Capital & Main

1 week ago | capitalandmain.com | Mark Kreidler

Many of California’s 17 million renters are already in a world of pain, paying budget-crushing rents and facing potential double-digit hikes each year. Unless a new bill in the state Assembly is passed, that pain will compound significantly in the near future. Thanks to 2019’s Tenant Protection Act, California has a 10% annual cap on increases for most renters — still brutally difficult for the state’s lower-income residents, but at least a limit.

1 week ago | capitalandmain.com | Jennifer Oldham

The Centennial State may become first in the nation to require retailers to warn consumers that burning fossil fuels “releases air pollutants and greenhouse gases, known by the state of Colorado to be linked to significant health impacts and global heating.”The warning is the linchpin of a bill — HB25-1277 — that narrowly passed the state House on April 2 and is scheduled to be heard in the Senate’s Transportation & Energy Committee this week.

1 week ago | capitalandmain.com | Kate Morrissey

When Arsenii crossed the border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in September with an appointment to begin his asylum process after fleeing Russia, the first thing he heard from U.S. officials distressed him. “Fucking Russians,” Arsenii said the officer said to him. Almost a week later, officials transferred him from the port to Otay Mesa Detention Center, a long-term holding facility in San Diego for people in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

1 week ago | capitalandmain.com | Jeremy Lindenfeld

House Republicans passed a budget plan this week that could slash up to $880 billion over 10 years from Medicaid, a program that provides health insurance to 83 million low-income Americans. For the past several months, health care advocates have been ramping up pressure on three vulnerable California Republicans in Congress — Reps. Ken Calvert, Young Kim and David Valadao — urging them to break ranks and reject those cuts when the final budget comes up for a vote in the coming months.

1 week ago | capitalandmain.com | Mark Kreidler

For many financial aid recipients in the California State University system, Pell grants are the ballgame. Nearly of the system’s 460,000-plus undergraduates receive that crucial federal aid, which was created in the 1960s and finally rolled out in 1972 to help low-income students and their families afford the cost of college.