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While the Supreme Court mulls the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan, California moved to provide some relief to borrowers who had student loans forgiven during the pandemic.

Part of a slate of budget bills signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this week is legislation exempting Californians from paying income taxes on forgiven federal student loans and some pandemic-era emergency grants.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sacramento lawmakers have one month left before they must pass a state budget, and it appears unlikely it’ll include a $5 billion bailout for BART, SFMTA and the state’s transit agencies.

Young Californians in extended foster care may soon get relief from rising housing costs if Assembly Bill 525, recently introduced by Assemblymember Phil Ting, is passed.

The bill seeks to create a housing supplement that would increase the monthly amount of financial assistance that youth in extended foster care can receive, based on the county they live in. The increased amount would supplement the base rate that youth currently receive, which is $1,129 regardless of their county of residence.

... However, a patchwork of state laws enacted over the last three years is generating fresh hope by prohibiting the use of PFAS in those and other uses. These laws – mostly passed in Democratic-controlled states – are quietly forcing many companies to phase out the chemicals as they become illegal to use in consumer goods in some of the nation’s largest economies.

Denise Pinkston said it felt like nobody in Sacramento was taking her seriously when she started pitching state leaders on the idea of using ADUs, or accessory dwelling units, to help reduce California’s housing shortage.

Jaheim Smith “aged out” of foster care just last week, a transition that can be distressing for young people who have spent most of their lives in the child welfare system and for the first time are living on their own.

But Smith, recently 21, is confident in his new life. He is renting an apartment in Sacramento and works as a behavioral consultant for children with autism, teaching them skills that help them thrive in school. He works shifts at McDonald’s to make ends meet.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to extend the California film and TV tax credit has hit a snag over the issue of industry diversity.

Newsom’s budget proposal includes extending the $330 million filming incentive, which is currently set to expire in 2025, for an additional five years.

After decades of failed attempts to combat California’s highest-in-the-nation gas prices, legislators passed a measure Monday that could allow California to cap the windfall profits of oil companies.

California voters could decide next year whether to abolish the State Board of Equalization, seven years after lawmakers stripped the elected tax board of most duties following a string of controversies. 

Criminal defendants have the right to be tried by a jury of their peers, but that can be difficult for low-income defendants whose counterparts can’t afford to serve on jurors’ $15-a-day wages. So San Francisco has a pilot program increasing some jurors’ pay to $100 a day, and the lawmaker who sponsored the program is now proposing to expand it statewide.