Levi Sumagaysay

Latest news

CalMatters •

Congress is fighting over this tax deduction. Here’s how it affects Californians

A provision in the Republicans’ tax and spending bill will help determine a limit on what high-income Californians can deduct on their taxes, but Congress disagrees on how much. 

After the passage of the 2017 tax bill during President Donald Trump’s first term, California taxpayers who itemize deductions saw their ability to deduct their full state and local income taxes and property taxes go away — to help the federal government pay for corporate tax cuts. The new cap that was established, $10...
CalMatters •

From San Diego to the Bay Area, California restaurants are on edge over immigration raids

Brandon Mejia usually spends his weekends conducting a symphony of vendors serving pupusas, huaraches and an array of tacos at his two weekly 909Tacolandia pop-up events.

Half food festival, half swap meet, the events draw 100-plus vendors a week in Pomona and San Bernardino. They offer a way to “legalize” street food — vendors get a reliable location, cities collect taxes and enforce health codes — while patrons enjoy delicacies from all over Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicara...
CalMatters •

California investigates State Farm over claims from Los Angeles fires

California’s Insurance Department has launched a formal investigation into State Farm over its handling of claims from the Los Angeles County fires. 

The investigation, expected to take months, will allow for a more comprehensive regulatory review, the department said in a press release today. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in the release that the review will help determine whether State Farm has complied with the state’s consumer-protection and claims-handling laws.

“No one should b...
CalMatters •

‘An endless game of whack-a-mole’: California tariffs lawsuit thrown out, but it’s not over

A judge threw out California’s lawsuit against President Trump’s tariffs this week, but the case will keep going because the state itself asked for the dismissal. 

State Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said he will immediately appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

The Trump administration had requested that the California lawsuit, filed in April, be transferred to the U.S. Court of International Trade. The federal court judge in San Francisco rejected the transf...
CalMatters •

Trump trade war has already had huge effect on California ports

California’s port traffic is beginning to look worse now, under the effects of President Donald Trump’s fickle tariff policy, than it did at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The vessel calls, or cancellations, that we’re seeing today (are) starting to exceed the number that we saw in COVID-19,” Mario Cordero, chief executive of the Port of Long Beach, said in an interview with CalMatters in early May.

At Port of Los Angeles, Executive Director Gene Seroka said during a media briefing las...
CalMatters •

How State Farm's emergency rate hike approval in California will affect you

State Farm can raise homeowner and other rates starting next month, becoming the first insurance company to win approval to do so on an emergency interim basis in California. 

The state’s largest insurer made the unprecedented request for emergency rate hikes earlier this year, after it said it was in financial distress and expected more than $7 billion in claims because of the Los Angeles County fires in January. 

The state Insurance Department staff recommended approval of the company’s requ...
CalMatters •

L.A. fire survivors accuse State Farm of delaying claims. Should it get OK for a rate hike?

Rossana Valverde’s Pasadena home of 35 years is still standing after Los Angeles County’s devastating January fires — but more than 100 days later, she and her husband still can’t move back in.

That’s because they’re waiting for their insurer, State Farm, to approve and process their claims. 

“We were lucky our house made it through,” Valverde said. “At first we thought unscathed. But it definitely still smells like smoke. The windowsills have a thick layer of black ash and soot.”

After getti...
CalMatters •

How Trump tariffs could upend California farms, wine businesses and ports

President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs are putting many California businesses, jobs and the state budget at risk. They’re affecting not only long-term relationships with trading partners, but an intricate web of ecosystems and supply chains. 

The California business owners and groups grappling with the tariffs — wine shop owners, winery founders, farmers — say the precise effects on their industries are unclear so far. They hope there will be an upside. 

But for those who have a...
CalMatters •

State Farm moves one step closer to emergency California rate hike

State Farm could soon win final approval to raise premiums for California homeowners and others on an interim basis, a move meant to help prop up the finances of the state’s biggest provider of property insurance, after a public hearing this week.

In early February, State Farm asked California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to approve emergency interim rate increases, saying the Los Angeles Country fires had worsened its financial situation as it awaited the Insurance Department’s decision...
CalMatters •

Canadians pull back on travel to California because of Trump: 'I will miss the desert'

California tourism could lose billions of dollars because of President Donald Trump’s policies on tariffs, immigration and gender identity, as well as his talk of annexing Canada. 

Visit California, a nonprofit organization that promotes tourism in the Golden State, recently revised its overall visitor spending forecast for this year from $166 billion to $160 billion, saying international travel into California is already beginning to slow. Canada, the second-largest source of international tou...
CalMatters •

State Farm can hike rates on California homeowners — if it pauses cancellations and proves need

Lea esta historia en Español

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said today he will grant State Farm’s request to raise home insurance premiums by 22% on average if the company agrees to certain conditions — and wins approval at a public rate hearing next month. 

Lara’s conditions are that State Farm, the state’s biggest provider of homeowners insurance, commit to pause canceling and not renewing policies through the end of this year. He also is asking that its parent company, State...
CalMatters •

California lawmakers propose fixes for ‘insurance industry in shambles’

Lea esta historia en Español

The fires that reduced Altadena, Pacific Palisades and other Los Angeles-area neighborhoods to rubble have also shined a harsh light on California’s raging insurance crisis. 

Lawmakers have proposed a variety of bills to address the issues illuminated by the disaster, plus others that predate it. Some of the legislation would be the first of its kind in the nation.

One measure would put the state’s top two lawmakers on the governing committee of the FAIR Plan, the...
CalMatters •

Funding for small businesses — a big source of  jobs — at risk under Trump

Lea esta historia en Español

California’s small businesses — employers to more than half the state’s workforce — are staring down what some owners, experts and advocates say could be immense negative consequences from President Donald Trump’s slew of executive orders. 

Trump’s embattled federal funding freeze and anti-diversity push have seeded uncertainty about the economy, jobs and spending on infrastructure and innovation. 

The freeze, imposed on Jan. 27, affected hundreds of billions of d...
CalMatters •

Big homeowner rate hike from State Farm shot down by California regulator

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara today rejected State Farm’s request for “emergency” rate increases, setting up what could be a highly consequential showdown with the state’s biggest insurer — and going against the recommendation of his staff experts.

Lara, who has been urging insurance companies to write policies in the state again despite increasing wildfire risks, says in a letter to State Farm executives that he needs more information before he can approve an increase. He asks...
CalMatters •

California homeowners will have to fund half of high-risk insurer's $1 billion ‘bailout’

After saying it would run out of funds by March, California’s last-resort fire insurance provider will impose a special charge of $1 billion on insurance companies — which will in turn pass the costs along to homeowners — the first such move in more than three decades.

The state Insurance Department today approved a request from the provider, the FAIR Plan, to impose the charge and ensure it stays solvent as it covers claims from victims of the Los Angeles County fires, the department said in a...
CalMatters •

State Farm asks for more insurance rate increases after LA fires

Lea esta historia en Español

State Farm, the largest insurer for California homeowners, this week asked the state to approve “emergency” rate increases for insurance policy holders, saying the recent Los Angeles County fires have imperiled its finances. 

The company wants an average 22% increase for homeowners and 15% for renters to help provide “emergency” cash infusions as it attempts to pay out claims. State Farm said it would issue refunds if the requests it made last year — 30% for homeow...
CalMatters •

State Farm pide más aumentos en las tarifas de seguros tras los incendios en Los Ángeles

We’re CalMatters, your nonprofit and nonpartisan news guide.


Our journalists are here to empower you and our mission continues to be essential.


But we can’t keep doing this without support from readers like you.

We’re CalMatters, your nonprofit and nonpartisan news guide.

Our journalists are here to empower you and our mission continues to be essential.

But we can’t keep doing this without support from readers like you.
CalMatters •

LA fires could drastically drive up insurance premiums — and test California’s new market rules

Lea esta historia en Español

The deadly and destructive fires in Los Angeles — which some say could be the costliest in the state’s history — will further strain the insurance market and worsen the financial position of California’s insurer of last resort.

Data about Pacific Palisades, the devastated LA neighborhood whose residents include movie stars and directors, help illustrate the insurance problems plaguing the state. An estimated 1 in 5 homes in the upscale neighborhood were covered by...
CalMatters •

State’s unemployment insurance debt is $20 billion — and counting. Will lawmakers act?

Lea esta historia en Español

California’s elected officials aren’t saying much about how they plan to address festering problems with state unemployment benefits after a recent government report called the system “broken.”

State analysts have suggested changes that may be unpopular with voters and donors, such as tax increases. So maybe it is not surprising that, even as they return to Sacramento and stake out political ground for this year’s legislative session, key state lawmakers did not an...
CalMatters •

California’s economy of ups, downs and uncertainty: 2024 year in review

California, which saw economic ups and downs in 2024, heads into a year of uncertainty that will be shaped in part by the actions of the incoming presidential administration. 

The state started this year with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit that has been mostly erased with help from its increasing reliance on the fortunes of Silicon Valley. With companies like Nvidia enjoying outsized revenue, profit and stock market gains, the taxes tech companies and employees paid into California coffer...
CalMatters •

California limits junk fees: New law blocks fines for declined ATM withdrawals

Lea esta historia en Español

Californians who try to withdraw money but don’t have enough in their bank accounts won’t fall deeper into a financial hole from having to pay a fine, thanks to a new state law.

The law covers instances in which banks charge customers when their withdrawals are declined instantaneously, such as at ATMs, because of insufficient funds. It takes effect Jan. 1.

Assembly Bill 2017 applies to banks and credit unions that are regulated by the state; Gov. Gavin Newsom sig...
CalMatters •

Why Amazon and Starbucks workers are striking now, and what it means for labor under Trump

Striking Amazon and Starbucks workers are on picket lines instead of delivering last-minute presents or handing customers Christmas-themed drinks, as their unions pressure the companies during the holidays — and before a less union-friendly president is sworn into office. 

The workers accuse their employers of refusing to recognize their unions or to bargain in good faith. They have been organizing for more than four years but have yet to land a contract. Some have filed complaints with the Nat...
CalMatters •

El impacto económico de las deportaciones de Trump podría ser de 'cientos de miles de millones de dólares' para California

We’re CalMatters, your nonprofit and nonpartisan news guide.


Our journalists are here to empower you and our mission continues to be essential.


But we can’t keep doing this without support from readers like you.

We’re CalMatters, your nonprofit and nonpartisan news guide.

Our journalists are here to empower you and our mission continues to be essential.

But we can’t keep doing this without support from readers like you.
Load More