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California Policy and Politics Friday

Norte fire burns homes in South Orange County -- A fast-moving fire in south Orange County has burned multiple homes in the San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano areas, as fierce Santa Ana winds fueled fire danger from Malibu to Camp Pendleton. Clara Harter, Richard Winton and Ruben Vives in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/16/26

Hack exposes data on millions of California students -- The names, addresses, demographic information and disability status of all 7 million students enrolled in California public schools over the past three school years were exposed in the breach, the CDE said. Eric He and Tyler Katzenberger Politico -- 10/16/26

Surge in ICE raids is aimed at discouraging voter turnout, immigration advocates say -- Amid reports of a surge in federal immigration raids, Los Angeles leaders and immigration advocates said Friday that the efforts appear aimed at discouraging turnout in the midterm elections, and urged voters not to be intimidated. Melissa Gomez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/16/26

 

Election lawyers say they’ve never seen anything like the DOJ’s lawsuit against California -- “Desperate.” “Illegal.” “Publicity stunt.” Election law experts struggled to find worthy adjectives to describe a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit that seeks to preemptively set aside about 20,000 California ballots the federal government claims were mailed to “likely noncitizens.” Raheem Hosseini, Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Hannah Wiley, Sophia Bollag in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Devlin Barrett and Laurel Rosenhall in the New York Times$ -- 10/16/26

How Claims of Widespread Noncitizen Voting Fall Apart -- While President Trump has claimed that noncitizens voted en masse and even tipped the scales in recent elections, research from partisan and nonpartisan groups alike has shown that instances of noncitizen voting are so rare that they have never been significant enough to change the outcome of an election. Amy Schoenfeld Walker, Jeremy White and Seamus Hughes in the New York Times$ -- 10/16/26

California files its 100th lawsuit against Trump, this time over ICE at courthouses -- California leaders want immigration agents to stay away from courthouses. They worry enforcement will prevent people from testifying in criminal trials. Nigel Duara Calmatters -- 10/16/26

California sues to block closure of Bay Area’s only National Archives facility -- The lawsuit argues that moving records out of the communities they document would make them harder to access, especially because fewer than 4% of National Archives records nationwide have been digitized. Some materials are too fragile to digitize, the state says. Aldo Toledo in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/16/26

A California proposition to fund medical research is creating strange alliances on both sides -- Proposition 38 would authorize the state to borrow $8.4 billion in general obligation bonds for immunology and immunotherapy research, presented as a way of backfilling some of the widespread cuts to federal research funding by President Donald Trump. Kathryn Palmer in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/16/26

SoCal woman who registered dog to vote must pay for billboards with her picture on them -- Laura Lee Yourex, 64, was charged in September 2025 with five felonies after posting a photo to social media showing her dog posing with a ballot while wearing an “I voted sticker,” Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the Orange County district attorney’s office, wrote in a statement. Terry Castleman in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/16/26

 

California diesel prices hit another record -- California diesel prices set another record on Thursday, reaching an average of $8.45 per gallon — a 4-cent jump from the day before, and up 24 cents from a month ago. Kate Galbraith in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/16/26

How this Saturday’s ‘No Kings Day’ protests will be different -- Saturday’s demonstrations will be different, focusing instead on voter-participation drives. Candidate endorsements, party promotions and active campaigning will be prohibited. Summer Lin in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/16/26

 

Garofoli: Two of California’s most powerful politicians still haven’t weighed in on Prop 40 -- Two of California’s most powerful and prominent politicians — former Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi — have yet to weigh in on the most divisive ballot measure before California voters: Proposition 40, likely for the same reason that Gov. Gavin Newsom opposes the measure. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/16/26

Daniel Lurie is asking S.F. voters for more power. Will they say yes in November? -- He’s pushing a parcel tax that would extend a financial lifeline to Muni. He’s backing one ballot measure that would fund affordable housing while opposing another that seeks to earmark certain tax proceeds for affordable homes. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/16/26

‘The valley has been left behind’: how one of California’s poorest areas became its toughest political battleground -- Rising costs and threatened healthcare benefits are testing voters’ loyalty to Trump as Democrat Randy Villegas challenges David Valadao Andrew Gumbel in The Guardian -- 10/16/26

Republicans are spending millions to oust a Democrat who won by 187 votes. Should he worry? -- Rep. Adam Gray, a Democrat from Merced, won the closest House race in 2024 by just 187 votes. Now the GOP, which is hungry for a win in California, is spending millions to try and oust him. Maya C. Miller Calmatters -- 10/16/26

Big Tech and Big Business are spending millions to block progressives on the California ballot -- With less than three weeks until Election Day, outside groups are pouring millions of dollars into two types of state legislative races: purple districts featuring a Democrat and a Republican, and safely Democratic districts featuring Democrats of different ideological stripes. Kate Wolffe Calmatters -- 10/16/26

Walters: New California laws arise from latest legislative skirmishes in endless ‘tort wars’ -- The state Capitol is an arena where lobbyists for thousands of interest groups battle over issues that mostly involve money — very often big money. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 10/16/26

Bass and Raman trade accusations over ICE — and former LAPD chief Daryl Gates -- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has launched a new line of attack against City Councilmember Nithya Raman, accusing her opponent of romanticizing the era of former police chief Daryl F. Gates. David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/16/26

Medi-Cal

California falls short on Medi-Cal fraud, state report says -- The state has not investigated 26,000 of its 28,000 highest-risk Medi-Cal providers, the report says. Health officials dispute it. Jocelyn Wiener Calmatters -- 10/16/26

Housing

There’s a $11.25 billion housing bond on the ballot this November. Here’s what you should know -- Supporters say California desperately needs money to fund housing construction and make a dent in its homelessness and affordability crisis. Critics say bond financing isn’t the way to do it. Marisa Kendall Calmatters -- 10/16/26

Bass vs. Raman: Who can make housing more affordable? -- Mayor Karen Bass points to fast-tracked affordable housing, while challenger Nithya Raman has championed strong tenant protections. YIMBY groups back Raman; construction and trade groups favor Bass. Jack Flemming in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/16/26

Homeless

S.F. to overhaul its shelter policy. Will it get more people off the streets? -- San Francisco plans to set new limits on how long homeless people can stay in most city shelters, a move that critics worry could push some back to the streets. Ethan Varian in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/16/26

Wildfire

Mortgage lenders probed over how they handled L.A. wildfire insurance payouts -- California regulators on Thursday ordered the state’s licensed mortgage lenders and servicers to provide data on how they have handled the release of home insurance proceeds after complaints by January 2025 fire victims that their money was improperly withheld. Laurence Darmiento in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/16/26

Education

Why new limits on bachelor’s degrees worry some California community colleges -- Some community college leaders say caps on bachelor's degrees will keep them from responding to local workforce needs. Michael Burke EdSource -- 10/16/26

Also

S.F. leaders slam ‘gross’ AI video game where players shoot ‘zombies’ in the Tenderloin -- San Francisco leaders condemned a new zombie shooter game that turns a digital version of the Tenderloin into a shooting gallery, with targets that critics say resemble homeless residents and people with addiction. Laura Waxmann, Roland Li in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/16/26

Vincent Thomas Bridge to close for 16 months, raising fears of traffic and pollution -- The 63-year-old bridge connecting San Pedro to Terminal Island is undergoing construction to replace its aging deck. Caroline Petrow-Cohen in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/16/26

Risking arrest, he paints illicit crosswalks across L.A. ‘We can’t wait any longer’ -- At an intersection in Hyde Park that, days earlier, had been the scene of chaos — a young girl on the ground, a car with a teenage boy on the windshield, a mother screaming — Jonathan Hale led his band of rebels. They were armed with paint rollers. Andrew J. Campa, Etienne Laurent in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/16/26

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Trump’s Attacks on Voting Raise Fears He Will Try to Challenge Midterm Results -- Just weeks away from the midterm elections, Mr. Trump’s longstanding attacks on the integrity of voting systems are crystallizing into what many election officials and Democrats fear is an attempt to lay the groundwork to challenge the results in November. Zolan Kanno-Youngs in the New York Times$ -- 10/16/26

The Immigration Crackdown Is Making It Much Harder to Build Houses -- The summer surge in federal immigration raids is hitting the housing market, pushing up labor costs and freezing projects. Nicholas G. Miller in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 10/16/26

Trump officials scrutinized Omar in 2019. They didn’t find citizenship issues -- The earlier review of Omar’s immigration records looked at many of the same issues being investigated now. Ted Hesson, Jeremy Roebuck, Perry Stein and Salvador Rizzo in the Washington Post$ -- 10/16/26

 

California Policy and Politics Thursday

Justice Dept. sues California, seeks to stop state from counting 20,000 ballots -- The lawsuit is highly unusual, particularly given that California voters have already begun voting in the Nov. 3 midterms via mail ballots, experts said. It’s also highly inappropriate and based on questionable federal data that have proved wildly inaccurate in other states, state officials said. Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/15/26

In 100th lawsuit against Trump, California challenges immigration arrests near courthouses -- California sued the Trump administration for the 100th time in under two years Thursday, challenging the practice of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arresting people for alleged civil immigration violations at or near state courthouses. Kevin Rector and Brittny Mejia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/15/26

 

California’s ‘carpet-bombed’ wealth tax measure runs into a wall -- At a moment when populist candidates and anti-billionaire sentiment are surging nationally, a campaign to tax the assets of California’s billionaires is faltering. Jeremy B. White Politico -- 10/15/26

California’s Prop 45 aims to speed construction projects. Opponents say data centers will benefit -- When a county judge put the brakes on what would be the largest data center in California, ruling the whole project needed extensive environmental review, Kristian Salgado was relieved. Lila Seidman in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/15/26

Newsom decries ‘weaponization’ of environmental law, but stays silent on Prop. 45 -- At an economic forum Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom touted changes to the California Environmental Quality Act that he strong-armed through the Legislature last year. But he said the law’s “weaponization” still delays much-needed building projects. Andrew Graham in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 10/15/26

A California proposition to fund medical research is creating strange alliances on both sides -- Proposition 38 would authorize the state to borrow $8.4 billion in general obligation bonds for immunology and immunotherapy research, presented as a way of backfilling some of the widespread cuts to federal research funding by President Donald Trump. Kathryn Palmer in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/15/26

Should California taxpayers chip in to fund political campaigns? Prop. 4 lets you decide -- Prop. 4 would lift a ban that prohibits state and most local candidates from using public funding for their political campaigns. Proponents argue the mechanism helps more candidates run for office, but opponents are skeptical. Yue Stella Yu Calmatters -- 10/15/26

Walters: California’s ballot propositions fuel its longstanding tax-and-spending war -- California voters will pass judgment on 14 statewide ballot measures this year and all but two of them relate, in some manner, to financing public services. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 10/15/26

Inside Gavin Newsom’s taxpayer-funded team that never stops posting -- Gavin Newsom is preparing to leave office as one of the Democrats’ most prolific communicators. He’s transformed the governor’s press shop into a content-generating media operation. Jeanne Kuang Calmatters -- 10/15/26

S.F. power grid takeover could cost city $20 billion, PG&E says -- San Francisco has tried for years to acquire PG&E’s local power infrastructure, an endeavor that gained renewed interest after a December fire at a SoMa substation plunged much of the city into darkness the weekend before Christmas. The city told state regulators in April that it valued the utility’s electric equipment at $3.4 billion. J.D. Morris in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/15/26

 

California’s ‘No Vigilantes Act’ requiring ID from immigration agents blocked by 9th Circuit -- The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals permanently barred California from enforcing a state law that required federal immigration agents to display identification while on duty. Sonja Sharp in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/15/26

ICE agent pleads not guilty to charge of assaulting homeowner in Fresno -- ICE agent David Gonzalez III appeared in a Fresno County courtroom Wednesday morning and pleaded not guilty to charges related to an alleged off-duty assault of a homeowner and his daughter in the Tower District. Nick Fenley in the Fresno Bee -- 10/15/26

 

White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia Didn’t Pass Bar Exam -- Zacharia sat for the California bar exam after graduating from law school at Pepperdine University in 2011, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, but she didn’t pass. Philip Wegmann and Alexandra Bruell in the Wall Street Journal$ Shawn McCreesh in the New York Times$ -- 10/15/26

Lopez: Post-debate, lingering questions about who Raman is and how she would lead -- Raman’s best argument is that City Hall and the entrenched political establishment need a major shakeup. You can’t count Bass out just yet because she’s a fighter, and she’s better at campaigning than at being mayor. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/15/26

Homeless

L.A. city and county remain at odds over who will run key homeless systems -- The city and county of Los Angeles continue to spar over which will assume duties of the troubled Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. The Trump administration suspended the LAHSA in June, citing reports of mismanagement and possible fraud. Doug Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/15/26

Wildfire

After so many L.A. fire failures, this week’s Santa Ana winds test whether officials can do better -- Since the Eaton and Palisades fires, there has been report after report documenting how woefully unprepared city, county and fire officials were. This week’s upcoming Santa Ana winds will provide one of the first major tests of whether Los Angeles has applied those painful lessons. Clara Harter, Terry Castleman and Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/15/26

Workplace

California looks to block state worker strike, asks labor agency to halt walkout -- Seeking to block the Oct. 21 one-day strike, the California Department of Human Resources has turned to the Public Employment Relations Board, the state’s public labor referee. Corey Schmidt in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 10/15/26

Hollister lays off city staff, including police employees, amid financial crisis -- As it faces a budget deficit of almost $7 million for fiscal year 2025-2026, the City of Hollister laid off employees across multiple departments, including the police department, on Wednesday, city officials said. Jason Green and Caelyn Pender in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 10/15/26

Climate

A little bipartisan bromance as Schwarzenegger, Newsom laud California’s climate-change wins -- Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, celebrated the 20-year anniversary of landmark climate legislation he signed while in office alongside Democrats including Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday. Seema Mehta and Hayley Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/15/26

AI

AI robots are roaming L.A. grocery store aisles. Shoppers and workers are worried -- The bots help employees manage inventory, but grocery workers and unions worry automation could cut hours, threaten jobs and monitor staff. Some shoppers also worry the machines are another step toward fewer human interactions in stores. Ella Chakarian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/15/26

AI Companies Play Cat-and-Mouse With Secret-Stealing Spies -- At a San Francisco playground, a stranger tried to befriend an OpenAI employee who was there with their child. The stranger also regularly showed up with a child, and, in the process of making small talk, asked the OpenAI employee questions about their work. It was no idle curiosity: The stranger was a spy. Georgia Wells, Erin Woo and Meghan Bobrowsky in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 10/15/26

What a Group of A.I. Agents Talked About as Their Humans Had a Dinner Party -- As artificial intelligence bots spread, we are increasingly glimpsing how these digital entities interact and what they talk about with one another. Erin Griffith in the New York Times$ -- 10/15/26

Education

New California test scores show most students don’t meet standards in math, English or science -- California students’ proficiency in math and English language arts follows the same trend in 2026 as the past few years: incremental improvement from the year prior, with the majority of students below grade-level standards. Zaidee Stavely, Lasherica Thornton, Yuxuan Xie EdSource Carolyn Jones Calmatters Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/15/26

Also

Veteran KQED politics reporter to retire after nearly three decades -- Scott Shafer, one of the Bay Area’s best-known political journalists and a fixture at KQED for nearly three decades plans to retire in mid-December after a career covering California politics, elections and some of the state’s most consequential legal and social debates. Aidin Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/15/26

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Trump, after bipartisan backlash, says Pentagon won’t livestream execution of Fort Hood shooter -- President Donald Trump said Thursday that the Pentagon will no longer livestream the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, after the announcement faced bipartisan criticism and Vice President JD Vance said he wouldn’t watch it. Associated Press Jack Detsch and Gregory Svirnovskiy Politico -- 10/15/26

Secret documents reveal donors behind $330 million for Trump’s ballroom -- A list obtained by The Washington Post reveals all the major donors to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, including previously undisclosed contributors who have benefited from regulatory decisions, government contracts and, in one case, a pardon for a family member. Jonathan O'Connell, Sarah Blaskey and Aaron Schaffer in the Washington Post$ -- 10/15/26

He Crafted a Crypto Law for Trump—as His Company Got Millions From a Crypto Giant -- Money from Tether flowed to Nxum while Bo Hines worked in the White House on landmark stablecoin legislation. Once the law passed, Tether hired him as its U.S. chief. Sam Kessler in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 10/15/26

Ukraine's Starlink restrictions raise suspicions of Musk, Trump retaliation -- The rupture between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over last week's diesel deal deepened Wednesday after an Elon Musk-owned satellite system used by Ukraine unexpectedly restricted service — undercutting Ukraine's fight against Russia. Barak Ravid Axios -- 10/15/26