Victoria Colliver

Requiring vaccines is complicated in sectors like retail and agriculture, where employers risk losing workers in a tight labor market and vaccine enforcement could be expensive.

This announcement makes California, along with New Jersey and Hawaii, one of the final holdouts to revise its mask policy after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention abruptly announced Thursday that fully vaccinated people can go without masks in most situations.

His revised budget proposal includes $859 million in general fund money in 2021-22 to expand the program. The expanded eligibility would take effect next May.

“With more than 20 million vaccines administered across the state, it is time to turn the page on our tier system and begin looking to fully reopen California’s economy,” Newsom said.

State officials announced Wednesday night they will devote 40 percent of vaccines to the hardest-hit communities.

The Covid-19 vaccines in circulation are expected to provide immunity to this strain.

California’s ballot wars have escalated in recent years as industries see little problem spending more than $100 million to persuade the electorate.

Newsom’s slow, phased-in reopening plan started just over two weeks ago with a handful of rural counties with relatively few cases.

Cody said she wants to reopen Santa Clara County — but only when safe to do so.

The move by the adjacent counties governed by a single health officer marks the clearest sign of cracks in the statewide lockdown order Newsom imposed.

Seven counties in the region will direct nearly 7 million residents to shelter in place through April 7.

About 65 to 70 otter carcasses were found to have been bitten by sharks last year,...