Newsom inauguration: He’ll lead anti-Jan. 6 march

Over the subsequent few days, very different events will happen in downtown Sacramento.

Today, Gov. Gavin Newsom is about to march to the state Capitol with a bunch of ticketed supporters before being sworn into office for his second term, in response to an invite enclosed in a late December campaign email. About 1,000 persons are expected to attend the inauguration, a permit approved by the California Highway Patrol shows.

It’s no accident that the event — which Newsom’s campaign team has dubbed the “March for Democracy” — is being held on the two-year anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol.

• Newsom’s inaugural committee wrote in a press release: “This observance of the California spirit of opportunity and inclusion — ‘the California Way’ — will stand in peaceful contrast to the violent rebellion and assault on our democracy which occurred two years ago.”

The framing is analogous to that of Newsom’s first inaugural speech in 2019, when California’s newly elected chief executive contrasted his sort of governance with that of the Trump administration: “We are going to offer an alternative choice to the corruption and incompetence within the White House. Our government might be progressive, principled and all the time on the side of the people.”

But Newsom could also be facing criticism of his own. On Monday, an alliance of labor and community groups calling itself California Common Good is about to carry “street theater actions” — complete with 10-foot-tall puppets of Newsom and California billionaires — in Sacramento, San Diego and Los Angeles. (Something I learned in a Thursday article from the Los Angeles Times: Salesforce CEO and billionaire Marc Benioff is the godfather of Newsom’s eldest son.)

The event is scheduled sooner or later before Newsom is slated to unveil his budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal 12 months — which can likely need to account for a projected $24 billion deficit that would test the state’s commitment to expanding social safety net programs.

California Common Good’s goal: For Newsom and state lawmakers to pursue “progressive revenue solutions, like an increased corporate tax, wealth tax, digital ad tax and other initiatives that tax the wealthiest individuals and industries within the state” slightly than”budget cuts and austerity measures.”

• Simply maintaining current programs and funding levels isn’t enough, the group wrote: “We cannot grow to be complacent with the promise of holding on to what we have now now.”

Difficult budget negotiations are removed from the one challenge facing California officials in 2023. Though the state today is predicted to enjoy a temporary reprieve from the fierce tempests which have walloped it almost nonstop since Latest 12 months’s Eve — causing at the very least six deaths, damaging critical infrastructure, destroying property and raising questions on the effectiveness of flood management and water storage systems — even more storms and flooding are expected this weekend and next week.

• Larry Schick, a meteorologist formerly with the Army Corps of Engineers, told the Latest York Times: “At some extent, rivers don’t have time to recede. That’s when the difficulty starts.”

A couple of other Capitol updates:

CalMatters covers the Legislature: With the state Legislature back in session, CalMatters has you covered with guides to keep track of your lawmakers, explore its record diversity, make your voice heard and understand how state government works. We even have Spanish-language versions for the Legislature’s demographics and the state government explainer.   

Other Stories You Should Know

1
A fond farewell

Looking back on my first CalMatters newsletter, published on March 9, 2020, it’s astonishing to reflect on how much the state has modified over these past three years — and the way so lots of its fundamental challenges and debates remain the identical. Three years ago, California was grappling with learn how to reply to the primary reported cases of COVID-19 — a virus that has since infected nearly 11 million Californians and killed greater than 98,000, with a current test positivity rate of 12.6%, in response to state figures updated Thursday. Three years ago, a bunch of state lawmakers and mayors proposed allocating $2 billion annually to handle homelessness — a problem that plagues California greater than ever before, with the state accounting for 30% of the nation’s homeless population in 2022, recent federal data shows. Three years ago, University of California graduate students went on strike, demanding the system pay them a living wage — and two weeks ago, tens of 1000’s of UC academic employees approved contracts with higher wages and advantages, ending a six-week strike regarded as the country’s largest-ever labor motion of university employees.

It has been an immense honor to chronicle these changes, big and small, in this text for the past three years, and I’m so thankful to every one in every of you for making it an element of your morning routine, sharing your thoughts and feedback, and welcoming me into the California politics community. Today’s newsletter is my last — I start as a columnist and editorial author on the San Francisco Chronicle on Jan. 23, where I’ll keep covering California politics and policy. Within the meantime, you’ll be able to follow me on Twitter for updates.

Please also add whatmatters@calmatters.org to your address book to make sure you keep receiving the newsletter. (In case you’ve signed up for WhatMatters, you’ll routinely receive it from this recent email address.) As CalMatters continues to recruit for the subsequent newsletter author — apply here! — my wonderful colleagues Ben Christopher and Sameea Kamal will lead newsletter coverage. Be sure that to follow Ben and Sameea on Twitter as well.

2
Three reports evaluate state programs

The nonpartisan office that advises the state Legislature on fiscal and policy issues has been on a roll recently. On Wednesday, the Legislative Analyst’s Office slammed the California Air Resources Board’s recently approved blueprint for tackling climate change, finding it had major flaws that would derail the state’s ability to satisfy its ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals. On Thursday, it released back-to-back reports analyzing California’s parole hearing process for state prison inmates and needed constructing and infrastructure upgrades on the UC and CSU systems — in addition to a fact sheet on increasing state spending. Listed here are just a few key takeaways from the three Thursday reports:

• Parts of California’s parole hearing process could lead on to inequitable outcomes. The office found that commissioners on California’s Board of Parole Hearings have “overly broad discretion” that would end in “biased decisions” on which parole candidates are released from state prison. It also found that parole candidates who depend on state-appointed attorneys have worse hearing outcomes than those with private lawyers. One advice: State lawmakers should raise the usual that commissioners must meet to disclaim parole.
• California needs to handle the growing backlog of deferred maintenance projects at UC and CSU campuses before the issue gets worse. UC estimates it has $7.3 billion price of backlogged projects and could have $12 billion in additional needs over the subsequent 10 years, while CSU has a backlog of $6.5 billion and expects $3.1 billion in emerging needs in the subsequent decade. “Absent a plan to handle these issues, backlogs very likely will proceed to grow — resulting in higher costs and greater risk of programmatic disruptions,” the report warns.
• Total state spending as a share of the economy was largely flat from the late Nineteen Eighties through 2020. Then the pandemic ushered in unprecedented state revenues and expanded federal aid, caused state spending to extend substantially. Although much of the state’s General Fund surplus money was earmarked for one-time and temporary expenses — a move lawmakers say will help bolster California’s resilience during an economic downturn — ongoing spending allocated in recent budgets will nevertheless balloon to roughly $25 billion by 2025-26, the legislative analyst found.

3
Six takeaways from the UC strike

Returning to the UC academic employee strike I discussed earlier, what exactly did union members get within the contracts they ratified Dec. 23 with the nation’s premier public university system — and what didn’t they get? What happened to students whose grades were disrupted by the strikes? And can UC dock the pay of employees who went on strike? CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn answers those questions and more on this examination of six key takeaways from the deal.

The UC strike appears to have galvanized academic student employees on the California State University system, who are hinting they may hit the picket line within the spring in the event that they can’t reach a contract cope with CSU. Meanwhile, CSU trustees announced Thursday they’ve finalized a “comprehensive and inclusive” search process for the subsequent leader of the 23-campus system. Whomever they pick will inherit a system plagued with mounting sexual harassment scandals, including one which prompted last 12 months’s resignation of former CSU Chancellor Joseph Castro.

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