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Feeling overtaxed and frustrated with the cost of doing business in California, some of the state’s wealthiest residents abruptly moved out of state in recent months.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, went to Texas, which has no income tax. Billionaire Larry Ellison, the CEO of software giant Oracle, moved to Hawaii and relocated his company headquarters to Texas.

Back in October Vallejo Navy League President Steve Nash started a campaign to make sure every tombstone in the Mare Island Cemetery had a wreath on it before Christmas. However, he was concerned he might not be able to raise enough money to finish the job.

He shouldn’t have worried so much.

California state lawmakers are pushing to enact nearly a dozen policing reform laws driven by nationwide outrage and protests after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in May. Lawmakers have until Aug. 31 to approve and send legislation to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Assembly Bill 1196, which would ban law enforcement in California from using choke holds or similar restraining methods that pose a substantial risk of asphyxiation when detaining people, passed the state Senate Public Safety Committee Friday.

The legislation follows sustained national outcry over the death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

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California could become one of the first states to extend compensation to victims of police violence and their families.

If Assembly Bill 767 is passed, the state’s victim compensation board would explicitly list excessive use of force by police among crimes eligible for compensation, said bill co-author Assemblymember Tim Grayson.

SACRAMENTO — Home builders have lobbied for years to cut the fees that local governments can charge them to offset the effects their projects have on roads, police and other public services, arguing that the additional costs make construction prohibitively expensive in California.

A legislative package unveiled Monday by five Assembly Democrats proposes to cap those fees and waive them altogether for some projects, in hopes of providing a jolt to the state’s stagnating construction rates and easing the housing shortage.

California Democrats unveiled on Monday a package of eight proposals that attempt to spur construction of new homes by slashing some of the fees that local governments charge for building permits.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — In their latest bid to combat California’s affordable housing crisis, state lawmakers on Monday announced a package of bills to limit development fees that can add tens of thousands of dollars to the price of a new home.

The residential “impact fees” that local governments charge developers are one reason it’s so expensive to build a home in California. They’re not only costly, they’re also unpredictable, lack transparency and can threaten a project’s viability, according to a new state-commissioned study by UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.