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IN THIS ISSUE – “If it’s so easy to get a majority, it’s easy to become complacent and not do thoughtful legislating. Sometimes people you loved had stupid ideas that had no business being law”

Former Assembly Speaker John Perez on the Democrats’ legislative dominance

Capital News & Notes (CN&N) curates California policy, legislative and regulatory insights from dozens of media and official sources for the past week. Please feel free to forward this unique client service.

FOR THE WEEK ENDING NOV. 1, 2024

 

Democrats Evaluate 12 Years of Supermajority in the Legislature:

“Good for Democracy, Good for the Caucus?”

LA Times

Twelve years ago Democrats won a surprising two-thirds supermajority in the state Legislature, giving themselves the strength to pass any bill without the need for a single Republican vote in California.

Yet, even as they celebrated the first feat of its kind in nearly 80 years, leaders were mindful of their new power.

“The concern is if it’s so easy to get a majority, it’s easy to become complacent and not do thoughtful legislating,” said then-Assembly Speaker John Pérez. “Sometimes people that you loved had stupid ideas that had no business being law.”

Now Democrats hold 93 of 120 seats in the California Legislature, casually dubbed a “super supermajority,” and the party’s prowess in California is exposing the downsides of extreme one-party rule.

With the election less than a week away, concerns about losing seats have been replaced by whispers among Democrats about whether it’s time to temper their dominance.

When lawmakers no longer need to unite together, they find themselves more divided.

“I certainly don’t think it’s good for democracy overall and in the end it’s not going to be good for the Democratic caucus,” state Sen. Bill Dodd (D-Napa), who terms out of office this year, said about the large number of Democrats in the Legislature.

Ideological debates that once took place between Democrats and Republicans — over education, housing, the environment, workers and dozens of other issues — have shifted to within the party: Often pitting liberals against moderates.

It’s sometimes a struggle, particularly among a diverse group of 62 Democrats in the Assembly, to reach a consensus about the best path forward for California.

There’s also more infighting between the houses, adding to an element of chaos in tough negotiations over high-profile policies, such as mandating storage requirements for oil refiners, a ballot initiative on crime that fizzled and early attempts to reduce the state budget deficit this year. But for good or bad, there’s enough Democrats to pass simple majority vote bills through the Legislature with little debate about the merits.

Dodd said he isn’t a fan of “group think,” which can take over without enough careful analysis and debate because there are so many voices and not enough time for them all to be heard.

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking,” Dodd said, quoting U.S. Gen. George S. Patton.

Instead of policy conversations between the two parties during public committee hearings or debates on the floor, the talks increasingly take place among Democrats in private caucus meetings or in closed-door, three-party negotiations among representatives for the governor, Senate pro tempore and the Assembly speaker.

“I think this is a natural consequence of a supermajority,” said Jessica A. Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School. “It is easier to do business in a quiet and less transparent place. The caveat here is that we’re not doing business, we’re representing the public.”

Levinson was careful to point out that isn’t necessarily nefarious, but not the best way to stress test policies. The Legislature passed nearly 300 more bills in 2023 and 2024 than a decade earlier, according to tallies by Chris Micheli, a law professor and lobbyist who closely tracks legislative actions.

Jim DeBoo, who worked for Pérez as the director of Assembly Democrats in 2012 and also served as chief of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom 10 years later, said the large supermajority has allowed Democrats in the Legislature to “supercharge their agenda.”

“It’s very meaningful for the legislative leaders and their allies but places an immense amount of pressure on the governor to balance what’s best for California,” DeBoo said.

The super supermajority also presents upsides for a governor: It’s often easier for Newsom to find support for his policies. The more Democrats in the Legislature argue among themselves, the less likely they are to work together against his proposals.

Newsom clashed with Democrats this year too.

Lawmakers pushed back on a plan to place an initiative on the ballot to crack down on retail theft and fentanyl dealers in an effort to compete against Proposition 36, a tougher anti-crime measure from county district attorneys.

The governor, Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) announced the proposal in July and were forced to reverse course and called it off the next day.

“There was quite a bit of discussion and for various reasons not everyone was going to follow, not a majority, and then the governor pulled that,” said Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton). “It wasn’t just moderate Democrats, it was also progressives. So you can now form blocs, actually, with unlikely partners.”

Newsom sought to reach an agreement at the end of the legislative session in August between the Assembly and Senate on a bill to require oil refiners to store more gasoline in order to prevent shortages that drive up prices at the pump.

The Senate agreed but Rivas, who had warned that his caucus needed time to get behind a deal, ultimately refused to take the bill up for a vote in the final days of session, as the two houses squabbled between each other.

Newsom called a special session and Democrats passed his proposal in October. Twenty Democrats in the Assembly and eight in the Senate did not vote in support of the bill.

Kevin de León, a member of the Los Angeles City Council and a former leader of the state Senate, said “politics is no less political” with more Democrats.

“With these dynamics the perception of a mega super majority confronts hard reality — membership is at a historic high and simultaneously it’s even more challenging to manage,” De León said.

The plight of state Sen. Josh Newman has also showed that Democrats are vulnerable, even in a supermajority.

The Fullerton Democrat helped the party clench a supermajority in 2016 when he beat a GOP incumbent.

Eager to foil Democrats’ hold on the Capitol, the GOP led a successful recall effort against Newman two years later after he voted to increase gas taxes for road repairs, legislation pushed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown.

Newman won the seat back in 2020, returning slightly more moderate and cautious about supporting some liberal policies. As a result, now he’s under attack from a progressive labor union in the 2024 election.

AFSCME 3299, which represents University of California workers, waged an unusual campaign before the primary this year to support several Democrats in a race against the incumbent senator. Newman had declined to back the union’s bill in 2023 to place an amendment on the ballot to increase the pay and rights of its members.

The union’s efforts fell flat when Newman finished first and Republican Steven Choi placed second in the primary. In an even more rare situation, the union has continued to pour money, more than $1 million in total, into television ads and mail attacking Newman in the tight battle against a Republican for the Orange County seat in the Nov. 5 election.

Labor typically supports progressive Democrats in elections. The super supermajority has allowed the union to make an example out of Newman for being too moderate without risking the party’s hold on the Legislature.

Business also takes sides. The California Chamber of Commerce and powerful business groups often support moderate candidates in Democrat on Democrat battles. This year alone, Democrats are fighting each other for three seats in the Senate and eight in the Assembly.

Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, said some candidates try to “cloak themselves in blue” in an election because they know it’s harder to win in the state as a Republican.

“The same corporations fueling an anti-worker, anti-immigrant, anti-woman MAGA agenda at the federal level wield their influence through corporate Democrats in the state legislature,” Orr said.

Democrats could be poised to grow their numbers in November.

McGuire in the Senate is defending Newman in Orange County, seeking to oust a Republican in Joshua Tree and pick up an open seat in the Santa Clarita Valley.

The Assembly is defending at least two sitting Democrats from serious Republican challenges in the Central Valley and Santa Clarita and trying to take out three GOP incumbents in Palm Springs, the Sacramento suburbs and Orange County. Rivas is also battling to put a Democrat in an open seat in San Diego.

Despite the effort to increase their ranks, a review of bills passed in 2023 and 2024 show Democrats rarely exercise their voting powers.

Democrats passed bills that require support from two thirds of lawmakers without any Republican support to raise taxes on licensed firearms dealers and pesticide sales, increase a tax on managed-care organizations, cap business tax credits as well as limit deductions in a budget deficit and a handful of other policies. But the vast majority of the two-thirds bills are approved with the backing of GOP lawmakers.

The California Legislature also last overrode a gubernatorial veto in 1980.

For a leader, former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) said the motivation to increase the size of a caucus is often boiled down to a simple desire to win. Even if it causes headaches.

Electoral outcomes are a sign of a leader’s power.

“There’s an element of tribalism in it, in elections anyway,” Rendon said. “It’s just on a very basic level: My guy versus your guy.”

Behind paywall:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-10-31/too-many-democrats-for-california-lawmakers-more-isnt-necessarily-better

 

Election to Change the Faces of the Legislature – 36 of 120 Lawmakers Exit

Politico CA Playbook & CalMatters

 No matter how many California lawmakers win reelection next week, there will still be plenty of turnover at the state Capitol. A dozen state senators and two dozen Assemblymembers are exiting — due to term limits; because they’re seeking another office; or for other (and sometimes multiple) reasons. That churn — which could grow if incumbents lose — already rivals the “Great Resignation” of 2022 that helped produce the most diverse Legislature ever.

The list of those leaving includes some big names:

  • Nancy Skinner, an Oakland Democrat who has been influential on housing and other issues. 

How much impact the turnover has on state policy depends largely on whether Democrats keep their two-thirds supermajorities in both the Senate and Assembly.

This has allowed them to pass budgets without a single Republican vote and generally ignore GOP legislators. Democrats now hold 62 of 80 seats in the Assembly and 31 of 40 in the Senate. Even if Democrats keep their seats, policy changes also hinge on whether more business-friendly Democrats or more progressive candidates win.

Business interests and law enforcement groups are playing heavily in some contests, such as bitter races in the Bay Area and South Los Angeles, as well as the state’s powerful labor unions.

Finding consensus in a caucus this size has proven itself to be a struggle as the lawmakers grapple with thorny, polarizing issues like public safety and bond measures. These expensive election fights between rival Democrats will have an outsize impact on policy making and caucus dynamics.

Here are five Dem-on-Dem slugfests we’re keeping tabs on:

1) AD-26 (Evan Low): Patrick Ahrens versus Tara Sreekrishnan

Staffers tend to work for lawmakers whose beliefs they share. So it’s no surprise that a contest between aides to tech-friendly Assemblymember Evan Low and labor stalwart state Sen. Dave Cortese is unfolding along similar lines, with Low’s Silicon Valley area seat at stake.

Uber is doubling down on Low staffer and community college trustee Patrick Ahrens, who secured the California Democratic Party endorsement and is also winning outside support from real estate and medical industry groups. Unions and criminal justice advocates have funded a committee to boost Tara Sreekrishnan, Cortese’s deputy chief of staff and a county education official.

Both Ahrens and Sreekrishnan can point to endorsements from organized labor and support from legislative Democrats, with incumbent lawmakers placing different bets on their potential future colleagues.

And a years-old egging incident (yes, you read that right) has also jolted the race. More on that below.

2) AD-50: (Eloise Reyes): Robert Garcia versus Adam Perez

This Inland Empire contest will demonstrate if one Democrat can overcome the establishment.

The California Democratic Party wields a lot of clout in legislative races, bestowing endorsements that unlock resources and allow legislative leadership to weigh in. That puts school board member Robert Perez in prime position: In addition to the party nod, he has support from heavyweights like Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas , Rep. Pete Aguilar and outgoing incumbent Eloise Gomez Reyes. Numerous Assembly Democrats have pitched in.

But he’s facing a stiff challenge from fellow school board member, Democrat Adam Perez. Business and law enforcement groups have rallied behind Perez, while left-leaning interests like labor and consumer attorneys are spending against him.

3) AD-57 (Reggie Jones-Sawyer): Sade Elhawary versus Efren Martinez

Of all the blue seats turning over this year, this Los Angeles district has the greatest potential for a real ideological shift.

Outgoing Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer energized criminal justice reformers and infuriated law enforcement during his tenure leading the Assembly Public Safety committee, where he turned back sentence-stiffening bills as he resisted over-incarceration. He’s been a reliable progressive vote on the Assembly floor.

Law enforcement unions tried to oust Jones-Sawyer once, backing Democrat Efren Martinez. Now Martinez is running to replace the termed-our Jones-Sawyer, securing support from law enforcement and business interests — and massive opposition from organized labor. He’s also notched endorsements from Rep. Adam Schiff and moderate state lawmakers.

Progressives — and Uber — are rallying behind educator Sade Elhawary , who’s also getting support from a coalition of unions, attorneys, and environmentalists. She also has endorsements from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler, progressive LA electeds, and dozens of Assembly incumbents.

4) SD-35: (Steve Bradford): Laura Richardson versus Michelle Chambers

This is the most contentious and expensive same-party Senate race on the board. Business and labor interests spent millions of dollars in the primary, and both candidates carry baggage: Former Rep. Laura Richardson faced ethics scandals while in Congress, and former Compton City Council member Michelle Chambers has faced accusations — that she denies — of misconduct.

The California Democratic Party has thrown its weight behind Chambers, aligning with labor’s chosen candidate. Richardson can tout the support of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Rep. Maxine Waters, two former colleagues and fellow Congressional Black Caucus members.

5) SD-7 (Nancy Skinner): Jesse Arreguin versus Jovanka Beckles

It was a foregone conclusion that a district encompassing Oakland and Berkeley would elect a progressive Democrat. But the race to replace state Sen. Nancy Skinner became a multimillion-dollar proxy fight during the primary, thanks in large part to the presence of California Labor Federation official Katherine Lybarger.

Real estate interests, Uber, and allies successfully elevated Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin and blocked Lybarger from the primary. They did so in part by boosting far-left Richmond City Councilmember Jovanka Beckles.

That matchup would seem to favor Arreguin, who has powerful endorsements and deep-pocketed supporters. But if there’s any Senate district that could elect DSA-backed Beckles, it’s this one.

 

Invasive Mussel “A Significant Immediate Threat” to California’s Water

CalMatters

From the glittery bling of its name, the golden mussel sounds like it could be California’s state bivalve.

Unfortunately, the creature’s only connection to the Golden State is the fact that it is California’s most recently identified invasive species — and it’s a bad one, with the capacity to clog major water supply pipes.

On Oct. 17, the tiny freshwater mollusks, which have already laid siege to waterways of southern South America, were found at Rough and Ready Island, near Stockton. Since then, state officials said, it has been in at least one other location, O’Neill Forebay, in Merced County.

Its appearance in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the mussel’s first confirmed detection in North America, according to a news release from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

It’s also very possibly just the beginning of a long battle ahead to slow its spread. The top concerns at the moment include potential impacts to the environment and to the Delta pumping stations that send water to 30 million people and millions of acres of farmland.

Unless it is contained and eliminated immediately, said UC Davis biologist Peter Moyle, there might be no getting rid of it.

“If we’re lucky, and we stage a real eradication effort in the area where it’s presently found, it might not be too costly and would be worth it,” he said.

But if such efforts fail, it could become a major problem for native species that the mussels outcompete for food.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife is already considering these worst-case outcomes.

“The species poses a significant immediate threat to the ecological health of the Delta and all waters of the state, water conveyance systems, infrastructure and water quality,” staff officials wrote.

The Department of Water Resources is already conducting vessel inspections in the hopes of preventing spread of the mussels. In the San Luis State Recreation Area, officials have been inspecting watercraft exiting O’Neill Forebay, San Luis Reservoir, and Los Banos Creek Reservoir, said Tanya Veldhuizen, the department’s special projects section manager. The inspections are to “ensure all water is drained from livewells and bilges to prevent spread of invasive species to other water bodies.”

The department, she said, is also taking heightened measures to protect the State Water Project — the system of pumps, pipes, and canals that exports water south from the Delta. This enhanced vigilance to mitigate “mussel biofouling,” she said, requires more frequent inspections, as well as cleaning and flushing. The mussels, she said, are likely to build up in screens, strainers, and trashracks.

A native of China and Southeast Asia, the golden mussel — taxonomically Limnoperna fortunei — fixes itself to underwater surfaces, forming thick “reefs” built of millions of the animals. They feed by filtering nutrients and plankton from the water and, by this passive action, can have devastating impacts. Essentially, they filter the nutrition out of the native food web. In Argentina and southern Brazil, where golden mussels appeared in the 1990s, they have pushed out other species and smothered river beaches and native vegetation. Scientists have watched them spread north as rapidly as 150 miles per year, and they fear the invaders will find their way into the world’s largest river system and the hottest hotspot of biodiversity on Earth, the Amazon basin.

They’ve also wreaked mayhem with underwater infrastructure, from hydroelectric plants to water supply systems. The mussels, for example, reportedly clogged the intake pipes of an urban water supply system in Brazil’s Lake Guaíba.

No one can be certain how the mussels got to California, but sources suspect they arrived the same way they are believed to have traveled to South America — in the bowels of commercial ships, where ballast water used to stabilize vessels at sea is often drained in the port of arrival.

Not everyone is particularly surprised, either. Moyle, for one, said he’s been expecting the golden mussel to arrive in the state for years. The California Delta, he noted, has been described as one of the most invaded estuaries in the world. It has been colonized by at least 185 foreign species, from Himalayan blackberries and fig trees to black bass, striped bass, and water hyacinth. According to one estimate, invasive species account for an astounding 95% or more of the estuary’s total biomass. The nutria — a large water-loving rodent from South America — has spread through the estuary in recent years amid concerns that it could, among other things, damage levees with its burrows.

There are even some Asian bivalves already living in the Bay and Delta. The Eurasian overbite clam, for one, spread through the waterway in the 1980s. Biologists say the species has likely played a role in the downfall of native fishes by absorbing the tiny food particles that they depend on. The failed recovery of the Delta smelt, for example, has been linked to the spread of these clams.

Now, scientists fear the golden mussel could add to these pressures.

MORE:

https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2024/10/california-delta-invasive-mussel/

 

3 Days After Election, Air Board Vote May Increase Gas Prices: “Win-Win” or “Monumental Disaster”?

CalMatters commentary from Dan Walters

California motorists buy and consume a billion gallons of gasoline each month and are very sensitive about pump prices, which are markedly higher than those in other states. Naturally, they are a political football.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has repeatedly characterized refiners as price gougers, even though most of the differences are caused by taxes, fees and regulatory mandates. Recently, he persuaded the Legislature to pass a watered-down version of his proposal requiring refiners to maintain higher reserves to avoid price spikes.

However the gasoline situation is far more complicated than Newsom’s approach, and California may be facing a period of volatility on both supply and price as it attempts to wean itself from combustion-powered transportation, its largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions.

The California Air Resources Board is on the verge of expanding its program of reducing the amount of carbon in the current gasoline recipe, regarded as an interim step before completely converting vehicles to electricity or some other non-polluting power.

Last year, CARB published an analysis of the proposed Low Carbon Fuel Standard to provide “the economic incentives to produce cleaner fuels like electricity, hydrogen and biofuels that are needed to displace fossil fuels and reduce transportation sector emissions.”

The report estimated that adoption could immediately increase gas prices by 47 cents a gallon and then, “on average, from 2031 through 2046 the proposed amendments are projected to potentially increase the price of gasoline by $1.15 per gallon, the price of diesel by $1.50 per gallon and fossil jet fuel by $1.21 per gallon.”

The cost estimate generated a storm of media and political attention and CARB backed off, continuing the adoption process but refusing to put a number on the potential pump price. Last week, the board’s top official conducted an electronic press conference in which he stressed positive impacts, but continued to sidestep questions about consumer impacts.

“It’s a win-win,” executive officer Steven Cliff insisted. “We get public health benefits, we reduce health costs, we see lower costs of driving and we help turbocharge those investments in clean energy infrastructure that helps drive our zero emissions future.”

 CARB now intends to act on the policy three days after Election Day, without offering any estimate of consumer costs — a potential signal that those costs will be hefty.

While Newsom wants to be remembered as someone who tried to reduce gasoline prices, his governorship probably will be one that substantially increased them.

The other uncertainty is whether California will have enough gasoline, even a variety with less carbon, over the next two decades as it transitions away from carbon fuels altogether.

California once had dozens of refineries producing the state’s unique fuel blend, but in recent years just nine. After the Legislature gave Newsom the new laws on gasoline reserves, one refiner, Phillips 66, announced that it would shutter its plant in Southern California that’s no longer profitable. The company said the closure had nothing to do with politics.

Very quickly, Valero, which has two refineries in the state, hinted that it may follow suit. CEO Lane Riggs said during a conference call that “all options are on the table” for the company’s two California refineries, one in Benicia and the other in Wilmington, because of increasing state regulation of operations.

“Clearly the California regulatory environment is putting pressure on operators out there and how they might think about going forward with their operations,” Riggs said.

Transitioning transportation to non-carbon power — while maintaining sufficient and reasonably priced supplies for gas-powered cars until they’re replaced — was destined to be a fraught process.

If poorly managed, it could be a monumental disaster.

https://calmatters.org/commentary/2024/10/transition-gasoline-fuel-price-spikes/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Convincing%20CA%20voters%20on%20ballot%20props&utm_campaign=WhatMatters

 

Newsom Orders Energy Agencies to Find Cost Savings for Consumers

CalMatters

Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order this week that seeks to address the state’s high energy costs for ratepayers. Under the order, several state agencies are directed to examine existing programs that affect ratepayers and submit recommendations for cost savings by Jan. 1.

One of the agencies, the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates power companies in the state, must determine whether any costs ratepayers are currently shouldering might be paid from elsewhere.

The commission must immediately change or wind down “any underperforming or underutilized programs” or programs that have a greater cost than benefit to ratepayers.

The governor called for particular scrutiny of spending aimed at avoiding wildfires. Following a number of fires started by aging power lines — including the deadly 2018 Camp Fire ignited by Pacific Gas & Electric’s equipment — utilities are hardening the grid against wildfires. They are doing this largely by burying above-ground lines in high-risk areas, a costly process.

PG&E was approved for several rate hikes this year alone. Newsom’s order calls on the utilities commission and the state’s Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety to focus on potential changes to “wildfire safety oversight processes” for the utilities, as well as “cost-effective wildfire mitigation measures.” California has among the highest electricity rates in the country, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Governor’s Executive Order:

https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/energy-EO-10-30-24.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Meet%20Californians%20stumping%20in%20swing%20states&utm_campaign=WhatMatters