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Politico
28-07-2025
- Business
- Politico
New York moves to electrify buildings
Presented by Good morning and welcome to the weekly Monday edition of the New York & New Jersey Energy newsletter. We'll take a look at the week ahead and look back on what you may have missed last week. NEW YORK MOVES TOWARD ELECTRIFYING NEW BUILDINGS: The state's code council signed off on new rules requiring buildings to forgo fossil fuels starting next year. The State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council approved the new code on Friday, more than two years after the provisions were included in the state budget. 'Buildings have 40 percent of our state emissions so by cutting out building emissions, this is going to be an incredible step forward for our environmental goals,' said Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, who championed the issue in the Legislature, at a virtual press conference celebrating the latest step. 'This was a real battle to get passed.' The new code requires new single-family homes, small commercial buildings and new residential construction with seven stories or less to be electrified starting next year. All buildings will face the same requirements in 2029, with some exceptions. Environmental groups supported the new rules, which align with the state's emissions reduction plans. Business groups, the fossil fuel industry and homebuilders oppose the new requirements. 'Every new mandate adds cost, delays projects, and prices thousands of New York families out of the market,' said Mike Fazio, executive vice president of the New York State Builders Association. 'A one-size-fits-all electrification mandate ignores the diversity of New York's housing markets, climate zones, and infrastructure capacity, and working families will pay the price.' The statewide rules were based on New York City's local law mandating electrification in new buildings. Environmentalists also celebrated a recent legal victory. A federal judge for New York's Northern District rejected arguments from homebuilders, the propane industry and others that the state's new building requirements are preempted by federal law. The plaintiffs in that case plan to appeal the ruling, their lawyer said. In California, a federal appeals court blocked Berkeley's ban on new gas buildings based on a federal preemption argument. Another outstanding issue is a statutory provision directing the utility regulator to define an exemption for buildings where electric service 'cannot be reasonably provided by the grid.' This caveat was key to getting utility buy-in and for Assembly Democrats to sign off on the measure, but environmental advocates worried it might weaken the mandate. 'The [Department of Public Service] is trying to find that spot where they're not undermining the intent of the law and really saving this exemption for situations where it's just unreasonable to electrify new construction,' said Michael Hernandez, Rewiring America's New York policy director. The current proposal, which hasn't yet been finalized by the commission, would limit exemptions to when electric service for a fully electric option would take 18 months longer than providing traditional electric and gas service. — Marie J. French SIERRA CLUB FIGHTS FOR ANDY'S FARM — The New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club is on the same side as the Trump administration in a fight to stop an affordable housing project in Cranbury. In a lengthy statement on Friday afternoon, the club waded into the fight over Andy's Farm, which the town plans to seize through eminent domain to make way for scores of affordable housing units. 'Using eminent domain to kick a family off of their farm that they have owned for generations is despicable,' said Taylor McFarland, the Sierra Club chapter's conservation and program manager. 'Cranbury needs to do a better job of finding suitable locations for affordable housing. There is no excuse. This is a massive overreach by the Township to unjustly seize land that has been in a family since 1850, displacing their livelihood and erasing their history. It is an abuse of power that sets a slippery slope for towns trying to meet their affordable housing mandates.' The farm fight has rallied conservatives and members of the MAGA movement, including Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins who said in a social media post last month that 'the Biden-style government takeover of our family farms is over.' — Ry Rivard HAPPY MONDAY MORNING: Let us know if you have tips, story ideas or life advice. We're always here at mfrench@ and rrivard@ And if you like this letter, please tell a friend and/or loved one to sign up. Editor's Note: Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. Here's what we're watching this week: MONDAY— The MTA's committees meet, starting at 8:30 a.m. — The Gateway Development Commission meets, 4 World Trade Center, 23rd Floor, 11 a.m. — A virtual press conference, hosted by NRDC, to announce a legal petition demanding EPA to step in because New York State and the City of Syracuse 'have failed to address the city's lead water crisis,' 1 p.m. TUESDAY— The New York Power Authority board of trustees meets, 9 a.m. WEDNESDAY— The MTA board meets, 9 a.m. — New Jersey BPU holds a virtual stakeholder meeting on the readoption of Electric Discount Energy Competition Act-related rules, 10 a.m. — The Nuclear Innovation Alliance releases a new guide for state policymakers, with discussion about New York's plans, 11 a.m., virtual. AROUND NEW YORK — New York's climate law is on trial. — The heat here and distant wildfires hammer your lungs. Around New Jersey — Sen. Andy Kim visited the South Jersey Port in Paulsboro — we used to call it the 'wind port' — and said he 'met with EEW CEO Charlie Lamb to discuss how regional stakeholders and EEW can work together to maximize the port's potential and drive South Jersey's growth.' The offshore wind industry that was supposed to anchor the port, and EEW's presence is, of course, in dire straits. — Will the next governor keep funding NJ Transit as Murphy has? What you may have missed DEVELOPERS RESET AFTER OFFSHORE WIND ORDER: The Public Service Commission's decision to halt work on a transmission project to support offshore wind has developers who were competing for the job eyeing their options. The commission last week terminated a selection process for transmission infrastructure to connect nearly 5,000 megawatts of offshore wind to New York City's grid. The commission cited concerns about ratepayer costs and lack of federal support making it unlikely that the project would be needed on the timeframe initially envisioned. Bidders and stakeholders have 30 days from the PSC's decision to challenge it by filing a petition for rehearing. One developer — Viridon — is considering its next steps. 'This decision was extremely disappointing to anyone concerned about downstate reliability, affordability and the future of clean energy in New York,' said Basil Seggos, a former New York DEC commissioner whose clients now include Viridon. 'Trump deserves the lion's share of blame due to his pause on wind. But the PSC acted too quickly and rashly, ignoring its own ability to modify the process and leaving the state — and ratepayers — with fewer energy planning options in a time of spiking demand. The Commission should quickly reconvene to get this planning process back on track.' Others were more circumspect. PJM HITS CAP WITH CAPACITY PRICE — POLITICO's Ry Rivard: The nation's largest power market will see another increase in wholesale electricity prices — but utility customers are unlikely to face the type of dramatic spike next summer like the one they're paying for now. Power prices in PJM Interconnection's latest capacity auction increased by 22 percent to $329 per megawatt day, a level PJM said it expects to translate to a year-over-year increase of a 1.5 to 5 percent in some customers' bills, depending on their state. Consumers in some areas could see a drop in retail rates when they take effect next summer, PJM added. 'While the PJM auction results reach new highs and reflects PJMs flawed market design, due to some changes that NJBPU advocated for, we don't anticipate a comparable bill impact as we did this summer at this time,' New Jersey Board of Public Utilities President Christine Guhl-Sadovy said in a statement. The capacity market auction, which locks down power supplies for the coming year in the energy market for 13 states and Washington, D.C., has drawn increased scrutiny since rates surged by more than $200 last year to hit $270/MWd. That drove dramatic, double-digit rate increases for customers, including a $25 per month bill increase in New Jersey that caused political uproar. PSEG, the owner of New Jersey's largest utility, said Tuesday it does not expect a major rate increase because of the new PJM auction results. The new capacity price is $59 more than last year, an increase that showed the ongoing constraints on energy supplies across the region. The figure is also bumping up against the price cap PJM agreed to following pressure from Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro. Many market watchers expected bids from power generators to come in as high as possible — and they did. That cap goes away, though, after the next auction later this year. That will create major uncertainty about how far prices could surge in coming years, especially given rising demand for power from artificial intelligence data centers and bottlenecks in building the natural gas and nuclear power plants that President Donald Trump is seeking. PJM HEARS FROM GOVS — The region's governors are continuing their pressure campaign against PJM. On Wednesday, as a representative spoke at a PJM meeting about their bosses' concerns, the governors announced a conference in September to consider 'necessary organizational and mission changes in PJM governance.' NEW ENERGY PATHWAYS — POLITICO's Marie J. French: Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration sees no reasonable way for New York to achieve its climate law targets on schedule. NYC LOSING MORE FOSSIL PLANTS: A fleet of floating fossil fuel units that run on the hottest days to keep the lights on plan to retire next year as their profits drop. ArcLight's Alpha Generation, which owns the barge-mounted peaker plants, filed retirement notices with the state's independent grid operator earlier this month for the Narrows and Gowanus plants, proposing to shut down in July next year. The 1970s combustion turbines have high emissions rates when they run and were targeted for retirement by regulations under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Gowanus and Narrows proposed shutting down during the summer to comply but have been kept online year-round by the New York Independent System Operator to ensure reliability. They're not expected to be needed after the 1,250-megawatt Champlain Hudson Power Express, a transmission line to bring power from Canada into the city, is completed next year. The arrival of that additional energy, subsidized through a contract with NYSERDA, is expected to help clean up the city's grid. The new resource is also expected to lower electricity prices — and thus, profits for existing fossil generators. 'With the entry of CHPE next summer, we expect market prices to be insufficient to support continued operations,' said Matt Schwall, director of regulator affairs at AlphaGen. The deactivation notice filed with the NYISO kicks off a review by the grid operator to check whether New York City's grid can still meet demand without these combustion turbines, even under the most stressful conditions. That could lead to the units being kept online longer by the NYISO, but is not expected under current forecasts. 'To the extent the barges are retained for reliability beyond CHPE's entry, it reflects that the value of these dispatchable assets has not been reflected in market prices,' Schwall said. The owner of the two Brooklyn plants (formerly known as Astoria Generating Company and Eastern Generation) previously made plans for the future based on the shifting winds of state policy. The company proposed shutting down the 32 Narrows barge units while repowering the Gowanus facility with eight more efficient combustion turbines in 2018, but dropped that proposal after Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration rejected permits for similar gas projects due to the state's climate goals. The company instead prioritized battery storage opportunities, although those haven't moved toward construction given a need for contracts or other financial support. While the power industry is watching with interest Hochul's shifting stance toward more openness to natural gas and its potential role in the state's energy future, none have yet moved to apply for a new gas plant permit. Given the reliance of new resources in New York (right now, renewables and storage) on out-of-market subsidies, it appears that private developers are so far unwilling to risk the yearslong process without additional signals from the state. The two barge sites do offer potential advantages for future power infrastructure, Schwall said. 'Given the critical electric and fuel interconnections, there is opportunity at these sites for a second life, both in the form of energy storage and repowered gas generation to support system reliability and the state's renewable goals,' he said. 'We are hopeful the state will invite and support such investments.' — Marie J. French DEP FLOOD RULE DEETS — The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on Monday released 273 pages of amendments to and responses to comment about its sprawling package of coastal flood rules. Netflix details too: In response to a request from POLITICO, the department released a public comment letter CSG Law wrote on behalf of Netflix, which received a carve out for its $1 billion plan to redevelop Fort Monmouth into a film and television studio. John Valeri Jr., an attorney who is representing Netflix, wrote last November that if the company had to comply with the flood rules 'significant portions of the property dedicated for future development, including studios, may not be achievable.' In particular, certain buildings would have to be elevated or flood-proofed, which would be an 'extremely expensive enterprise, and was never considered as part of Netflix's decision' or is 'not generally an option for Netflix, particularly their stages, because the activity must rest on solid ground.' — Ry Rivard
Politico
08-07-2025
- Business
- Politico
California's great climate retreat
With help from Will McCarthy and Alex Nieves IT'S TIME TO CALL IT: It's not just President Donald Trump. California Democrats are pulling back on climate, too. In the past two weeks alone, California Democrats have proposed weakening a rule targeting the carbon intensity of transportation fuels, rolled back requirements for environmental reviews in the name of fast-tracking housing and hit pause on a cap on oil industry profits passed just two years before. To be sure, California leaders are still positioning themselves as the vanguard of the resistance to Trump's environmental rollbacks, and polls still consistently find voters believe addressing climate change is worth the cost. Gov. Gavin Newsom has sued to block Trump's removal of California's permission to enforce its clean car standards and vowed to extend the state's landmark cap-and-trade program despite threats by Trump. But they're in a far different position than during Trump's first term, when they were signing deals with automakers to keep the state's emissions rules afloat. It's a tradeoff — freighted with significant and potentially long-lasting policy implications — that party leaders are making in an effort to regain political strength. 'We've got some challenges, and so it just requires some new considerations,' Newsom told reporters last week, after his administration proposed steering clear of the oil-profits cap as a way to keep refineries open. 'It's not rolling back anything — that's actually marching forward in a way that is thoughtful and considered.' 'Affordability' has become the watchword for Democrats who saw inflation woes drive votes to Republicans across the 2024 ballot. In a poll presented to Assembly Democrats during a caucus meeting, cost of living led voters' stated priorities. Climate change sat in last place. 'This is part of the Democrats' doing some soul-searching and really trying to figure out what they stand for,' said Marie Liu, a climate-focused lobbyist and a former top environmental adviser to legislative Democrats. Other parts of the country are pulling back on climate policies in the name of affordability, too. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is delaying plans for a carbon-trading system and slowing enforcement of the state's rules for clean cars and trucks, which follow California's. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is similarly pausing on carbon trading. And in Congress, some 36 Democrats — including two from California — signed on to the effort to overturn California's vehicle rules. But California, as the state with the strongest suite of climate policies and a decades-long reputation of stalwart environmentalism, is now becoming an unlikely leader in Democrats' pivot as they try to respond to cost-of-living concerns that they fret may have cost them the election. Recall, for example, when Newsom ordered his recycling regulator to rewrite plastic waste reduction rules to lessen costs for businesses. The move upset the state lawmakers and environmental groups who originally negotiated the waste reduction deal but energized business groups opposing similar rules in New York. The moves to control costs are echoing longstanding Republican arguments — and frustrating some allies who say Democrats are capitulating to political pressure. 'California was the vocal climate leader during the first Trump administration,' said Chris Chavez, deputy policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air. 'It's questionable whether or not that leadership is still there.' — JBW, CvK Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here! PLASTIC COMPROMISE: Sen. Catherine Blakespear toned down a bill Monday that would have required state agencies to buy plastic bottles made from at least 90 percent recycled materials. Blakespear said during an Assembly Natural Resources Committee hearing that she'd accepted amendments that lower the recycled content threshold in SB 14 from 90 percent to 50 percent. That level matches standards in AB 793, a 2020 law that requires plastic bottles to contain 50 percent recycled resin by 2030. Groups that had been fighting against the bill, including the California Manufacturers & Technology Association and the International Bottled Water Association, said during the hearing that they were dropping their opposition due to the amendment. The bill cleared the committee on an 8-0 vote. That's a milestone for efforts to clamp down on the state's use of single-use plastic bottles, which have stalled in the past. Legislation proposed last year that would have banned state agencies from buying plastic bottles, AB 2648, died in the Assembly. — AN PROP 103, ROUND TWO?: Wildfires are heating up the property insurance fight — and it's boiling over on to the ballot measure campaign trail, our colleague Will McCarthy reports. Since its narrow passage in 1988, Proposition 103 has set the rules for insurers doing business in California, requiring an elected insurance commissioner to approve any rate changes. The initiative helped keep the state's insurance rates below many other states, even those with lower cost of living, saving consumers more than $150 billion. But the sight of insurers pulling coverage from risky neighborhoods has threatened that consensus. The rapidly intensifying effects of climate-related disasters — notably the tens of billions of dollars in covered losses due to the Los Angeles wildfires — may push more companies out of the state entirely. At a Sacramento event hosted last week by the Western Insurance Agents Association, a leading insurance lobbyist proposed amending Prop 103 so that lawmakers could change the state's insurance regime without having to go back to voters each time — although he says it was just a thought exercise. Consumer Watchdog, which made its name after overcoming nearly $80 million in industry spending to pass Prop 103, is not ready to leave the 2026 or 2028 ballot to its longtime antagonists. The group has long contemplated an initiative that would require insurance companies to provide coverage to residents who fireproof their homes and to offer written justifications when coverage is denied. 'If they want to start a war, we're happy to finish it,' Consumer Watchdog President Jamie Court said of any insurance industry effort to revisit Prop 103. — WM, CvK WHAT'S IN CONSERVATION: California is inching its way towards its goal to conserve 30 percent of both land and coastal waters by 2030. As of last month, 26.1 percent of California's lands and 21.9 percent of its coastal waters are under 'long-term conservation and care,' according to a new progress report published Monday by the Newsom administration. That's up from 25.2 percent and 16.2 percent last year. Much of the new additions came via President Joe Biden, who designated two new national monuments (the Chuckwalla National Monument and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument) and one new national marine sanctuary (the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary) in his final months in office. Trump has signaled his interest in undoing the national monument designations, though any such move would likely end up tangled in the courts for years. — CvK THE BLM SHUFFLE: The Bureau of Land Management is temporarily moving Joe Stout, the director of its California state office, to its top career position in Washington, D.C., writes Scott Streater of POLITICO's E&E News. Stout will serve as acting deputy director of administration and programs through at least early August. The position was formerly held by Mike Nedd, who was involuntarily removed from the post in May, as Scott reports. TEAM TOXICS: Newsom announced two appointments to the Department of Toxic Substances Control on Monday. Thanne Berg was named deputy director of the department's Site Mitigation and Restoration Program, which oversees evaluation and cleanup of contaminated properties. Berg is currently an acting deputy director for the program and was previously an attorney at U.S. EPA. Albert Lundeen was named deputy director of DTSC's Office of Communications. He's been an assistant communications secretary at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation since 2023 and previously served as the California Energy Commission's deputy executive director for strategic planning and media. — Elon Musk and Donald Trump are back to fighting, but this time Musk might have Andrew Yang in his court. — The Public Policy Institute of California tapped UC Merced assistant professor Adeyemi Adebiyi to explain why dust is on the rise in the state. — The Los Angeles Times does a post-mortem on the 'Polluters Pay' bills.
Politico
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Drug tests, denials and videotape
Presented by Our Sun. Our Power. RELEASE THE TAPE: The plot twists continue in the ongoing saga of Sabrina Cervantes' DUI case. Sacramento police said last night the Democratic state senator from Riverside — who has denied wrongdoing and mounted a forceful defense — was driving under the influence on Monday afternoon when she was involved in a two-car collision not far from the Capitol, as Melanie Mason and your two newsletter writers scooped last night. Officer Allison Smith, a Sacramento police spokesperson, confirmed today that officers cited Cervantes because they believed she was under the influence of drugs based on 'physical signs they observed' during a DUI investigation, though she declined to share specifics. Prosecutors will wait for lab results before they decide whether to charge Cervantes with a DUI, as we reported this morning. Police are also pushing back on Cervantes' contention that officers 'accosted' her at the hospital after the incident, saying they have body camera footage that disproves the senator's accusations. Smith said that after reviewing the video, she 'didn't see any indication Senator Cervantes was accosted by officers.' 'Officers conducted a thorough investigation and remained professional and respectful throughout it,' Smith wrote. Cervantes this afternoon released a revised statement saying, 'The lab results I sought in the hospital show conclusively I had no alcohol or drugs in my system,' after initially mentioning only alcohol in her denial. All of this comes just as Cervantes' sister, Riverside City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, launches her second Assembly campaign after losing to a GOP opponent last fall. A post on her Cervantes for Assembly Instagram page advertises a 'backyard BBQ campaign kick-off' tomorrow near Riverside. 'Every day, I witness our movement to take back AD-58 growing stronger!' the post said. Lest we forget, Clarissa Cervantes has previously been charged with two DUIs of her own. That may have factored into her failed bid to secure her sister's Assembly seat after Sabrina Cervantes opted to succeed state Sen. Richard Roth last year. Republican Leticia Castillo turned the district red, one of two embarrassing Southern California seat flips for Assembly Democrats in November. To no one's surprise, Republicans immediately pounced on the scandal, dubbing the senator 'swervin' Cervantes.' 'The Cervantes family tradition: hold public office, rack up DUIs, then play the victim,' the Riverside County Republican Party wrote in an X post. 'Sabrina's latest citation is just the latest chapter in a story of zero accountability. #SwervinCervantes' IT'S WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to lholden@ WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY BUDGET BLUES: California's economic power players are treading water through a sea of bad budget news and federal uncertainty. They came together today in Sacramento to discuss those challenges during a panel hosted by our own Blake Jones at UCLA Anderson's 2nd Annual California Economic Futures Forum. CalChamber CEO Jennifer Barrera, Senate budget director Chris Woods and former GoBiz head Lenny Mendonca all discussed how they're struggling with the ripple effects of California's $12 billion spending gap, its housing crisis and President Donald Trump's ever-changing tariff policies. 'All of us up here, and folks all across the state and the country, are concurrently dealing with 'what's our future?' and trying to figure out how we navigate through uncertainty and chaos,' said Graham Knaus, CEO of the California State Association of Counties. 'At the same time, there's stuff right in front of us today that we still have to solve.' IN OTHER NEWS WHAT'S HHAPPENING?: Members of the Big City Mayors traveled to Sacramento today to meet with Gov. Gavin Newsom and urge him to authorize more rounds of homelessness funding grants after the money was not included in this year's budget proposal. The mayoral delegation included Patricia Lock Dawson of Riverside, Todd Gloria of San Diego, Daniel Lurie of San Francisco, Kevin McCarty of Sacramento, Rex Richardson of Long Beach, Karen Goh of Bakersfield and Larry Argan of Irvine. At a news conference today, the group touted programs that relied on the grant funding known as HHAP and stressed the importance of continued state dollars. McCarty, who said he had been up late the night before working on Sacramento's budget, said about half of his city's homeless programs depend on the grant money. Without it, he said, 'we would shut down our shelter facilities.' NOT SO FAST: Turns out, California journalists won't be getting a sizable chunk of promised funding from Google and the state after the tech company and Newsom downsized a landmark deal to funnel millions of dollars to newsrooms, our Tyler Katzenberger and Christine Mui report. Google, for now, will drop its 2025 contribution to the program to $10 million from $15 million. The move matches California's pledge, with Newsom slashing state funding for the deal to $10 million from $30 million last week in his plan to close a $12 billion budget deficit. However, Google could still increase its contribution, pledging to match up to $5 million in any donations made to the newsroom fund, meaning its final 2025 contribution may meet the initial $15 million figure if public, private or philanthropic groups donate enough money. WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY — California public school enrollment dropped .54% from last year, marking seven straight years of a steady downfall. (Los Angeles Times) — Funding for the FUEL Network, which gives legal aid to immigrants in Sacramento, is at risk amid the city's $44 million structural budget deficit. (Sacramento Bee) — The Oakland neighborhood San Antonio Park has the most equal distribution of racial identities of any place in the Bay Area, as the city faces a rise in gentrification. (San Francisco Chronicle) AROUND THE STATE — San Diego County leaders say that the region's homelessness population dropped by several hundred people since last year. (San Diego Union-Tribune) — An assault ship in San Diego, the USS America, will get a $200 million repair and upgrade through a grant from the U.S. Defense Department. (San Diego Union Tribune) — The Santa Ana Unified School District board approved layoffs for 262 employees. (Orange County Register) — compiled by Nicole Norman
San Francisco Chronicle
10-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
California Dems keep using the same plan for political failure. Are they done being embarrassed?
Over the past several years, Democrats in the California Legislature seem to have developed a bizarre, five-point political playbook that goes something like this: Take a highly unpopular stance that's almost impossible to defend or coherently explain to average voters and residents. Face severe public pushback. Double down on that stance. Face even more severe public pushback. Battered and humiliated, reverse course and adopt the very same policy they'd argued so fiercely against. The latest about-face happened Tuesday, when Democratic leaders of the California Assembly backtracked on their opposition to a proposal to strengthen penalties for offenders who purchase 16- and 17-year-olds for sex. Last week, Assembly Democrats overwhelmingly voted to strip AB379, by Assembly Member Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, of its key provision: strengthening punishments to match those for offenders convicted of purchasing kids 15 and younger for sex. Democrats then inserted amendments that vaguely promised to 'adopt the strongest laws to protect 16- and 17-year-old victims.' Of course, the strongest law would have been passing Krell's original bill. Legislative leaders not only didn't do that, but they also ignored strong pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom to do so. Predictably, severe public backlash ensued. Also predictably, Democrats backed down. They now plan to amend AB379 to impose felony penalties for adult offenders convicted of soliciting sex from 16- and 17-year-olds — as long as they're at least three years older than the minor, according to an outline of the deal Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas' office shared with me. (If the adult offender is less than three years older than the minor, the crime would still be classified as a misdemeanor.) The bill also creates a state grant program to help district attorneys streamline the prosecution of human trafficking. Krell is also being reinstated as a bill co-author after Assembly Democrats stripped her name from its original version. This bill recognizes what should long have been obvious: that buying minors for sex is an egregious and horrific crime, regardless of whether the kids are 15 or 17. And it takes a far more common-sense approach to resolving some Democrats' concerns that young adults in romantic relationships with minors (i.e., in a high-school relationship) could inadvertently be targeted. So why did legislators expend so much political capital dying on a hill they couldn't defend for more than a week — when a far more rational alternative was readily available? That remains to be seen. It's also unclear if they've learned anything. The state Senate still has to sign off on the bill if it clears the Assembly, where it's scheduled for a hearing Wednesday. Are Democrats ready to get to the serious business of improving outcomes in California? Or will they continue to give Republicans and other critics easy political ammunition to portray them as out-of-touch ideologues? After all, Democrats have been here before. In 2023, the Assembly Public Safety Committee killed a bill authored by state Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, to classify human trafficking of minors as a 'serious' felony. The committee's reasoning? Such crimes could already be considered 'serious' if additional offenses had been committed — such as inflicting great bodily injury on the child victim. That absurd rationale sparked immediate backlash and left Democrats in damage control mode. Newsom and Rivas raced to intervene, and Grove's bill was revived and signed into law. Then, in 2024, Democrats embarked on a series of convoluted maneuvers — each more nonsensical than the last — in a failed attempt to head off a proposed November ballot measure to overhaul portions of Proposition 47, the controversial 2014 measure that lightened penalties for some drug and theft crimes. First, Rivas and Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, floated a mob-like proposal to kill their own public-safety legislative package if voters approved the proposed ballot measure, later dubbed Prop 36. But their nakedly transparent effort to force the measure's proponents to withdraw it from the ballot alienated both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, and Rivas and McGuire ultimately sacked the plan. This prompted Newsom to introduce his own last-ditch proposal for a competing ballot measure to reform Prop 47, even though Newsom, Rivas and McGuire had repeatedly said Prop 47 didn't need any changes. Knowing the proposal faced an uphill battle in the Legislature, Newsom proposed manipulating an arcane election procedure to circumvent the two-thirds super majority required to place it on the ballot and instead allow it to be passed with a simple majority. Less than 48 hours later, however, Newsom scrapped the proposal, stating that lawmakers couldn't reach a consensus on proposed amendments by the ballot deadline. To the surprise of absolutely no one who had set foot in California in recent years and had sensed voters' mounting frustrations with crime, Prop 36 passed with more than 68% of the vote. In all of these examples, Democrats have spent significant time, energy and resources fighting against what most Californians clearly view as common sense. In all of these cases, they've been forced to retreat with their tail between their legs. Does anyone know what kind of political strategy this is? Because it sure doesn't make any sense to me. Emily Hoeven is a columnist and editorial writer for the Opinion section.
CBS News
02-04-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
California Assembly committee kills 2 bills restricting trans athletes' participation in girls sports
SACRAMENTO — A California State Assembly committee killed two bills on Tuesday that would have restricted transgender athletes from playing on girls' sports teams. One bill, introduced by Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Riverside), would have prevented transgender students from participating in sports teams and using bathrooms and locker rooms that don't align with their gender assigned at birth. The other bill, introduced by Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (R-Rancho Santa Margarita), would have restricted transgender athletes from playing girls' and women's sports from elementary school through the college level. "CA Dems just killed my bill to protect girls' sports. They DO NOT CARE that girls no longer have a level playing field and it's absolutely ridiculous," Sanzhez said on social media in response to her bill being rejected. Essayli also issued a response to his bill being rejected on social media, saying, "Assembly Democrats doubled-down on their war against women and parental rights." "The vast majority of Californians and Americans agree: keep boys out of girls sports," Essayli continued. "Assembly Democrats are radically out of touch with commonsense Californians and the voters will hold them accountable to restore justice and fairness in girls sports." Tuesday evening, in a story first reported by Politico , CBS Sacramento confirmed that Essayli would resign from his role in the California Assembly to become the new U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, effective as of Wednesday. California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas voted no on Sanchez's bill. "I'm not going to support a bill that takes rights away from a protected class of people," Rives said. "Gender identity is a protected class here in California." After his vote, Rivas would not stop to speak to the press, leading reporters to chase him up a capitol stairway where he eventually made his way into his office and away from cameras. Tuesday's vote comes after Governor Gavin Newsom announced his opposition to trans athletes in women's sports on the debut episode of his new podcast , where he sat down with Republican political activist Charlie Kirk. "We are fighting a battle against people who want to squash our ability to express ourselves," transgender advocate Katherine Darrow said. The hearing on transgender rights, which occurred a day after Transgender Day of Visibility, took center stage at the California State Capitol, leading to overflowing crowds and people lining up in hallways to testify on both sides of the bills. "Opportunities I and so many other female athletes have worked so hard for now feel out of reach," said a female high school athlete who identified herself only as Jaden.
