California has created an agency to stop conservative abuse. Has 1 worker

Last month, CalMatters revealed how a fiduciary in Ventura County directed $2.7 million from her elderly clients to her husband’s health care company. A judge already did began to unravel the conflicts.

Now investigative reporter Byrhonda Lyons is with us again her second story in the seriesthis time digging deep into the government agency that is supposed to oversee licensed fiduciaries who can exercise so much control over people’s finances and lives.

Take Donna Bogdanovich.

The Professional Trustees Bureau began receiving complaints against her just months after it licensed her in 2011.

The bureau fined her repeatedly for failing to provide records during an investigation and operating with an expired license. someone alerted the bureau that Bogdanovic transferred money between customer accounts.

But she was still licensed and could monitor the finances of people like Vinyasi.

He turned to the desk when Bognodavich stopped paying the bills. Then the bureau failed to act, and the consequences piled up. His car broke down. He ran out of food.

Police eventually arrested Bogdonovic on charges of stealing $2.5 million from her clients’ funds. At that time Vinyasi was homeless.

Byrhonda’s new report shows how the agency fell short of its promise to protect Californians and uphold ethical standards.

• Vinyasi: “Why put forth the false notion that they are there to serve a purpose? They serve no purpose. Even if you can’t solve the problems, at least erase the lie that they are there to do something, because they do nothing.”

More of Byrhonda’s discoveries include:

• The bureau has stopped neither the conflicts prohibited by its own code of conduct nor the outrageous conduct of fiduciaries in California.
• The information it maintains about trusted individuals is often kept secret or sometimes inaccurate.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom has not filled the open bureau chief position for a year and a half. In fact, there is currently only one employee.

Help us keep reporting: Let us know if you have had experience with a trustee or conservator you would like to share.

Although California’s proposed billionaire tax is popular with voters, some of the state’s prominent progressives, who have reservations about the idea, remain mom about their positions.

As Maya S. Miller of CalMatters explains, while the idea of ​​a one-time tax to offset federal health care funding cuts seems a no-brainer for those who want to tax wealthy, progressive lawmakers and organizations like San Francisco state Sen. Scott WienerThe California Federation of Labor and the Working Families Party declined to take a position on the initiative.

One labor-minded state lawmaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he and other Democrats have doubts the tax can withstand legal challenges. They also worry that billionaires will end up using accounting tricks to avoid paying the tax.

Member of the Democratic Assembly Chris Ward of San Diego, a member of the Legislative Progressive Caucus and the only lawmaker to openly voice criticism of the proposal to CalMatters, also took issue with how the tax would boost the state’s health care sector instead of its general revenue.

Read more.

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang:

The California Supreme Court has ordered a halt to the investigation of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and the recount of ballots cast in the November 2025 special election as multiple lawsuits challenging the effort make their way through the courts. Bianco, Republican and leading candidate for governorearlier this year seized more than 1,400 boxes of ballots and other materials from local election officials as part of the investigation, alarming voting rights advocates.

The order came in response to one of Attorney General Rob Bonta’s lawsuits wants to stop the investigation. Bonta, a Democrat running for re-election this year, is also trying to block Bianco’s efforts in the Riverside County District Court. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra filed a similar, separate lawsuit on behalf of voting rights advocates. Bianco last week said he had halted the investigation amid legal challenges.

Also Wednesday, a Riverside County judge unsealed the three search warrants Bianco obtained from another county judge — with whom Bianco has political ties — which allowed him to take the ballots. A a coalition of mediaincluding CalMatters, have asked to unseal documents that include sworn statements made by Bianco’s deputies to the judge to justify their investigation.

The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office said it will not file charges against Alfred Aldrete, a Clovis resident who in February helped lead high school students on a walkout protesting the Trump administration’s immigration policies. Earlier Tuesday, local police charged Aldrete with one count of aiding and abetting the delinquency of a minor. Read more by Nigel Duara of CalMatters.