overview at some of them. 

... TOLL PENALTY FEES

Let's face it, $15 doesn't go far in a city as pricey as Los Angeles.

Currently, that's the daily stipend a juror in California is paid for serving in a trial. And critics say, low jury pay is having a negative impact on the criminal justice system.

"We had been hearing from all of our justice partners that juries were trending towards being full of people of means and white people predominantly," says Anne Stuhldreher, who runs The Financial Justice Project at the city and county of San Francisco.

... All the while, the Student Coalition for Fair Admissions formed to keep the pressure up with protests, press conferences and organizing the student body. After previously adopting a name specifying Asian Americans, the group changed its name to expand the fight for other historically excluded students, Chang said.