Newsom blinks on fire rebuilding
HOT ZONES: Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass initially sided with builders by easing permitting rules in wildfire-hit areas. Now they're taking a different tack.
Newsom issued an executive order late Wednesday allowing Los Angeles and surrounding areas to restrict development in high severity burn areas. It's a carveout to 2021's SB 9, which allows property owners to build as many as four units on land previously reserved for single-family homes.
The order recognizes 'the need for local discretion in recovery and that not all laws are designed for rebuilding entire communities destroyed by fires overnight,' Newsom said in a statement.
The move plunges Newsom into the long-combustible politics of building in fire-prone areas — with a twist of Los Angeles wealth and political muscle.
The order is a response to pressure from LA City Councilmember Traci Park, who sent a letter to Newsom Monday calling for a pause on increased density in her Pacific Palisades district and citing the 'overt risks' of evacuating more people from fire-prone regions. Bass quickly backed the call, saying Tuesday that added development in the Palisades 'could fundamentally alter the safety of the area.'
It's a shift from the immediate aftermath of the firestorm, when Bass and Newsom rushed to waive permitting requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act in the name of speeding up rebuilding. Environmental groups who criticized those moves as reckless are now cheering the reversal.
'We're definitely happy to see that the state and local officials are recognizing the risk of building in these very high fire-prone areas,' said Elizabeth Reid-Wainscoat of the Center for Biological Diversity. She urged the state to go even further and block new development outright in burn zones, saying California needs 'neighborhoods that are safe, affordable and near transit and job centers.'
The political pressure hasn't just come from the left. Online right-wing voices recently fueled a social media backlash against a bill from Sen. Ben Allen that would have created a new authority to acquire burned properties and offer them back at discounted rates. Allen paused the bill earlier this month.
Now Newsom's executive order is drawing fire from the opposite direction. Pro-housing advocates warn it could set a dangerous precedent where wealthy, well-organized communities can carve themselves out of state housing law under the banner of 'fire safety.'
'If safety becomes a political football, then we're in deep trouble,' said Matt Lewis of California YIMBY. 'What does this say for all the places that don't have the power and influence when they burn?'
He also questioned how much development the order would materially affect. Neither county nor city planning officials responded Wednesday to questions about how many property owners had applied for an SB 9 development in the burn scars, but a Park spokesperson said they had heard of seven.
Even within the Democratic fold, the issue has proved divisive. Sen. Henry Stern, whose district includes much of western LA County, voted against SB 9 in 2021, citing his family's harrowing evacuation from Malibu during the Woolsey Fire. 'I had a very lonely vote on that bill,' Stern later said. He now has some company. — CvK
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HARRIS OUT: Start your engines, former Rep. Katie Porter, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra and other 2026 gubernatorial contenders.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris announced Wednesday that she's not running for governor, ending her flirtation with a run that would have upended the current field.
Harris, with her near-universal name identification, strong approval ratings among Democrats and a national fundraising network, would have begun the 2026 race as an imposing frontrunner, POLITICO's Melanie Mason reports.
Her entry would have also put more eyes on her complicated climate policy record as gas prices and energy affordability loom as top issues in the race to replace Newsom.
Harris pledged during her 2019 presidential campaign to reject fossil fuel donations — joining most of the field — and called for a ban on fracking, while promising to prosecute oil companies over their contributions to climate change. She backed away from those positions during her 2024 race against President Donald Trump, arguing during a debate in Pennsylvania that the Biden-Harris administration oversaw the largest increase in domestic oil production in U.S. history. — AN
COLD COMFORT: Climate change and good news are rare bedfellows. But researchers from UC San Diego and Stanford University have found a potential sliver of sunshine.
California could see 53,500 fewer deaths and 244,000 fewer hospitalizations as extreme cold becomes rarer between now and 2050, according to a paper published Wednesday in the academic journal Science Advances. That reduction in hospitalizations could save the state $53 million in healthcare costs, the researchers wrote.
But there's a catch. As cold days slacken, high temperatures will send more people to the ER, to the tune of $52 million for 1.5 million excess visits through 2050, they found.
'Heat can harm health even when it doesn't kill,' said UC San Diego assistant professor Carlos Gould, one of the study's authors. — NB
ANOTHER RAY: Solar power is under a barrage of attacks from the Trump administration, but one of the industry's top voices still sees room for optimism.
Abigail Ross Hopper, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, pointed to rapidly growing energy demand and last-minute Senate compromises that give clean energy projects until July 4, 2026 to start construction or the end of 2027 to begin service and still qualify for federal subsidies — rather than ending them immediately, Nico Portuondo writes for POLITICO's E&E News.
'I do think that the transition period of one year to commence construction will allow companies to pivot,' Hopper said. 'I think the sort of the word of the day, or even the rest of the year, is pivoting.'
SEIA more than doubled its spending in the second quarter of 2025 to $950,000, according to lobbying disclosure reports, and launched several efforts to emphasize the impact of Inflation Reduction Act tax incentives on red states and districts. Hopper credits that effort for helping secure extra time that lawmakers like Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski fought for.
Senate Republicans are still fighting for clean energy projects as the Trump administration has taken more steps to disrupt the industry in recent days, including the Interior Department's order calling for the identification of any 'preferential treatment' toward wind and solar facilities.
'They are stranding capital by precipitously ramping down some of these programs. They're going to probably regret it,' said North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis.
Read the full Q&A with Hopper on POLITICO Pro. — AN, NP
RIVER RHETORIC: California's top Colorado River water official says the state is supportive of the direction negotiations are headed, but that states in the river's lower basin need assurances they'll receive their fair share.
JB Hamby, chair of the Colorado River Board of California, said in an email Tuesday that multi-state discussions around a concept known as 'natural flow', based on how much water would travel downstream without human intervention, could send 55 to 75 percent of its flow to California, Arizona and Nevada, a figure 'we believe that provides enough room to negotiate a balanced, reasonable release number.'
Hamby emphasized, however, that a deal won't be reached without guarantees that states in the upper basin — Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico — will meet their end of the bargain, Jennifer Yachnin reports for POLITICO's E&E News.
'Without clear, binding commitments from all parties — including reductions or conservation — there can be no seven-state agreement,' Hamby said.
Hamby warned that without those commitments, the lower basin states could demand their share under a provision of a 1922 compact that's never been invoked.
The seven states face a November deadline to reach a water sharing deal or have federal officials step in with their own plan. — AN, JY
— Newsom is circulating a legislative proposal to bolster a fund that covers utilities' liability in case they spark a fire — to the tune of another $18 billion, according to Bloomberg.
— The United Nations' top official is calling on major tech firms to fully power data centers with renewable energy by 2030.
— Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy writes in an op-ed that Newsom's defense of high-speed rail shows he 'has no clue what functional government looks like.'
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Newsweek
a minute ago
- Newsweek
The 1600: Dems Want a Fighter. Is Newsom It?
The Insider's Track Good morning, We've got a late entry for The Craziest $#*! I Read This Week. It's a local story here in the Big Apple, but it's a good one and comes courtesy of the great journalists over at The City: A close advisor to Eric Adams, our illustrious mayor, has been suspended from his re-election campaign after she gave a reporter a wad of cash tucked inside a bag of Sour Cream & Onion potato chips. The failed payoff, which she brushed off as a cultural misunderstanding, comes as even more of Adams' associates are expected to be indicted on corruption charges in the coming days. If you enjoy a good trainwreck election, I really recommend following the New York City mayoral race. It's got everything. A cartoonishly corrupt incumbent polling in the single digits. A disgraced former governor attempting and failing the world's most half-hearted political comeback. A charismatic rich-kid socialist with no experience whose first real job will be running a $2T economy. And on the GOP side, a beret-wearing perennial also-ran most famous for staging vigilante subway rescues in the 80's, who now lives in a studio apartment with six cats. Greatest city in the world, baby! On the topic of elections, there have been some notable developments this week while we've spent our time together focused on geopolitics. Today, the Texas Senate will likely pass the state's new mid-cycle congressional map, after the House rammed it through yesterday. This kicks off a new redistricting war that California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to answer with his own redrawn map. The move got the blessing from Barack Obama, who weighed in from his perch in Martha's Vineyard that Newsom was taking a "smart and measured" approach ahead of the midterms. If you haven't been following, Newsom is the toast of the town at the moment—at least among liberals—for the aggressive posture he's adopted, both in policy and style. On social media, the governor has crafted this new persona as a Trump-esque troll, posting in ALL CAPS and in Trump's signature style, generating AI memes at Trump's expense, excoriating MAGA as a bunch of lemmings and essentially playing POTUS' own game against him. And it's working. He has rocketed to the top of the (very early and still meaningless) 2028 polls with this strategy, which tells you that Democratic voters badly want a fighter. I can see why Newsom is an attractive choice to go up against what will likely be JD Vance in '28. He is one of the few Dems who is able to play in the mud with Trump and come out clean. Michelle Obama was famous for that saying, "When they go low, we go high" even though it was precisely the wrong political advice for the Trump era. Newsom understands that it should actually be, "When they go low, we go lower." But he has two big problems. One is that he runs what is arguably the most dysfunctional state in the country, and that comes with a lot of baggage. The other is that he comes across as just a little too slick for his own good. As a buddy of mine put it, "Newsom looks like he'd lay off your dad and then post on LinkedIn about how difficult it was." Maybe I'm wrong. If Vance is the nominee, maybe Newsom is the perfect candidate to run against him. Both of them seem like they're willing to say or do anything to get elected, with no deep or apparent convictions. Remember, Vance called Trump "America's Hitler" not all that long ago, and now he's his VP! That's still crazy to me. Newsom is also a very good fundraiser, and there are reports this week that Elon Musk has already pumped the brakes on his brief attempt at building a third party and is now leaning toward backing Vance instead. That is going to be formidable: an incumbent veep, with Trump's blessing and Musk's unlimited cash. But I think Democrats have a way to win in such a scenario. We'll get into that tomorrow. The Rundown Thirty minutes into conversing with Ohio College Republican Federation President Spencer Mandzak, I was compelled to ask why he was a Republican instead of a Democrat. After nearly three years in Washington, D.C., I found the answer to that question generally materialized within five minutes of meeting a politico. Mandzak was different, however. He introduced himself by sharing an op-ed he'd written on the importance of curating bipartisanship online. He said that economics and foreign policy were his top political issues, and he offered no charged opinions on topics like religion or sexuality. "You're not going to get a lot of probably interesting viewpoints from me, just because I try to stay in my lane," he responded. "But I can tell you why I'm not a Democrat." Read more from Newsweek's Alex J. Rouhandeh. Also happening: Election 2028: Elon Musk is considering backing Vice President JD Vance in the 2028 presidential election, according to reports on the billionaire's political movements. The tech CEO formed a new party and pledged to contest both Republicans and Democrats at the 2026 midterms, but his relationship with Vance, who considers Musk a personal friend, may not be as damaged as it seems. Read more . Elon Musk is considering backing Vice President JD Vance in the 2028 presidential election, according to reports on the billionaire's political movements. The tech CEO formed a new party and pledged to contest both Republicans and Democrats at the 2026 midterms, but his relationship with Vance, who considers Musk a personal friend, may not be as damaged as it seems. . Immigration: A federal appeals court on Wednesday sided with the Trump administration in its bid to end humanitarian protections for tens of thousands of immigrants from Central America and Nepal. The ruling puts on hold a lower court's order that had temporarily preserved Temporary Protected Status for nearly 60,000 migrants. Read more. This is a preview of The 1600—Tap here to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox.
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Why many voters in deep-red Northern California are fuming about Newsom's maps
When the talk turned to politics at the OK Corral bar in this historic stagecoach town on Tuesday night, retired nurse Ovie Hays, 77, spoke for most of the room when she summed up her view of Gov. Gavin Newsom's redistricting plan. 'I don't want Democrats around,' she said. 'They have gone too far in controlling us. We won't have a say in anything.' Nearby, a man in hard-worn cowboy boots agreed with Hays — using much more colorful language. He works as a ranch hand and said he'd just come from fixing a goat pen. 'The morons in charge, and the morons that put [those] morons in charge need to understand where their food comes from,' he said. He declined to see his name printed, like a lot of folks in this part of Shasta County and neighboring counties. In its current form, California's 1st Congressional District, which sweeps south from the Oregon border almost to Sacramento, is larger than Massachusetts or Maryland or eight other states. This is farm and forest country. From the glittering peaks and dense forests of Mt. Shasta and the Sierra Nevada, rivers course down to the valley floor, to vast fields of rice, endless orchards of peaches and golden, rolling grassland full of more cows than people. Voters here are concerned with policies that affect their water supply and forests, given that the timber industry limps along here and fires have ravaged the area in recent years. This is also Republican country. For the last 12 years, this district has been represented by Congressman Doug LaMalfa, a rice farmer from Oroville who is a staunch supporter of Donald Trump. But if voters approve the redistricting plan in November, the deep-red bastion that is LaMalfa's district will be cleaved into three pieces, each of them diluted with enough Democratic votes that they could all turn blue. 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If voters approve the new maps, they would go into effect only if another state performs mid-decade redistricting. Under the proposal, Democrats could pick up five seats currently held by Republicans, while also bolstering some vulnerable Democratic incumbents in purple districts. Now, voters in Northern California and other parts of the state find themselves at the center of a showdown. And from Marysville to Redding this week, many — including those who call themselves Democrats — said they were outraged at what they saw as another example of urban California imposing its will on rural California, areas that city people generally ignore and don't understand. 'Their needs and their wants are completely different than what we need here,' said Pamela Davis, 40, who was loading bags of chicken feed into the back of her SUV in Yuba City. Her children scrambled into their car seats, chatting happily about the cows and ducks they have at home on their farm. 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Some residents, including LaMalfa, said if redistricting were to go through, it could further fuel those sentiments. And even some voters who said they abhorred Trump and LaMalfa and planned to vote in favor of the redistricting plan said they worried about the precedent of diluting the rural vote. Gail Mandaville, 76, was sitting with her book group in Chico and said she was in favor of the plan. 'I just am really, really afraid of the way the country is going,' the retired teacher said. 'I admire Newsom for standing up and doing something.' Across the table, Kim Heuckel, 58, said she agreed but also wondered whether a member of Congress from a more urban area could properly represent the needs of her district. 'I'm sorry, but they don't know the farmlands,' she said. 'We need our farmers.' We do, chimed in Rebecca Willi, 74, a retired hospice worker, but 'all the things we stand for are going down the drain,' and if the redistricting in Texas goes forward, 'we have to offset it because there is too much at stake.' In an interview, LaMalfa predicted that California's voters would reject the redistricting plan. "We're not going anywhere without a fight," he said. But should it pass, he predicted that his constituents would suffer. "We don't have Sausalito values in this district," he said, adding that politicians in the newly redrawn districts would be "playing to Bay Area voters; they won't be playing towards us at all." One of the biggest issues in his district recently, he noted, has been concern over wolves, who have been roaming ranch lands, killing cattle and enraging ranchers and other property owners. With redistricting, he said, "if it doesn't go to the dogs, it will go to the wolves." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword
The Hill
33 minutes ago
- The Hill
Democrats across US rip Texas House passage of new congressional lines
Democratic leaders from coast-to-coast ripped Texas Republicans on Wednesday for approving a new Congressional map that gives the GOP an opportunity to gain five additional House seats in next year's midterm elections. The map passed along party lines in an 88-52 vote. State senators are expected to consider the measure on Thursday for final approval before it heads to Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) desk. 'Tonight, Texas Republicans delivered Donald Trump the rigged map he demanded,' New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said, after the measure passed. 'Trump, Greg Abbott and their allies know they can't win on their record of stripping health care, tanking the economy and making families pay more with less.' 'This is a last gasp of a desperate party clinging to power,' she added. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) echoed her disdain, saying the mid-decade redistricting effort signaled a sign of weakness for Republicans and an attempt to regain strength ahead of the midterms. 'You only try changing the rules if you think you're losing — and that's exactly what Texas Republicans are attempting to do,' Newsom shared in a post on social platform X. 'We want to give Californians the power this November to counter redistricting power grabs and stand for independently drawn maps in every state,' he added. In a subsequent video message, Newsom offered the Texas GOP an 'off-ramp.' 'If they don't move. If Republicans stand back — they have an off ramp — this initiative, our efforts, don't go forward. We're doing this only in response to what he's doing,' he said. 'So if he doesn't want us to move forward, he has some capacity to influence that.' The governor added later, 'we should let voters choose their representatives.' The criticism comes after Texas Democrats, who fled the state to delay the vote, returned home following threats of arrest or involvement by the FBI, and as the state lawmakers racked up fines. Newsom and Hochul have both vowed to fight Texas's effort with similar proposals to restructure district lines in their respective states. Democrats in California released a proposed new map last week to offset the five seats the Lone Star State is poised to gain and has called for a special session in November to vote on the measure. Golden State Republicans pushed back on the effort, filing a petition to the state Supreme Court to halt the move, though their petition was rejected. Newsom has pressed his Democratic counterparts in New York and Illinois to move quickly on their redistricting efforts. 'In New York, we'll confront Trump's legal insurrection head on,' Hochul said Wednesday. 'We'll meet him on the same field and beat him at his own game.' Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) also weighed in on the effort, lauding his counterparts for creating plans to ensure what he called an equal balance of power. 'Democrats need to strike back,' Ossoff said during an appearance on MSNBC's 'The Weeknight.' 'We have no time or luxury for high-minded hesitation, because Trump and MAGA are going to do everything within their power to hold on and to lock in one party rule in America,' he continued. 'That's the reality that we face.'
