In The News

California lawmakers on Thursday said the departures of high-profile Black female executives in Hollywood are a “troubling pattern,” especially because the state has extended its film and television tax credits.




A group of state legislators representing the California Legislative Black Caucus are calling on film studios to meet with them regarding the sudden removal of Black female executives over the past few weeks.




In his Crenshaw neighborhood, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) passes liquor store after liquor store, while fresh fruit and produce are hard to find.




The State Legislature today passed Senate Bill 150 that requires equitable hiring for billions of dollars of federal infrastructure projects headed to California in the coming years. Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), who co-authored SB 150, led the effort to include equity language in the package of infrastructure bills to create quality job opportunities for California’s workers from underserved communities.




It was in 1966 that Yvonne Braithwaite Burke made history as the first Black woman elected to serve in the California State Assembly. In the next three decades to follow, just seven—including Maxine Waters, Diane Watson and Barbara Lee would follow. And while it is important to note that these women were not only the first Black women to be elected to the California State Assembly, but also some of the first Black women to hold elected office in the United States, progress was slow.




On Wednesday, June 21 at 10 a.m., State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond will convene a hearing of his special task force at the State Capitol to examine inclusive content offered to California students by textbook publishers. Senator Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) will co-chair the task force with Thurmond.




A bill focusing on what books local school boards could remove from their shelves drew impassioned debate from both sides of the issue at a Wednesday hearing of the state Senate Education Committee.




The State Senate passed legislation on Wednesday that will enhance California’s training pipeline, community benefits, and quality jobs standards in state and federal infrastructure programs.