Jeremy B. White and Lara Korte’s must-read briefing on politics and government in the Golden State

Get the California Playbook Newsletter

By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or updates from POLITICO and you agree to our privacy policy and terms of service. You can unsubscribe at any time and you can contact us here. This sign-up form is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

By JEREMY B. WHITE, LARA KORTE and SAKURA CANNESTRA 

Presented by The California Environmental Justice Alliance Action

THE BUZZ: Sacramento’s concluding legislative sprint will run through a house divided.

Lawmakers return from recess today to an ample policy menu for the final feast of 2021-2022 policymaking. Between now and August 31, they will decide whether to let legislative staff unionize, regulate fast food labor, hold social media companies liable for their impact on kids, decriminalize hallucinogens and authorize government-sanctioned drug injection, crack open pay scale data and broker a housing labor truce (along with about 800 more bills on the floor or one committee away). They will discuss how to allocate billions of environmental dollars amid a debate about keeping the lights on.

And Assembly Democrats will navigate it all across a fissure cleaving the caucus.

The fallout from Assembly member Robert Rivasattempting to wrest the crown from Speaker Anthony Rendon continues to enshroud the Assembly like wildfire smoke: there’s an acrid taste in members’ mouths and they don’t know when the air will clear. The noncommittal statement produced by a six-hour June standoff has done little to dispel the discord. Accusations of budgetary retribution abounded in a subsequent, fraught caucus meeting.

That tension will inform how the next four weeks play out. Members on both sides are frustrated and accuse the other camp of acting disrespectfully and divisively. It’s likely the leadership struggle doesn’t get resolved before the final gavel falls. The better bet is that it’s decided after a November election that will profoundly reconfigure the caucus, with the arrival of more than a dozen new members.

The rest of the session will unfold in the shadow of that election. Several departing members will be casting their final votes. Rivas and allies have been working to help candidates to replace the outgoing members win their races. Since electing and defending Democrats is a central role of the speakership, the same is of course true with Rendon. The ties forged with the next class of Assembly Democrats will bear directly on leadership maneuvering.

But the election remains months away. In the meantime, no one believes this is a unified caucus. Will that manifest itself on the floor? People are watching to see if bills unceremoniously die or face unexpectedly close margins. Democrats still have an enormous majority. But interpersonal conflict is always a potent political variable, particularly as passions rise and time dwindles at the end of session. Loyalty and enmity tend to play an elevated role — with concrete implications for what policies pass, in what form.

BUENOS DÍAS, good Monday morning. Hey, this end of session can’t be messier than recent iterations involving hurled blood or Republicans quarantining as bills died for lack of time and a newborn appeared on the Assembly floor. Right?

Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up: [email protected] and [email protected] or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte. 

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We disagree on most everything,” but “she has been heroic and selfless in her performance and her loyalty to America and our Constitution. I stand in awe of her.” Film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg on being among the many Californians backing GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who faces a make-or-break primary this week, via the LATimes.

TWEET OF THE DAY: Chinese state media commentator @HuXijin_GT on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s potential visit to Taiwan: “If US fighter jets escort Pelosi’s plane into Taiwan, it is invasion. The PLA has the right to forcibly dispel Pelosi’s plane and the US fighter jets, including firing warning shots and making tactical movement of obstruction. If ineffective, then shoot them down.”

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

A message from The California Environmental Justice Alliance Action:

Gov Newsom and the CA Legislature: With a $54 billion climate budget, Californians deserve investments that prioritize community resilience, not short-sighted spending on unreliable fossil fuels. California needs a community solar program to make clean energy accessible for low-income and disadvantaged communities. We can keep the lights on, lower bills and keep communities safe with: $1B for Community Solar and Storage, $1B for Healthy Home Upgrades & Equitable Building Decarbonization, and $1B for Community Resilience Centers.

MOSCOW CALLING? A Sacramento rally was tied to Russian political interference, according to a federal indictment asserting that Kremlin-connected Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov fomented U.S. secessionist movements — including by communicating with a California breakaway group’s leader about a rally at the Capitol and then touting the event to a Russian government contact as desired “turmoil.” The feds describe a rally on Feb. 14, 2018 — the day that the secessionist group Yes California gathered in Sacramento, led by a man who lived in Russia when he launched an earlier “Calexit” ballot campaign.

Yes California founder Louis Marinelli called the Justice Department’s allegations about his movement “inaccurate” in a message to POLITICO. Marinelli said that, while living in Russia, he met Ionov at a secessionist conference Ionov convened where Marinelli made his case for California, and that he then used Ionov’s Moscow office for a related exhibition. But Marinelli said Ionov and his Russian handlers “never ‘exercised direction and control’” over Yes California or offered “tangible support.” (DOJ describes Ionov claiming he sent $500; Marinelli characterized the “few hundred dollars” Ionov furnished as supplemental income).

Marinelli noted protesters did not attempt to enter the governor’s office despite Ionov’s encouragement and that he turned down Ionov’s subsequent offer of funding political murals and suggestion of organizing flash mobs. “The discord in America is thriving well without Russia’s help,” he wrote in a lengthy statement.

AMAZON’S ROADMAP — “Leaked internal memo reveals Amazon’s anti-union strategies,” by Vox’s Jason Del Rey: “While the memo for the most part proposes strategies for Southern California, Amazon leadership saw it as a potential playbook of sorts to be utilized elsewhere, according to a source familiar with the strategy.”

— “In a California town, a militia is welcomed by some, cautioned by others,” by NBC News’ Ben Collins and Chiara Sottile: “The parking lot of H&L Lumber in Mariposa, California, was host to a flurry of activity Sunday as members of a local militia sporting military-style fatigues handed out pancakes and steak sandwiches to evacuees of the Oak Fire raging nearby.”

A YES AND A NO — Gavin Newsom is fighting a wealth tax that would fund his own climate goals, by POLITICO’s Jeremy B. White: The state’s ambitious, progressive governor is vehemently opposing a November ballot initiative to subsidize the electric vehicle market through a wealth tax. He declared the measure a “cynical scheme” by one of its key backers, ride-hail company Lyft, to meet a state EV mandate on the public’s dime.

CONTROLLER CASH — “National Republicans aim to help Lanhee Chen break California GOP losing streak,” by the Washington Examiner’s David M. Drucker: “Republicans involved in national politics are forming a super PAC to bolster his campaign, with details likely to emerge in August. ‘A major independent effort is coming together for Lanhee Chen,’ GOP operative involved confirmed.”

— “‘I don’t agree with her on anything,’ California Democrats say of Liz Cheney — as they donate to her race,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Seema Mehta and Jasper Goodman: “Many California donors, including Hollywood and Silicon Valley moguls, vehemently disagree with most of Cheney’s policy positions, but applaud her fight against former President Trump’s false claim that he won the 2020 election and his actions since then.”

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

IN THE FIRES — “‘It’s just decimated’: McKinney Fire explodes along California-Oregon border into state’s largest fire of 2022,” by the Mercury News’ Jakob Rodgers: “The blaze charred more than 52,498 acres as of Sunday evening and remained 0% contained as it barreled out of control through the Klamath National Forest — a remote enclave northwest of Mt. Shasta renowned for its fishing, white-water kayaking and rafting. “

IN THE WATERS — “When There’s Arsenic in the Water, but ‘We Have Nowhere to Go’,” by the New York Times’ Ana Facio-Krajcer and Jill Cowan: “The Environmental Protection Agency found that water at a mobile home park that mostly serves agricultural workers contained almost 10 times the allowable limit of arsenic. But housing alternatives are hard to find.”

— “Judge strikes down San Francisco law allowing noncitizen parents to vote in school elections,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bob Egelko: “The ordinance, the first of its kind in the state, was approved by city voters as Proposition N in 2016, took effect in 2018 and was extended indefinitely by the Board of Supervisors in 2021.”

— “California exodus continues, with L.A., San Francisco leading the way: ‘Why are we here?’” by the Los Angeles Times’ Summer Lin: “An acceleration of people leaving coastal California began during the first year of the pandemic. But new data show it continued even after lockdowns and other COVID restrictions eased.”

— California set to receive additional doses of monkeypox vaccine, by POLITICO’s Victoria Colliver: Nine California lawmakers on Friday announced they sent a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra requesting federal approval to allow California and its counties flexibility to use certain Covid-related funds to respond to monkeypox.

— “As final legislative frenzy approaches, abortion rights in California return to the spotlight,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Phil Willon: “Perhaps the most controversial bill affecting abortion rights in California, by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), would protect pregnant people from criminal and civil liability in the case of a miscarriage, self-induced or criminal abortion or due to a pregnancy-related infant death.”

‘SCARING PEOPLE’ — “What Drug Users in SF Think of the Police Crackdown on Possession,” by the San Francisco Standard’s Jonah Owen Lamb: “The push is designed to help clean up the blatant drug use on city streets following a mandate by city leaders, including Mayor London Breed, who have called for a crackdown on a state of lawlessness in San Francisco. But drug users say the tactic of targeting them for petty possession is not new and amounts to harassment.”

— “Police much more likely to stop transgender people in California for ‘reasonable suspicion’,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Dustin Gardiner: “Instead, officers listed “reasonable suspicion” as their rationale for stopping transgender pedestrians and drivers nearly half the time, according to data that law enforcement agencies must collect. That means the officers believed they had justification to suspect the person was probably committing a crime.”

PEACE OUT — “In the vastness of the Inland Empire, people of color find ‘peace in these troubled times’,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Tyrone Beason: “The population has swelled to 4.6 million people spread across Riverside and San Bernardino counties — and an area that was once known for its whiteness is now about 70% people of color.”

— “This man’s imprisonment shows why California’s ‘special circumstances’ rule must change, reformers say,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Anabel Sosa: “SB 300, also called the Sentencing Reform Act, would rewrite part of Proposition 115, a 1990 ballot initiative that expanded the definition of first-degree murder to include murder committed during other serious crimes.”

— “As Black San Franciscans, it’s obvious to us that calls for Ann Hsu’s resignation are in bad faith,” opines the San Francisco Chronicle’s Amy L. Alexander and Rex Ridgeway: “This is not the first time a manufactured dust-up has been ignited by bad faith actors in SF who are more interested in performing “progressive values,” than they are in tackling the complex tangle of historic socioeconomic conditions and school bureaucracy that impacts student achievement — especially for students from households with limited resources.”

A message from The California Environmental Justice Alliance Action:

JUDGMENT: President Joe Biden announced three California judicial appointments to district courts on Friday: Sacramento Superior Court Judge and former Gov. Jerry Brown official Daniel Calabretta to California’s Eastern district, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Rita F. Lin to California’s Northern district and National Immigration Law Center official Araceli Martinez-Olguin to California’s Northern district.

 — “From Apple to Microsoft, Big Tech Results Spotlight Breadth of Economic Upheaval,” by the Wall Street Journal’s Meghan Bobrowsky: “Tech companies are seeing the effects in everything from lower online retail activity and slumping sales of wearable devices, to small businesses investing more cautiously in their IT.”

RECEDING EXPECTATIONS — “Recession? Not for Big Tech.” Opines the New York Times’ Farhad Manjoo: “The C.E.O.s convinced me that the Biden people — not to mention Jay Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, who also said this week that a recession has probably not yet begun — have a point.”

LATER THAN LATE NIGHT — “The late-night ‘recession’ is here. And it will hit underrepresented voices hardest,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Meredith Blake: “With the unceremonious ends of “Full Frontal” and “Desus & Mero,” it’s clear that late-night TV, which proliferated rapidly during the Donald Trump years as cable networks and streaming services raced to tap into an appetite for fresh satirical voices, is in a moment of contraction.”

FROM THE OUTSIDE — “Billie Joe Armstrong: Green Day is first band ‘actually from the Bay Area’ to headline Outside Lands,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Zack Ruskin: “The last time Green Day played at Golden Gate Park, front man Billie Joe Armstrong wasn’t even old enough to drink.”

INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY.

— “A reporter accused his bosses of burying a scandal. They say he’s lying.” By the Washington Post’s Paul Farhi: “Rather than kneecapping [reporter Paul] Pringle, the editors contend, their caution averted what could have been a disastrous libel suit against the Times.

— “Are we in a recession? How latest GDP decline impacts the Bay Area,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Roland Li.

— “Inmates faced ‘terrifying’ strip search at gunpoint in L.A. jail, lawsuit says,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Alene Tchekmedyian.

— “San Jose mayor says sorry for COVID exposure,” by the San Jose Spotlight’s Jana Kadah.

— “Fresno Council President ‘a Little Pissant Millennial,’ Ex-City Attorney Reportedly Fumed,” by the GV Wire’s David Taub.

KEEPING THE GREEN — “Inland Empire golf courses make changes to conserve water during drought,” by the Press-Enterprise’s Monserrat Solis.

— “Giants legend Will Clark on earthquakes, that brawl and his love for S.F.,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Peter Hartlaub.

FLY, FLY — “Monarch butterflies are in trouble; Here’s how you can help,” by the Associated Press’ Jessica Damiano.

— “Bill Russell, Bay Area legend and NBA icon, dead at 88,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bruce Jenkins.

— “Julian Nava, trailblazing L.A. politician and U.S. ambassador, dies at 95,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Gustavo Arellano.

California Playbook coauthor Lara Korte … Rep. Josh Harder 

SUNDAY: Mark Cuban ... Dan Schnur ... Danielle Meister 

SATURDAY: former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ... Mark Beatty of Google … Jonathan Spalter of USTelecom …

A message from The California Environmental Justice Alliance Action:

Governor Newsom and the CA Legislature:

California is a solar leader, but is falling behind Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington, D.C on developing community solar programs that prioritizes clean energy investments in disadvantaged communities, lowers energy bills, and increases grid reliability.

Instead, California has committed part of the $54 billion climate budget to prolong the life of coastal fossil fuel gas plants.

There is a better way to meet power demand, one that is equitable, cuts pollution, and increases grid resiliency. 

Gov. Newsom and the CA Legislature: make things right by investing in community-based climate solutions like community solar and storage, energy efficiency, and home upgrades that target low-income customers and renters. 

Keep the lights on and communities safe with:

• $1B for Community Solar and Storage • $1B for Healthy Home Upgrades & Equitable Building Decarbonization • $1B for Community Resilience Centers

CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here.

Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: [email protected]