How an Aging California Is Turning to Senior Centers for Romance, Community and Health
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"title": "How an Aging California Is Turning to Senior Centers for Romance, Community and Health",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[dropcap]A[/dropcap]lmeter Carroll sits alone on a couch inside the Watts Senior Citizen Community Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s almost noon, but the place is nearly empty. Fitness mats and other workout gear lay stacked in a distant corner. No one shows up for a morning gym class except her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She points across the room to a wall covered with photos of smiling, well-dressed Black men and women gathered at events throughout the years. “They’re all gone. Everyone on that wall. Passed away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the same in her personal life. Widowed once, Almeter lost a second partner years later to COVID. For the most part, she likes being independent and taking care of herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of course, I get lonely,” she says. “I miss my husband. I miss my boyfriend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074089\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074089\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"823\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED-2000x658.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED-1536x506.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED-2048x674.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A memorial wall honoring past members at the Watts Senior Center in Los Angeles. Right: Almeter Carroll, 87, sits at the Watts Senior Center in Los Angeles. “I like coming here, I like getting together with the group and playing cards,” said Ms. Carroll. “People come for fellowship. To talk.” She added, “The pandemic did a lot to this place and to my church.” \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CatchLight/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She speaks of these things matter-of-factly, but still holds a positive outlook and carries a knowing smile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quiet as it may be at the moment, the Watts Center will begin to buzz with activity come lunchtime. Almeter will be surrounded by friends soon enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074063\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074063\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/221326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-04.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/221326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-04.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/221326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-04-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/221326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-04-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shane Shabad, 90, sits at Palisades Park in Santa Monica. Shane has lived alone for over a decade and struggles with vision loss associated with macular degeneration. He became increasingly socially isolated during the pandemic. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/seniors\">Older adults\u003c/a> represent a significantly expanding portion of California’s population. By 2030, individuals over age 65 will begin to outnumber those under 18. But living longer also means people will see more loss, experience more grief and face more isolation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/mental-health/2026/02/look-inside-los-angeles-senior-centers/\">Neighborhood senior centers\u003c/a> may offer a good solution. They localize important resources and provide a safe, accessible space where older adults can go to find community and friendship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re absolutely essential and critical and part of the backbone of older adult services in our state,” said California Department of Aging Director Susan DeMarois. “They’re integral to our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074090\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2021px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074090 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2021\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-2-KQED.jpg 2021w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-2-KQED-2000x1484.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-2-KQED-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-2-KQED-1536x1140.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2021px) 100vw, 2021px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Beverlee Kelly, 70, spends time at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in Los Angeles. Ms. Kelly used to be active at a senior center near her home before the pandemic. She has not returned since the shutdown in 2020 due to health concerns, as she is unvaccinated. Right: Shane Shabad, 90, stands in his apartment in Santa Monica. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under Gov. Gavin Newsom, the aging department drew up a 10-year master plan that lays out five “bold” goals essential for sustaining longevity — housing, health care, inclusion, caregiving and affordability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Senior centers can address the inclusion component, although how exactly remains unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/mental-health/2026/02/senior-centers-what-we-learned/\">No two senior centers are alike\u003c/a>. Local demographics and economic factors shape each center’s unique dynamics. With hardly any state oversight, most are largely left to themselves to figure out their own best practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, no one can even say how many are operating in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074094\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074094 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"823\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED-2000x658.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED-1536x506.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED-2048x674.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Lewis Brown, 80, Director, sits in his office at the Tehachapi Senior Center. Right: Tony Kotch, 86, sits at a table for lunch at the Tehachapi Senior Center. The Tehachapi Senior Center is volunteer-run, and the older adults cover costs through donations. Older adults residing in rural areas are at an increased risk of social isolation. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sounded an alarm in naming loneliness and social isolation a national epidemic in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf\">2023 report\u003c/a> — equating the long-term health effects with smoking 15 cigarettes a day. One in five older Californians like Almeter live alone, making it even more difficult for them to maintain social connections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going to the senior center may benefit a person’s mental and physical health, according to a 2025 study by researchers from California State University, Northridge, and Kaiser Permanente. They distributed surveys at 23 Los Angeles-area senior centers to gauge how attendance affected the well-being of participants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People who attended frequently — several times a week — or over long periods of time had better mental health and felt less lonely. Frequent senior center attendance was associated with a greater reduction in loneliness among users under age 75, while the positive relationship between senior center attendance and physical health was more evident among users over age 75. Based on those findings, the authors encouraged local officials and doctors “to promote” senior centers as a healthy resource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074062\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074062\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/3LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-09.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/3LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-09.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/3LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-09-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/3LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-09-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Residents of an affordable senior housing complex in Santa Monica stand in a hallway in 2020. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hit hard by the social distancing impacts of COVID, community-based centers faced significant challenges when things began to return to normal. Older adults stayed away for some time out of caution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some returned to centers with a renewed focus on health and well-being. Rather than look for traditional recreation like bingo, post-COVID older adults wanted to see fitness classes and longevity training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the population changes, as the opportunities change, as the needs change — senior centers evolve with that,” said Dianne Stone of the National Council on Aging. “At the core of it, senior centers are highly social places. It’s all about creating opportunities for social engagement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That might be just sitting around having a cup of coffee. It might be taking a class and finding people that are interested in the same things you’re interested in. But all of it is an opportunity to come in and meet people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Karaoke, tai chi and romance\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Less than 20 miles from Watts, the Culver City Senior Center surges with energy and enthusiasm. Sunlight filters through large glass windows onto tables bustling with Mah Jong and other games. For $20 a year, participants get daily access to rooms filled with exercise classes, arts and crafts workshops and movie screenings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members gather early to hit the gym as soon as doors open at 9 a.m. Billiards players bring their own cues to shoot pool. Twice a week, packed-house karaoke sessions involve not just free-spirited singing, but also plenty of dancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074091\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2019px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074091 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2019\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-4-KQED.jpg 2019w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-4-KQED-2000x1486.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-4-KQED-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-4-KQED-1536x1141.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2019px) 100vw, 2019px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members dance during weekly karaoke at the Culver City Senior Center. Some older adults attend the center with their caregivers, who are also members. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a sunny, gorgeous day in mid-November, the karaoke team brought microphones and speakers out into the fresh air of Culver’s spacious central courtyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Selvee Provost bounced around and chatted knowingly with almost every person sitting under the verandas and shade umbrellas. As people took turns singing, she danced intermittently with different friends. Her simple social activity appeared to come naturally, but it was in the aftermath of loss and loneliness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074059\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074059\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/1-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-12.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/1-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-12.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/1-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-12-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/1-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-12-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Toni DiModica, 84, and Jim Diego, 82, dance during karaoke, as Verna Akwa, 77, sings, and Lee Karol, 69, and Stan Kamens, 78, manage the program at the Culver City Senior Center. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Selvee first came to the Culver Center with her husband, Jim, in 2018. When COVID hit, things shut down. Then Jim died, and Selvee felt utterly alone. She could feel herself spiraling down in isolation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I knew if I sit at home and keep thinking about Jim, I’m gonna get more and more depressed,” she said. “That’s what motivated me to come here and try a class or something — just try anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074092\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2019px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074092\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2019\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-5-KQED.jpg 2019w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-5-KQED-2000x1486.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-5-KQED-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-5-KQED-1536x1141.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2019px) 100vw, 2019px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Cristina Guevara, 78, embraces Julia Sedana, 82, at the Lincoln Heights Senior Center. Right: Selvee Provost, 67, bows during a Tai-Chi class at the Culver City Senior Center. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tai chi became her pathway to community. “I didn’t know anybody, really. But by going to this class, I met people and learned they have a group about dealing with grief.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s where she met Daniel Kerson. He’d lost his wife at almost the same time as Selvee lost Jim. “Both of us really needed to find companionship to survive,” she said. They moved in together right away and now come to the center throughout the week for classes, events and to socialize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074060\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074060\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-15.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-15.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-15-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-15-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Gelb, 78, brushes his hair while seated in the courtyard at the Culver City Senior Center. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CatchLight/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Louis Cangemi, a newcomer over the last few months, mingled with Selvee and made his own rounds amongst the outdoor karaoke singers and dancers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I heard about this place and came to meet more people,” said the energetic 80-year-old. “I’m still a bachelor, so I hope to hit it off here with more women.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he might encounter a bit of competition. Other men like Jim Diego, 82, have been dancing and courting at Culver for years ahead of Cangemi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Find a public senior center in Los Angeles\" aria-label=\"Locator map\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-cMgPL\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/cMgPL/4/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"695\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coffee, tea and art — “Cafe, te y arte” — are the kind of social opportunities that begin each weekday at the Lincoln Heights Senior Citizen Center, all gratis for the mostly Spanish-speaking older adults who make themselves at home here. In one large community room, they share galletas and pasteles along with the free coffee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As mid-morning hits, fitness classes like chair yoga and Latin dance entice a dozen or so participants — predominantly women — to move, smile and laugh together beside the room’s raised performance stage. The men mostly sit and watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twice a week, la lotería keeps the tables full for a couple of hours. Holiday dances draw crowds of over a hundred and feature DJs and live musicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074064\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074064\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-16.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-16.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-16-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-16-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Garcia, 78, dances with Eva De La Torre, 75, alongside other members of the Lincoln Heights Senior Center during a Halloween party in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a lovely community,” said the Lincoln Heights director and one-man staff, Anthony Montiel. “I’m really fortunate to be part of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As director, he maintains the schedule of classes and fills in wherever necessary. People are asked to contribute a few dollars per class, if they can afford it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his backroom office, he logs in and accounts for handfuls of dog-eared $1 bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lone ping pong player looks for the director in the afternoons. If he’s not too busy with his other duties, he’ll take a break for a quick match. “We have practically a brand new table,” said Montiel. “It’s nice equipment, but the guy usually has no one to play with but me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Shared meals, shared space, shared community\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Putting a finger on the pulse of how senior centers maintain relevance, adapt and thrive is no easy task. Each center relies on a mix of different funding and resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides the classes and activities, subsidized lunch programs at all these centers play a crucial role in helping older adults stay healthy. The nutritionally balanced meals provide free or low-cost sustenance, but offering the food in a shared, congregate space might be equally just as vital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074065\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074065\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-17.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-17.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-17-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-17-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members gather at different tables in the afternoon at the Lincoln Heights Senior Center in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When people are able to go to a setting like a senior center to enjoy a meal in the company of others, possibly to have music and entertainment and activities, that can be really good for people’s mental health,” said DeMarois of the Department of Aging. “That’s a big part of it — just trying to foster that connection and engagement on the preventive side.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congregate setting meal programs accounted for over 2.3 million older adult meals in the City of Los Angeles and in L.A. County in 2024, according to California Department of Aging records. But this data is not specific to senior centers, as it also includes meals in senior care facilities and other older adult group spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it comes to senior centers, there is not good data,” said Stone. “There is not that central database of senior centers or community-based organizations, and there’s not even a shared definition of what they are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074093\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074093 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"823\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED-2000x658.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED-1536x506.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED-2048x674.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Maudell Robinson, 95, at the Watts Senior Center in Los Angeles. Right: A member of the Watts Senior Center prepares to depart for the day in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Senior centers are community responses to community aging. No two are the same because no two communities are the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking anecdotally from her own experience, Stone sees the bulk of most senior center populations as being between 75 and 85 years old. But that age range is evolving as older adult communities expand.[aside postID=news_12050210 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/la-seniors-688a20454f1fc.jpg']DeMarois sees the same dynamics taking shape. “When we talk about people 60-plus, we’re experiencing the greatest longevity ever right now,” she said. “The fastest growing demographic in California is 85-plus. We’re talking about four decades of life for many people from 60 to 100, so their needs and preferences will change over time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in Watts, Almeter’s not much interested in a free meal. “I eat my own food.” She sits around as other older adults filter into the center one by one. Many grab their subsidized lunch in styrofoam containers and soon walk right back out the door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She waits patiently for her friends to arrive — women like Luretha Muckelroy, Maudell Robinson and Watts advisory board member Linda Cleveland. They gather here two or three times each week to play Spades or Bid Whist, card games that evoke plenty of smack talking and mirth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need more men around here,” said Linda, as she noted the all-female crowd. Older adult males show up for some functions and events, but women seem to comprise most of the Watts Center attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074066\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074066\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-20.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-20.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-20-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-20-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharron Robinson, 80, Laura Shroder, 89, and Johnnie Devereaux, 86, hold hands and dance as other members sing karaoke at the Culver City Senior Center. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CatchLight/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For a few hours, the close-knit group makes the place come alive. Four players compete in two-person teams, while others keep tally. The losing team must vacate their seats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They laugh, point fingers and chastise one another — all in good fun. The games can sometimes get heated. In between hands and shuffles, they share snacks and pour sodas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked how she feels about aging alone, Almeter answers without hesitation. “Oh, I love being 87. It’s great to be alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Joe Garcia is a California Local News fellow. \u003c/em>\u003cem>This story was produced jointly by CalMatters and CatchLight as part of our \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.catchlight.io/mental-health\">\u003cem>mental health initiative\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/mental-health/2026/02/senior-centers-aging-health/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "No two senior centers are alike. We visited three very different venues in L.A. to learn how they’re changing for California’s aging population.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">A\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>lmeter Carroll sits alone on a couch inside the Watts Senior Citizen Community Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s almost noon, but the place is nearly empty. Fitness mats and other workout gear lay stacked in a distant corner. No one shows up for a morning gym class except her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She points across the room to a wall covered with photos of smiling, well-dressed Black men and women gathered at events throughout the years. “They’re all gone. Everyone on that wall. Passed away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s the same in her personal life. Widowed once, Almeter lost a second partner years later to COVID. For the most part, she likes being independent and taking care of herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Of course, I get lonely,” she says. “I miss my husband. I miss my boyfriend.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074089\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074089\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"823\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED-2000x658.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED-1536x506.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-1-KQED-2048x674.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: A memorial wall honoring past members at the Watts Senior Center in Los Angeles. Right: Almeter Carroll, 87, sits at the Watts Senior Center in Los Angeles. “I like coming here, I like getting together with the group and playing cards,” said Ms. Carroll. “People come for fellowship. To talk.” She added, “The pandemic did a lot to this place and to my church.” \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CatchLight/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She speaks of these things matter-of-factly, but still holds a positive outlook and carries a knowing smile.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quiet as it may be at the moment, the Watts Center will begin to buzz with activity come lunchtime. Almeter will be surrounded by friends soon enough.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074063\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074063\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/221326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-04.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/221326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-04.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/221326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-04-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/221326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-04-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shane Shabad, 90, sits at Palisades Park in Santa Monica. Shane has lived alone for over a decade and struggles with vision loss associated with macular degeneration. He became increasingly socially isolated during the pandemic. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/seniors\">Older adults\u003c/a> represent a significantly expanding portion of California’s population. By 2030, individuals over age 65 will begin to outnumber those under 18. But living longer also means people will see more loss, experience more grief and face more isolation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/mental-health/2026/02/look-inside-los-angeles-senior-centers/\">Neighborhood senior centers\u003c/a> may offer a good solution. They localize important resources and provide a safe, accessible space where older adults can go to find community and friendship.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re absolutely essential and critical and part of the backbone of older adult services in our state,” said California Department of Aging Director Susan DeMarois. “They’re integral to our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074090\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2021px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074090 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-2-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2021\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-2-KQED.jpg 2021w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-2-KQED-2000x1484.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-2-KQED-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-2-KQED-1536x1140.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2021px) 100vw, 2021px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Beverlee Kelly, 70, spends time at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in Los Angeles. Ms. Kelly used to be active at a senior center near her home before the pandemic. She has not returned since the shutdown in 2020 due to health concerns, as she is unvaccinated. Right: Shane Shabad, 90, stands in his apartment in Santa Monica. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under Gov. Gavin Newsom, the aging department drew up a 10-year master plan that lays out five “bold” goals essential for sustaining longevity — housing, health care, inclusion, caregiving and affordability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Senior centers can address the inclusion component, although how exactly remains unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/mental-health/2026/02/senior-centers-what-we-learned/\">No two senior centers are alike\u003c/a>. Local demographics and economic factors shape each center’s unique dynamics. With hardly any state oversight, most are largely left to themselves to figure out their own best practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, no one can even say how many are operating in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074094\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074094 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"823\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED-2000x658.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED-1536x506.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-3-KQED-2048x674.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Lewis Brown, 80, Director, sits in his office at the Tehachapi Senior Center. Right: Tony Kotch, 86, sits at a table for lunch at the Tehachapi Senior Center. The Tehachapi Senior Center is volunteer-run, and the older adults cover costs through donations. Older adults residing in rural areas are at an increased risk of social isolation. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sounded an alarm in naming loneliness and social isolation a national epidemic in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf\">2023 report\u003c/a> — equating the long-term health effects with smoking 15 cigarettes a day. One in five older Californians like Almeter live alone, making it even more difficult for them to maintain social connections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Going to the senior center may benefit a person’s mental and physical health, according to a 2025 study by researchers from California State University, Northridge, and Kaiser Permanente. They distributed surveys at 23 Los Angeles-area senior centers to gauge how attendance affected the well-being of participants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People who attended frequently — several times a week — or over long periods of time had better mental health and felt less lonely. Frequent senior center attendance was associated with a greater reduction in loneliness among users under age 75, while the positive relationship between senior center attendance and physical health was more evident among users over age 75. Based on those findings, the authors encouraged local officials and doctors “to promote” senior centers as a healthy resource.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074062\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074062\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/3LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-09.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/3LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-09.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/3LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-09-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/3LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-09-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Residents of an affordable senior housing complex in Santa Monica stand in a hallway in 2020. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Hit hard by the social distancing impacts of COVID, community-based centers faced significant challenges when things began to return to normal. Older adults stayed away for some time out of caution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some returned to centers with a renewed focus on health and well-being. Rather than look for traditional recreation like bingo, post-COVID older adults wanted to see fitness classes and longevity training.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the population changes, as the opportunities change, as the needs change — senior centers evolve with that,” said Dianne Stone of the National Council on Aging. “At the core of it, senior centers are highly social places. It’s all about creating opportunities for social engagement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That might be just sitting around having a cup of coffee. It might be taking a class and finding people that are interested in the same things you’re interested in. But all of it is an opportunity to come in and meet people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Karaoke, tai chi and romance\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Less than 20 miles from Watts, the Culver City Senior Center surges with energy and enthusiasm. Sunlight filters through large glass windows onto tables bustling with Mah Jong and other games. For $20 a year, participants get daily access to rooms filled with exercise classes, arts and crafts workshops and movie screenings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members gather early to hit the gym as soon as doors open at 9 a.m. Billiards players bring their own cues to shoot pool. Twice a week, packed-house karaoke sessions involve not just free-spirited singing, but also plenty of dancing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074091\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2019px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074091 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2019\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-4-KQED.jpg 2019w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-4-KQED-2000x1486.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-4-KQED-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-4-KQED-1536x1141.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2019px) 100vw, 2019px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members dance during weekly karaoke at the Culver City Senior Center. Some older adults attend the center with their caregivers, who are also members. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On a sunny, gorgeous day in mid-November, the karaoke team brought microphones and speakers out into the fresh air of Culver’s spacious central courtyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Selvee Provost bounced around and chatted knowingly with almost every person sitting under the verandas and shade umbrellas. As people took turns singing, she danced intermittently with different friends. Her simple social activity appeared to come naturally, but it was in the aftermath of loss and loneliness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074059\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074059\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/1-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-12.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/1-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-12.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/1-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-12-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/1-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-12-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Toni DiModica, 84, and Jim Diego, 82, dance during karaoke, as Verna Akwa, 77, sings, and Lee Karol, 69, and Stan Kamens, 78, manage the program at the Culver City Senior Center. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Selvee first came to the Culver Center with her husband, Jim, in 2018. When COVID hit, things shut down. Then Jim died, and Selvee felt utterly alone. She could feel herself spiraling down in isolation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I knew if I sit at home and keep thinking about Jim, I’m gonna get more and more depressed,” she said. “That’s what motivated me to come here and try a class or something — just try anything.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074092\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2019px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074092\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-5-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2019\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-5-KQED.jpg 2019w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-5-KQED-2000x1486.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-5-KQED-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-5-KQED-1536x1141.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2019px) 100vw, 2019px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Cristina Guevara, 78, embraces Julia Sedana, 82, at the Lincoln Heights Senior Center. Right: Selvee Provost, 67, bows during a Tai-Chi class at the Culver City Senior Center. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tai chi became her pathway to community. “I didn’t know anybody, really. But by going to this class, I met people and learned they have a group about dealing with grief.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s where she met Daniel Kerson. He’d lost his wife at almost the same time as Selvee lost Jim. “Both of us really needed to find companionship to survive,” she said. They moved in together right away and now come to the center throughout the week for classes, events and to socialize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074060\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074060\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-15.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-15.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-15-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-15-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Gelb, 78, brushes his hair while seated in the courtyard at the Culver City Senior Center. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CatchLight/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Louis Cangemi, a newcomer over the last few months, mingled with Selvee and made his own rounds amongst the outdoor karaoke singers and dancers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I heard about this place and came to meet more people,” said the energetic 80-year-old. “I’m still a bachelor, so I hope to hit it off here with more women.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But he might encounter a bit of competition. Other men like Jim Diego, 82, have been dancing and courting at Culver for years ahead of Cangemi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Find a public senior center in Los Angeles\" aria-label=\"Locator map\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-cMgPL\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/cMgPL/4/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;\" height=\"695\" data-external=\"1\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coffee, tea and art — “Cafe, te y arte” — are the kind of social opportunities that begin each weekday at the Lincoln Heights Senior Citizen Center, all gratis for the mostly Spanish-speaking older adults who make themselves at home here. In one large community room, they share galletas and pasteles along with the free coffee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As mid-morning hits, fitness classes like chair yoga and Latin dance entice a dozen or so participants — predominantly women — to move, smile and laugh together beside the room’s raised performance stage. The men mostly sit and watch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twice a week, la lotería keeps the tables full for a couple of hours. Holiday dances draw crowds of over a hundred and feature DJs and live musicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074064\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074064\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-16.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-16.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-16-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-16-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chris Garcia, 78, dances with Eva De La Torre, 75, alongside other members of the Lincoln Heights Senior Center during a Halloween party in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a lovely community,” said the Lincoln Heights director and one-man staff, Anthony Montiel. “I’m really fortunate to be part of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As director, he maintains the schedule of classes and fills in wherever necessary. People are asked to contribute a few dollars per class, if they can afford it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his backroom office, he logs in and accounts for handfuls of dog-eared $1 bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lone ping pong player looks for the director in the afternoons. If he’s not too busy with his other duties, he’ll take a break for a quick match. “We have practically a brand new table,” said Montiel. “It’s nice equipment, but the guy usually has no one to play with but me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Shared meals, shared space, shared community\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Putting a finger on the pulse of how senior centers maintain relevance, adapt and thrive is no easy task. Each center relies on a mix of different funding and resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides the classes and activities, subsidized lunch programs at all these centers play a crucial role in helping older adults stay healthy. The nutritionally balanced meals provide free or low-cost sustenance, but offering the food in a shared, congregate space might be equally just as vital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074065\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074065\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-17.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-17.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-17-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-17-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members gather at different tables in the afternoon at the Lincoln Heights Senior Center in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When people are able to go to a setting like a senior center to enjoy a meal in the company of others, possibly to have music and entertainment and activities, that can be really good for people’s mental health,” said DeMarois of the Department of Aging. “That’s a big part of it — just trying to foster that connection and engagement on the preventive side.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Congregate setting meal programs accounted for over 2.3 million older adult meals in the City of Los Angeles and in L.A. County in 2024, according to California Department of Aging records. But this data is not specific to senior centers, as it also includes meals in senior care facilities and other older adult group spaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it comes to senior centers, there is not good data,” said Stone. “There is not that central database of senior centers or community-based organizations, and there’s not even a shared definition of what they are.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074093\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12074093 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"823\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED-2000x658.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED-1536x506.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-01-DIP-6-KQED-2048x674.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Maudell Robinson, 95, at the Watts Senior Center in Los Angeles. Right: A member of the Watts Senior Center prepares to depart for the day in Los Angeles. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CalMatters/CatchLight)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Senior centers are community responses to community aging. No two are the same because no two communities are the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking anecdotally from her own experience, Stone sees the bulk of most senior center populations as being between 75 and 85 years old. But that age range is evolving as older adult communities expand.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>DeMarois sees the same dynamics taking shape. “When we talk about people 60-plus, we’re experiencing the greatest longevity ever right now,” she said. “The fastest growing demographic in California is 85-plus. We’re talking about four decades of life for many people from 60 to 100, so their needs and preferences will change over time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in Watts, Almeter’s not much interested in a free meal. “I eat my own food.” She sits around as other older adults filter into the center one by one. Many grab their subsidized lunch in styrofoam containers and soon walk right back out the door.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She waits patiently for her friends to arrive — women like Luretha Muckelroy, Maudell Robinson and Watts advisory board member Linda Cleveland. They gather here two or three times each week to play Spades or Bid Whist, card games that evoke plenty of smack talking and mirth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need more men around here,” said Linda, as she noted the all-female crowd. Older adult males show up for some functions and events, but women seem to comprise most of the Watts Center attendance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074066\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074066\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-20.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-20.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-20-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/NOT4FILE-021326-LA-Senior-Center-IK-CM-20-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sharron Robinson, 80, Laura Shroder, 89, and Johnnie Devereaux, 86, hold hands and dance as other members sing karaoke at the Culver City Senior Center. \u003ccite>(Isadora Kosofsky for CatchLight/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For a few hours, the close-knit group makes the place come alive. Four players compete in two-person teams, while others keep tally. The losing team must vacate their seats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They laugh, point fingers and chastise one another — all in good fun. The games can sometimes get heated. In between hands and shuffles, they share snacks and pour sodas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked how she feels about aging alone, Almeter answers without hesitation. “Oh, I love being 87. It’s great to be alive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Joe Garcia is a California Local News fellow. \u003c/em>\u003cem>This story was produced jointly by CalMatters and CatchLight as part of our \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.catchlight.io/mental-health\">\u003cem>mental health initiative\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/mental-health/2026/02/senior-centers-aging-health/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "factory-built-housing-hasnt-taken-off-in-california-yet-but-this-year-might-be-different",
"title": "Factory-Built Housing Hasn’t Taken Off in California Yet, but This Year Might Be Different",
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"headTitle": "Factory-Built Housing Hasn’t Taken Off in California Yet, but This Year Might Be Different | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the first home rolled off the factory floor in Kalamazoo, Michigan — “like a boxcar with picture windows,” according to a journalist on the scene — the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development proclaimed it “the coming of a real revolution in housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades engineers, architects, futurists, industrialists, investors and politicians have been pining for a better, faster and cheaper way to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068746/2025-was-a-blockbuster-year-for-housing-laws-what-does-that-mean-for-2026\">build homes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, amid a national housing shortage, the question felt as pressing as ever: What if construction could harness the speed, efficiency, quality control and cost-savings of the assembly line?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if, rather than building homes on-site from the ground up, they were cranked out of factories, one unit after another, shipped to where they were needed and dropped into place? What if the United States could mass-produce its way out of a housing crisis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/20/archives/first-unit-built-in-housing-plan-button-pushed-by-romney-at-factory.html\">In Kalamazoo\u003c/a>, that vision finally seemed a reality. The HUD chief predicted that within a decade two-thirds of all \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/HUD-Challenge-November-December-1969.pdf#page=6\">housing construction\u003c/a> across the United States “would be industrialized.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The year was 1971, the HUD Secretary was George Romney (father of future Utah senator, Mitt), and the prediction was wildly off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073550\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Factory-built housing Drake Avenue Apartments sits under construction at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within five years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/Operation-Breakthrough.html\">Operation Breakthrough\u003c/a>, the ambitious, but ultimately costly, delay-ridden and politically unpopular federal initiative that had propped up the Kalamazoo factory and eight others like it across the country, ran out of money. The dream of the factory-built house was dead — not for the first time, nor the last.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By some definitions, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_prefabrication_of_houses_1951.pdf#page=35\">first prefabricated house\u003c/a> was built, shipped and re-assembled in the 1620s. Factory-built homes made of wood and iron were a mainstay of the \u003ca href=\"http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/search/nattrust_result_detail/66817\">colonial\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://archive.org/details/SkillingsFlintCCA196560/page/n9/mode/2up\">enterprises\u003c/a> of the 19th Century. Housing and construction-worker shortages during the Second World War prompted a wave of (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to mass-produce starter homes in the United States. The modern era is full of those predicting that the industrialization of the housing industry is just a few years away, only to be proven wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, state legislators in California believe the turning-point might actually be here. With a little state assistance, they want to make 2026 the Year of the Housing Factory. At long last.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California gets ‘modular-curious’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat and one of the legislature’s most influential policy makers on housing issues, is leading the charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the beginning of the year, she has organized two select committee hearings under the general banner of “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/committees/1700\">housing construction innovation\u003c/a>.” The bulk of the committee’s attention has been on factory-based building — why it might be a fix worth promoting and what the state could do to actually make it work this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearings are ostensibly intended to gather information, all of which will be summarized in a white paper being written by researchers at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073370\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction is underway on an affordable housing apartment building at 2550 Irving Street in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But they’re also meant to build political momentum and legislative buy-in for a coming package of bills. Both the paper and bills are due to be released in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has “select committee’d” her way to major policy change before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2024, she cobbled together a series of state-spanning meetings on “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/california-construction-permitting-wicks/\">permitting reform\u003c/a>.” Those provided the fodder for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/ceqa-infill-housing-wicks/\">nearly two dozen bills\u003c/a> the following year, all written with the goal of making it easier to build things in California, especially homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most significant of the bunch: Legislation \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/ceqa-urban-development-infill-budget/\">exempting most urban apartment buildings\u003c/a> from environmental litigation. Gov. Gavin Newsom enthusiastically signed it into law last summer.[aside postID=news_12073193 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg']Now comes phase two. Last year’s blitz of bills, capping off years of gradual legislative efforts to remove regulatory barriers to building dense housing across California, has, in Wicks’ view, teed up this next big swing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the last eight to 10 years or so the Legislature and the governor have really taken a bulldozer to a lot of the bureaucratic hurdles when it comes to housing,” said Wicks. “But one of the issues that we haven’t fundamentally tackled is the cost of construction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Factory-built housing can arrive on a construction site in varying levels of completeness. There are prefabricated panels (imagine the baked slabs of a gingerbread house) and fully three-dimensional modules (think, Legos).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interest in the use of both for apartment buildings has been steadily growing in California over the last decade. Investors have poured billions of dollars into the nascent sector, albeit with \u003ca href=\"https://www.fastcompany.com/90643381/this-prefab-builder-raised-more-than-2-billion-why-did-it-crash\">famously mixed results\u003c/a>. In California’s major urban areas, but especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, cranes delicately assembling factory-built modules into apartment blocks has become a more familiar feature of the skyline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Randall Thompson, who runs the prefabrication division of Nibbi Brothers General Contractors, said he’s seen attitudes shift radically just in the last couple of years. Not long ago, pitching a developer on factory-built construction was a tough sell. But a few years ago he noted a growing number of “modular-curious” clients willing to run the numbers. Now many are coming to him committed to the idea from the get-go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068866\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068866\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Ave., in San Francisco, on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Policymakers are interested too, debating whether public policy and taxpayer money should be used to propel off-site construction from niche application to a regular, if not dominant, feature of the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evidence from abroad is fueling that optimism: In Sweden, where Wicks and a gaggle of other lawmakers visited last fall, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/08/headway/how-an-american-dream-of-housing-became-a-reality-in-sweden.html\">nearly half of residential construction\u003c/a> takes place in a factory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The renewed national interest is part of a “back to the drawingboard” energy that has pervaded policy circles at every level of government in the face of a national affordability crisis, said Chad Maisel, a Center for American Progress fellow and a former Biden administration housing policy advisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, the country has tried and failed at this before, most notably with Operation Breakthrough. Yes, individual companies have gone bust trying to make off-site happen at scale. “But we haven’t really given it our all,” Maisel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Henry Ford, but for housing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If the goal is to bring down building costs, rethinking the basics of the construction process is an obvious place to start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last century, economic sectors across the United States have seen explosions in labor productivity, with industries using technological innovation, fine-tuned production processes and globe-spanning supply chains to squeeze ever more stuff out of the same number of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction has been a stagnant outlier. Since the 1970s, labor productivity has actually declined sector-wide, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2025/eb_25-31\">official government statistics\u003c/a>. In 2023 the average American construction worker added about as much value on a construction site as one in 1948.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you go to buy a car, you don’t get 6,000 parts shipped to your house and then someone comes and builds it for you,” said Ryan Cassidy, vice president of real estate development at Mutual Housing California, an affordable housing developer based in Sacramento that committed last year to build its next five projects with factory-built units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A truck is piled with planks salvaged by Perks Deconstruction from an old farmhouse in Aurora. The wood will be transported to the company’s warehouse, where it will be sorted and priced for sale. \u003ccite>(Hart Van Denburg/CPR News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In theory, breaking down the building process into a series of discrete, repeatable tasks can mean fewer highly trained workers are needed per unit. Standardized panels and modules allow factories to buy materials in bulk at discount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work can be done faster, because it’s centralized, tightly choreographed, closely monitored and possibly automated — but also because multiple things can happen at the same time. Framers don’t have to wait for a foundation to set before getting started on the bedrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Off-site construction reliably cuts construction timelines by \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Southern-California-Off-Site-Construction-February-2022.pdf\">10 to 30 percent\u003c/a>, according to an analysis by the Terner Center. Some even rosier \u003ca href=\"https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/modular-construction-from-projects-to-products\">estimates\u003c/a> have put the figure closer to 50%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can translate into real savings. “Factory-built housing has the potential to reduce hard (labor, material and equipment) costs by 10 to 25% — at least under the right conditions,” Terner’s director, Ben Metcalf, said at the select committee’s first \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/278391?t=1525&f=f7440a2ebdd25e14a09f1f72e544107e\">hearing\u003c/a> in early January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But historically, it’s been very hard to get those conditions right.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The ghost of Katerra\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The main hitch is an obvious one: Factories are hugely expensive to set up and run. Off-site construction companies only stand to make up those costs if they can run continuously and at full capacity. Mass production only pencils out if it massively produces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means factory production isn’t especially well-suited to industries that boom and bust, in which surplus production can’t be stockpiled in a warehouse and everything is made to order and where local variations in climate, topography and regulation require bespoke products of varying materials, designs, configurations and sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which describes the current real estate sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a world in which housing projects are approved one at a time under various local rules and designs and sometimes after years of piecing together financing sources, it’s hard to build out that pipeline for a factory,” said Metcalf at the early January hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A construction worker operates machinery to move dirt at the site of new middle housing units at 2824 D Street in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The particular financial needs of a factory also upend business as usual for developers and real estate funders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industrial construction “costs less overall but costs more in the short term. Everything is frontloaded,” said Jan Lindenthal-Cox, chief investment officer at the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund. All design, engineering and material decisions have to be finalized long before the factory gears start turning. Real estate investors and lenders tend to be wary of putting up quite so much money so early in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Accelerator Fund, a privately-backed non-profit, is hoping to ease some of those concerns by providing short-term, low-cost loans to developers in order to cover those higher-than-usual early costs. The hope is that traditional funders — namely, banks and investors — will eventually feel confident enough to take over that role “once this is a more proven approach,” said Lindenthal-Cox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such skittishness pervades every step of the off-site development process, said Apoorva Pasricha, chief operation officer at Cloud Apartments, a San Francisco-based start-up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of Drake Avenue Apartments at the site of the factory housing complex at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of factory-built housing, Drake Avenue Apartments, at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A subcontractor unfamiliar with modular construction might bid a project higher than they otherwise would to compensate for the uncertainty. Building code officials might be extra cautious or extra slow in approving a project for the same reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the industry grows, “creating familiarity with the process helps drive that risk down,” said Pasricha. “The question is, who is going to be willing to pay the price to learn?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some would-be pioneers have paid it. In 2021, the Silicon Valley-based modular start up Katerra went \u003ca href=\"https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/katerras-2-billion-legacy_o\">spectacularly bankrupt\u003c/a> after spending $2 billion in a hyperambitious gambit to disrupt the building industry. Katerra still hangs over the industry like a specter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Potter, a former Katerra engineer who now writes the widely-read \u003ca href=\"https://www.construction-physics.com/\">Construction Physics\u003c/a> newsletter, said he too was once wooed by the idea that “‘we’ll just move this into a factory and we will yield enormous improvements.’”[aside postID=news_12072999 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg']These days, he strenuously avoids terms like “impossible” and “doomed to fail” when asked about the potential of off-site construction. But he does stress that it’s a very hard nut to crack with limited upside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Beyond just the regulatory issues, which are real, there are just fundamental nature of the market, nature of the process, things that you have to cope with,” said Potter, whose recent book, \u003cem>The Origins of Efficiency\u003c/em>, digs into how and why modern society has succeeded at making certain things much faster and cheaper — and not others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certain markets in California could be a good fit for factory-built construction, he added, but not for the reasons that off-site boosters typically lead with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction costs in the Bay Area, specifically, are notoriously expensive. Many of the region’s most productive housing factories are located in Idaho. That arrangement might make financial sense, said Potter, not because of anything inherently cost-saving in the industrialized process, but because wages in the Boise area are just \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_sanfrancisco.htm\">a lot\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_boisecity.htm\">lower\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That raises another potential impediment for state lawmakers hoping to goose the factory-built model: Organized labor. In a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-construction-unions-housing/\">familiar political split\u003c/a>, while California’s carpenters union has historically been open to the idea of off-site construction, the influential State Building & Construction Trades Council has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-trade-unions-at-odds-over-modular-15755264.php\">hostile\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Will the state step in?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Neither Wicks, nor any other legislator, has released legislative language yet aimed at supporting the industry. But in committee hearings, developers, labor leaders, academics and other off-site construction supporters have repeatedly pitched lawmakers on the same three themes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building out the pipeline is one. The state, supporters say, could keep the factories humming either by nudging affordable developers that way when they apply for state subsidies or by out-and-out requiring public entities, like state universities, to at least consider off-site when they build, say, student housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insuring factories against the risk of a developer going bankrupt (and vice versa) is another common proposal. Developers and investors are hesitant to schedule a spot on a factory line if that factory’s bankruptcy will leave them in the lurch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings under construction near Macarthur BART station in Oakland, on Feb. 21, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Likewise, factories tend to charge high deposits to make up for the fact that developers go out of business or get hit with months-long delays. One solution could involve the taxpayer playing the role of insurer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third: Standardizing building code requirements. The state’s Housing and Community Development department already regulates factory-built housing units. But once a module is shipped to a site, local inspectors will often do their own once-over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these proposed fixes are specific to the industry. But some are regulatory changes that would make it easier to build more generally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That might suggest that policy should ideally focus on making it easier to build stuff more generally, “not on a specific goal,” said Stephen Smith, director of the Center for Building in North America, which advocates for cost-cutting changes to building codes. For all the emphasis on building entire studio apartments inside factories, he noted that plenty of steps in the construction process have entered the modern era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023647\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023647\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A line of old factory buildings on Mare Island in the city of Vallejo, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You find walls built in factories, you see elevators, you see escalators,” said Smith. “You need to consider the small victories and think of it as a general process of (regulatory) hygiene.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has heard all of the arguments for why emphasizing factory-based construction won’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think factory-built housing is going to solve all of our problems. I think it’s a piece of the solution,” she said. “We’re not talking about actually funding the building of factories. We’re talking about creating a streamlined environment for these types of housing units to be built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, it can’t hurt to try again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/02/factory-built-housing-california-wicks/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Building homes inside a factory has long been seen as a way to revolutionize the American housing industry, ushering in a new era of higher quality homes at lower price. That dream has never quite panned out. Can California finally make it happen?",
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"title": "Factory-Built Housing Hasn’t Taken Off in California Yet, but This Year Might Be Different | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the first home rolled off the factory floor in Kalamazoo, Michigan — “like a boxcar with picture windows,” according to a journalist on the scene — the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development proclaimed it “the coming of a real revolution in housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades engineers, architects, futurists, industrialists, investors and politicians have been pining for a better, faster and cheaper way to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068746/2025-was-a-blockbuster-year-for-housing-laws-what-does-that-mean-for-2026\">build homes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, amid a national housing shortage, the question felt as pressing as ever: What if construction could harness the speed, efficiency, quality control and cost-savings of the assembly line?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What if, rather than building homes on-site from the ground up, they were cranked out of factories, one unit after another, shipped to where they were needed and dropped into place? What if the United States could mass-produce its way out of a housing crisis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/20/archives/first-unit-built-in-housing-plan-button-pushed-by-romney-at-factory.html\">In Kalamazoo\u003c/a>, that vision finally seemed a reality. The HUD chief predicted that within a decade two-thirds of all \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/HUD-Challenge-November-December-1969.pdf#page=6\">housing construction\u003c/a> across the United States “would be industrialized.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The year was 1971, the HUD Secretary was George Romney (father of future Utah senator, Mitt), and the prediction was wildly off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073550\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073550\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_12-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Factory-built housing Drake Avenue Apartments sits under construction at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Within five years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/Operation-Breakthrough.html\">Operation Breakthrough\u003c/a>, the ambitious, but ultimately costly, delay-ridden and politically unpopular federal initiative that had propped up the Kalamazoo factory and eight others like it across the country, ran out of money. The dream of the factory-built house was dead — not for the first time, nor the last.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By some definitions, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.survivorlibrary.com/library/the_prefabrication_of_houses_1951.pdf#page=35\">first prefabricated house\u003c/a> was built, shipped and re-assembled in the 1620s. Factory-built homes made of wood and iron were a mainstay of the \u003ca href=\"http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/search/nattrust_result_detail/66817\">colonial\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://archive.org/details/SkillingsFlintCCA196560/page/n9/mode/2up\">enterprises\u003c/a> of the 19th Century. Housing and construction-worker shortages during the Second World War prompted a wave of (ultimately unsuccessful) attempts to mass-produce starter homes in the United States. The modern era is full of those predicting that the industrialization of the housing industry is just a few years away, only to be proven wrong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, state legislators in California believe the turning-point might actually be here. With a little state assistance, they want to make 2026 the Year of the Housing Factory. At long last.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California gets ‘modular-curious’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat and one of the legislature’s most influential policy makers on housing issues, is leading the charge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the beginning of the year, she has organized two select committee hearings under the general banner of “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/committees/1700\">housing construction innovation\u003c/a>.” The bulk of the committee’s attention has been on factory-based building — why it might be a fix worth promoting and what the state could do to actually make it work this time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The hearings are ostensibly intended to gather information, all of which will be summarized in a white paper being written by researchers at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073370\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073370\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/250519-AffordableHousingFile-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction is underway on an affordable housing apartment building at 2550 Irving Street in San Francisco’s Sunset District on May 19, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But they’re also meant to build political momentum and legislative buy-in for a coming package of bills. Both the paper and bills are due to be released in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has “select committee’d” her way to major policy change before.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In late 2024, she cobbled together a series of state-spanning meetings on “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/california-construction-permitting-wicks/\">permitting reform\u003c/a>.” Those provided the fodder for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/03/ceqa-infill-housing-wicks/\">nearly two dozen bills\u003c/a> the following year, all written with the goal of making it easier to build things in California, especially homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most significant of the bunch: Legislation \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/ceqa-urban-development-infill-budget/\">exempting most urban apartment buildings\u003c/a> from environmental litigation. Gov. Gavin Newsom enthusiastically signed it into law last summer.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now comes phase two. Last year’s blitz of bills, capping off years of gradual legislative efforts to remove regulatory barriers to building dense housing across California, has, in Wicks’ view, teed up this next big swing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the last eight to 10 years or so the Legislature and the governor have really taken a bulldozer to a lot of the bureaucratic hurdles when it comes to housing,” said Wicks. “But one of the issues that we haven’t fundamentally tackled is the cost of construction.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Factory-built housing can arrive on a construction site in varying levels of completeness. There are prefabricated panels (imagine the baked slabs of a gingerbread house) and fully three-dimensional modules (think, Legos).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interest in the use of both for apartment buildings has been steadily growing in California over the last decade. Investors have poured billions of dollars into the nascent sector, albeit with \u003ca href=\"https://www.fastcompany.com/90643381/this-prefab-builder-raised-more-than-2-billion-why-did-it-crash\">famously mixed results\u003c/a>. In California’s major urban areas, but especially in the San Francisco Bay Area, cranes delicately assembling factory-built modules into apartment blocks has become a more familiar feature of the skyline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Randall Thompson, who runs the prefabrication division of Nibbi Brothers General Contractors, said he’s seen attitudes shift radically just in the last couple of years. Not long ago, pitching a developer on factory-built construction was a tough sell. But a few years ago he noted a growing number of “modular-curious” clients willing to run the numbers. Now many are coming to him committed to the idea from the get-go.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068866\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068866\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/250618-NewTeacherHousing-18-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Ave., in San Francisco, on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Policymakers are interested too, debating whether public policy and taxpayer money should be used to propel off-site construction from niche application to a regular, if not dominant, feature of the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Evidence from abroad is fueling that optimism: In Sweden, where Wicks and a gaggle of other lawmakers visited last fall, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/08/headway/how-an-american-dream-of-housing-became-a-reality-in-sweden.html\">nearly half of residential construction\u003c/a> takes place in a factory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The renewed national interest is part of a “back to the drawingboard” energy that has pervaded policy circles at every level of government in the face of a national affordability crisis, said Chad Maisel, a Center for American Progress fellow and a former Biden administration housing policy advisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yes, the country has tried and failed at this before, most notably with Operation Breakthrough. Yes, individual companies have gone bust trying to make off-site happen at scale. “But we haven’t really given it our all,” Maisel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Henry Ford, but for housing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If the goal is to bring down building costs, rethinking the basics of the construction process is an obvious place to start.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last century, economic sectors across the United States have seen explosions in labor productivity, with industries using technological innovation, fine-tuned production processes and globe-spanning supply chains to squeeze ever more stuff out of the same number of workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction has been a stagnant outlier. Since the 1970s, labor productivity has actually declined sector-wide, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/economic_brief/2025/eb_25-31\">official government statistics\u003c/a>. In 2023 the average American construction worker added about as much value on a construction site as one in 1948.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you go to buy a car, you don’t get 6,000 parts shipped to your house and then someone comes and builds it for you,” said Ryan Cassidy, vice president of real estate development at Mutual Housing California, an affordable housing developer based in Sacramento that committed last year to build its next five projects with factory-built units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044255\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1200\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy.jpg 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/npr.brightspotcdn-2-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A truck is piled with planks salvaged by Perks Deconstruction from an old farmhouse in Aurora. The wood will be transported to the company’s warehouse, where it will be sorted and priced for sale. \u003ccite>(Hart Van Denburg/CPR News)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In theory, breaking down the building process into a series of discrete, repeatable tasks can mean fewer highly trained workers are needed per unit. Standardized panels and modules allow factories to buy materials in bulk at discount.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The work can be done faster, because it’s centralized, tightly choreographed, closely monitored and possibly automated — but also because multiple things can happen at the same time. Framers don’t have to wait for a foundation to set before getting started on the bedrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Off-site construction reliably cuts construction timelines by \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Southern-California-Off-Site-Construction-February-2022.pdf\">10 to 30 percent\u003c/a>, according to an analysis by the Terner Center. Some even rosier \u003ca href=\"https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/modular-construction-from-projects-to-products\">estimates\u003c/a> have put the figure closer to 50%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That can translate into real savings. “Factory-built housing has the potential to reduce hard (labor, material and equipment) costs by 10 to 25% — at least under the right conditions,” Terner’s director, Ben Metcalf, said at the select committee’s first \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/278391?t=1525&f=f7440a2ebdd25e14a09f1f72e544107e\">hearing\u003c/a> in early January.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But historically, it’s been very hard to get those conditions right.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The ghost of Katerra\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The main hitch is an obvious one: Factories are hugely expensive to set up and run. Off-site construction companies only stand to make up those costs if they can run continuously and at full capacity. Mass production only pencils out if it massively produces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means factory production isn’t especially well-suited to industries that boom and bust, in which surplus production can’t be stockpiled in a warehouse and everything is made to order and where local variations in climate, topography and regulation require bespoke products of varying materials, designs, configurations and sizes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of which describes the current real estate sector.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In a world in which housing projects are approved one at a time under various local rules and designs and sometimes after years of piecing together financing sources, it’s hard to build out that pipeline for a factory,” said Metcalf at the early January hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A construction worker operates machinery to move dirt at the site of new middle housing units at 2824 D Street in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The particular financial needs of a factory also upend business as usual for developers and real estate funders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Industrial construction “costs less overall but costs more in the short term. Everything is frontloaded,” said Jan Lindenthal-Cox, chief investment officer at the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund. All design, engineering and material decisions have to be finalized long before the factory gears start turning. Real estate investors and lenders tend to be wary of putting up quite so much money so early in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Accelerator Fund, a privately-backed non-profit, is hoping to ease some of those concerns by providing short-term, low-cost loans to developers in order to cover those higher-than-usual early costs. The hope is that traditional funders — namely, banks and investors — will eventually feel confident enough to take over that role “once this is a more proven approach,” said Lindenthal-Cox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such skittishness pervades every step of the off-site development process, said Apoorva Pasricha, chief operation officer at Cloud Apartments, a San Francisco-based start-up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073551\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073551\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020726_FactoryHousing_JK_CM_05-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of Drake Avenue Apartments at the site of the factory housing complex at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Scaffolding sits in front of a weather-resistant barrier on the exterior of factory-built housing, Drake Avenue Apartments, at 825 Drake Avenue in Marin City on Feb. 7, 2026. Photo by Jungho Kim for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A subcontractor unfamiliar with modular construction might bid a project higher than they otherwise would to compensate for the uncertainty. Building code officials might be extra cautious or extra slow in approving a project for the same reason.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the industry grows, “creating familiarity with the process helps drive that risk down,” said Pasricha. “The question is, who is going to be willing to pay the price to learn?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some would-be pioneers have paid it. In 2021, the Silicon Valley-based modular start up Katerra went \u003ca href=\"https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/katerras-2-billion-legacy_o\">spectacularly bankrupt\u003c/a> after spending $2 billion in a hyperambitious gambit to disrupt the building industry. Katerra still hangs over the industry like a specter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brian Potter, a former Katerra engineer who now writes the widely-read \u003ca href=\"https://www.construction-physics.com/\">Construction Physics\u003c/a> newsletter, said he too was once wooed by the idea that “‘we’ll just move this into a factory and we will yield enormous improvements.’”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>These days, he strenuously avoids terms like “impossible” and “doomed to fail” when asked about the potential of off-site construction. But he does stress that it’s a very hard nut to crack with limited upside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Beyond just the regulatory issues, which are real, there are just fundamental nature of the market, nature of the process, things that you have to cope with,” said Potter, whose recent book, \u003cem>The Origins of Efficiency\u003c/em>, digs into how and why modern society has succeeded at making certain things much faster and cheaper — and not others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Certain markets in California could be a good fit for factory-built construction, he added, but not for the reasons that off-site boosters typically lead with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Construction costs in the Bay Area, specifically, are notoriously expensive. Many of the region’s most productive housing factories are located in Idaho. That arrangement might make financial sense, said Potter, not because of anything inherently cost-saving in the industrialized process, but because wages in the Boise area are just \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_sanfrancisco.htm\">a lot\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.bls.gov/regions/west/news-release/occupationalemploymentandwages_boisecity.htm\">lower\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That raises another potential impediment for state lawmakers hoping to goose the factory-built model: Organized labor. In a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-construction-unions-housing/\">familiar political split\u003c/a>, while California’s carpenters union has historically been open to the idea of off-site construction, the influential State Building & Construction Trades Council has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/San-Francisco-trade-unions-at-odds-over-modular-15755264.php\">hostile\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Will the state step in?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Neither Wicks, nor any other legislator, has released legislative language yet aimed at supporting the industry. But in committee hearings, developers, labor leaders, academics and other off-site construction supporters have repeatedly pitched lawmakers on the same three themes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building out the pipeline is one. The state, supporters say, could keep the factories humming either by nudging affordable developers that way when they apply for state subsidies or by out-and-out requiring public entities, like state universities, to at least consider off-site when they build, say, student housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Insuring factories against the risk of a developer going bankrupt (and vice versa) is another common proposal. Developers and investors are hesitant to schedule a spot on a factory line if that factory’s bankruptcy will leave them in the lurch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12042674\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12042674\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/008_KQED_Housing_Oakland_02212020_3485_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings under construction near Macarthur BART station in Oakland, on Feb. 21, 2020. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Likewise, factories tend to charge high deposits to make up for the fact that developers go out of business or get hit with months-long delays. One solution could involve the taxpayer playing the role of insurer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Third: Standardizing building code requirements. The state’s Housing and Community Development department already regulates factory-built housing units. But once a module is shipped to a site, local inspectors will often do their own once-over.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these proposed fixes are specific to the industry. But some are regulatory changes that would make it easier to build more generally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That might suggest that policy should ideally focus on making it easier to build stuff more generally, “not on a specific goal,” said Stephen Smith, director of the Center for Building in North America, which advocates for cost-cutting changes to building codes. For all the emphasis on building entire studio apartments inside factories, he noted that plenty of steps in the construction process have entered the modern era.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023647\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023647\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/3000/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00211-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A line of old factory buildings on Mare Island in the city of Vallejo, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. \u003ccite>(David M. Barreda/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You find walls built in factories, you see elevators, you see escalators,” said Smith. “You need to consider the small victories and think of it as a general process of (regulatory) hygiene.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wicks has heard all of the arguments for why emphasizing factory-based construction won’t work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think factory-built housing is going to solve all of our problems. I think it’s a piece of the solution,” she said. “We’re not talking about actually funding the building of factories. We’re talking about creating a streamlined environment for these types of housing units to be built.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In other words, it can’t hurt to try again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/02/factory-built-housing-california-wicks/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "california-mountain-lions-are-now-considered-threatened-but-only-in-certain-regions",
"title": "California Mountain Lions Are Now Considered ‘Threatened,’ but Only in Certain Regions",
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"headTitle": "California Mountain Lions Are Now Considered ‘Threatened,’ but Only in Certain Regions | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just weeks after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071216/san-francisco-mountain-lion-is-tranquilized-as-officials-work-to-capture-the-cougar\">mountain lion wandered\u003c/a> into San Francisco, state officials voted to permanently protect populations of the charismatic predators that prowl the coastal mountains between the Bay Area and the Mexican border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mountain lions are one of the last big predators keeping \u003ca href=\"https://home.nps.gov/articles/000/mountain-lions-are-keystone-species.htm#:~:text=By%20Bryan%20Hamilton%2C%20acting%20Integrated,et%20al.%2C%202015)\">ecosystems in balance. They feed \u003c/a>on deer and other animals, leave scavengers, raptors and other wildlife the remains, and help maintain equilibrium among plants, prey and predator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, caged by concrete, killed by cars and sickened by rat poison, the isolated mountain lions along California’s coast risk inbreeding themselves into extinction, scientists and state wildlife officials say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the California Fish and Game Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to list six groups of Central Coast and Southern California mountain lions as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These mountain lions account for about one-third of the roughly 4,200 solitary, tawny cats thought to roam California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_147557\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4712px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-147557\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/mountain-lion.jpg\" alt=\"Mountain lions typically avoid interaction with humans, and attacks are rare. An estimated 4,000 to 6,000 live in California. This one, however, was living at the Berlin Zoo in 2012. (Stephanie Pilick/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"4712\" height=\"3096\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/mountain-lion.jpg 4712w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/mountain-lion-640x420.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/mountain-lion-1028x675.jpg 1028w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 4712px) 100vw, 4712px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mountain lions typically avoid interaction with humans, and attacks are rare. An estimated 4,000 to 6,000 live in California. This one, however, was living at the Berlin Zoo in 2012. \u003ccite>(Stephanie Pilick/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dozens of people spoke before the board today, from ardent supporters of wildlife to fierce opponents of free roaming predators and residents of rural areas concerned for their livestock and livelihoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listing the mountain lions aligns with the state’s existing ban on hunting mountain lions for sport and prohibits harming, or “taking”, them except with a permit under certain conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It could also increase their priority for limited conservation grants and other funds. More importantly, advocates say, it will trigger habitat protections — including under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Builders push back\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>State and local planning agencies must determine whether projects such as new roads, buildings or other developments could harm protected species and their habitats, and require developers to reduce that harm when possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For mountain lions, advocates and scientists hope that the listing will reduce further habitat loss and fragmentation in areas already carved into isolated pockets by roads and cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we want to maintain mountain lion populations in these coastal regions, then we’ve got some work to do,” said \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ucsc.edu/\">Chris Wilmers\u003c/a>, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and lead investigator of the Santa Cruz Puma Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073474\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00970_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00970_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00970_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00970_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Department of Fish and Wildlife members load the cage containing the juvenile mountain lion onto a truck outside an apartment building on Octavia and California Street in San Francisco on Jan. 27, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Builders have challenged some of the details of the listing, but did not oppose granting the mountain lions protected status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter, the California Building Industry Association and the Building Industry Association of Southern California warned that the state’s current habitat maps could force developers in urban areas into studies and mitigation efforts that “would significantly increase project costs and schedules.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Protecting mountain lions is a card that one wealthy Bay Area enclave \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/02/california-zoning-housing-podcast/\">has already tried to play\u003c/a> in a gambit to block denser housing — to the scorn of housing and wildlife advocates alike.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Conflict over wildlife conflict\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ranchers and residents of hilly, remote Bay Area and Central Coast suburbs also argued that more protections could spur more mountain lion attacks on people and livestock, and harm ranchers’ livelihoods. Some sent the commission photographs of mauled cattle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People have them on cameras all the time eating house cats off peoples’ porches, dogs dragged off in broad daylight right in front of their owners, and children being mauled,” Greg Fontana, whose family has ranched the coastal reaches of San Mateo county for generations, wrote in a letter to the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s rare for the reclusive cats to attack people — rarer still for the attacks to be fatal. Cougars are known to have killed six people \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Mountain-Lion\">in the last 136 years\u003c/a> — most recently \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/dna-is-a-match-in-fatal-mountain-lion-attack-in-el-dorado-county\">a young man in 2024 in El Dorado County\u003c/a>, outside the area where mountain lions are now listed as threatened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071220\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071220\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFMountainLionAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFMountainLionAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFMountainLionAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFMountainLionAP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign warns of mountain lions in a neighborhood on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Andy Bao/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Attacks on livestock and pets, however, have trended upward in recent decades, according to a state report. But state wildlife officials also note that such attacks rise for every mountain lion killed or relocated in the prior year. One theory is that younger males move into the emptied territory, where the less proficient hunters go after slower pets and livestock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listing mountain lions under the state’s endangered species act doesn’t prevent wildlife officials from intervening in conflicts, either, according to Stephen Gonzalez, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The act still allows the department to “issue permits for take of a … listed species for ‘management’ purposes,” which could include managing mountain lions that kill pets and livestock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mountain lions have had temporary protections under the state’s endangered species act while the state weighed whether to list them. Even in that time, Gonzalez said the department has issued such permits to scare off troublesome mountain lions. It “anticipates it will continue to do so … evaluating each situation on a case-by-case basis and continuing to prioritize non-lethal methods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Inbreeding to extinction\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Scientists and advocates say that mountain lions are running out of time: physical signs of inbreeding, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/samo/learn/news/southern-california-mountain-lions-show-first-reproductive-effects-of-inbreeding-according-to-ucla-led-study.htm\">kinked tails, testicular defects and malformed sperm\u003c/a>, have already cropped up in cougars corralled by freeways in the \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34710647/\">mountains of Southern California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having a kinked tail, where the end is \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/puma-profiles-p-81.htm\">sharply bent like an ‘L’,\u003c/a> doesn’t seem to harm a mountain lion, Wilmers said. But they’re an ominous sign that a population is reaching alarming levels of inbreeding.[aside postID=news_12052044 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/Mountain-Lion.png']Without fresh gametes swimming in the gene pool, the iconic cougars of the Santa Ana and Santa Monica mountains risk dying out in the coming decades when inbreeding starts affecting reproduction and survival, \u003ca href=\"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/eap.1868\">scientists warn\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even populations further north are struggling to find mates that aren’t related to them. Wilmers recalls the first time he saw a kinked tail on a trail cam in the Santa Cruz mountains. “It was definitely an ‘Oh shit’ moment,” Wilmers said. “This is really happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To combat the array of threats — from inbreeding and car accidents to rat poisons and wildfires — the Center for Biological Diversity and the Mountain Lion Foundation petitioned in 2019 to add Central Coast and Southern California Mountain Lions to the state’s endangered species list.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These populations are facing an extinction vortex,” said Tiffany Yap, urban wildlands science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We need these protections to get more connectivity on our roads, in our development, so that they can roam freely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than six years later, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife agreed. In December, a staff report recommended that, with some tweaks to the protected area, California list these mountain lions as threatened.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Room to roam\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California is already taking steps to connect cougars’ habitats — sinking \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2021/07/california-wildlife-crossings/\">millions of dollars\u003c/a> into highway crossings to give wildlife safe passage \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/02/02/california-closes-in-on-completing-the-worlds-largest-wildlife-crossing/\">over\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/craft-landtrust/uploads/Highway-17-Laurel-Wildlife-Crossing-Study-2023-2024-1.pdf\">under the cars and trucks\u003c/a> that scientists report \u003ca href=\"https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/mountain-lion-mortality-maps-show-rough-road-cougars\">killed hundreds of mountain lions\u003c/a> over a seven year stretch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yap says it’s not enough — and San Francisco’s recent visit from a cougar is a prime example. Young males disperse to find new territory and mates away from their relatives and other more dominant males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But without paths to suitable habitat, they can find their way to Yap’s neighborhood in Pacific Heights, where the 80-pound cat ended up sandwiched in a narrow space between two apartment buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073475\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073475\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00797_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00797_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00797_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00797_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A member of San Francisco Animal Care & Control opens their car door outside the apartment building where a juvenile mountain lion was caught on Octavia and California Street in San Francisco on January 27, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yap was across the street watching \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaDFW/posts/pfbid02ny6XBu8F1VMvKLWL7BoBJ9d9vrPVZFsdjnVD9SJVbCytKkuCDPxqPJ6ouo5XEuuJl\">California Fish and Wildlife biologists and veterinarians\u003c/a> from the San Francisco Zoo trying to catch the cougar, which they eventually tranquilized and released into the Santa Cruz Mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To her, it drove home the importance of protecting — and connecting — the mountains the lions call home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilmers agreed. “There’s always going to be mountain lions bumping into San Francisco. But right now, that’s all they can do,” he said. “We’d like to get to the place where they can find ways through this maze of urban and suburban development, to the next mountain range over.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2026/02/facing-extinction-vortex-california-grants-new-protections-to-more-mountain-lions/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "State fish and game officials declared mountain lions in the Central Coast and Southern California threatened under the state’s endangered species act.",
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"title": "California Mountain Lions Are Now Considered ‘Threatened,’ but Only in Certain Regions | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just weeks after a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071216/san-francisco-mountain-lion-is-tranquilized-as-officials-work-to-capture-the-cougar\">mountain lion wandered\u003c/a> into San Francisco, state officials voted to permanently protect populations of the charismatic predators that prowl the coastal mountains between the Bay Area and the Mexican border.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mountain lions are one of the last big predators keeping \u003ca href=\"https://home.nps.gov/articles/000/mountain-lions-are-keystone-species.htm#:~:text=By%20Bryan%20Hamilton%2C%20acting%20Integrated,et%20al.%2C%202015)\">ecosystems in balance. They feed \u003c/a>on deer and other animals, leave scavengers, raptors and other wildlife the remains, and help maintain equilibrium among plants, prey and predator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, caged by concrete, killed by cars and sickened by rat poison, the isolated mountain lions along California’s coast risk inbreeding themselves into extinction, scientists and state wildlife officials say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the California Fish and Game Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to list six groups of Central Coast and Southern California mountain lions as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These mountain lions account for about one-third of the roughly 4,200 solitary, tawny cats thought to roam California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_147557\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4712px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-147557\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/mountain-lion.jpg\" alt=\"Mountain lions typically avoid interaction with humans, and attacks are rare. An estimated 4,000 to 6,000 live in California. This one, however, was living at the Berlin Zoo in 2012. (Stephanie Pilick/AFP/Getty Images)\" width=\"4712\" height=\"3096\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/mountain-lion.jpg 4712w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/mountain-lion-640x420.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2014/09/mountain-lion-1028x675.jpg 1028w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 4712px) 100vw, 4712px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mountain lions typically avoid interaction with humans, and attacks are rare. An estimated 4,000 to 6,000 live in California. This one, however, was living at the Berlin Zoo in 2012. \u003ccite>(Stephanie Pilick/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dozens of people spoke before the board today, from ardent supporters of wildlife to fierce opponents of free roaming predators and residents of rural areas concerned for their livestock and livelihoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listing the mountain lions aligns with the state’s existing ban on hunting mountain lions for sport and prohibits harming, or “taking”, them except with a permit under certain conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It could also increase their priority for limited conservation grants and other funds. More importantly, advocates say, it will trigger habitat protections — including under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Builders push back\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>State and local planning agencies must determine whether projects such as new roads, buildings or other developments could harm protected species and their habitats, and require developers to reduce that harm when possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For mountain lions, advocates and scientists hope that the listing will reduce further habitat loss and fragmentation in areas already carved into isolated pockets by roads and cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we want to maintain mountain lion populations in these coastal regions, then we’ve got some work to do,” said \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ucsc.edu/\">Chris Wilmers\u003c/a>, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and lead investigator of the Santa Cruz Puma Project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"mceTemp\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073474\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00970_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00970_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00970_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00970_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Department of Fish and Wildlife members load the cage containing the juvenile mountain lion onto a truck outside an apartment building on Octavia and California Street in San Francisco on Jan. 27, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Builders have challenged some of the details of the listing, but did not oppose granting the mountain lions protected status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a letter, the California Building Industry Association and the Building Industry Association of Southern California warned that the state’s current habitat maps could force developers in urban areas into studies and mitigation efforts that “would significantly increase project costs and schedules.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Protecting mountain lions is a card that one wealthy Bay Area enclave \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/02/california-zoning-housing-podcast/\">has already tried to play\u003c/a> in a gambit to block denser housing — to the scorn of housing and wildlife advocates alike.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Conflict over wildlife conflict\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ranchers and residents of hilly, remote Bay Area and Central Coast suburbs also argued that more protections could spur more mountain lion attacks on people and livestock, and harm ranchers’ livelihoods. Some sent the commission photographs of mauled cattle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People have them on cameras all the time eating house cats off peoples’ porches, dogs dragged off in broad daylight right in front of their owners, and children being mauled,” Greg Fontana, whose family has ranched the coastal reaches of San Mateo county for generations, wrote in a letter to the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s rare for the reclusive cats to attack people — rarer still for the attacks to be fatal. Cougars are known to have killed six people \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Mountain-Lion\">in the last 136 years\u003c/a> — most recently \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/dna-is-a-match-in-fatal-mountain-lion-attack-in-el-dorado-county\">a young man in 2024 in El Dorado County\u003c/a>, outside the area where mountain lions are now listed as threatened.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071220\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071220\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFMountainLionAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFMountainLionAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFMountainLionAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SFMountainLionAP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign warns of mountain lions in a neighborhood on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Andy Bao/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Attacks on livestock and pets, however, have trended upward in recent decades, according to a state report. But state wildlife officials also note that such attacks rise for every mountain lion killed or relocated in the prior year. One theory is that younger males move into the emptied territory, where the less proficient hunters go after slower pets and livestock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Listing mountain lions under the state’s endangered species act doesn’t prevent wildlife officials from intervening in conflicts, either, according to Stephen Gonzalez, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The act still allows the department to “issue permits for take of a … listed species for ‘management’ purposes,” which could include managing mountain lions that kill pets and livestock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mountain lions have had temporary protections under the state’s endangered species act while the state weighed whether to list them. Even in that time, Gonzalez said the department has issued such permits to scare off troublesome mountain lions. It “anticipates it will continue to do so … evaluating each situation on a case-by-case basis and continuing to prioritize non-lethal methods.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Inbreeding to extinction\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Scientists and advocates say that mountain lions are running out of time: physical signs of inbreeding, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/samo/learn/news/southern-california-mountain-lions-show-first-reproductive-effects-of-inbreeding-according-to-ucla-led-study.htm\">kinked tails, testicular defects and malformed sperm\u003c/a>, have already cropped up in cougars corralled by freeways in the \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34710647/\">mountains of Southern California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Having a kinked tail, where the end is \u003ca href=\"https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/puma-profiles-p-81.htm\">sharply bent like an ‘L’,\u003c/a> doesn’t seem to harm a mountain lion, Wilmers said. But they’re an ominous sign that a population is reaching alarming levels of inbreeding.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Without fresh gametes swimming in the gene pool, the iconic cougars of the Santa Ana and Santa Monica mountains risk dying out in the coming decades when inbreeding starts affecting reproduction and survival, \u003ca href=\"https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/eap.1868\">scientists warn\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even populations further north are struggling to find mates that aren’t related to them. Wilmers recalls the first time he saw a kinked tail on a trail cam in the Santa Cruz mountains. “It was definitely an ‘Oh shit’ moment,” Wilmers said. “This is really happening.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To combat the array of threats — from inbreeding and car accidents to rat poisons and wildfires — the Center for Biological Diversity and the Mountain Lion Foundation petitioned in 2019 to add Central Coast and Southern California Mountain Lions to the state’s endangered species list.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These populations are facing an extinction vortex,” said Tiffany Yap, urban wildlands science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We need these protections to get more connectivity on our roads, in our development, so that they can roam freely.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than six years later, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife agreed. In December, a staff report recommended that, with some tweaks to the protected area, California list these mountain lions as threatened.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Room to roam\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California is already taking steps to connect cougars’ habitats — sinking \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2021/07/california-wildlife-crossings/\">millions of dollars\u003c/a> into highway crossings to give wildlife safe passage \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/02/02/california-closes-in-on-completing-the-worlds-largest-wildlife-crossing/\">over\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/craft-landtrust/uploads/Highway-17-Laurel-Wildlife-Crossing-Study-2023-2024-1.pdf\">under the cars and trucks\u003c/a> that scientists report \u003ca href=\"https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/mountain-lion-mortality-maps-show-rough-road-cougars\">killed hundreds of mountain lions\u003c/a> over a seven year stretch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yap says it’s not enough — and San Francisco’s recent visit from a cougar is a prime example. Young males disperse to find new territory and mates away from their relatives and other more dominant males.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But without paths to suitable habitat, they can find their way to Yap’s neighborhood in Pacific Heights, where the 80-pound cat ended up sandwiched in a narrow space between two apartment buildings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073475\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073475\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00797_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00797_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00797_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260127-mountainlion00797_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A member of San Francisco Animal Care & Control opens their car door outside the apartment building where a juvenile mountain lion was caught on Octavia and California Street in San Francisco on January 27, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ / KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Yap was across the street watching \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/CaliforniaDFW/posts/pfbid02ny6XBu8F1VMvKLWL7BoBJ9d9vrPVZFsdjnVD9SJVbCytKkuCDPxqPJ6ouo5XEuuJl\">California Fish and Wildlife biologists and veterinarians\u003c/a> from the San Francisco Zoo trying to catch the cougar, which they eventually tranquilized and released into the Santa Cruz Mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To her, it drove home the importance of protecting — and connecting — the mountains the lions call home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilmers agreed. “There’s always going to be mountain lions bumping into San Francisco. But right now, that’s all they can do,” he said. “We’d like to get to the place where they can find ways through this maze of urban and suburban development, to the next mountain range over.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2026/02/facing-extinction-vortex-california-grants-new-protections-to-more-mountain-lions/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Trump Scraps a Cornerstone Climate Finding, as California Prepares for Court",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/donald-trump\">Trump\u003c/a> administration formally rescinded the legal foundation of federal climate policy Thursday — setting up a new front in California’s long-running battle with Washington over emissions rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today, the Trump EPA has finalized the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States of America,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said at a White House press conference. “Referred to by some as the holy grail of federal regulatory overreach, the 2009 Obama EPA endangerment finding is now eliminated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the federal government may regulate greenhouse gases if they were found to endanger public health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a scientific determination that greenhouse gases indeed were a threat. By withdrawing its own so-called “endangerment finding,” the EPA is abandoning its justification for federal tailpipe standards, power plant rules and fuel economy regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California opposed the withdrawal of the endangerment finding when it was proposed last year, and is expected to sue over the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Air Resources Board executive director Steven Cliff \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/carb-executive-officer-rips-u-s-epa-proposal-reverse-decades-proven-climate-science\">testified\u003c/a> at the time that the move ignored settled science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Thousands of scientists from around the world are not wrong,” Cliff said in his testimony. “In this proposal, EPA is denying reality and telling every victim of climate-driven fires and floods not to believe what’s right before their eyes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070630\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070630\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at the Friendship House Association of American Indians in San Francisco on Jan. 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement Thursday that California would take the Trump administration to court over the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Donald Trump may put corporate greed ahead of communities and families, but California will not stand by,” Newsom said. “We will continue to lead because the lives and livelihoods of our people depend on it.”[aside postID=news_12072843 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/20251105_URBANSTRATEGY_PL_01-KQED.jpg']Other states and environmental groups have also indicated they could sue. They include Massachusetts, which was part of the coalition of states that sued to force the federal government to curb greenhouse gases nearly two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eliminating the federal basis for regulating planet-warming gases will not halt California’s climate policies, most of which – from California’s market-based approach to cutting carbon pollution to clean energy mandates for utilities — rest on state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, the decision may open the door for California to set its own greenhouse gas standards for vehicles, a possibility that lawmakers and regulators are actively weighing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reversal in federal policy could also undercut arguments that federal law blocks state lawsuits against oil companies and boosts interest in expanding California’s authority over planet-warming pollution within its borders.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California prepares for a fight\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ann Carlson, a UCLA law professor and former federal transportation official, has argued that aggressive federal action against climate policy “could, ironically, provide states with authority they’ve never had before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Writing in the law journal Environmental Forum, Carlson theorized that California could attempt to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks directly under state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal law has preempted most states from setting local vehicle emission standards; California has, through a series of waivers granted under federal clean air law, obtained permission to set stricter standards than the federal government does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073339\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/WaterTowerCM2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/WaterTowerCM2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/WaterTowerCM2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/WaterTowerCM2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Campbell Power Plant in Sacramento on Aug. 31, 2022. \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This could help California’s efforts “in the long run,” Carlson wrote in an email Wednesday, “but of course, withdrawing the United States from all efforts to tackle climate change is a terrible move. We should be leading the global effort, not retreating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, where cars and trucks account for more than a third of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, California regulators at the air board and lawmakers are weighing in. When asked last year by CalMatters whether the air board would consider writing its own rules, Chair Lauren Sanchez said, “All options are currently on the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is definitely a conversation,” Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/cottie-petrie-norris-165040\">Cottie Petrie-Norris\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Irvine, said during a Wednesday press conference held by the California Environmental Voters. “So stay tuned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ripple effects in court and Sacramento\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If Washington formally exits the field of carbon regulation, states may argue they have broader room to pursue liability claims tied to wildfire costs and other climate impacts, experts said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/climate-change/2025/03/climate-change-california-oil-industry-legal-strategy/\">sued major oil companies\u003c/a> as recently as 2023, in an attempt to hold them responsible for climate impacts. Oil companies have frequently cited federal oversight as a reason to dismiss climate-damage lawsuits against them.[aside postID=news_12052390 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/230928-EAGLE-ROCK-SETTLE-MD-07_qed.jpg']“California is struggling with wildfire costs, for example, which are linked strongly to a warming climate,” said Ethan Elkind, a climate law expert at UC Berkeley. “I think that opens up a lot of legal avenues for states like California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal pullback has prompted lawmakers to consider expanding the Air Resources Board’s powers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/robert-garcia-109905\">Robert Garcia\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Rancho Cucamonga, this week introduced \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1777\">a bill\u003c/a> aimed at affirming the state’s power to curb pollution from large facilities that generate heavy truck traffic, such as warehouses and ports, which concentrate diesel exhaust in nearby communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s no secret that the federal government and California are not seeing eye to eye — we’re not on the same page,” Garcia said at Wednesday’s news conference. “This is an opportunity for our state, for California, to step in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2026/02/endangerment-climate-policy-trump-lawsuit/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/donald-trump\">Trump\u003c/a> administration formally rescinded the legal foundation of federal climate policy Thursday — setting up a new front in California’s long-running battle with Washington over emissions rules.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today, the Trump EPA has finalized the single largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States of America,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said at a White House press conference. “Referred to by some as the holy grail of federal regulatory overreach, the 2009 Obama EPA endangerment finding is now eliminated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the federal government may regulate greenhouse gases if they were found to endanger public health, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a scientific determination that greenhouse gases indeed were a threat. By withdrawing its own so-called “endangerment finding,” the EPA is abandoning its justification for federal tailpipe standards, power plant rules and fuel economy regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California opposed the withdrawal of the endangerment finding when it was proposed last year, and is expected to sue over the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Air Resources Board executive director Steven Cliff \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/carb-executive-officer-rips-u-s-epa-proposal-reverse-decades-proven-climate-science\">testified\u003c/a> at the time that the move ignored settled science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Thousands of scientists from around the world are not wrong,” Cliff said in his testimony. “In this proposal, EPA is denying reality and telling every victim of climate-driven fires and floods not to believe what’s right before their eyes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070630\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070630\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-32-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at the Friendship House Association of American Indians in San Francisco on Jan. 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement Thursday that California would take the Trump administration to court over the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Donald Trump may put corporate greed ahead of communities and families, but California will not stand by,” Newsom said. “We will continue to lead because the lives and livelihoods of our people depend on it.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Other states and environmental groups have also indicated they could sue. They include Massachusetts, which was part of the coalition of states that sued to force the federal government to curb greenhouse gases nearly two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eliminating the federal basis for regulating planet-warming gases will not halt California’s climate policies, most of which – from California’s market-based approach to cutting carbon pollution to clean energy mandates for utilities — rest on state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, the decision may open the door for California to set its own greenhouse gas standards for vehicles, a possibility that lawmakers and regulators are actively weighing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reversal in federal policy could also undercut arguments that federal law blocks state lawsuits against oil companies and boosts interest in expanding California’s authority over planet-warming pollution within its borders.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California prepares for a fight\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Ann Carlson, a UCLA law professor and former federal transportation official, has argued that aggressive federal action against climate policy “could, ironically, provide states with authority they’ve never had before.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Writing in the law journal Environmental Forum, Carlson theorized that California could attempt to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks directly under state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal law has preempted most states from setting local vehicle emission standards; California has, through a series of waivers granted under federal clean air law, obtained permission to set stricter standards than the federal government does.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12073339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12073339\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/WaterTowerCM2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/WaterTowerCM2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/WaterTowerCM2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/WaterTowerCM2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Campbell Power Plant in Sacramento on Aug. 31, 2022. \u003ccite>(Rahul Lal/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This could help California’s efforts “in the long run,” Carlson wrote in an email Wednesday, “but of course, withdrawing the United States from all efforts to tackle climate change is a terrible move. We should be leading the global effort, not retreating.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, where cars and trucks account for more than a third of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, California regulators at the air board and lawmakers are weighing in. When asked last year by CalMatters whether the air board would consider writing its own rules, Chair Lauren Sanchez said, “All options are currently on the table.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is definitely a conversation,” Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/cottie-petrie-norris-165040\">Cottie Petrie-Norris\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Irvine, said during a Wednesday press conference held by the California Environmental Voters. “So stay tuned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ripple effects in court and Sacramento\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>If Washington formally exits the field of carbon regulation, states may argue they have broader room to pursue liability claims tied to wildfire costs and other climate impacts, experts said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/climate-change/2025/03/climate-change-california-oil-industry-legal-strategy/\">sued major oil companies\u003c/a> as recently as 2023, in an attempt to hold them responsible for climate impacts. Oil companies have frequently cited federal oversight as a reason to dismiss climate-damage lawsuits against them.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“California is struggling with wildfire costs, for example, which are linked strongly to a warming climate,” said Ethan Elkind, a climate law expert at UC Berkeley. “I think that opens up a lot of legal avenues for states like California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal pullback has prompted lawmakers to consider expanding the Air Resources Board’s powers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/robert-garcia-109905\">Robert Garcia\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Rancho Cucamonga, this week introduced \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1777\">a bill\u003c/a> aimed at affirming the state’s power to curb pollution from large facilities that generate heavy truck traffic, such as warehouses and ports, which concentrate diesel exhaust in nearby communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s no secret that the federal government and California are not seeing eye to eye — we’re not on the same page,” Garcia said at Wednesday’s news conference. “This is an opportunity for our state, for California, to step in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2026/02/endangerment-climate-policy-trump-lawsuit/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "californias-instant-ev-rebates-would-require-automakers-to-match-state-funds",
"title": "California’s Instant EV Rebates Would Require Automakers to Match State Funds",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This commentary was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians could get \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015764/newsom-vows-bring-back-california-ev-rebates-trump-cuts-federal-credit\">instant rebates on electric vehicle purchases\u003c/a> under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $200 million plan, which would require automakers to match state incentives dollar-for-dollar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://trailerbill.dof.ca.gov/public/trailerBill/pdf/1367\">plan\u003c/a>, which the Legislature must still approve, lays out for the first time how the governor plans to steer a California-specific rebate program to bolster a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/climate-change/2026/01/california-ev-rebates-trump/\">slowing electric car market\u003c/a> after the Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/01/trump-big-beautiful-bill-axes-7500-ev-tax-credit-after-september.html\">cancelled federal incentives\u003c/a> last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Air Resources Board would oversee the program, offering rebates at the point of sale to lower upfront costs for buyers instead of reimbursing them later. The draft does not specify rebate amounts, which the air board will determine during program design and discuss at a public workshop this spring, said Lindsay Buckley, a spokesperson for the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal exempts the program from the state’s usual rule-making requirements, allowing California to design and launch the rebates more quickly than typical for new programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070782\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2256657926.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070782\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2256657926.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2256657926.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2256657926-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2256657926-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to the press on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Newsom first unveiled the incentive proposal as part of his \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/01/california-newsom-last-state-budget/\">January budget plan\u003c/a> but released few initial details. State officials cast the subsidy as a response to President Donald Trump’s dismantling of incentives and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2025/05/california-electric-car-mandate-senate-revoke-waiver/\">blocking\u003c/a> of California’s clean-vehicle mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How the rebates would work\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Outside experts and clean vehicle advocates said the details raise new questions about how the program would work in practice and who would benefit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethan Elkind, a climate law expert at UC Berkeley, said structuring the incentives as grants allows the state to set the terms automakers must meet to access the money, giving California leverage over manufacturers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>California is an expensive place to live. Are you feeling the pinch? \u003ca href=\"#Shareyourstory\">Share your story\u003c/a> with KQED by leaving us a voicemail at \u003ca href=\"tel:4155532115\">415-553-2115\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\">clicking here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>But Mars Wu, a senior program manager with the Greenlining Institute, which advocates for investments in communities of color, said the draft plans fall short on equity, arguing the proposal does little to ensure the incentives reach the Californians who need them most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The] proposal sets up a first-come, first-serve free-for-all scenario, which is not a prudent use of extremely limited public dollars in a deficit year,” she wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How far could the money go?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The proposal limits eligibility by vehicle price, not buyer income. New passenger cars qualify only if priced at or below $55,000, while vans, SUVs and pickup trucks are capped at $80,000. [aside postID=science_1999931 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/01/GETTYIMAGES-2258202432-KQED.jpg']Used vehicles are limited to a sales price of $25,000. All vehicles must be registered to California residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The newly released details also add context about the size of the program. A \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/climate-change/2026/01/california-ev-rebates-trump/\">CalMatters estimate\u003c/a> of the governor’s initial proposal found that the $200 million would cover rebates for only about 20% of last year’s electric vehicle sales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed matching funds from auto manufacturers could allow the program to cover a larger share of buyers or provide larger point-of-sale rebates, depending on how the incentives are structured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One clean car advocate said the details aren’t locked in yet — including how the rebates could be targeted. Wu said the state could move quickly without abandoning equity by deciding who qualifies in advance while still offering rebates at the dealership. “There is a way to balance equity and expediency,” Wu wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2026/02/newsom-ev-rebates-automakers-trump/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Shareyourstory\">\u003c/a>California is expensive. Share your story of how you get by\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This commentary was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians could get \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12015764/newsom-vows-bring-back-california-ev-rebates-trump-cuts-federal-credit\">instant rebates on electric vehicle purchases\u003c/a> under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $200 million plan, which would require automakers to match state incentives dollar-for-dollar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://trailerbill.dof.ca.gov/public/trailerBill/pdf/1367\">plan\u003c/a>, which the Legislature must still approve, lays out for the first time how the governor plans to steer a California-specific rebate program to bolster a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/climate-change/2026/01/california-ev-rebates-trump/\">slowing electric car market\u003c/a> after the Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/01/trump-big-beautiful-bill-axes-7500-ev-tax-credit-after-september.html\">cancelled federal incentives\u003c/a> last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Air Resources Board would oversee the program, offering rebates at the point of sale to lower upfront costs for buyers instead of reimbursing them later. The draft does not specify rebate amounts, which the air board will determine during program design and discuss at a public workshop this spring, said Lindsay Buckley, a spokesperson for the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal exempts the program from the state’s usual rule-making requirements, allowing California to design and launch the rebates more quickly than typical for new programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070782\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2256657926.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070782\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2256657926.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2256657926.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2256657926-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2256657926-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to the press on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on Jan. 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Newsom first unveiled the incentive proposal as part of his \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/01/california-newsom-last-state-budget/\">January budget plan\u003c/a> but released few initial details. State officials cast the subsidy as a response to President Donald Trump’s dismantling of incentives and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2025/05/california-electric-car-mandate-senate-revoke-waiver/\">blocking\u003c/a> of California’s clean-vehicle mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How the rebates would work\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Outside experts and clean vehicle advocates said the details raise new questions about how the program would work in practice and who would benefit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ethan Elkind, a climate law expert at UC Berkeley, said structuring the incentives as grants allows the state to set the terms automakers must meet to access the money, giving California leverage over manufacturers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>California is an expensive place to live. Are you feeling the pinch? \u003ca href=\"#Shareyourstory\">Share your story\u003c/a> with KQED by leaving us a voicemail at \u003ca href=\"tel:4155532115\">415-553-2115\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\">clicking here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>But Mars Wu, a senior program manager with the Greenlining Institute, which advocates for investments in communities of color, said the draft plans fall short on equity, arguing the proposal does little to ensure the incentives reach the Californians who need them most.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[The] proposal sets up a first-come, first-serve free-for-all scenario, which is not a prudent use of extremely limited public dollars in a deficit year,” she wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How far could the money go?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The proposal limits eligibility by vehicle price, not buyer income. New passenger cars qualify only if priced at or below $55,000, while vans, SUVs and pickup trucks are capped at $80,000. \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Used vehicles are limited to a sales price of $25,000. All vehicles must be registered to California residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The newly released details also add context about the size of the program. A \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/climate-change/2026/01/california-ev-rebates-trump/\">CalMatters estimate\u003c/a> of the governor’s initial proposal found that the $200 million would cover rebates for only about 20% of last year’s electric vehicle sales.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed matching funds from auto manufacturers could allow the program to cover a larger share of buyers or provide larger point-of-sale rebates, depending on how the incentives are structured.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One clean car advocate said the details aren’t locked in yet — including how the rebates could be targeted. Wu said the state could move quickly without abandoning equity by deciding who qualifies in advance while still offering rebates at the dealership. “There is a way to balance equity and expediency,” Wu wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2026/02/newsom-ev-rebates-automakers-trump/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Shareyourstory\">\u003c/a>California is expensive. Share your story of how you get by\u003c/h2>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe\n src='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header?embedded=true'\n title='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header'\n width='760' height='500'\n frameborder='0'\n marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Los Angeles Voters Are Moving Ever Leftward, Shifting Election Politics in America’s Second-Largest City",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This commentary was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How liberal is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/los-angeles-county\">Los Angeles\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That question is very much on the minds of political insiders and observers these days as the city turns to its municipal elections and makes important decisions about its future: how much to invest in public safety, how much to tax its wealthiest residents, how to treat those who live here but without formal immigration documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One trend is clear: Los Angeles leans ever further to the left, a phenomenon that has implications for this year’s elections, which include \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/11/la-mayors-race-karen-bass/\">a mayor’s race\u003c/a> along with campaigns for two other citywide offices and eight seats on the 15-member council that governs America’s second-largest city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once the bulwark of conservative politics under the protection of a Republican business leadership and a Republican newspaper, LA has moved steadily leftward in recent decades. The days when Richard Riordan, a moderate Republican, could win the support of the electorate are far behind today’s Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of that is evident in voter registration. When Riordan was elected in 1993, more than 30% of the city’s registered voters were Republicans. Today, the number is somewhere around half that. As measured by voter registration, Los Angeles is significantly more Democratic — and less Republican — than New York City, which recently elected Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani as its mayor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But voter registration is just a first cut at the question. Some of the evidence of LA’s shifting political center is more localized and impressionistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising liberalism\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Always a city of neighborhoods, Los Angeles in recent years has seen the rise of more liberal activism in many of those communities, some of it owing to vastly improved outreach and voter contact work by the region’s Democratic Socialists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The result has been a surge in liberal representation on the City Council, where Democratic Socialists Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Nithya Raman anchor a council that is well to the left of many mainstream Democrats. Those members and a growing number of their colleagues are skeptical of spending more for police and are eager to find new sources of taxation that tap the wealthy. They’re also committed to higher wages for working people and are fiercely protective of LA residents, regardless of immigration status.[aside postID=news_12072234 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/CAGovDebateAP1.jpg']That program, backed by grass-roots organizing and sophisticated political leadership, has touched voters and made the left far more viable in local elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The political muscle of Los Angeles’ rising liberal faction is demonstrated not just in the number of candidates who identify with the Democratic Socialists, but more broadly in the way it helps shape the policies and priorities of the city generally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was not long ago that support for increased LAPD spending was a unifying city objective. Conservatives favored the idea of stricter enforcement of the law, while liberals saw it as a way to pay for police reform and to empower its oversight. No more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although “defund the police” is a bygone slogan, the LAPD’s critics are plentiful and are unwilling to acquiesce to once-routine budget requests to maintain or expand police ranks. The department today employs about 8,500 officers, well below peak staffing levels and far below the long-sought goal of 10,000. Nevertheless, Mayor Karen Bass’s recent request for additional funding ran into opposition at the City Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The council ultimately approved a cut-down version of the mayor’s request, but the compromise will barely allow the LAPD to hold its own against retirements and other attrition. Four council members – Hernandez, Soto-Martinez, Raman and Councilmember Ysabel Jurado – opposed even that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Taxing the rich\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some of those same forces are at work in the debate over a “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/01/measure-ula-raman-dead/\">mansion tax\u003c/a>,” a favorite idea of the LA left. The tax, which voters approved in 2022, applies to multimillion dollar real estate transactions, adding a 4% levy to sales over $5.1 million and 5% to properties over $10.3 million (the thresholds are indexed, hence the unusual threshold numbers). The tax revenue goes for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ULA-Motion.pdf\">construction of affordable housing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taxing the rich is always good populist politics, but here it helped frame the city’s changing politics. Bass, for instance, sought to exempt properties affected by the Palisades fire, as she worked to balance her support for affordable housing with her \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2026/01/la-fires-bass-leaders-california/\">commitment to rebuilding from the fire\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071076\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/012426-LA-ICE-Protest-TS-CM-01.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071076\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/012426-LA-ICE-Protest-TS-CM-01.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/012426-LA-ICE-Protest-TS-CM-01.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/012426-LA-ICE-Protest-TS-CM-01-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/012426-LA-ICE-Protest-TS-CM-01-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators, gathering in support of Minneapolis residents following recent ICE actions, hold a vigil and rally in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The result has been more confusion than clarity, a testament to the challenges of managing a shifting electorate — especially in an election year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fight over the tax goes on, but its very persistence says something about the city’s leftward drift. It’s inconceivable that Mayor Riordan, for instance, would have supported the mansion tax and hard to imagine voters 20 years ago approving it. Riordan lived in Brentwood in a home that would have qualified for the surcharge, and the emphasis of much of the city’s politics in those days was on safety and job creation, rather than equity or government-backed affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are many reasons for the leftward shift, and not all of them are specific to Los Angeles. The nation’s economic \u003ca href=\"https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/#income-inequality\">inequality continues to expand\u003c/a>, and the plight of those left out of economic growth grows increasingly dire and visible in big cities, where opulence and poverty live side by side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s inescapable in modern Los Angeles, with its grand homes, flashy boutiques and grinding homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Trump and the election year\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The local left also has clearly thrived in the era of President Donald Trump. The president, who is fond of denigrating Los Angeles and California, is reviled in Los Angeles. His influence has radicalized liberals, making them willing to vote for new Congressional maps — Los Angeles County \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/elections/2025/11/proposition-50-live-results-map/\">favored last year’s Prop. 50\u003c/a> by a staggering 74% to 25% — and rise to the defense of undocumented migrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More purely political changes have contributed as well. Los Angeles in 2015 switched its election schedule from voting in odd-numbered years to coinciding with the gubernatorial and presidential election cycles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/012126_ICE-WillowBrook_TS_CM_19-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003cfigcaption>Federal immigration agents in Willowbrook on Jan. 21, 2026. Some were involved in a shooting during an early-morning operation in the Los Angeles neighborhood. ICE actions in LA have galvanized many voters on the political left. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That’s been a change with mixed results, but one clear consequence has been to broaden the participants in city elections. An electorate once dominated by homeowners and wealthier interests now increasingly includes lower-income voters and renters, whose interests tend to pull the city toward programs such as rent control and away from priorities such as forceful police protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so 2026 is a notable election year for Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One marker of the cycle spinning up came this week, as Mayor Bass held the first of two State of the City addresses to present her view of where the city stands at this moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gathering was illustrative in many ways: Held near the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in one of the city’s most Black and Brown communities, it anchored Bass among some of her most loyal supporters. The location also highlighted Los Angeles’ role as host of the World Cup and, in 2028, the Summer Olympics. In a gesture toward civic unity, Bass’ presentation even featured performances by the marching bands of UCLA and USC.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The State of the City\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The audience’s response to Bass’ remarks also said something. She was politely applauded when she highlighted the \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-01-06/la-me-homicide-stats\">city’s historic progress against crime\u003c/a>: Los Angeles had 230 homicides last year, the lowest number since the 1960s and a startling change from the 1990s, when it tallied more than 1,000 homicides several years in a row.[aside postID=news_12072492 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/GettyImages-2260093274.jpg']The audience cheered Bass’s promises to encourage affordability and her record at \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/12/la-mayor-bass-homelessness-reelection/\">confronting street homelessness\u003c/a>, which has modestly declined for two consecutive years — small steps but at least steps in the right direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day’s biggest cheers, however, came when Bass struck her most strident tones. Denouncing Trump’s ICE raids and the “devastating losses of life” caused by its agents, Bass urged her audience to stand up to Washington.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Staying silent or minimizing what is happening is not an option,” she said. “This senseless death, lawlessness and violence must end. And so must the presence of ICE in Los Angeles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audience leapt to its feet at that, giving literal voice to the fact that in today’s Los Angeles, defiance of Trump and Washington are acts of popular politics, not extremism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2026/02/child-care-california-2/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This commentary was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How liberal is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/los-angeles-county\">Los Angeles\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That question is very much on the minds of political insiders and observers these days as the city turns to its municipal elections and makes important decisions about its future: how much to invest in public safety, how much to tax its wealthiest residents, how to treat those who live here but without formal immigration documents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One trend is clear: Los Angeles leans ever further to the left, a phenomenon that has implications for this year’s elections, which include \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/11/la-mayors-race-karen-bass/\">a mayor’s race\u003c/a> along with campaigns for two other citywide offices and eight seats on the 15-member council that governs America’s second-largest city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once the bulwark of conservative politics under the protection of a Republican business leadership and a Republican newspaper, LA has moved steadily leftward in recent decades. The days when Richard Riordan, a moderate Republican, could win the support of the electorate are far behind today’s Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of that is evident in voter registration. When Riordan was elected in 1993, more than 30% of the city’s registered voters were Republicans. Today, the number is somewhere around half that. As measured by voter registration, Los Angeles is significantly more Democratic — and less Republican — than New York City, which recently elected Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani as its mayor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But voter registration is just a first cut at the question. Some of the evidence of LA’s shifting political center is more localized and impressionistic.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising liberalism\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Always a city of neighborhoods, Los Angeles in recent years has seen the rise of more liberal activism in many of those communities, some of it owing to vastly improved outreach and voter contact work by the region’s Democratic Socialists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The result has been a surge in liberal representation on the City Council, where Democratic Socialists Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Nithya Raman anchor a council that is well to the left of many mainstream Democrats. Those members and a growing number of their colleagues are skeptical of spending more for police and are eager to find new sources of taxation that tap the wealthy. They’re also committed to higher wages for working people and are fiercely protective of LA residents, regardless of immigration status.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That program, backed by grass-roots organizing and sophisticated political leadership, has touched voters and made the left far more viable in local elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The political muscle of Los Angeles’ rising liberal faction is demonstrated not just in the number of candidates who identify with the Democratic Socialists, but more broadly in the way it helps shape the policies and priorities of the city generally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was not long ago that support for increased LAPD spending was a unifying city objective. Conservatives favored the idea of stricter enforcement of the law, while liberals saw it as a way to pay for police reform and to empower its oversight. No more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although “defund the police” is a bygone slogan, the LAPD’s critics are plentiful and are unwilling to acquiesce to once-routine budget requests to maintain or expand police ranks. The department today employs about 8,500 officers, well below peak staffing levels and far below the long-sought goal of 10,000. Nevertheless, Mayor Karen Bass’s recent request for additional funding ran into opposition at the City Council.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The council ultimately approved a cut-down version of the mayor’s request, but the compromise will barely allow the LAPD to hold its own against retirements and other attrition. Four council members – Hernandez, Soto-Martinez, Raman and Councilmember Ysabel Jurado – opposed even that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Taxing the rich\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Some of those same forces are at work in the debate over a “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/01/measure-ula-raman-dead/\">mansion tax\u003c/a>,” a favorite idea of the LA left. The tax, which voters approved in 2022, applies to multimillion dollar real estate transactions, adding a 4% levy to sales over $5.1 million and 5% to properties over $10.3 million (the thresholds are indexed, hence the unusual threshold numbers). The tax revenue goes for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/ULA-Motion.pdf\">construction of affordable housing\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Taxing the rich is always good populist politics, but here it helped frame the city’s changing politics. Bass, for instance, sought to exempt properties affected by the Palisades fire, as she worked to balance her support for affordable housing with her \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2026/01/la-fires-bass-leaders-california/\">commitment to rebuilding from the fire\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071076\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/012426-LA-ICE-Protest-TS-CM-01.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071076\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/012426-LA-ICE-Protest-TS-CM-01.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/012426-LA-ICE-Protest-TS-CM-01.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/012426-LA-ICE-Protest-TS-CM-01-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/012426-LA-ICE-Protest-TS-CM-01-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Demonstrators, gathering in support of Minneapolis residents following recent ICE actions, hold a vigil and rally in Los Angeles on Jan. 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The result has been more confusion than clarity, a testament to the challenges of managing a shifting electorate — especially in an election year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fight over the tax goes on, but its very persistence says something about the city’s leftward drift. It’s inconceivable that Mayor Riordan, for instance, would have supported the mansion tax and hard to imagine voters 20 years ago approving it. Riordan lived in Brentwood in a home that would have qualified for the surcharge, and the emphasis of much of the city’s politics in those days was on safety and job creation, rather than equity or government-backed affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are many reasons for the leftward shift, and not all of them are specific to Los Angeles. The nation’s economic \u003ca href=\"https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/#income-inequality\">inequality continues to expand\u003c/a>, and the plight of those left out of economic growth grows increasingly dire and visible in big cities, where opulence and poverty live side by side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s inescapable in modern Los Angeles, with its grand homes, flashy boutiques and grinding homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Trump and the election year\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The local left also has clearly thrived in the era of President Donald Trump. The president, who is fond of denigrating Los Angeles and California, is reviled in Los Angeles. His influence has radicalized liberals, making them willing to vote for new Congressional maps — Los Angeles County \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/elections/2025/11/proposition-50-live-results-map/\">favored last year’s Prop. 50\u003c/a> by a staggering 74% to 25% — and rise to the defense of undocumented migrants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More purely political changes have contributed as well. Los Angeles in 2015 switched its election schedule from voting in odd-numbered years to coinciding with the gubernatorial and presidential election cycles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/012126_ICE-WillowBrook_TS_CM_19-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\">\u003cfigcaption>Federal immigration agents in Willowbrook on Jan. 21, 2026. Some were involved in a shooting during an early-morning operation in the Los Angeles neighborhood. ICE actions in LA have galvanized many voters on the political left. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That’s been a change with mixed results, but one clear consequence has been to broaden the participants in city elections. An electorate once dominated by homeowners and wealthier interests now increasingly includes lower-income voters and renters, whose interests tend to pull the city toward programs such as rent control and away from priorities such as forceful police protection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so 2026 is a notable election year for Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One marker of the cycle spinning up came this week, as Mayor Bass held the first of two State of the City addresses to present her view of where the city stands at this moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gathering was illustrative in many ways: Held near the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in one of the city’s most Black and Brown communities, it anchored Bass among some of her most loyal supporters. The location also highlighted Los Angeles’ role as host of the World Cup and, in 2028, the Summer Olympics. In a gesture toward civic unity, Bass’ presentation even featured performances by the marching bands of UCLA and USC.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The State of the City\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The audience’s response to Bass’ remarks also said something. She was politely applauded when she highlighted the \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-01-06/la-me-homicide-stats\">city’s historic progress against crime\u003c/a>: Los Angeles had 230 homicides last year, the lowest number since the 1960s and a startling change from the 1990s, when it tallied more than 1,000 homicides several years in a row.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The audience cheered Bass’s promises to encourage affordability and her record at \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/commentary/2025/12/la-mayor-bass-homelessness-reelection/\">confronting street homelessness\u003c/a>, which has modestly declined for two consecutive years — small steps but at least steps in the right direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The day’s biggest cheers, however, came when Bass struck her most strident tones. Denouncing Trump’s ICE raids and the “devastating losses of life” caused by its agents, Bass urged her audience to stand up to Washington.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Staying silent or minimizing what is happening is not an option,” she said. “This senseless death, lawlessness and violence must end. And so must the presence of ICE in Los Angeles.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audience leapt to its feet at that, giving literal voice to the fact that in today’s Los Angeles, defiance of Trump and Washington are acts of popular politics, not extremism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2026/02/child-care-california-2/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "these-california-trucking-schools-broke-state-laws-regulators-couldnt-do-anything-about-it",
"title": "These California Trucking Schools Broke State Laws. Regulators Couldn’t Do Anything About It",
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"headTitle": "These California Trucking Schools Broke State Laws. Regulators Couldn’t Do Anything About It | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When commercial truck drivers are speeding down \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California’s\u003c/a> highways and interstates with thousands of pounds of cargo in tow, a single mistake can be catastrophic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet California fails to regulate most of the schools that train truck drivers, allowing nearly 200 unlicensed schools to operate with effectively no oversight, according to a CalMatters analysis of state and federal records. And when the state has tried to use its limited authority to discipline schools for shortchanging students or flouting the law, its regulators are often powerless, according to the analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without regulatory oversight, industry experts say there is no way to know whether students coming out of those schools are prepared to operate a big rig safely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All aspiring truckers are required to attend specialized driving schools, where they study a dense curriculum — learning what to do, for instance, in the event of a skid or when the trailer swings out uncontrollably from the cab. Only then can they take the necessary exams at the California Department of Motor Vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the federal government and the state of California have systems for regulating trucking schools, making sure that they adhere to the curriculum, that the tuition costs are fair and that students are ultimately prepared to get behind the wheel of a truck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The view from inside Amarjit Singh’s truck in Livermore, on Dec. 16, 2025. Advocates are calling on California officials to halt the planned license revocations. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But in California there is a loophole: Private trucking schools that charge students $2,500 or less don’t need state licenses, effectively exempting them from oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the state has tried to discipline schools, some reduced their tuition to $2,500 or less, at which point they no longer needed to heed the state’s orders. Other schools just disregarded the state’s orders altogether, the analysis shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has “more limited” tools for pursuing disciplinary action against trucking schools once they claim an exemption, said Monica Vargas, a spokesperson for California’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, which is in charge of monitoring most private trade schools. She said the bureau can fine schools for violations, but if they refuse to pay, the state has no additional leverage beyond sending the fine to a collections agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau told the Legislature in a report last year that it gave licenses to 42 trucking schools. The total number of trucking schools could be roughly three times that, the bureau said, and Vargas later clarified that “exact numbers could not be known.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To determine a more accurate estimate of schools, CalMatters used a \u003ca href=\"https://tpr.fmcsa.dot.gov/\">federal database\u003c/a> that lists all trucking schools, regardless of their tuition rate. But it’s not clear how accurate or comprehensive that list is. The federal government asks schools to self-register, and it doesn’t “approve or certify” the information that schools provide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using the federal list, CalMatters found at least 184 California trucking schools that are not regulated by the state, including at least nine schools the bureau has tried — and failed — to regulate or shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/100124-Floor-Session-FG-63-CM-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"A close-up view of a lawmaker wearing a black suit and red tie as he smiles and looks towards another person off-frame.\">\u003cfigcaption>Lawmaker Mike Fong before the start of an Assembly floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Oct. 1, 2024. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last year, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/mike-fong-165455\">Assemblymember Mike Fong\u003c/a>, an Alhambra Democrat, proposed \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab714\">a bill\u003c/a> to close the state’s tuition loophole for trucking schools. In his testimony for the bill, Fong said increased regulation of exempt trucking schools could make California’s highways safer for everyone. He cited federal data showing \u003ca href=\"https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813588.pdf\">more than 400 people died\u003c/a> on California’s roads in truck-related crashes in 2022 but in an interview, he acknowledged that there’s “no data to directly correlate” any of those crashes with the volume of unlicensed schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The exemptions to licensing laws were intended for companies offering SAT or LSAT test prep courses, Fong said in an interview — those that “do not affect public safety,” he added. “This bill is really to close a loophole in current law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Gold, the founder and CEO of 160 Driving Academy, a chain of trucking schools, was a leader behind the development of the bill. “Because I’m (bureau) certified, my curriculum is on file. I have a surety bond in the state of California. I can’t rip you off as a student. I have insurance. The state of California has approved and walked my site,” he said in an interview with CalMatters, noting that approval took 18 months. Gold said his commercial trucking programs charge $6,000 and require about four weeks or 160 hours of training, a far cry from unlicensed programs that tell students they can finish in as little as 15 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unsuspecting everyday drivers have no idea the 80,000 pound truck on the highway is operated by an individual who’s not properly trained,” said Gold during his testimony for the bill last year. The California Association of Highway Patrolmen, a labor union representing CHP officers, also spoke in support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill failed, though no one publicly opposed it.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Fly-by-night’ schools\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Most of the unlicensed trucking schools consist of just a parking lot, a few trucks that students can practice on and a room or two for self-study. Some trucking school owners call these unlicensed programs “fly-by-night” schools — because they are small and unlicensed they can open anywhere or suddenly close and change owners or names with little notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s what happened with the Truck Nation School in Modesto. On Aug. 19, Ricardo Chavez, who was enrolled at the school, was headed there to prepare for his DMV exam, scheduled just two days later. He showed up to find the gates to the parking lot locked and a sign that simply said the school had shut down.[aside postID=news_12069236 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/SoCalHwyAP.jpg']The sudden closure derailed his career plans. A trucking job was a path forward, he said, a way to earn a better living than his current rotation of gig jobs, such as putting up blinds and detailing cars. He had quit working, paid about $2,000 in tuition and fees to attend the trucking school and was hiring a babysitter to take care of his two kids so he could attend class for a few hours each day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the days after the school closed, he failed the DMV exam and failed it again on the second try. He finally passed on the third attempt, almost three weeks later and after paying about $300 to a different school, but he still doesn’t have a trucking job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has a special program designed to refund students who lose their money when a school abruptly closes, but to qualify the student must attend a school licensed by the bureau. Since it charged $2,500 or less, the Truck Nation School was exempt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been horrible,” said Chavez, who was planning to work as an agricultural truck driver. Because it took him so long to get the license, he said he missed the window to work during the peak of harvest season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Repeated attempts to reach representatives of Truck Nation for comment were unsuccessful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vargas, the state spokesperson, said the bureau investigates an exempt school if someone files a complaint about it or if there’s an “internal tip.” Citations are rare. In the 2024-25 academic year, Vargas said the bureau issued citations to 15 unlicensed trucking schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How trucking schools avoid discipline\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Even when schools are licensed, state enforcement is limited. A 2024 CalMatters investigation found that state employees and contractors were referring students to Dolphin Trucking School, which received tuition subsidies through a federal job training program. While the Los Angeles school was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/08/job-training-california-for-profit-schools/\">pocketing thousands of dollars in subsidies \u003c/a>for many of its students, it was in the midst of a state investigation that included accusations of unqualified teachers and hazardous learning conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau stripped the school of its license in August 2024 following inquiries from CalMatters, but now the family that owned it is operating a new school, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dtstechnicalcollege.com/\">“DTS Technical, Inc.,”\u003c/a> with the same office location. The logo even has a dolphin on it, a nod to its former name. On its website, DTS Technical, Inc. lists tuition at $2,500, plus a required $500 fee, for its comprehensive commercial driver’s license course and says that students can use public subsidies from the state’s Department of Rehabilitation to pay tuition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/031124-Dolphin-Trucking-School-ZS-CM-30-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"From behind a driver and passenger seat, the driver's hand is on the vehicle's gear stick while another arm in a yellow safety jacket extends out to guide the gear stick.\">\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/031124-Dolphin-Trucking-School-ZS-CM-4-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing black pants and a yellow sweater looks towards a yellow and black semi-trailer pulling a white cargo trailer.\">\u003c/figure>\u003cfigcaption>\u003cstrong>First:\u003c/strong> A Dolphin Trucking School instructor guides a student through a gear shift. \u003cstrong>Last: \u003c/strong>Orange cones divide the yard at Dolphin Trucking School in Vernon, where students practice driving trucks on March 11, 2024. Photos by Zaydee Sanchez for CalMatters\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/031124-Dolphin-Trucking-School-ZS-CM-11-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"A person dressed in a green and orange safety vest stands next to the engine compartment of a semi-trailer while addressing students as they look-on.\">\u003cfigcaption>Students at Dolphin Trucking School listen attentively as their instructor reviews the truck’s engine parts in Vernon on March 11, 2024. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for CalMatters\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Carla Galvez, the owner of the now-closed Dolphin Trucking School, said she has no affiliation with DTS Technical, Inc. and refused to answer any questions on behalf of the family members who are listed as the owners of the new school. CalMatters called and emailed DTS, Technical Inc. but received no response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In another instance, the state issued a letter to El Monte Truck Driving School in the San Gabriel Valley in April 2021, telling it to cease operations for failing to document tuition costs and keep appropriate records, among other violations. The school kept operating anyway. More than three years later, the state issued another order to close and fined the school $100,000 for disregarding the previous order. The only way it can stay open and continue operating, the state wrote, is if it qualifies for an exemption, such as charging $2,500 or less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school is still operating as of this month and charges students $4,000, according to the school’s secretary, who spoke to CalMatters on the phone. She refused to answer other questions, such as whether the school qualifies for another exemption. Certain religious schools, nonprofit organizations and apprenticeship programs are exempt from state oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vargas, the state spokesperson, said El Monte Truck Driving School is making payments on a payment plan for the $100,000 fine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases federal officials have gone after trucking schools for criminal activity. In a series of cases dating back to 2011, the U.S. Attorney General’s Office prosecuted 20 trucking school owners, California DMV employees, and intermediaries who conspired to give trucking licenses to unqualified drivers, many of whom never took a DMV exam. In an announcement in 2022, the attorney general stated the school owners bribed DMV employees to help “failing or unqualified students” get their licenses. “In total, hundreds of fraudulent commercial driver license permits and licenses were issued as a part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/eastern-district-california-completes-prosecution-20-defendants-dmv-corruption-cases\">these schemes\u003c/a>, jeopardizing public safety,” the office wrote in its statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Are schools properly training tomorrow’s truck drivers?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state exemptions and the lack of federal vetting mean there are few records on whether schools are adequately preparing drivers. Along with DMV exams, California state law says that trucking students need to spend \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-veh/division-6/chapter-7/article-5/section-15250-1/\">at least 15 hours\u003c/a> behind the wheel of a truck before they can receive a license. Since 2022, federal law also \u003ca href=\"https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-380#se49.5.380_1703\">requires\u003c/a> trucking schools to teach a specific curriculum that involves learning the parts of a truck and ways to operate it safely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students at some exempt schools interviewed by CalMatters said they struggled to get time behind the wheel and that they often had to teach themselves.[aside postID=news_12071380 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/10/GettyImages-450371215-1020x680.jpg']Aramis Andrews told CalMatters he paid more than $3,000 to attend Premier Trucking School in Red Bluff, which is unlicensed. Andrews said the instructor expected him to teach himself online before attending class, after which he was promised 20 hours of behind-the-wheel practice. But when he showed up to the school, the instructor was upset that Andrews wasn’t more prepared and kicked him out of the program on the second day. “He (the instructor) wanted me to go to the school and already know everything and just drive around some and make sure I was good at it,” Andrews said. “I feel like it was just a scam to be honest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joe German, the school’s owner, said he kicked Andrews out because he “didn’t take the course seriously.” German said he gave Andrews a refund for the remainder of the program, which Andrews disputes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, the bureau fined Premier Trucking School $12,500 for \u003ca href=\"https://www.bppe.ca.gov/enforcement/actions/settl_of_affir_cit_premier_trucking_school_20251229.pdf\">operating without a license\u003c/a> or a valid exemption. German said he paid the fine, though he denied any intentional wrongdoing. He said he was unaware of the bureau’s rules and that the full licensing process “would bankrupt us.” The bureau “is set up for universities or big, big schools,” he said, “not a school that’s one or two trucks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Gold, the CEO of 160 Driving Academy, the lack of regulation is the main reason for the poor training some students receive. “These schools do not have a comprehensive approved training curriculum and there’s no way they are compliant with the federal rules. Who knows the level of training they are conducting?” he said during his testimony for Fong’s bill last year. “The unsuspecting consumer has no idea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fong said he would not comment on why his bill did not pass, but he noted the state had a “tough budget last year.” The bill died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where fiscal matters are addressed. One estimate by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education said it would cost more than $800,000 a year to hire five new staff members to regulate all trucking schools, though registration fees paid by the schools could recoup roughly half of those costs. The Legislature is considering the bill again this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The trucking school ‘mill’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, appointed by President Donald Trump, has made cracking down on trucking schools a central piece of his agenda. He argues — with \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/11/immigrant-drivers/\">only anecdotal evidence\u003c/a> — that many schools, especially those in California, are graduating immigrants who don’t speak English and who drive more dangerously than other truckers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, Duffy said the department \u003ca href=\"https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-cracks-down-illegal-providers-commercial\">had removed\u003c/a> nearly 3,000 trucking schools from its national registry for falsifying data, neglecting the federally required curriculum or refusing to provide certain records. The department also notified an additional 4,500 schools about “potential noncompliance,” though it did not respond to CalMatters questions about the specifics of those violations. Duffy has said repeatedly that some trucking schools are “mills,” helping students receive driver’s licenses even when they \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib2u4mDnH6E\">lack the qualifications\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/011526-Trucking-School-Modesto-LV-15-CM-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"A semi-truck with a trailer reading “The Truck Master School” drives out the gated driveway of a parking lot to a trucking school with a giant banner on the gate.\">\u003cfigcaption>A truck drives out of the practice lot of The Truck Master School in Modesto on Jan. 15, 2026. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite Duffy’s efforts, institutions with repeated violations still appear on the national registry. The Fresno Truck Driving School Inc. was inspected six times in the last two years, with the U.S. Transportation Department repeatedly finding that the emergency brakes on its trucks weren’t properly operating. It also reported that the school had a driver who could not “read or speak the English language sufficiently to respond to official inquiries.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re getting an inspection (from the federal government), that means something has gone terribly wrong,” said Zach Cahalan, the executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition, which advocates for truck safety and the victims of truck-related crashes. Still, he said trucks often are cited for multiple violations before the federal government tries to shut down the carrier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transportation department proposed removing Premier Trucking School from its registry, and the school is now closed. DTS Technical, Inc. is still on the federal list. So is the Truck Nation School in Modesto, even though it’s been closed for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A different school, the Truck Master School, took over the lease of Truck Nation, where Chavez used to practice. Truck Master charges just under $2,500, and like its predecessor, it’s exempt from state oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>About the data\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To estimate the number of trucking schools that are not regulated by California’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, CalMatters cross-checked state and federal datasets. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration maintains the \u003ca href=\"https://tpr.fmcsa.dot.gov/Search\">Training Provider Registry\u003c/a>, which allows providers to self-certify they meet federal and state requirements. The registry also allows students to find commercial driver’s license training. But the department \u003ca href=\"https://tpr.fmcsa.dot.gov/Provider\">specifies\u003c/a> it does not “approve or certify” those providers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to compile a comparable list of providers that may also be under the purview of the state bureau, CalMatters cleaned a list of 2,676 locations found in the federal database where providers conducted training in California as of Jan. 8, 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CalMatters first filtered out providers registered as “private enrollment only” (such as employer-based training programs). We then manually filtered out providers whose names and online presence indicated they were likely one of the following and not primarily a commercial driver training school that charges tuition:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Public school district;\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Community college;\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Municipal, utility, state or federal agency;\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Individual instructor;\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Chauffeur, logistics or similar company.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Because the federal database lists all locations separately, CalMatters consolidated branch locations of the same school based on name and contact information. We then matched schools to the state bureau’s list of approved private postsecondary educational institutions based on name, location and contact information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After compiling a comparable list, our analysis found at least 184 training providers listed on the federal registry that appear to be primarily operating as private trucking schools but were not approved by California’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to operate as of Jan. 8, 2026. To confirm whether a school is still operating, we used recent reviews and online listings, though some listings may be outdated, or we contacted the school directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://github.com/CalMatters/data-trucking-schools\">\u003cem>See the list of schools\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2026/02/child-care-california-2/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"nprByline": "\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/adam-echelman/\">Adam Echelman\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/ericayee/\">Erica Yee\u003c/a>, CalMatters",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When commercial truck drivers are speeding down \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California’s\u003c/a> highways and interstates with thousands of pounds of cargo in tow, a single mistake can be catastrophic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet California fails to regulate most of the schools that train truck drivers, allowing nearly 200 unlicensed schools to operate with effectively no oversight, according to a CalMatters analysis of state and federal records. And when the state has tried to use its limited authority to discipline schools for shortchanging students or flouting the law, its regulators are often powerless, according to the analysis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without regulatory oversight, industry experts say there is no way to know whether students coming out of those schools are prepared to operate a big rig safely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All aspiring truckers are required to attend specialized driving schools, where they study a dense curriculum — learning what to do, for instance, in the event of a skid or when the trailer swings out uncontrollably from the cab. Only then can they take the necessary exams at the California Department of Motor Vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the federal government and the state of California have systems for regulating trucking schools, making sure that they adhere to the curriculum, that the tuition costs are fair and that students are ultimately prepared to get behind the wheel of a truck.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The view from inside Amarjit Singh’s truck in Livermore, on Dec. 16, 2025. Advocates are calling on California officials to halt the planned license revocations. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But in California there is a loophole: Private trucking schools that charge students $2,500 or less don’t need state licenses, effectively exempting them from oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the state has tried to discipline schools, some reduced their tuition to $2,500 or less, at which point they no longer needed to heed the state’s orders. Other schools just disregarded the state’s orders altogether, the analysis shows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has “more limited” tools for pursuing disciplinary action against trucking schools once they claim an exemption, said Monica Vargas, a spokesperson for California’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, which is in charge of monitoring most private trade schools. She said the bureau can fine schools for violations, but if they refuse to pay, the state has no additional leverage beyond sending the fine to a collections agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau told the Legislature in a report last year that it gave licenses to 42 trucking schools. The total number of trucking schools could be roughly three times that, the bureau said, and Vargas later clarified that “exact numbers could not be known.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To determine a more accurate estimate of schools, CalMatters used a \u003ca href=\"https://tpr.fmcsa.dot.gov/\">federal database\u003c/a> that lists all trucking schools, regardless of their tuition rate. But it’s not clear how accurate or comprehensive that list is. The federal government asks schools to self-register, and it doesn’t “approve or certify” the information that schools provide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Using the federal list, CalMatters found at least 184 California trucking schools that are not regulated by the state, including at least nine schools the bureau has tried — and failed — to regulate or shut down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/100124-Floor-Session-FG-63-CM-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"A close-up view of a lawmaker wearing a black suit and red tie as he smiles and looks towards another person off-frame.\">\u003cfigcaption>Lawmaker Mike Fong before the start of an Assembly floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Oct. 1, 2024. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last year, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/mike-fong-165455\">Assemblymember Mike Fong\u003c/a>, an Alhambra Democrat, proposed \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab714\">a bill\u003c/a> to close the state’s tuition loophole for trucking schools. In his testimony for the bill, Fong said increased regulation of exempt trucking schools could make California’s highways safer for everyone. He cited federal data showing \u003ca href=\"https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813588.pdf\">more than 400 people died\u003c/a> on California’s roads in truck-related crashes in 2022 but in an interview, he acknowledged that there’s “no data to directly correlate” any of those crashes with the volume of unlicensed schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The exemptions to licensing laws were intended for companies offering SAT or LSAT test prep courses, Fong said in an interview — those that “do not affect public safety,” he added. “This bill is really to close a loophole in current law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steve Gold, the founder and CEO of 160 Driving Academy, a chain of trucking schools, was a leader behind the development of the bill. “Because I’m (bureau) certified, my curriculum is on file. I have a surety bond in the state of California. I can’t rip you off as a student. I have insurance. The state of California has approved and walked my site,” he said in an interview with CalMatters, noting that approval took 18 months. Gold said his commercial trucking programs charge $6,000 and require about four weeks or 160 hours of training, a far cry from unlicensed programs that tell students they can finish in as little as 15 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unsuspecting everyday drivers have no idea the 80,000 pound truck on the highway is operated by an individual who’s not properly trained,” said Gold during his testimony for the bill last year. The California Association of Highway Patrolmen, a labor union representing CHP officers, also spoke in support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill failed, though no one publicly opposed it.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘Fly-by-night’ schools\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Most of the unlicensed trucking schools consist of just a parking lot, a few trucks that students can practice on and a room or two for self-study. Some trucking school owners call these unlicensed programs “fly-by-night” schools — because they are small and unlicensed they can open anywhere or suddenly close and change owners or names with little notice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s what happened with the Truck Nation School in Modesto. On Aug. 19, Ricardo Chavez, who was enrolled at the school, was headed there to prepare for his DMV exam, scheduled just two days later. He showed up to find the gates to the parking lot locked and a sign that simply said the school had shut down.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The sudden closure derailed his career plans. A trucking job was a path forward, he said, a way to earn a better living than his current rotation of gig jobs, such as putting up blinds and detailing cars. He had quit working, paid about $2,000 in tuition and fees to attend the trucking school and was hiring a babysitter to take care of his two kids so he could attend class for a few hours each day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the days after the school closed, he failed the DMV exam and failed it again on the second try. He finally passed on the third attempt, almost three weeks later and after paying about $300 to a different school, but he still doesn’t have a trucking job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state has a special program designed to refund students who lose their money when a school abruptly closes, but to qualify the student must attend a school licensed by the bureau. Since it charged $2,500 or less, the Truck Nation School was exempt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been horrible,” said Chavez, who was planning to work as an agricultural truck driver. Because it took him so long to get the license, he said he missed the window to work during the peak of harvest season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Repeated attempts to reach representatives of Truck Nation for comment were unsuccessful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vargas, the state spokesperson, said the bureau investigates an exempt school if someone files a complaint about it or if there’s an “internal tip.” Citations are rare. In the 2024-25 academic year, Vargas said the bureau issued citations to 15 unlicensed trucking schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How trucking schools avoid discipline\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Even when schools are licensed, state enforcement is limited. A 2024 CalMatters investigation found that state employees and contractors were referring students to Dolphin Trucking School, which received tuition subsidies through a federal job training program. While the Los Angeles school was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/08/job-training-california-for-profit-schools/\">pocketing thousands of dollars in subsidies \u003c/a>for many of its students, it was in the midst of a state investigation that included accusations of unqualified teachers and hazardous learning conditions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bureau stripped the school of its license in August 2024 following inquiries from CalMatters, but now the family that owned it is operating a new school, \u003ca href=\"https://www.dtstechnicalcollege.com/\">“DTS Technical, Inc.,”\u003c/a> with the same office location. The logo even has a dolphin on it, a nod to its former name. On its website, DTS Technical, Inc. lists tuition at $2,500, plus a required $500 fee, for its comprehensive commercial driver’s license course and says that students can use public subsidies from the state’s Department of Rehabilitation to pay tuition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/031124-Dolphin-Trucking-School-ZS-CM-30-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"From behind a driver and passenger seat, the driver's hand is on the vehicle's gear stick while another arm in a yellow safety jacket extends out to guide the gear stick.\">\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/031124-Dolphin-Trucking-School-ZS-CM-4-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"A person wearing black pants and a yellow sweater looks towards a yellow and black semi-trailer pulling a white cargo trailer.\">\u003c/figure>\u003cfigcaption>\u003cstrong>First:\u003c/strong> A Dolphin Trucking School instructor guides a student through a gear shift. \u003cstrong>Last: \u003c/strong>Orange cones divide the yard at Dolphin Trucking School in Vernon, where students practice driving trucks on March 11, 2024. Photos by Zaydee Sanchez for CalMatters\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/031124-Dolphin-Trucking-School-ZS-CM-11-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"A person dressed in a green and orange safety vest stands next to the engine compartment of a semi-trailer while addressing students as they look-on.\">\u003cfigcaption>Students at Dolphin Trucking School listen attentively as their instructor reviews the truck’s engine parts in Vernon on March 11, 2024. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for CalMatters\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Carla Galvez, the owner of the now-closed Dolphin Trucking School, said she has no affiliation with DTS Technical, Inc. and refused to answer any questions on behalf of the family members who are listed as the owners of the new school. CalMatters called and emailed DTS, Technical Inc. but received no response.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In another instance, the state issued a letter to El Monte Truck Driving School in the San Gabriel Valley in April 2021, telling it to cease operations for failing to document tuition costs and keep appropriate records, among other violations. The school kept operating anyway. More than three years later, the state issued another order to close and fined the school $100,000 for disregarding the previous order. The only way it can stay open and continue operating, the state wrote, is if it qualifies for an exemption, such as charging $2,500 or less.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school is still operating as of this month and charges students $4,000, according to the school’s secretary, who spoke to CalMatters on the phone. She refused to answer other questions, such as whether the school qualifies for another exemption. Certain religious schools, nonprofit organizations and apprenticeship programs are exempt from state oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vargas, the state spokesperson, said El Monte Truck Driving School is making payments on a payment plan for the $100,000 fine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some cases federal officials have gone after trucking schools for criminal activity. In a series of cases dating back to 2011, the U.S. Attorney General’s Office prosecuted 20 trucking school owners, California DMV employees, and intermediaries who conspired to give trucking licenses to unqualified drivers, many of whom never took a DMV exam. In an announcement in 2022, the attorney general stated the school owners bribed DMV employees to help “failing or unqualified students” get their licenses. “In total, hundreds of fraudulent commercial driver license permits and licenses were issued as a part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/eastern-district-california-completes-prosecution-20-defendants-dmv-corruption-cases\">these schemes\u003c/a>, jeopardizing public safety,” the office wrote in its statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Are schools properly training tomorrow’s truck drivers?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state exemptions and the lack of federal vetting mean there are few records on whether schools are adequately preparing drivers. Along with DMV exams, California state law says that trucking students need to spend \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-veh/division-6/chapter-7/article-5/section-15250-1/\">at least 15 hours\u003c/a> behind the wheel of a truck before they can receive a license. Since 2022, federal law also \u003ca href=\"https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-III/subchapter-B/part-380#se49.5.380_1703\">requires\u003c/a> trucking schools to teach a specific curriculum that involves learning the parts of a truck and ways to operate it safely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students at some exempt schools interviewed by CalMatters said they struggled to get time behind the wheel and that they often had to teach themselves.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Aramis Andrews told CalMatters he paid more than $3,000 to attend Premier Trucking School in Red Bluff, which is unlicensed. Andrews said the instructor expected him to teach himself online before attending class, after which he was promised 20 hours of behind-the-wheel practice. But when he showed up to the school, the instructor was upset that Andrews wasn’t more prepared and kicked him out of the program on the second day. “He (the instructor) wanted me to go to the school and already know everything and just drive around some and make sure I was good at it,” Andrews said. “I feel like it was just a scam to be honest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joe German, the school’s owner, said he kicked Andrews out because he “didn’t take the course seriously.” German said he gave Andrews a refund for the remainder of the program, which Andrews disputes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, the bureau fined Premier Trucking School $12,500 for \u003ca href=\"https://www.bppe.ca.gov/enforcement/actions/settl_of_affir_cit_premier_trucking_school_20251229.pdf\">operating without a license\u003c/a> or a valid exemption. German said he paid the fine, though he denied any intentional wrongdoing. He said he was unaware of the bureau’s rules and that the full licensing process “would bankrupt us.” The bureau “is set up for universities or big, big schools,” he said, “not a school that’s one or two trucks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Gold, the CEO of 160 Driving Academy, the lack of regulation is the main reason for the poor training some students receive. “These schools do not have a comprehensive approved training curriculum and there’s no way they are compliant with the federal rules. Who knows the level of training they are conducting?” he said during his testimony for Fong’s bill last year. “The unsuspecting consumer has no idea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fong said he would not comment on why his bill did not pass, but he noted the state had a “tough budget last year.” The bill died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, where fiscal matters are addressed. One estimate by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education said it would cost more than $800,000 a year to hire five new staff members to regulate all trucking schools, though registration fees paid by the schools could recoup roughly half of those costs. The Legislature is considering the bill again this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The trucking school ‘mill’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, appointed by President Donald Trump, has made cracking down on trucking schools a central piece of his agenda. He argues — with \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/11/immigrant-drivers/\">only anecdotal evidence\u003c/a> — that many schools, especially those in California, are graduating immigrants who don’t speak English and who drive more dangerously than other truckers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, Duffy said the department \u003ca href=\"https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-cracks-down-illegal-providers-commercial\">had removed\u003c/a> nearly 3,000 trucking schools from its national registry for falsifying data, neglecting the federally required curriculum or refusing to provide certain records. The department also notified an additional 4,500 schools about “potential noncompliance,” though it did not respond to CalMatters questions about the specifics of those violations. Duffy has said repeatedly that some trucking schools are “mills,” helping students receive driver’s licenses even when they \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib2u4mDnH6E\">lack the qualifications\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/011526-Trucking-School-Modesto-LV-15-CM-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"A semi-truck with a trailer reading “The Truck Master School” drives out the gated driveway of a parking lot to a trucking school with a giant banner on the gate.\">\u003cfigcaption>A truck drives out of the practice lot of The Truck Master School in Modesto on Jan. 15, 2026. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite Duffy’s efforts, institutions with repeated violations still appear on the national registry. The Fresno Truck Driving School Inc. was inspected six times in the last two years, with the U.S. Transportation Department repeatedly finding that the emergency brakes on its trucks weren’t properly operating. It also reported that the school had a driver who could not “read or speak the English language sufficiently to respond to official inquiries.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re getting an inspection (from the federal government), that means something has gone terribly wrong,” said Zach Cahalan, the executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition, which advocates for truck safety and the victims of truck-related crashes. Still, he said trucks often are cited for multiple violations before the federal government tries to shut down the carrier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transportation department proposed removing Premier Trucking School from its registry, and the school is now closed. DTS Technical, Inc. is still on the federal list. So is the Truck Nation School in Modesto, even though it’s been closed for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A different school, the Truck Master School, took over the lease of Truck Nation, where Chavez used to practice. Truck Master charges just under $2,500, and like its predecessor, it’s exempt from state oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>About the data\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>To estimate the number of trucking schools that are not regulated by California’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education, CalMatters cross-checked state and federal datasets. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration maintains the \u003ca href=\"https://tpr.fmcsa.dot.gov/Search\">Training Provider Registry\u003c/a>, which allows providers to self-certify they meet federal and state requirements. The registry also allows students to find commercial driver’s license training. But the department \u003ca href=\"https://tpr.fmcsa.dot.gov/Provider\">specifies\u003c/a> it does not “approve or certify” those providers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In order to compile a comparable list of providers that may also be under the purview of the state bureau, CalMatters cleaned a list of 2,676 locations found in the federal database where providers conducted training in California as of Jan. 8, 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CalMatters first filtered out providers registered as “private enrollment only” (such as employer-based training programs). We then manually filtered out providers whose names and online presence indicated they were likely one of the following and not primarily a commercial driver training school that charges tuition:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Public school district;\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Community college;\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Municipal, utility, state or federal agency;\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Individual instructor;\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Chauffeur, logistics or similar company.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Because the federal database lists all locations separately, CalMatters consolidated branch locations of the same school based on name and contact information. We then matched schools to the state bureau’s list of approved private postsecondary educational institutions based on name, location and contact information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After compiling a comparable list, our analysis found at least 184 training providers listed on the federal registry that appear to be primarily operating as private trucking schools but were not approved by California’s Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to operate as of Jan. 8, 2026. To confirm whether a school is still operating, we used recent reviews and online listings, though some listings may be outdated, or we contacted the school directly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://github.com/CalMatters/data-trucking-schools\">\u003cem>See the list of schools\u003c/em>\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2026/02/child-care-california-2/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"headTitle": "California Has a Dangerous Driver Problem. A Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers Wants to Fix That | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bipartisan group of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-assembly\">state Assembly members\u003c/a> announced a package of bills Monday to crack down on dangerous drivers and address some of the roadway safety issues CalMatters uncovered as part of its ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/series/license-to-kill/\">License to Kill\u003c/a> series.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposals take aim at laws and practices that have allowed dangerous drivers to stay on California’s roads and contributed to a spike in traffic deaths. The bills would: require first-time DUI offenders to install in-car breathalyzers, lengthen many license suspensions and revocations, increase DUI training for law enforcement and close a loophole that allows people who’ve killed with their car to avoid consequences through a diversion program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sacramento is listening. We see that there is a problem and we are doing what we can, crossing that partisan divide and trying to identify real solutions that we can deliver now to make our communities safer,” said Democratic Assemblymember Nick Schultz of Burbank, chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Assembly proposals are one component of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041243/san-franciscos-streets-still-deadly-advocates-want-lurie-to-do-more\">broader reckoning over years of rising traffic deaths\u003c/a> playing out at the Capitol. Next week, a separate event is expected to include more details about new bills from the California Senate, related budget proposals and the perspective of families who have lost loved ones to drunk drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, Schultz \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2026/01/californa-dui-law-reform/\">introduced \u003c/a>a bill to increase penalties for repeat DUI offenders. Assembly members detailed several additional legislative efforts at Monday’s press conference that would:\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Close a diversion loophole.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We reported in December that a criminal justice reform law from a few years ago was allowing judges to dismiss misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charges for drivers who agreed to take part in what’s known as a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/12/california-vehicular-manslaughter-diversion/\">diversion program\u003c/a>. But in an unintended twist, that has meant the drivers not only avoided a criminal conviction but also kept a clean driving record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assembly Member Lori Wilson, a Democrat from Suisun City who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee, introduced \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1662\">a new bill\u003c/a> that would require the DMV to add points to a driver’s license when they’re granted misdemeanor diversion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Make license suspensions and revocations start when a driver is released from custody as opposed to at the time of conviction.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, someone who is convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter would likely by law have their license revoked for three years. But the revocation would often start while they’re in prison and they might be eligible to get their license back as soon as they’re out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson said her office is finalizing language on another bill that would change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>Driving is a privilege,” Wilson said. “This package holds dangerous drivers accountable and keeps our streets safer for everyone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Force first-time DUI offenders to install what’s known as an ignition interlock device on their vehicles.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is now the third time that Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, a Democrat from Irvine, has introduced this measure.[aside postID=forum_2010101909751 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2025/04/GettyImages-1230256771-1-1020x574.jpg']California is currently one of the few states that doesn’t require first time offenders to install the technology, which forces a driver to blow into a breathalyzer and prove they haven’t been drinking in order to start their car. Her \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/12/california-roadway-deaths-inaction/\">previous efforts failed\u003c/a> after the Department of Motor Vehicles raised budget concerns and civil liberties groups worried it would disproportionately impact the poor and people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>California is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035925/license-to-kill\">epicenter of America’s DUI and drunk driving epidemic\u003c/a>. As moms, as dads, as Californians, it’s horrifying. And as policymakers, we have an opportunity and we have an obligation to do something about this,” Petrie-Norris said. “We know these devices work. We know that they can save lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Increase training for law enforcement officers on how to enforce the state’s DUI laws.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assembly Member Juan Alanis, a Republican from Modesto, said currently many officers only get basic training at the academy on drunk and drugged driving and must often wait for colleagues with more specialized training to assess a driver’s sobriety level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is to help those agencies and officers to be able to have that training so that way we can identify DUI drivers faster, quicker and get them off the streets,” Alanis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schultz called the package of proposals a “starting point” and said he expects his colleagues in the state Senate will also be proposing changes to save lives on the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, last month state Sen. Bob Archuleta, a Democrat from Norwalk, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB907\">introduced a bill\u003c/a> to crack down on DUIs – increasing punishment and making it easier for prosecutors to charge repeat offenders with murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Archuleta is expected to hold a press conference later this month along with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, road safety advocates and other lawmakers to announce further road safety bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2026/02/assembly-driving-bills/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The Assembly proposals are part of a broader push at the Capitol to reform California’s weak driving laws.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bipartisan group of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-assembly\">state Assembly members\u003c/a> announced a package of bills Monday to crack down on dangerous drivers and address some of the roadway safety issues CalMatters uncovered as part of its ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/series/license-to-kill/\">License to Kill\u003c/a> series.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposals take aim at laws and practices that have allowed dangerous drivers to stay on California’s roads and contributed to a spike in traffic deaths. The bills would: require first-time DUI offenders to install in-car breathalyzers, lengthen many license suspensions and revocations, increase DUI training for law enforcement and close a loophole that allows people who’ve killed with their car to avoid consequences through a diversion program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sacramento is listening. We see that there is a problem and we are doing what we can, crossing that partisan divide and trying to identify real solutions that we can deliver now to make our communities safer,” said Democratic Assemblymember Nick Schultz of Burbank, chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Assembly proposals are one component of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041243/san-franciscos-streets-still-deadly-advocates-want-lurie-to-do-more\">broader reckoning over years of rising traffic deaths\u003c/a> playing out at the Capitol. Next week, a separate event is expected to include more details about new bills from the California Senate, related budget proposals and the perspective of families who have lost loved ones to drunk drivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, Schultz \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2026/01/californa-dui-law-reform/\">introduced \u003c/a>a bill to increase penalties for repeat DUI offenders. Assembly members detailed several additional legislative efforts at Monday’s press conference that would:\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Close a diversion loophole.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We reported in December that a criminal justice reform law from a few years ago was allowing judges to dismiss misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charges for drivers who agreed to take part in what’s known as a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/12/california-vehicular-manslaughter-diversion/\">diversion program\u003c/a>. But in an unintended twist, that has meant the drivers not only avoided a criminal conviction but also kept a clean driving record.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assembly Member Lori Wilson, a Democrat from Suisun City who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee, introduced \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1662\">a new bill\u003c/a> that would require the DMV to add points to a driver’s license when they’re granted misdemeanor diversion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Make license suspensions and revocations start when a driver is released from custody as opposed to at the time of conviction.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Currently, someone who is convicted of felony vehicular manslaughter would likely by law have their license revoked for three years. But the revocation would often start while they’re in prison and they might be eligible to get their license back as soon as they’re out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson said her office is finalizing language on another bill that would change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>Driving is a privilege,” Wilson said. “This package holds dangerous drivers accountable and keeps our streets safer for everyone.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Force first-time DUI offenders to install what’s known as an ignition interlock device on their vehicles.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is now the third time that Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, a Democrat from Irvine, has introduced this measure.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>California is currently one of the few states that doesn’t require first time offenders to install the technology, which forces a driver to blow into a breathalyzer and prove they haven’t been drinking in order to start their car. Her \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/12/california-roadway-deaths-inaction/\">previous efforts failed\u003c/a> after the Department of Motor Vehicles raised budget concerns and civil liberties groups worried it would disproportionately impact the poor and people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>California is the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12035925/license-to-kill\">epicenter of America’s DUI and drunk driving epidemic\u003c/a>. As moms, as dads, as Californians, it’s horrifying. And as policymakers, we have an opportunity and we have an obligation to do something about this,” Petrie-Norris said. “We know these devices work. We know that they can save lives.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Increase training for law enforcement officers on how to enforce the state’s DUI laws.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assembly Member Juan Alanis, a Republican from Modesto, said currently many officers only get basic training at the academy on drunk and drugged driving and must often wait for colleagues with more specialized training to assess a driver’s sobriety level.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is to help those agencies and officers to be able to have that training so that way we can identify DUI drivers faster, quicker and get them off the streets,” Alanis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Schultz called the package of proposals a “starting point” and said he expects his colleagues in the state Senate will also be proposing changes to save lives on the road.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Indeed, last month state Sen. Bob Archuleta, a Democrat from Norwalk, \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB907\">introduced a bill\u003c/a> to crack down on DUIs – increasing punishment and making it easier for prosecutors to charge repeat offenders with murder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Archuleta is expected to hold a press conference later this month along with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, road safety advocates and other lawmakers to announce further road safety bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2026/02/assembly-driving-bills/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "some-california-high-speed-rail-records-could-remain-secret-under-proposed-law",
"title": "Some California High-Speed Rail Records Could Remain Secret Under Proposed Law",
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"headTitle": "Some California High-Speed Rail Records Could Remain Secret Under Proposed Law | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The auditor of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-high-speed-rail\">California’s High-Speed Rail Authority\u003c/a> wants the power to keep certain records confidential, drawing concerns from transparency advocates that the agency could shield vital information about a controversial and costly public infrastructure project from the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1608\">Assembly Bill 1608\u003c/a>, authored by Assembly Transportation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11937950/lori-wilson-on-her-faith-family-and-the-special-session-on-oil-prices\">Committee Chair Lori Wilson\u003c/a>, would allow the inspector general overseeing the high-speed rail authority to withhold records that the official believes would “reveal weaknesses” that could harm the state or benefit someone inappropriately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill would also prevent the release of internal discussions and “personal papers and correspondence” if the person involved submits a written request to keep their records private.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation appears to have the blessing of Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration released a nearly identical \u003ca href=\"https://trailerbill.dof.ca.gov/public/trailerBill/pdf/1379\">budget trailer bill\u003c/a> — a vehicle for the governor and legislative leaders to adopt major reforms swiftly with minimal public input — on Monday. The language for both proposals came from the inspector general’s office, said H.D. Palmer, spokesperson of the state Department of Finance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Office of the Inspector General of High-Speed Rail Authority, which audits, monitors and makes policy recommendations to the authority, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/07/high-speed-rail-california/\">was formed in 2022\u003c/a> after Assembly Democrats held bullet train funding hostage in exchange for increased oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11913625\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/IMG_7164-scaled-e1652127989772.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11913625\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/IMG_7164-scaled-e1652127989772.jpeg\" alt=\"A construction worker walks down a steep bridge arch.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A worker on the partially constructed Cedar Viaduct in Fresno in March. The 3,700-foot-long structure, with four massive arches, is part of California’s high-speed rail project. \u003ccite>(Saul Gonzalez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The rail line, designed to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, was approved by voters in 2008. At the time, it was estimated to cost $33 billion and be completed by 2020. It is now estimated to cost more than $100 billion, with only a 171-mile segment connecting Merced and Bakersfield planned for completion by 2033.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project delays and ever-increasing price tag have frustrated both Democrats and Republicans. Former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Los Angeles Democrat who held up the funding in 2022, said at the time there was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2022/05/california-high-speed-rail-standoff/\">“no confidence”\u003c/a> in the project. U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Rocklin Republican, has fiercely criticized it as a waste of money and \u003ca href=\"https://kiley.house.gov/posts/representative-kiley-introduces-legislation-to-eliminate-funding-for-the-ca-high-speed-rail-project\">introduced legislation to gut federal funding\u003c/a> for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson, a Suisun City Democrat and a former county auditor, said her bill would empower the inspector general’s office and shield it from public records requests for sensitive data, such as whistleblowers’ identities, details of fraud, documents regarding pending litigation and records about security risks. High-speed rail authority officials often will not turn over sensitive records to the oversight agency out of fear that the office would be compelled to release them, forcing the inspector general’s office to jump through hoops to obtain information for audits, she argued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only way we’ll get the level of transparency and the accountability that the Legislature requires is to make sure that our (inspector general’s office), who are technically the eyes and ears of the public … have every protection they need to be able to take the full deep dive without hindrance,” Wilson told CalMatters in an interview last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palmer echoed Wilson’s point, arguing that the governor’s proposal aims to allow the inspector general’s office to “communicate sensitive findings to external bodies in position to take corrective action.”[aside postID=news_12057238 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/AP25265725194713-1-2000x1333.jpg']But some good government groups see the measure as offering the inspector general’s office blanket authority to withhold anything it doesn’t want to disclose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a wholesale atom bomb on disclosure,” said Chuck Champion, president of the California News Publishers Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the measure is drawing opposition from Republicans who already consider the project a failure. Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/alexandra-macedo-187421\">Alexandra Macedo\u003c/a>, a Visalia Republican, said it is “insulting” that the project began when she was in middle school and remains far from complete. She called the empty concrete high-speed rail structures throughout her district a “modern day Stonehenge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As far as I’m concerned, every ounce of this project should be available for public consumption and should be presented factually and in entirety to the entire legislative body,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials from the High-Speed Rail Authority and the inspector general that oversees it declined CalMatters’ request for comment. Newsom’s office also did not respond to CalMatters’ questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill is the latest in a series of legislative attempts to shield records and agencies from the public. Last year, lawmakers passed laws that loosened public meeting requirements for various groups, from \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb707\">local governments\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1103\">research review organizations\u003c/a>, and exempted \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb495\">insurers\u003c/a> from having to disclose information they report to the Legislature. State Treasurer Fiona Ma sponsored a measure to establish a new infrastructure agency within her office while exempting much of its operations from public disclosure, a bill that was ultimately watered down and killed last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Public Records Act, which applies to all state and local agencies except the state Legislature and judicial offices, already exempts disclosure of various types of sensitive information Wilson’s measure aims to protect, said Ginny LaRoe, advocacy director at the First Amendment Coalition, which champions press freedom and transparency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, state law \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-gov/title-1/division-10/part-2/chapter-3/article-1/section-7922-000/\">broadly allows\u003c/a> agencies to withhold records when they believe it serves the public interest. There are also specific protections for \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-gov/title-1/division-10/part-5/chapter-11/section-7927-500/\">preliminary drafts\u003c/a> and internal discussions, \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-gov/title-1/division-10/part-5/chapter-12/section-7927-605/\">trade secrets\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-gov/title-1/division-10/part-5/chapter-8/section-7927-200/\">documents related to pending litigation\u003c/a> involving a public agency, which are disclosable once a lawsuit is resolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/030623-High-Speed-Rail-LV_CM_17-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Construction on the High-Speed Rail above Highway 99 in south Fresno on March 6, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local\">\u003cfigcaption>Construction on the high-speed rail project above Highway 99 in south Fresno on March 6, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But interpreting the public records law would take up a lot of the inspector general’s capacity, said Wilson’s chief of staff Taylor Woolfork.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bill’s objective is for this small oversight body to concentrate on generating meaningful reports that strengthen the high speed rail program, not to divert limited resources toward interpreting complex CPRA questions or defending disclosure decisions in court,” he said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Woolfork acknowledged the existing exemptions for the agency in the public records law, he said it does not go far enough to protect the inspector general’s office. Under current law, if the high-speed rail authority is being sued, the inspector general’s office could be required to release information because the agency itself isn’t being sued, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both proposals would allow people who communicate with the inspector general’s office to stay confidential as long as they make a written request, a practice in laws that govern the state auditor’s office and inspectors general at other agencies, such as the state departments of transportation and corrections and rehabilitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>‘If any project should have intense transparency and scrutiny, it’s the high-speed rail.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ccite>Chuck Champion, president of the California News Publishers Association\u003c/cite>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the decision to withhold that information should be based on a set of “objective legitimate criteria … independent of someone’s personal wishes,” LaRoe said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A whistleblower … understandably may have fear of coming forward with important information about waste, fraud or abuse, but that doesn’t mean that they should unilaterally be able to control what the public has access to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LaRoe also took issue with allowing the inspector general to shield information due to potential “weaknesses” such as “information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or pending litigation” — language that CalMatters could not find anywhere else in state public records access laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On its face, I could see an agency refusing to disclose information because it’s embarrassing, because it shows a weakness,” LaRoe said. “Too often, we see agencies interpreting words in ways that ultimately protect people or decisions that maybe look embarrassing or are uncomfortable or create controversy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the language, Wilson said she expects the proposal will be “honed in” on through the legislative process. “This was, we felt, a good starting point,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it is troubling whenever lawmakers seek to further shield public agencies from disclosure requirements — especially a watchdog agency overseeing such a controversial project, LaRoe and Champion said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If any project should have intense transparency and scrutiny, it’s the high-speed rail,” Champion said. “This project has been a disaster from jump street. And what else is in there that we have not yet found that they could tuck into this loophole?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/02/california-high-speed-rail-record-exemption/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California created an inspector general to monitor its long-delayed high-speed rail project. Now, one lawmaker wants to allow that office to withhold some investigative records from the public.\r\n\r\n",
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"title": "Some California High-Speed Rail Records Could Remain Secret Under Proposed Law | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The auditor of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-high-speed-rail\">California’s High-Speed Rail Authority\u003c/a> wants the power to keep certain records confidential, drawing concerns from transparency advocates that the agency could shield vital information about a controversial and costly public infrastructure project from the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1608\">Assembly Bill 1608\u003c/a>, authored by Assembly Transportation \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11937950/lori-wilson-on-her-faith-family-and-the-special-session-on-oil-prices\">Committee Chair Lori Wilson\u003c/a>, would allow the inspector general overseeing the high-speed rail authority to withhold records that the official believes would “reveal weaknesses” that could harm the state or benefit someone inappropriately.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill would also prevent the release of internal discussions and “personal papers and correspondence” if the person involved submits a written request to keep their records private.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation appears to have the blessing of Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration released a nearly identical \u003ca href=\"https://trailerbill.dof.ca.gov/public/trailerBill/pdf/1379\">budget trailer bill\u003c/a> — a vehicle for the governor and legislative leaders to adopt major reforms swiftly with minimal public input — on Monday. The language for both proposals came from the inspector general’s office, said H.D. Palmer, spokesperson of the state Department of Finance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Office of the Inspector General of High-Speed Rail Authority, which audits, monitors and makes policy recommendations to the authority, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2022/07/high-speed-rail-california/\">was formed in 2022\u003c/a> after Assembly Democrats held bullet train funding hostage in exchange for increased oversight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11913625\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/IMG_7164-scaled-e1652127989772.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11913625\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/IMG_7164-scaled-e1652127989772.jpeg\" alt=\"A construction worker walks down a steep bridge arch.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A worker on the partially constructed Cedar Viaduct in Fresno in March. The 3,700-foot-long structure, with four massive arches, is part of California’s high-speed rail project. \u003ccite>(Saul Gonzalez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The rail line, designed to connect San Francisco and Los Angeles, was approved by voters in 2008. At the time, it was estimated to cost $33 billion and be completed by 2020. It is now estimated to cost more than $100 billion, with only a 171-mile segment connecting Merced and Bakersfield planned for completion by 2033.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The project delays and ever-increasing price tag have frustrated both Democrats and Republicans. Former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Los Angeles Democrat who held up the funding in 2022, said at the time there was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2022/05/california-high-speed-rail-standoff/\">“no confidence”\u003c/a> in the project. U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a Rocklin Republican, has fiercely criticized it as a waste of money and \u003ca href=\"https://kiley.house.gov/posts/representative-kiley-introduces-legislation-to-eliminate-funding-for-the-ca-high-speed-rail-project\">introduced legislation to gut federal funding\u003c/a> for it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson, a Suisun City Democrat and a former county auditor, said her bill would empower the inspector general’s office and shield it from public records requests for sensitive data, such as whistleblowers’ identities, details of fraud, documents regarding pending litigation and records about security risks. High-speed rail authority officials often will not turn over sensitive records to the oversight agency out of fear that the office would be compelled to release them, forcing the inspector general’s office to jump through hoops to obtain information for audits, she argued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The only way we’ll get the level of transparency and the accountability that the Legislature requires is to make sure that our (inspector general’s office), who are technically the eyes and ears of the public … have every protection they need to be able to take the full deep dive without hindrance,” Wilson told CalMatters in an interview last week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palmer echoed Wilson’s point, arguing that the governor’s proposal aims to allow the inspector general’s office to “communicate sensitive findings to external bodies in position to take corrective action.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But some good government groups see the measure as offering the inspector general’s office blanket authority to withhold anything it doesn’t want to disclose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a wholesale atom bomb on disclosure,” said Chuck Champion, president of the California News Publishers Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the measure is drawing opposition from Republicans who already consider the project a failure. Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/alexandra-macedo-187421\">Alexandra Macedo\u003c/a>, a Visalia Republican, said it is “insulting” that the project began when she was in middle school and remains far from complete. She called the empty concrete high-speed rail structures throughout her district a “modern day Stonehenge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As far as I’m concerned, every ounce of this project should be available for public consumption and should be presented factually and in entirety to the entire legislative body,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials from the High-Speed Rail Authority and the inspector general that oversees it declined CalMatters’ request for comment. Newsom’s office also did not respond to CalMatters’ questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill is the latest in a series of legislative attempts to shield records and agencies from the public. Last year, lawmakers passed laws that loosened public meeting requirements for various groups, from \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb707\">local governments\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1103\">research review organizations\u003c/a>, and exempted \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb495\">insurers\u003c/a> from having to disclose information they report to the Legislature. State Treasurer Fiona Ma sponsored a measure to establish a new infrastructure agency within her office while exempting much of its operations from public disclosure, a bill that was ultimately watered down and killed last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Public Records Act, which applies to all state and local agencies except the state Legislature and judicial offices, already exempts disclosure of various types of sensitive information Wilson’s measure aims to protect, said Ginny LaRoe, advocacy director at the First Amendment Coalition, which champions press freedom and transparency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, state law \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-gov/title-1/division-10/part-2/chapter-3/article-1/section-7922-000/\">broadly allows\u003c/a> agencies to withhold records when they believe it serves the public interest. There are also specific protections for \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-gov/title-1/division-10/part-5/chapter-11/section-7927-500/\">preliminary drafts\u003c/a> and internal discussions, \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-gov/title-1/division-10/part-5/chapter-12/section-7927-605/\">trade secrets\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-gov/title-1/division-10/part-5/chapter-8/section-7927-200/\">documents related to pending litigation\u003c/a> involving a public agency, which are disclosable once a lawsuit is resolved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/030623-High-Speed-Rail-LV_CM_17-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"Construction on the High-Speed Rail above Highway 99 in south Fresno on March 6, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local\">\u003cfigcaption>Construction on the high-speed rail project above Highway 99 in south Fresno on March 6, 2023. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But interpreting the public records law would take up a lot of the inspector general’s capacity, said Wilson’s chief of staff Taylor Woolfork.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bill’s objective is for this small oversight body to concentrate on generating meaningful reports that strengthen the high speed rail program, not to divert limited resources toward interpreting complex CPRA questions or defending disclosure decisions in court,” he said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Woolfork acknowledged the existing exemptions for the agency in the public records law, he said it does not go far enough to protect the inspector general’s office. Under current law, if the high-speed rail authority is being sued, the inspector general’s office could be required to release information because the agency itself isn’t being sued, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both proposals would allow people who communicate with the inspector general’s office to stay confidential as long as they make a written request, a practice in laws that govern the state auditor’s office and inspectors general at other agencies, such as the state departments of transportation and corrections and rehabilitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\n\u003cblockquote>\u003cp>‘If any project should have intense transparency and scrutiny, it’s the high-speed rail.’\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ccite>Chuck Champion, president of the California News Publishers Association\u003c/cite>\u003c/p>\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But the decision to withhold that information should be based on a set of “objective legitimate criteria … independent of someone’s personal wishes,” LaRoe said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A whistleblower … understandably may have fear of coming forward with important information about waste, fraud or abuse, but that doesn’t mean that they should unilaterally be able to control what the public has access to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LaRoe also took issue with allowing the inspector general to shield information due to potential “weaknesses” such as “information security, physical security, fraud detection controls, or pending litigation” — language that CalMatters could not find anywhere else in state public records access laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On its face, I could see an agency refusing to disclose information because it’s embarrassing, because it shows a weakness,” LaRoe said. “Too often, we see agencies interpreting words in ways that ultimately protect people or decisions that maybe look embarrassing or are uncomfortable or create controversy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about the language, Wilson said she expects the proposal will be “honed in” on through the legislative process. “This was, we felt, a good starting point,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it is troubling whenever lawmakers seek to further shield public agencies from disclosure requirements — especially a watchdog agency overseeing such a controversial project, LaRoe and Champion said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If any project should have intense transparency and scrutiny, it’s the high-speed rail,” Champion said. “This project has been a disaster from jump street. And what else is in there that we have not yet found that they could tuck into this loophole?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/02/california-high-speed-rail-record-exemption/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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},
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"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"order": 8
},
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},
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
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"meta": {
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"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
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},
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"order": 1
},
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
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"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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},
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"order": 15
},
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 18
},
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
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"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
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"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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},
"on-the-media": {
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