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Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday signed into law the so-called #FreeBritney bill, legislation designed to reform the state’s legal guardianship laws that critics say have led to the exploitation of many Californians, including pop star Britney Spears. The bill by Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Campbell) holds professional conservators to a higher standard by requiring them to disclose their fees online, prohibits financial conflicts of interest involving the conservator and increases enforcement actions against those who are not acting in their clients’ best interest. (Colliver, 9/30)

Rachel Gonzales has been to the Texas Capitol at least a dozen times since 2017, when she advocated against a bill that would’ve banned her then-6-year-old transgender daughter, Libby, from using the girls’ bathroom. That bill died in 2017, but the fight hasn’t stopped. Since January, Texas has considered 52 bills that target trans people, particularly youth, according to Equality Texas, an LGBTQ advocacy group in the state. Parents like Gonzales and advocates have defeated all of the bills so far. But last week, during a third special legislative session, the Texas Senate passed a bill that would ban transgender student athletes in public schools from competing on school sports teams that align with their gender identity, as opposed to their sex assigned at birth. (Yurcaba, 9/30)

Scammers were able to pocket nearly 30% of the $16 billion in unemployment insurance payments sent out by Arizona since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the director of the state agency overseeing the program said Thursday. Most of the fraud happened in the first several months of the pandemic and mainly hit federally funded emergency unemployment insurance programs. Those programs were designed to help people who normally would not be eligible for assistance because they had contract jobs or were so-called “gig workers” such as Uber drivers. Their employers generally did not pay into the unemployment insurance system. (Christie, 9/30)

Authorities say they are still investigating the mysterious deaths of a Northern California family and their dog who were found in a remote hiking area, but have so far determined their deaths were not caused by a gun or any other weapon, a lightning strike, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, cyanide exposure, illegal drugs, alcohol or suicide. The bodies of John Gerrish, his wife, Ellen Chung, their 1-year-old daughter, Miju, and their dog were found on Aug. 17 on a hiking trail close to the Merced River in the Sierra National Forest. A family friend had reported them missing. (9/30)