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State lawmakers held a joint oversight committee hearing Wednesday to question officials from California鈥檚 Department of Toxic Substances Control about how it鈥檚 going with various reform efforts.

California sends toxic soil to landfills in Utah and Arizona, including sites near Native American reservations. Will lawmakers step in to keep the waste in state?

California environmental experts worry that smashing old TVs, monitors and laptops in so-called 鈥榬age rooms鈥� may release hazardous waste or potentially harm customers鈥� health.

California schools received more than $33 billion in COVID stimulus money. Some districts won鈥檛 say how they鈥檝e spent it.

A CalMatters investigation found that schools had wildly different approaches to stimulus spending 鈥� from laptops to shade structures to an ice cream truck. No centralized database exists to show the public exactly where the money went.

California enacted a law to remove guns from people deemed too dangerous to be armed. But the measure, plagued by problems, has not achieved its promise.

Last week鈥檚 state Supreme Court decision on cash bail could fundamentally alter the state鈥檚 criminal justice system 鈥� purportedly barring anyone from being held in jail before trial solely because they don鈥檛 have enough money to get out.

Legal advocates are trying to roll back California鈥檚 hefty traffic ticket fines and fees, which are among the highest in the nation. One attorney called them a 鈥渂lunt instrument鈥� punishing people 鈥渨hen in reality, for many Californians, traffic tickets are simply too expensive to take care of.鈥�

From the start of the pandemic through the end of this month, California will release more than 11,000 prisoners early 鈥� largely nonviolent offenders with less than a year to serve 鈥� reducing the prison population to a 30-year low.