laurel rosenhall
10:37 AM
I'm getting settled in the Assembly chamber for today's State of the State speech by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Legislators are filing in. LG Eleni Konaloukis and Controller Betty Yee are already here.
laurel rosenhall
10:40 AM
Spotted walking into the Capitol this morning: Maria Shriver, former first lady of CA, who is leading an effort to boost funding for Alzheimers research/prevention.
Vicki Haddock
10:54 AM
Interesting that Newsom's office chose to release one segment of his speech well ahead of time—in which he rebuked the Trump administration and announced he was pulling National Guard troops from the border. Why get that out first?
Dan Morain
10:57 AM
Assemblyman Brian Dahle, Republican from Lassen County gives the prayer at start of SoTS, cites wildfire that hit his district hard. Also prayed for help for people struggling with mental illness and addiction. He is running for a state Senate seat in a special election. One opponent is fellow Republican Assemblyman Kevin Kiley.
matt levin
10:58 AM
Well I just lost my bet that Dutch would deliver the first 10 minutes of SOS; was interested to hear his thoughts on CEQA reform
matt levin
11:00 AM
Newsom burnished his progressive bona fides chiding Trump; casting himself as the leader of the resistance w/ the National Guard is good state and national politics
matt levin
11:00 AM
Laurel, how tall does Newsom look in person; on screen he looks three feet taller than everyone
laurel rosenhall
11:01 AM
Yes, he looks a lot taller than everyone in person too!
ben christopher
11:01 AM
Matt and Vicki: Also, leading off the week with a spicy excerpt could be a good way to get people to tune in.
laurel rosenhall
11:02 AM
After introducing Jerry Brown at this event for the last 8 years as Lt Gov, Newsom must be giddy to have the full spotlight on himself.
Vicki Haddock
11:03 AM
In his prepared text, Newsom mentions "Trump" just twice.
ben christopher
11:05 AM
How many times does he mention him in the subtext?
laurel rosenhall
11:06 AM
Women and men hold equal number of seats at the rostrum right now... With the pro tem Toni Atkins, Lt Gov Eleni Konaloukis, Controller Betty Yee and Chief Justice Tani Cantil Sakuye on one side... and Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, Superintendent Tony Thurmond, AG Xavier Becerra and Newsom on the other. Pretty sure that's a first.
Vicki Haddock
11:06 AM
Well here's one not-by-name reference: "We heard another president stand up at the State of the Union and offer a vision of an America fundamentally at odds with California values. He described a country where inequality doesn’t seem to be a problem, where climate change doesn’t exist, and where the greatest threat we face comes from families seeking asylum. Just last night, he went down to El Paso and said it again."
Dan Morain
11:07 AM
“We all know how pleased I am to have her here,” Speaker Rendon said, referring to Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins as he introduced Atkins to SOTS. Not to read too much into it, but Rendon and former Pro Tem Kevin de Leon weren’t especially close.
ben christopher
11:12 AM
Here’s the full Joan Didion quote that Sen. Toni Atkins referenced: “California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension; in which the mind is troubled by some buried but ineradicable suspicion that things better work here, because here, beneath the immense bleached sky, is where we run out of continent.”
matt levin
11:13 AM
Ben did that from memory
ben christopher
11:14 AM
Someone has got to bring the name-droppy erudition to this chat
Vicki Haddock
11:14 AM
for viewers at home, could someone explain the apparent plexiglass plate in front of Newsom?
laurel rosenhall
11:15 AM
Newsom is tackling a big agenda in this speech -- rail, water and energy plus homelessness and aging...
laurel rosenhall
11:15 AM
teleprompter
ben christopher
11:15 AM
As Newsom ramps up, maybe people will find this helpful:
Say what? Use our decoder to decipher those mysterious Brownisms and snippets of Gavinese
California's outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown and Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom have lexicons all their own. Here’s a working guide to understanding them.
matt levin
11:15 AM
keeping in line with his budget proposal
Shawn Hubler
11:17 AM
Jerry Brown's quote o' the day in 2017, when he delivered the State of the State at the start of the Trump administration:
Shawn Hubler
11:17 AM
From the English poet John Donne: “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
matt levin
11:19 AM
so Brown always tip-toed around Trump, and the national guard decision is a good example; does Newsom risk poking the bear on other issues he needs federal cooperation on (single-payer waiver, for example?)
ben christopher
11:19 AM
Blatant pandering to 15th century poetry voters
laurel rosenhall
11:23 AM
Standing O when Newsom talks about more transparency for high speed rail.
Judy Lin
11:24 AM
Newsom flips the script on high speed rail. Tells coastal naysayers it's economically transformative for the Central Valley. Also why give money back to Trump?
Vicki Haddock
11:24 AM
So selling high-speed rail as outreach to "neglected" valley voters—is that likely to work politically?
ben christopher
11:25 AM
I am curious how many project skeptics will be swayed by this. But it is a dramatically different tone than what we heard from Brown. Newsom has a bit more political distance from the issue, so maybe he can more plausibly tamp down expectations without appearing to backpedal.
laurel rosenhall
11:26 AM
Re Water -- Several legislators stood up and applauded when Newsom said he does not support the twin tunnels, but it was hardly a full-throated embrace here in the Assembly chamber
matt levin
11:26 AM
death to twin tunnels is big news
ben christopher
11:27 AM
Though consistent with what he said on the campaign trail
ben christopher
11:29 AM
“We have to get past the old binaries, like farmers versus environmentalists, or North versus South. Our approach can’t be ‘either/or.’ It must be ’yes/and.’” Boy, that is some vintage Newsom. When we asked him what book he would recommend to all Californians when he visited our office last year: “Built to Last. Changed my mindset. There’s a chapter around the tyranny of or versus the genius of and. It was a game changer to me.”
Dan Morain
11:29 AM
Gov. Newsom definitely is making news, announcing scaled back high speed rail, one tunnel not twin tunnels, demands clean water, gives himself 60 days to figure out PG&E answer in wake if terrible fires
Judy Lin
11:31 AM
No one in Sacramento, least of all Newsom, wants to be seen as bailing out PG&E.
Ricardo Cano
11:33 AM
Gov. Newsom is appointing Linda Darling-Hammond as president of the State Board of Education. Once rumored to be in the mix for U.S. Secretary of Education under President Obama, she is nationally renowned for her work surrounding teacher quality and standards.
matt levin
11:34 AM
Newsom repeatedly said homelessness was his top priority on the campaign trail
laurel rosenhall
11:34 AM
So much love in the Assembly for Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg as Newsom names him to commission on homelessness - standing O and applause as he waves from the gallery.
matt levin
11:35 AM
Unclear to me how this commission and Steinberg related to the cabinet-level homelesnsess czar Newsom said he would appoint
Vicki Haddock
11:35 AM
Matt I was just wondering the same thing..
matt levin
11:36 AM
but Steinberg is a logical choice to head this type of thing; (relatively) big city-mayor who knows the state policy landscape well from his days leading the Legislature
ben christopher
11:40 AM
He’s announcing a lot of high profile appointments today. Steinberg on homelessness, Darling-Hammond on education, and now Maria Shriver on Alzheimer’s.
laurel rosenhall
11:40 AM
So that's why I saw Maria Shriver walking into the Capitol this morning! Newsom just announced that she will lead a new task force on Alzheimer's prevention.
matt levin
11:40 AM
This $750 million are the sweet, sweet carrots Newsom is offering cities to produce more housing
matt levin
11:41 AM
a good chunk are general purpose dollars, which is kind of unprecedented; cities can do anything they want with them
matt levin
11:41 AM
but the carrots are sweet becuase the sticks are thorny
matt levin
11:41 AM
cue this huntington beach lawsuit
ben christopher
11:41 AM
Some scattered applause for the stick, when Newsom mentions that.
matt levin
11:41 AM
yup; i don't think Orange County dems are applauding
laurel rosenhall
11:42 AM
Noticeably NOT standing up when Newsom talks about his housing enforcement is Assemblyman Marc Levine, the Marin County representative who has clashed with big city lawmakers on housing.
Vicki Haddock
11:42 AM
Presumably a lot of legislators in the chamber represent one or more of those 47 cities Newsom just put on notice.
matt levin
11:43 AM
Newsom's talking about an agrement on prevailing wage between labor and developers
matt levin
11:43 AM
basically labor will get behind more CEQA exemptions, and developers will pay them more
Vicki Haddock
11:44 AM
rent stability—is that the 8 percent annual cap bill?
matt levin
11:44 AM
so that bill hasn't been introduced yet
matt levin
11:45 AM
but yes, it is LIKELY a bill will be out there that tries to go after rent-gouging, which is different than rent control
matt levin
11:45 AM
modeled after a report by UC Berkeley's housing think tank
matt levin
11:45 AM
matt levin
11:45 AM
the key question will be whether the tenants' groups go for this
elizabeth aguilera
11:45 AM
Newsom pitched a state mandate in his budget and the funds from that will go toward subsidies for middle-income families.
ben christopher
11:48 AM
He notes that hospital consolidation is a driver of higher costs. Last year Attorney General Becerra sued Sutter Health, the largest hospital network in Northern California, alleging anti-competitive behavior.
Vicki Haddock
11:49 AM
So one of those Trump references was praise...for the president complaining about the cost of prescription drugs. So they agree on the problem....but not the solution.
Vicki Haddock
11:52 AM
That digital privacy law California passed last year isn't exactly a done deal. It won't take effect for another year—giving lobbyists plenty of time to try to chip away at it...
Judy Lin
11:54 AM
While the governor is now thinking about the future of work as technology upends the workforce, I am still trying to understand what he was trying to say in his book "Citizenville."
Vicki Haddock
11:54 AM
you and Stephen Colbert, judy
matt levin
11:56 AM
and that's it! weird not to hear any Latin in any of this
Dave Lesher
11:59 AM
a few takeaways: impressive list of new team members, calling out "neglect and denial" by cities on housing but not mentioning the SB1 money this time; top priority of Gov. Brown -- climate change -- barely mentioned; raised A LOT of questions about hi speed rail