Daily Headlines January 31, 2025
We scan major news sources* and compile selected articles to keep you up-to-date on current issues affecting California business – the economy, health care, environment, transportation and more. Receive Daily Headlines by Email
Today’s Top Story
The Workplace Podcast:
Workplace Raids and I-9 Audits: What Employers Need to Know
In this episode of The Workplace podcast, CalChamber Associate General Counsel Matthew Roberts and immigration law experts Greg Berk and Andrew Desposito discuss employer obligations during federal immigration raids and audits.
Top California News
- How California Wildfires Are Affecting Supply Chains
Supply chain impacts from the Southern California wildfires have been minimal, according to logistics experts. However, several experts noted challenges could come later once people begin to rebuild infrastructure and homes. Construction Dive (No subscription required)
- California Blesses Political Donors’ Strategy to Multiply Their Influence
Political committees now have state regulators’ OK to create an unlimited number of affiliated committees with different leaders, and then closely coordinate fundraising and candidate donations among them. CalMatters (No subscription required)
- 2024 in Review: California Climate Change Legislation, Policy and Regulation
As we enter 2025 amid the devastating Los Angeles fires[1] and with a new presidential administration, we continue our series of yearly reviews of the most significant governmental actions taken by the state of California relevant to climate change in the previous year. Unless otherwise specified, the legislation discussed herein is effective as of January 1, 2025. The National Law Review (No subscription required)
- California’s Carbon Crusade Faces Resistance Due to Its Real World Impact
…Finally, there’s another potential conflict that’s developing below the political radar — whether solar farms should replace crops on San Joaquin Valley farms as farmers face declining water supplies. Much like coastal opposition to battery banks and offshore windmills, rural communities are wary about a solar panel conversion that would alter their economies and lifestyles. Dan Walters in CalMatters (No subscription required)
- California Consumer Confidence Drops to a 30-Month Low
…California confidence dropped 7% in January and is now 17% below pre-election October. That’s when Golden State optimism was at a 14-month high. The Orange County Register (Subscription required)
Top National, International News
- Trump Tariffs on Mexico and Canada Could Land This Weekend. Here Are Some Goods in the Crosshairs
President Donald Trump said this week that tariffs on U.S. neighbors Canada and Mexico will arrive Saturday. The two nations are not only close geographically, but economically as well. The Associated Press (No subscription required)
- Trump’s 25% Tariff Deadline Is Almost Here. What to Expect.
…President Trump says he will levy 25% tariffs on goods Saturday from America’s two top trade partners, Mexico and Canada, unless they both stop unauthorized migrants and drugs from entering the U.S. He also has threatened an additional 10% tariff on goods from China—the nation’s third-biggest trading partner—accusing it of flooding the U.S. with fentanyl. The Wall Street Journal (Subscription required)
- Wall Street Is Booming, but Banks Are in a Lending Rut
U.S. banks are no longer living in the shadow of the 2023 crisis sparked by the collapse of regional lenders Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and later First Republic. But recent reports offer a glimpse of what could haunt them next: a long, slow grind. The Wall Street Journal (Subscription required)
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