TRÂN NGUYỄN

Statehouse reporter

Nguyễn is an Associated Press reporter covering California government and politics.

FILE - Police officers and emergency crews park outside the Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco's Union Square on Nov. 21, 2021, after looters ransacked businesses. Facing mounting pressure to crack down on a retail theft crisis, California lawmakers are split on how best to tackle the problem that some say had caused major store closures and products like deodorants to be locked behind plexiglass. (Danielle Echeverria/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)

California Democratic lawmakers seek ways to combat retail theft while keeping progressive policy

California lawmakers are split on how to best address the retail theft cases that have proliferated in the state.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom comments on the passing of Proposition 1, a $6.4 billion bond ballot measure, during a news conference at the Ronald Reagan State Building Thursday, March 21, 2024, in Los Angeles. California voters have passed the measure that will impose strict requirements on counties to spend on housing and drug treatment programs to tackle the state's homelessness crisis. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

California homelessness measure’s razor-thin win signals growing voter fatigue

A key measure to combat homelessness backed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom has barely passed despite his multimillion-dollar campaign supporting it.

FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks in support of Proposition 1, a $6.38 billion bond ballot measure, during a news conference at the Los Angeles General Medical Center in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. California voters have passed the measure that will impose strict requirements on counties to spend on housing and drug treatment programs to tackle the state’s homelessness crisis. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass listens at left. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

California voters pass measure pushed by governor to tackle homelessness crisis in razor-thin win

California voters have approved a measure that Gov. Gavin Newson says he needs to tackle the state’s homelessness crisis.

Democratic Assemblymember Chris Ward speaks at a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. Assemblymember Ward has introduced a legislation that would create statewide standards for school shooting drills and ban fake gunfire during these drills. (AP Photo/Trân Nguyễn)

Active-shooter-drill bill in California would require advance notice, ban fake gunfire

Fake gunfire would be banned and advance notice required under proposed legislation to regulate active-shooter drills in California’s public schools.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a Proposition 1 campaign event at the Service Employees International Union office in San Francisco, Monday, March 4, 2024. Californians are set to vote Tuesday on a statewide ballot measure that is touted by Newsom as a major step to tackle homelessness and would be the first major update to the state’s mental health system in 20 years. (AP Photo/Terry Chea)

Californians split on ballot measure to tackle homelessness crisis

Californians are split in early returns over a statewide ballot measure that Gov. Gavin Newson says he needs to tackle the state’s homelessness crisis.

Members of the Resiliency Empowerment Support Team (REST) Letha Croff, left, and Torie Baxter, second from left, talk to a homeless person sleeping under a bridge in Chico, Calif., Feb. 8, 2024. A measure aimed at transforming how California spends money on mental health will go before voters in March as the state continues to grapple an unabated homelessness crisis. The REST Program does daily visits to homeless encampments to get them into treatment or housing. Butte County officials fear the REST program would lose its funding if California voters approve Proposition 1 (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Things to know about California’s Proposition 1

California voters will decide on a statewide ballot measure that Gov. Gavin Newson says would address the state’s ongoing homelessness issue.

Tiffany McCarter, executive director of the African American Family and Cultural Center, hugs Josiah Banks before he leaves the center for the day in Oroville, Calif., Feb. 8, 2024. A measure aimed at transforming how California spends money on mental health will go before voters in March as the state continues to grapple an unabated homelessness crisis. McCarter fears the 14-year-old facility with a mission of breaking the cycle of trauma in the Black community, might have to close if it loses mental health funding from the Butte County.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Some worry California proposition to tackle homelessness would worsen the problem

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging voters to approve a ballot initiative that he says is needed to tackle the state’s homelessness crisis.

FILE - A vendor bags psilocybin mushrooms at a cannabis marketplace on May 24, 2019, in Los Angeles. A pair of California lawmakers will introduce a bipartisan bill Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024, to allow people 21 and older to consume psychedelic mushrooms under professional supervision—an effort to address the state's mental health and substance use crises. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

California could legalize psychedelic therapy after rejecting ‘magic mushroom’ decriminalization

California could soon legalize psychedelic therapy under a bipartisan bill being introduced Tuesday. Democratic Sen.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Designate Mike McGuire, of Healdsburg, poses in the state Senate Chambers in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. McGuire will replace current Senate Pro Tempore Toni Atkins when he is sworn-in Monday Feb. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

New California Senate leader says his priorities are climate change, homelessness and opioid crises

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When California Sen. Mike McGuire takes over as leader of the state Senate on Monday, it will be the first time in decades that the state’s top two legislative leaders aren’t from a major urban center.

A sign marks the Yuba County Registrar of Voters office in Marysville, Calif. on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. Authorities are investigating a suspicious envelope sent to the elections office in Yuba County on Wednesday morning that might have contained fentanyl. (AP Photo/Adam Beam)

Package sent to rural California elections office tested positive for fentanyl, authorities say

Authorities are investigating a suspicious envelope that was sent to the elections office in rural Yuba County.

FILE - A correctional officer walks up a main entryway during a media tour at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif., on July 26, 2023. An advisory council said California Gov. Gavin Newsom's $360-million vision to transform the warehouse into a new campus with classrooms should slash its budget by at least a third, and the money should go to other projects to improve overall living conditions, according to a report released Friday, Jan. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

San Quentin project’s $360 million price tag should be slashed, governor’s advisory group says

An advisory council says California Gov. Gavin Newsom should slash by at least a third the cost of his $360 million plan to build a campus with classrooms in the notorious San Quentin State Prison.

Assembly members Heath Flora, R-Modesto, left, and Josh Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, right, leave the Assembly chambers as protesters call for a cease-fire in Gaza disrupt the first day of the California legislative session in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. The Assembly session was just getting started when protesters wearing matching black t-shirts stood up in the gallery and started singing "Cease-fire now" and "Let Gaza Live." The Assembly adjourned the session.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Jewish protesters calling for cease-fire in Gaza disrupt first day of California legislative session

Protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war have disrupted the first day of California’s legislative session.

FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a Clean California event in San Francisco, Thursday, Nov. 9, 2023. California becomes one of the first states to provide free health care to all low-income adults regardless of their immigration status starting Monday. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

California is expanding health care coverage for low-income immigrants in the new year

California will soon become one of the first states to provide free health care to all low-income immigrants living in the state illegally.

FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference in Beijing, Oct. 25, 2023. Newsom signed hundreds of new laws in 2023 that will take effect in California on Jan. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan,File)

A tax increase, LGBTQ+ youth protections and more sick leave highlight California’s new laws in 2024

A new year brings new laws in California. Most of the new laws Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2023 take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks about mental health crisis before signing off on two major pieces of legislation to transform the state's mental health system and to address the state's worsening homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, on Oct. 12, 2023. Roughly 100 petitions to fast-track people with untreated schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders into housing and medical care under an alternative mental health court program created by Newsom have been submitted in seven California counties as of Dec. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

New California mental health court sees more than 100 petitions in first two months

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — An alternative mental health court to compel treatment for people with severe mental illness has received more than 100 petitions since launching in seven California counties in October, state officials said Friday.

FILE - California Attorney General Rob Bonta fields questions during a press conference on Aug. 28, 2023, in Los Angeles. A state appeals court ruled on Nov. 17, 2023, that the Department of Justice can share gun owners' personal information with researchers to study gun violence, overturning a lower court's decision that temporary halted the data sharing last year. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

California can share gun owners’ personal information with researchers, appeals court rules

A state appeals court has ruled that California can share personal information of gun owners with researchers to study gun violence.

FILE - Wendy Carrillo, D-Los Angeles, listens during the opening session of the California Assembly in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. Carrillo, who is running for a seat on the Los Angeles city council was arrested early Friday, Nov. 3, morning on suspicion of drunken driving, according to law enforcement and jail records.(AP Photo/José Luis Villegas, File)

California lawmaker Wendy Carrillo arrested on suspicion of drunken driving

Los Angeles police say a California legislator was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. Jail records show Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo was held on a misdemeanor offense.

FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom fields questions before a Republican presidential primary debate on Sept. 27, 2023, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. Newsom is planning to make a stop in Israel on Friday, Oct. 20, 2023, ahead of his planned trip to China next week to discuss policies to curb global warming. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom to make a one-day visit to Israel en route to China

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is planning to make a one-day stop in Israel en route to China on a previously announced trip to discuss policies to curb global warming.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signs off on two proposals in Los Angeles, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, to transform the state's mental health system and address the state's worsening homelessness crisis, putting them both before voters in 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

California governor signs 2 major proposals for mental health reform to go before voters in 2024

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed two major pieces of legislation to transform the state’s mental health system and to address the state’s worsening homelessness crisis.

FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom announces a proposal to build 1,200 small homes across the state to reduce homelessness in Sacramento Calif., on March 16, 2023. Newsom signed two laws on Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, to fast-track low-income housing on surplus land owned by nonprofit colleges and religious institutions and to streamline the housing permitting process. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

Newsom signs laws to fast-track housing on churches’ lands, streamline housing permitting process

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a law to fast-track low-income housing on surplus land owned by nonprofit colleges and religious institutions.

After delays, California unveils first site of state tiny home project to relieve homelessness

Sacramento leaders and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced Wednesday the state will build the first group of 1,200 tiny homes at an abandoned office park.

FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks in Sacramento, Calif., Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/José Luis Villegas, File)

New California law aims to force people with mental illness or addiction to get help

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill that makes it easier for authorities to compel treatment for people with mental illness or addiction issues.

FILE - A vendor bags psilocybin mushrooms at a cannabis marketplace on May 24, 2019, in Los Angeles. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill aimed at decriminalizing the possession and use of some hallucinogens, including psychedelic mushrooms. The veto, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, comes after the Legislature voted to make California the third state to do so. The bill would have removed criminal penalties for the possession and use of psychedelic mushrooms, mescaline and dimethyltryptamine, or DMT. It would only have applied to those older than 21 years old. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes bill that would have decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill aimed at decriminalizing the possession and use of some hallucinogens, including psychedelic mushrooms.

FILE - California Gov. Gavin Newsom answers questions during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Sept, 26, 2023. Newsom signed several laws on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, including one that increases paid sick days for workers and another that limits when local governments can count votes by hand. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

California workers will get five sick days instead of three under law signed by Gov. Newsom

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a law to increase the amount of minimum sick days for workers from three days to five.

California governor signs law to bolster eviction protections for renters

California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a law to close a loophole in a 2019 law that has allowed landlords to circumvent the state’s rent cap.

Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho holds a poster collage titled "criminal behavior" as he announces on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023, that his office is suing the city of Sacramento for creating a public nuisance by failing to take stronger action on homeless camps. A Sacramento prosecutor is suing California's capital city over failure to clean up homeless encampments. Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho says his office asked the city to enforce laws around sidewalk obstruction and to create additional professionally operated camping sites. (Hector Amezcua/The Sacramento Bee via AP)

Sacramento prosecutor sues California’s capital city over failure to clean up homeless encampments

Sacramento’s top prosecutor is suing the city’s leaders over failure to cleanup homeless encampments, escalating a monthslong dispute with leaders in California’s capital city.

FILE - Police officers and emergency crews park outside the Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco's Union Square on Nov. 21, 2021, after looters ransacked businesses. California is making an unprecedented investment of more than $265 million in efforts to combat smash-and-grabs. (Danielle Echeverria/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, File)

California targets smash-and-grabs with $267 million program aimed at ‘brazen’ store thefts

California will spend $267 million to combat smash-and-grab robberies that have plagued businesses and luxury stores in the state.

FILE - State Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, of Stockton, center talks with Republican state Senators Brian Dahle, of Bieber, left, and Scott Wilk, of Santa Clarita, at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Sept. 12, 2023. Eggman introduced a bill to reform the state's conservatorship system. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

California lawmakers approve bills including eviction protections and mental health care reform

California lawmakers have voted to strengthen eviction protections for renters, closing an existing loophole allowing landlords to circumvent the state’s rent cap.

California lawmakers vote to let legislative employees join a labor union

Legislative workers at the California Capitol are close to forming their first labor union. State lawmakers on Wednesday approved a bill that allows state workers in the Legislature to organize.

California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, of Hollister, congratulates state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, after the Assembly approved her bill, SB326, to overhaul how counties pay for mental health programs, during the Assembly session at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023. (Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

California’s Assembly votes for ballot measure that would change how mental health care is funded

Lawmakers in California’s state Assembly have voted to put a measure before voters next March that would overhaul the way counties are funding mental and behavioral health programs.