Now comes the hard part.
That was the primary takeaway from Monday’s largely ceremonial flurry of activity within the state Capitol.
Joined by their families, newly elected lawmakers were sworn into office after opening speeches that at times ventured into the metaphysical, with Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon at one point comparing the challenge of political change to that of postmodern architecture: “Although you possibly can tear down what got here before you, you continue to need a structure wherein to live.”
Lawmakers also convened Gov. Gavin Newsom’s special session on oil company profits, after which just as quickly adjourned it: Within the Assembly, organization of the special session lasted three minutes.
Newsom, meanwhile, unveiled the text of his proposal to enact a price gouging penalty on oil firms about two months after first floating the thought — but many blanks, literally, still need to be filled in.
In keeping with the Newsom administration, the bill would permit the state to tremendous oil refiners with “excessive profit margins” and funnel the penalty a refund to Californians. But among the bill’s most contentious features — including the dimensions of the penalty and the definition of “excessive” margins — remain unclear and could have to be worked out in negotiations with the Legislature.
Some lawmakers were hesitant to embrace the half-formed proposal, CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff and Sameea Kamal report: “It will surely be problematic if within the short term it results in higher prices for consumers,” said Democratic Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin of Thousand Oaks.
- Newsom told reporters: “I hope it never goes into effect because these (firms) will change the best way they’ve been doing business. We would like them to make extraordinary profits. I’m not against profits. They only can’t reap the benefits of you.”
- Kevin Slagle, a spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Association, told the Los Angeles Times: “To … see no details on thresholds or what this penalty is and appears like … it makes us wonder if it is a real public policy discussion or more of the politics we’ve seen from this governor.”
Public policy discussions aren’t prone to start until Jan. 4 on the earliest, when state lawmakers will reconvene each the regular and special legislative sessions. Meanwhile, pressure will likely keep constructing on all sides: Greenpeace USA activists, for instance, unfurled banners within the state Capitol demanding lawmakers “make Big Oil pay.”
Other legislative news you need to know:
- The speakership deal is official: The Assembly approved a resolution formalizing a leadership transition plan greenlighted by Democratic members last month: Rendon will remain speaker through June 30, 2023, at which point Assemblymember Robert Rivas of Hollister will take over.
- The Senate gets a latest minority leader: Republican Sen. Brian Jones of Santee will replace Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita as leader of the Senate Republican Caucus.
- Lawmakers introduced a torrent of recent bills — though, again, the hard part will come next yr, once they’ll face votes and debates. Key proposals include:
- The most recent try and allow legislative employees to unionize. “We ask our staff to write down laws and staff bills that expand collective bargaining rights for other employees in California, yet we prohibit our own employees from that very same right,” Democratic Assemblymember Tina McKinnor of Inglewood, the bill’s creator, said in an announcement.
- The most recent try and impose latest excise taxes on guns and ammunition, authored by Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel of Woodland Hills.
- A bill to specify a timeline for schools to implement LGBTQ+ cultural competency teacher training under development by the state education department, authored by latest Democratic Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur of West Hollywood.
- A bill to push California closer to its goal of offering debt-free college by allowing income-eligible UC and CSU students to receive expanded financial aid awards to assist cover such non-tuition costs as housing, books, food and transportation — authored by Democratic Assemblymembers Kevin McCarty of Sacramento and Sabrina Cervantes of Riverside.
- And Assembly Republicans unveiled a package of bills called the “California Promise,” which call for suspending the state gas tax, offering property tax bonuses to local governments that approve more housing, banning homeless encampments near schools, increasing penalties for fentanyl dealers, giving working families a tax credit and expanding the renters’ tax credit, promoting transparency at school curriculum, and expediting environmental review for water storage projects, amongst other things.
Make your voice heard: In the event you’ve at all times wondered how exactly California state government works, now’s your probability to ask: CalMatters is putting together an explainer and is searching for inquiries to answer and confusing processes to make clear. Submit your questions here.
Other Stories You Should Know
1
California election updates
Ahead of the Friday deadline for county elections officials to undergo the California secretary of state their final results from the Nov. 8 election, let’s dive into the most recent updates:
- Two legislative races are still too near call: As of Monday evening, Democratic incumbent Melissa Hurtado and Republican David Shepard each had 50% of the vote for a state Senate seat looping around east Bakersfield — and Democrat Christy Holstege and Republican Greg Wallis each had 50% of the vote for an Assembly seat straddling Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The contests have been virtually neck-and-neck for days.
- Vice President Kamala Harris will swear in Rep. Karen Bass as Los Angeles mayor on Sunday: Bass asked the vice chairman to manage the oath of office in recognition of their position as two of California’s strongest Black women, based on the Los Angeles Times.
- Crypto meets Congress: Groups connected to Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced co-founder of FTX — a cryptocurrency exchange that was valued at $32 billion before it abruptly went belly-up — spent heavily on two Southern California congressional races, backing the successful candidates Sydney Kamlager in Los Angeles and Robert Garcia in Long Beach, the Los Angeles Times reports. Kamlager, who as a state senator introduced an unsuccessful bill that may have allowed state agencies to simply accept cryptocurrency as payment, told the Times she didn’t know the groups were connected to Bankman-Fried. “I wouldn’t know the person if he walked up and sold me a Snickers bar,” she said.
- Will a Californian lead the Republican National Committee? Harmeet Dhillon, California’s Republican National Committeewoman, is preparing to launch a leadership bid, marking probably the most serious challenge to this point for current chairperson Ronna McDaniel, Politico reports. Dhillon has long played a outstanding role in California GOP politics, and her profile grew amid the pandemic consequently of her law firm representing plaintiffs in most of the lawsuits against state COVID restrictions.
2022 Election
Latest coverage of the 2022 general election in California
2
First auction for California offshore wind
Imagine a future where massive wind turbines float within the ocean off California’s coast, with their blades — each greater than a football field — spinning within the air and generating enough electricity to power tens of millions of homes. Today marks step one in a years-long journey to realize that goal: Starting at 7 a.m., federal officials will auction off leases for parcels of ocean water about 20 miles off Morro Bay and Humboldt County — offering an important first have a look at how strong the market is for producing offshore wind off California, a very difficult market, CalMatters’ Nadia Lopez reports.
- Habib Dagher, executive director of the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center, who helps develop the country’s first offshore floating wind turbines: “California has deeper waters than every other areas with these floating turbines thus far on the earth. … That adds costs and risks because nobody’s constructing anything this big or this deep yet.” Dagher said the turbines could be in waters 2,490 feet deep off Humboldt County and three,320 feet in Morro Bay. The deepest project to this point: 721 feet in Norway.
- Dagher added: “How do you protect the environment, protect local stakeholders, protect the fisheries, protect Indigenous communities, while also speeding up permitting so we make a difference with global climate change?”
- The state doesn’t have much time to figure these thorny problems out if it wants to succeed in its goal of manufacturing no less than 25 gigawatts of energy from offshore wind sources by 2045 — enough to produce 25 million homes.
3
Real ID deadline delayed — again
In the event you still haven’t gotten your Real ID, you possibly can rest a bit of easier: Citing pandemic-induced backlogs at state driver’s licensing agencies, the federal government on Monday announced a two-year extension of its Real ID enforcement deadline, pushing it from May 3, 2023 to May 7, 2025. This marks no less than the fourth extension since October 2020, the unique deadline for Americans to present a Real ID or other federally approved document meeting heightened security and identity-verification requirements so as to fly domestically or enter certain federal buildings.
- In March 2020, just days before California shut down because of COVID-19, DMV Director Steve Gordon warned state lawmakers of an impending “untenable situation”: To satisfy the deadline, the DMV estimated it could have to process greater than 8 million Real IDs in a bit of over six months, greater than triple its past volume.
- However the time beyond regulation has helped the DMV catch up. Gordon said in a Monday statement that almost 14.8 million Californians had a Real ID as of Dec. 1, a rise of greater than 2.6 million for the reason that same date last yr and up nearly 200,000 from last month.
- Gordon: “If a Real ID is in your holiday wish list this yr, we’ve made it easy so that you can get one. All you might have to do is fill out a web-based application, upload your documents and make a fast trip to the DMV.”
CalMatters Commentary
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: The true scandal behind California’s leak of confidential gun permit data: the state’s long list of failed information technology projects.
Assistance is on the best way for California truckers grappling with EV rules: Many programs and grants — from the local to the federal level — can be found to assist the trucking industry transition to zero-emission vehicles, writes Nick Chaset, CEO of East Bay Community Energy.
Other things price your time
Some stories may require a subscription to read
The California judge and the case that got here back to haunt him. // Recent York Times Magazine
S.F. sends away more foster kids than any county in California. // San Francisco Standard
Fresno district attorney dismisses criminal case against city council president. // Fresno Bee
Suspects released in high-profile S.F. crimes against Asian-Americans, despite district attorney’s pushback. // San Francisco Standard
Opponents of S.F.’s ‘killer robot’ policy threaten ballot measure to reverse it. // San Francisco Chronicle
Cal State objects to proposed four-year programs at community colleges. // Inside Higher Ed
Did Newsom’s homeless funding about-face change anything? // Sacramento Bee
Los Angeles air regulators say it’s inconceivable to satisfy smog standards without federal help. // Los Angeles Times
Not letting waste go to waste, San Jose wastewater plant turns methane into power. // Mercury News
Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield to exit Salesforce in January, latest high-profile executive to depart the corporate. // Business Insider
Nickelodeon animation production employees change into latest group to push for unionization. // Los Angeles Times
Police give citations to striking UC employees who staged sit-in at Sacramento constructing. // Sacramento Bee
Blue Shield to put off a whole lot of California employees. // Sacramento Bee
California home prices are set to maintain falling in 2023. Here’s by how much. // San Francisco Chronicle
Winter weather brings cold-related deaths to Bay Area, Sacramento. // Mercury News