The Brief

A constant hum fills the air at California’s tax agency this time of year — phones ring and keyboards clack as hundreds of thousands of Californians and businesses seek tax guidance.

Call volume quadruples to up to 10,000 a day; average wait times soar from four minutes to 20. “Right from the get-go when the bell rings at 7:30 you (already) have a wait,” said call center chief Thor Dunn, adding that workers with other jobs are trained to hop on the phones during peak periods. “All hands on deck.”

So later this year — for next tax season — California’s 3,696-person Department of Tax and Fee Administration plans to use generative artificial intelligence to advise its approximately 375 call center agents on state tax code. The AI will then inform what they pass on to California business owners asking for tax guidance.

Trained with massive datasets often scraped from the web without consent from authors, generative artificial intelligence models can generate content like text, imagery, and audio. A large language model such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which ignited interest in generative AI following its release in fall 2022, essentially predicts the next word in a sequence of input text then outputs or generates text that reflects the training data.

What form would that take for you, the person calling in to the tax center? The tax department told CalMatters this technology will not be used without a call center employee there to review the answer, but a slide in its call for proposals seeking a vendor says any AI solution must “be able to provide responses to incoming voice calls, live chats, and other communications.”

That request for proposals, aimed at creating an AI to help the state with taxes, went out last month. Initial proposals are due this week and the process is scheduled to finish in April. A meeting with potential vendors attracted 100 attendees last month, department spokesperson Tamma Adamek told CalMatters.

The tax advice AI proposal is one of five proofs of concept California has launched to explore how state agencies can use generative AI, says California Department of Technology director and state chief information officer Liana Bailey-Crimmins. Caltrans has two projects to explore if generative AI can reduce traffic congestion and fatal accidents and the state’s Health and Human Services Agency has two trials underway to explore if generative AI can make it easier for people to understand and attain public benefits, and assist in health care facility inspections.

The winning AI tax proposal vendor will get a six-month contract, then state officials will determine if a larger contract is warranted. The project must demonstrate shorter calls and wait times and abandoned calls and vendors must “monitor and report on GenAI solution responses for factual accuracy, coherence, and appropriateness.”

The project is the start of a years-long, iterative AI regulation and adoption process that Gov. Gavin Newsom kicked off last fall. The executive order he issued requires state agencies to explore ways to use generative AI by July.

To limit risks, private companies awarded contracts will train AI models in a “sandbox” hosted on state servers, made to meet information security and monitoring standards set by the technology department. Newsom’s executive order directs the technology department to release the sandbox in March for use by companies awarded contracts.

AI risk evaluation

The state’s Government Operations Agency evaluated the benefits and risks of generative AI in November 2023. The report cautions that generative models can produce convincing but inaccurate results, deliver different answers to the same prompt, and suffer model collapse, when predictions stray away from accurate results. Generative AI also carries the risk of automation bias, when people become overly trusting and reliant on automated decision-making.

Exactly how tax agency call center employees will know to trust answers generated by large language models is unclear.

Adamek, the tax department spokesperson, said they are trained on basic tax and fee programs and, if they encounter a question they are unfamiliar with, they can ask more experienced team members for help. In July the technology department, in conjunction with other state agencies, is scheduled to help train state employees on recognizing wrong or fake text.

The tax department does not consider its planned use of generative AI high risk, Adamek said, because it’s focused on enhancing state business operations and all the data involved is publicly available. She said the tax department will assess risk later in the process. Standards guidelines for state agencies that sign contracts with private companies are due out in the coming weeks.

While the tax department doesn’t consider using generative AI high risk, it’s unclear whether the technology department will agree.

Newsom’s order requires all state agencies to deliver a list of high-risk forms of generative AI it’s using to the Department of Technology within 60 days. Bailey-Crimmins told CalMatters all the agencies under the governor’s authority have said they are not using high risk generative AI.

A new law also requires the technology department to inventory all high-risk forms of AI or automated decision making systems in use by state agencies by or before September.

But outside of government, some are wary of some of California’s AI plans. Among them is Justin Klozcko, the Los Angeles author of Hallucinating Risk, a Consumer Watchdog report about AI patents held by banks and used in financial services and the potential for harm. He notes that documentation from San Francisco-based ChatGPT maker OpenAI warns that AI can pose a high risk when delivering essential services or providing financial advice.

“There’s still a lot we don’t know about generative AI and what we do know is that it makes mistakes and acts in ways that people who study it don’t even fully understand,” Klozcko said. He also questioned the ease of determining whether that information is accurate in the hands of the call center employee who may not be qualified to determine whether text output by a large language model — made to sound convincing — is in fact inaccurate or false.

“I worry that workers in charge of this won’t understand the complexity of this AI,” he said. “They won’t know when they’re led astray.”

Bailey-Crimmins said “we take those risks seriously” and that potential downsides will be taken into consideration when determining the next course of action following the six-month pilot project.

“We want to be excited about benefits, but we also need to make sure that what we’re doing is safeguarding… the public puts a lot of trust in us and we need to make sure that the decisions we’re making (are) not putting that trust in question."

The Phillips 66 oil refinery in the South Bay is shutting down, and nearby communities want a say in what comes next. But some residents worry they’re already being left out.  

Carson officials had called for creating a task force that would include community members to provide recommendations during the redevelopment process, but the effort has stalled.

City officials say they’re in direct conversation with Phillips 66 and are hosting community town halls for residents.

The background

Phillips 66 announced its intention to close its L.A. refinery in 2024, citing an aging facility and increasingly strict state regulations. The refinery spans more than 650 acres and has two main complexes, one in the L.A. neighborhood of Wilmington and one in Carson. They’re connected via a 5-mile pipeline. The company processed its final barrel of crude oil late last year.

Soon after Phillips 66 announced its intent to close, the Carson City Council passed a yearlong moratorium on proposals to develop the site and amended the general plan to give the council authority to approve the final plans for redeveloping the portion of the property within city limits.

What Carson leaders said 

When the moratorium expired last year, and in anticipation of the company submitting a project proposal, Carson Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes directed staff to put together a task force — including residents, City Council members and other stakeholders — to help inform the cleanup and redevelopment of some 223 acres of the company’s land within Carson city limits.

“ I know that my residents are real concerned about what they would like to see on that site versus them being told after the fact,” Mayor Pro Tem Cedric L. Hicks Sr. said at a council meeting last September, when he also expressed support for establishing a task force.

Task force effort stalls

Nearly nine months later, a task force has not been created.

In a statement to LAist, Carson spokesperson Margie Revilla-Garcia said the task force hasn’t yet been established “as staff is still discussing its structure internally.”

“At this time, no timeline has been established for the creation of the task force,” Revilla-Garcia wrote in an email.

Councilwoman Arleen Rojas, whose district includes the refinery, said a task force is premature — cleanup should be the priority.

“We have the community that’s been giving us ideas on what they want there, but we really need to clean it up,” she said.

Rojas said the council established an ad hoc committee that regularly meets with Phillips 66 about the cleanup. Meanwhile, she said the city has hosted and will hold more town hall meetings to educate residents about the cleanup process, which is likely to take years.

In April, Phillips 66 submitted its initial plan to turn the site into warehouses and industrial buildings. (The company submitted a proposal for its Wilmington site in August 2025 to the city of L.A.)

What’s next

Some Carson residents worry that without a designated task force, their concerns could go unheard as Phillips 66 carries out a largely unprecedented cleanup and redevelopment effort.

Jonathan, a Carson resident who grew up with a window view of the nearby Valero oil refinery, said most of his neighbors know little about the Phillips 66 closure. (LAist is not publishing his surname because he fears for family members who are in the U.S. without documentation.) He learned about the creation of a task force via the environmental justice advocacy group Asian Pacific Environmental Network, or APEN.

That group had pushed for a task force that would be included in cleanup conversations, not only redevelopment efforts.

He added that a task force could allow residents to have some say in rectifying longstanding health and pollution concerns from the area’s refineries.

“We get pollution stains on our walls inside because the air is just that dirty,” he said. “In some ways it's a lot like living next to a giant bomb that you don't really know the timer.”

He hopes a task force could help influence the current proposal, which is fully industrial.

“ Living in the shadow of a refinery makes you yearn for way more green spaces,” he said.

Recommendations on how to spend $3.7 million recovered from the Andrew Do corruption scheme will be left to his successor — and long-ago boss-turned-foe — Supervisor Janet Nguyen, under a plan advanced Tuesday by Orange County supervisors. The money is expected to be devoted to benefitting his former constituents, with exact spending plans to be proposed later.

The supervisors moved forward with a proposal by Nguyen to transfer the recovered dollars into her district’s discretionary funds, which she makes recommendations on how to spend. In doing so, they opted not to pursue a notion floated by Supervisor Don Wagner to spend the funds outside the district — an idea that faced intense pushback from dozens of public commenters at Tuesday’s meeting.

“ These funds were recovered in connection with the Andrew Do corruption matter,” Nguyen said. The money, she added, “should be returned back to the benefit of the 1st District community that were deprived of the intended services and public benefits.”

Nguyen said a variety of community needs could be addressed with the dollars, including helping people affected by multi-day mass evacuations over a recent explosion risk at a Garden Grove industrial facility.

As LAist reported when uncovering the corruption scheme, Do used the district discretionary process to allocate millions of dollars in the scheme without it ever appearing on public agendas. Under a state law passed in response to the Do scandal, spending of those funds in O.C. now must go to a public vote of the full board and be posted in an online spending log.

Supervisors have not yet decided how much of the recovered funds will go to communities such as Santa Ana that were in Do’s district during the first year-and-a-half of the four-year scheme, before the map changed due to redistricting. That question will be decided when the board votes on Nguyen’s spending recommendations.

Residents want the money to stay in the district

The supervisors’ move came after more than 50 residents of Do’s former district spoke to the board during public comments — all urging that the funds be spent in the district it was originally intended for. Wagner previously said he wanted a discussion on where to spend it because there are so many needs “across the county.”

“ This is shameful that you're even considering that this money not return to our district,” said Anne Calvo, a senior in Seal Beach’s Leisure World community.

“Please return the funds that are due to our district that were stolen from us,” said Calvo, who was appointed by Nguyen to the county’s Older Adults Advisory Commission.

“Please don't steal these funds twice,” said Huntington Beach resident Lori Sueki.

Vietnamese-language media covers a packed audience during public comments about the fate of $3.7 million recovered from the Andrew Do corruption scheme, during the OC Board of Supervisors’ public meeting on Tuesday, June 9, 2026.

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Jill Replogle/LAist

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Nguyen said it was the most number of speakers she could recall speaking on one topic at a supervisors’ meeting in the year and half since she re-joined the board.

In the days leading up to the discussion, Nguyen put out email blasts calling on constituents to send letters and speak up for devoting the funds to the district.

Several elected officials in local cities were among those calling on the board to spend the money in the district.

“ Other districts vying for the 1st District's funds, which are rightfully the 1st District's, is crazy,” said Butch Twining, an elected city councilman for Huntington Beach.

“Your respective districts have already received 100% of your funding,” Twining said.  ”The money is for our kids, our seniors, our veterans, to aid in providing help to our homeless and underserved communities, our public safety.”

The money diverted in the scheme was originally intended to feed vulnerable seniors and people with disabilities in his district, which included Little Saigon, Huntington Beach and — in the earlier part of the scheme — Santa Ana.

The diversion of the funds “hurt and created true victims of residents who were denied the services, the assistance, the opportunities, to recover quickly and to have their needs addressed,” said Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who was mayor of Santa Ana during the pandemic.

“The money should go back to those that were harmed. But let's figure out who was harmed and make sure that we look at that,” he said, noting the changes to the district lines.

Fallout

Do is now serving a five-year sentence in federal prison after he admitted to accepting bribes in exchange for awarding millions in tax dollars meant to feed needy seniors and people with disabilities in his district.

As part of the plea deal, Do acknowledged taking more than $800,000 in bribes through his two daughters, including a down payment on the house his youngest daughter Rhiannon Do later forfeited to resolve the criminal case. The unaccounted-for dollars were first uncovered by LAist.

Federal officials recovered money from seized bank accounts and two properties connected to the bribes — including the Tustin house his daughter bought.

Millions more haven’t been recovered, at least yet

The amount of taxpayer money recovered so far is less than half of the $7.9 million Andrew Do admitted was diverted from specific meal contracts.

In a lawsuit seeking to recover funds, the county alleges the total amount lost was even larger: $13.25 million. The county’s suit — scheduled for trial in November 2027 — covers all of the money Do gave to two nonprofits, Viet America Society and Hand to Hand Relief Organization.

That leaves more than $4 million — and possibly much more — not yet recovered.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office noted they have an ongoing criminal case against Do’s alleged co-conspirator Peter Pham.

“Assuming we obtain a conviction in that matter, we would expect to seek restitution,” the spokesperson, Ciaran McEvoy, said.

Pham left the country on a flight to Taiwan in late 2024 and remains a fugitive, according to McEvoy. The case against him also includes charges against another alleged co-conspirator, Thanh Huong Nguyen, who led the Hand to Hand nonprofit.

The scandal has also been costly to taxpayers in other ways. In addition to what the county has spent on legal fees to pursue the lawsuit, $1.7 million has been spent on outside contracts — including a forensic audit — Supervisor Katrina Foley said on Tuesday.

Congratulations to those lucky — or deep-pocketed — enough to score a ticket to one of eight World Cup games in Los Angeles. (If not, it's not too late.)

That now means a visit to Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood — or SoFi Stadium to the rest of us — along with tens of thousands of others, all jostling to get in, seated, fed, and out.

SoFi is home to both of the city's (American) football teams: The Rams and The Chargers. And the ginormous arena plays host regularly to music's biggest names.

So it's all well-trotted territory. But to make your journey a bit easier, here's our cheat sheet on SoFi.

Driving?

We have to ask: you sure you want to get in a car? Because there are many public transit options to help you avoid traffic and save you money.

My colleague and transportation reporter Kavish Harjai has put together an entire transit guide for said purpose.

Still driving?

Fine! When in Rome ... we get it. In addition to navigating game-day gridlock, you’dll arlso have to park that thing.

Parking at and near SoFi Stadium

You can purchase official parking for each game. And offsite parking too. Inglewood’s Park & Go offers remote parking and shuttle service every 15 minutes to the stadium.

Pro-tip 1: Most of the streets near SoFi are permitted for residents only. Your car will be towed.

Pro-tip 2: There will be folks selling parking spots in private lots and driveways. As they say, caveat emptor.

Pro-tip 3: It could take at least an hour to get out of SoFi after the game. Use the restroom before heading to your car and pack your patience.

Food and stuff

Pregame: As my colleague Gab Chabron says, Inglewood's food scene reflects its Black and Brown residents that make up nearly 90% of its population. So grab some mightily tasty wings at a strip mall, or go a little fancy at a supper club co-founded by actor Issa Rae. Gab has all the details and more recommendations on his guide.

Game time: Plenty of options too at SoFi, which you can find here.

Pro-tip 1: After some back-and-forth, FIFA now allows fans to bring in one, soft, plastic 20 oz factory sealed disposable water bottle to the match. No other outside food or drink is allowed.

Pro-tip 2: The stadium does not accept cash.

Pro-tip 3: SoFi has a strict bag policy. Read what is allowed here.

Pro-tip 4: Yes, you can bring a poster and a flag. But there are strict rules on what those signs say.

Republican Steve Hilton will advance to the November general election in the race for California governor, setting up a longshot contest against Democrat Xavier Becerra in which he’s promised to slash spending and regulations if elected.

Hilton, a British American former Fox News host, secured about 25% of the vote in the June 2 primary, with about 88% of votes counted as of Tuesday evening.

His opponent, Becerra, is a former state attorney general and U.S. Health and Human Services secretary who emerged from a large pool of Democratic candidates.

Hilton’s win knocks billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer from contention after he spent $215 million of his own money to boost his populist campaign and blanket the airwaves with ads. It will make the general election a traditional partisan matchup during a midterm election year that Democrats will treat as a check on President Donald Trump’s administration rather than the intra-Democratic Party brawl that Steyer supporters had hoped for. California uses a top-two primary system; the two candidates with the most votes advance to the November ballot regardless of party.

With a crowded field of Democrats all competing for votes, Hilton led in the polls for much of the race, energizing conservative voters with promises to cut income taxes and the gas tax, boost oil drilling and overturn environmental regulations such as the state’s greenhouse gas reduction mandates.

He’s sold his candidacy as an opportunity for Californians crushed by high costs to end “16 years of one-party rule.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the last Republican to lead California, left office in 2011.

“The people of California have really been generous in giving the Democratic Party the opportunity to show that their ideas work,” Hilton said last week, declaring victory early at a press conference in Sacramento. “I think the patience is running out, really.”

He faces an uphill battle in November.

California Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one. Though Hilton says he’s presenting the chance for the state to go in a different direction, there has been a GOP candidate in the general election for governor in every race in the past two decades — and besides Schwarzenegger’s tenure, Democrats have won them all.

He’s also endorsed by Trump, whom Californians disapprove of by high margins.

But he has not downplayed the endorsement.

“I think it’s going to be very helpful to Californians to have a governor who has a good working relationship with the president and his team,” he said.

Hilton’s signature campaign promise is to eliminate the income tax for the first $100,000 in earnings and institute a flat tax rate above that; he said last week that his campaign will consider raising that cap after conducting an economic analysis of the California cost of living. Either option would represent an enormous reduction in state revenue that Hilton has said he expects to offset by cutting a third of state spending.

He has not said how, if elected, he would get such a proposal through the Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature.

Hilton was born in London, the son of Hungarian immigrants to the United Kingdom. He got his start in politics working for the British Conservative Party and played a prominent role in the rise of Prime Minister David Cameron in 2010. He moved in 2012 to Silicon Valley, where his wife was a Google executive, and dabbled in startups before launching a weekly Fox News show in 2017 during Trump’s first presidency. The show, The Next Revolution, ran through 2023.