California Policy and Politics Wednesday

Politicians rise or fall on disaster response. The LA fires are Gavin Newsom’s big test -- Facing what is expected to be one of the costliest natural disasters in the country’s history — the type of crisis that not only tests a politician, but can redefine one — Newsom has leaned all the way in, effectively becoming the governor of Los Angeles. Alexei Koseff CalMatters -- 2/19/25

Harris Has Scrambled the California Governor’s Race Without Entering It -- The possibility of a run by the 2024 Democratic flag-bearer looms over the race for California’s top job. Laurel Rosenhall in the New York Times$ -- 2/19/25

Could this Irvine neighborhood be the blueprint for a more fire-resistant L.A.? -- Years before the L.A. fires, Orchard Hills faced a fire of its own — and came out mostly unscathed due to a long collaboration between the developer and fire department. Jack Flemming in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

Daniel Lurie’s wealth network: These are the people the S.F. mayor could tap to fund his work -- Before he became San Francisco’s mayor, Daniel Lurie spent nearly two decades raising vast sums of money from wealthy people to fight poverty in the Bay Area. Now, he plans to tap into that experience to push his agenda at City Hall. J.D. Morris and Nora Mishanec in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/19/25

California could lower customers’ energy bills significantly, 2 leading agencies report -- In its report, released Tuesday, the California Public Utility Commission recommends lowering the burden on customers who subsidize programs for low-income households and for solar panel owners by finding alternate funding sources for these programs. Kate Wolffe in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/19/25

A Slow-Moving California Landslide Suddenly Speeds Up -- Along the sparkling coast of Southern California, a string of landslides creeping toward the sea has transformed the wealthy community of Rancho Palos Verdes into a disaster zone. Austyn Gaffney and Harry Stevens in the New York Times$ -- 2/19/25

Barabak: For California’s attorney general, the fight against Trump is personal -- Rob Bonta’s parents fled a dictatorship and now he fears one is coming to America. He says battling the Trump administration in court is more important than running for governor in 2026. Mark Z. Barabak in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

Trump administration halts legal representation for 26,000 immigrant children -- The Trump administration has halted a program that provided lawyers to nearly 26,000 immigrant children, some too young to read or speak, who are or were under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Rachel Uranga in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

With few options, Bay Area Democrats in Congress oppose Trump with stern letters, town halls and protest -- While President Donald Trump and Republicans take drastic measures to curtail federal spending – including possible cuts to Medicaid – local Democrats in Congress have no illusions about their limited power to stop them. “They have the votes,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a veteran Democrat. “And we don’t.” Grant Stringer in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/19/25

Despite Trump threats, here’s the reason the Bay Area may not see mass deportations -- Not only does the region have limited detention facilities, but a large proportion of immigration arrests nationwide are conducted with the assistance of local law enforcement — which California does not allow as a sanctuary state. Caelyn Pender in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/19/25

Santa Clara County sheriff purges outdated immigration policy from its books -- Pertinent language referenced defunct INS and authorized broad cooperation with federal immigration agents, all of which was superseded by county sanctuary laws. Robert Salonga in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/19/25

Arellano: The real motive behind Trump renaming the Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’ -- “This is America dropping its pants and showing its empire tattoos,” San Diego State professor William Nericcio tells Gustavo Arellano after Trump renames the Gulf of Mexico. Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

Barred from joining the Democrat-led Latino Caucus, California Republican lawmakers create their own -- Nine Latino GOP legislators have created the California Hispanic Legislative Caucus to champion priorities that, they say, diverge from those prioritized by their liberal colleagues. Anabel Sosa in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

California bill aims to ban the sale of potent antiaging products to shoppers under 18 -- Calling the trend of children buying antiaging skin care “ridiculous and a paradox,” a state legislator has introduced a bill that would ban the sale of such beauty products to customers under the age of 18. Andrea Chang in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

A proposed law could force California health insurers to explain claim denials -- While insurance denials are on the rise, surveys show few Americans appeal them. Christine Mai-Duc KFF Health News in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

California has known that disabled people need help in fires. After LA, can it better prepare for the next one? -- California has known for years that it must pay extra attention to people with disabilities and limited mobility during natural disasters. Will it put the lessones of the L.A. fires to use for the next emergency? Ana B. Ibarra CalMatters -- 2/19/25

Workplace

California’s tech history has lessons for Elon Musk’s federal government overhaul -- California state government’s troubled history with tech suggests Musk’s effort to use new technologies to improve government efficiency may face hurdles. William Melhado in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/19/25

Do you earn a living wage in California? Here’s how much you need to afford basics in 2025 -- At $16, California’s minimum wage is nearly $9 higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. However, according to the MIT living wage calculator, a single adult with no children would need to earn almost double that amount — $28.72 an hour — to afford basic necessities in California. Kendrick Marshall in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/19/25

Bay Area job market sickened due to COVID has yet to recover -- The Bay Area job market, a long-time engine for California’s economy, has sputtered badly in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, reflecting a profound shift in the fortunes of Silicon Valley. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/19/25

L.A. fast food workers call on city officials to approve ‘fair work week’ law -- A group of Los Angeles fast food workers walked off the job Tuesday to urge city officials to approve a law that would give them more control over their work schedules. Suhauna Hussain in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

Walters: Conflicting studies obscure the reality of California’s fast food wage battle -- California’s Capitol has seen countless conflicts between economic interests, but few match the intensity of a duel between the fast food industry and labor unions that seemingly ended two years ago with compromise legislation raising the minimum wage to $20. Dan Walters CalMatters -- 2/19/25

Housing

$10 billion housing bond is back on the table in California -- Oakland Asm. Buffy Wicks is back with a proposal to fund affordable housing, after it failed to make it to the November ballot last year. Kate Talerico in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/19/25

Sutter

Health giant picks East Bay city for $1 billion campus and medical center -- Sutter Health announced a $1 billion plan Wednesday to build a new flagship campus and medical center in Emeryville as part of an East Bay expansion. Sarah Ravani in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/19/25

Education

No major hitches on Day 1 without cellphones in L.A. Unified schools -- Cellphones must now be put away or locked away during the school day in the nation’s second-largest school system. So far, most students seemed to be complying. Howard Blume in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

Street

Fatal daytime robbery caught on video was really a murder-for-hire scheme, San Bernardino police say -- A woman’s estranged husband and four other men are facing special-circumstances murder charges after police say they stalked her for weeks, planned her killing and then gunned her down outside a San Bernardino restaurant last month, authorities said Tuesday. Hannah Fry in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

POTUS 47

Trump’s Pivot Toward Putin’s Russia Upends Generations of U.S. Policy -- As peace talks opened in Saudi Arabia, President Trump made clear that the days of isolating Russia are over and suggested that Ukraine was to blame for being invaded. Peter Baker in the New York Times$ -- 2/19/25

Trump’s lawyers ask Supreme Court to fast-track approval of agency officials’ firings -- President Trump’s lawyers alerted the Supreme Court over the weekend to what they called “an unprecedented assault on the separation of powers that warrants immediate relief.” They were upset because a federal judge in Washington had temporarily blocked for 12 days the firing of the appointed head of a whistleblower unit created by Congress in 1978. David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

Trump signs order to claim power over independent agencies -- The theory was long considered fringe, and many mainstream legal scholars still believe it is illegal, given that Congress set the agencies up specifically to act independently, or semi-independently, from the president. These include the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, all of which enact regulations and can impose hefty fines on businesses that violate the rules. Megan Messerly and Bob King Politico Charlie Savage in the New York Times$ -- 2/19/25

Federal judge won’t immediately block Elon Musk or DOGE from federal data or worker layoffs -- U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan found that there are legitimate questions about Musk’s authority, but said there isn’t evidence of the kind of grave legal harm that would justify a temporary restraining order. Lindsay Whitehurst in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

Mexico threatens to sue Google over ‘Gulf of America’ name change -- Mexico says Google relabeled the entire gulf, including Mexican and Cuban maritime areas, but President Trump’s order applies only to the U.S. continental shelf. Rachel Pannett in the Washington Post$ -- 2/19/25

Senior prosecutor in Washington quits, citing pressure to probe Biden-era climate funds -- A top federal prosecutor in Washington resigned Tuesday after refusing an order from Justice Department leaders to direct a bank to freeze accounts holding $20 billion in climate change money allocated by former President Joe Biden’s climate spending law. Kyle Cheney, Josh Gerstein, Alex Guillén and Jean Chemnick Politico -- 2/19/25

Inside Trump’s Million-Dollar Dinners With Healthcare Executives -- First came the pharmaceutical executives. Then the insurance companies and the hospital leaders. Josh Dawsey and Anna Wilde Mathews in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/19/25

FAA Fires Hundreds of Workers, Sparking Concerns About Air Safety -- Staff cuts hit employees who support aviation safety and security operations as agency grapples with recent airplane crashes. Andrew Tangel in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/19/25

FEMA is losing scores of employees. What does that mean for disaster recovery? -- Cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency could affect people across the country who are struggling to rebuild and prepare for disasters. Brianna Sacks, Hannah Natanson and Ruby Mellen in the Washington Post$ -- 2/19/25

USDA tries to reverse mistaken firing of bird flu response workers -- The department is trying to rehire the employees as avian influenza causes egg prices to soar and as Elon Musk’s DOGE makes sweeping cuts to government agencies. Kelsey Ables in the Washington Post$ -- 2/19/25

Long lines and canceled rentals: Firings bring chaos to national parks -- At California’s Yosemite National Park, the Trump administration fired the only locksmith on staff on Friday. He was the sole employee with the keys and the institutional knowledge needed to rescue visitors from locked restrooms. Maxine Joselow and Andrea Sachs in the Washington Post$ -- 2/19/25

In new Trump administration, these Southern Californians play big roles -- From Cabinet-level positions to advisory boards to leadership posts, several people with ties to Southern California are playing outsized roles in the new Trump administration. Kaitlyn Schallhorn, Daniel Aitken in the Orange County Register -- 2/19/25

Also

After Eaton fire, bear makes home its own, swimming in pool, dining from trash can, ‘definitely not moving’ -- A second black bear has taken up tenancy in the crawlspace of a home evacuated during the Eaton fire, prompting local frustration and fear about the furry creature’s destructive capabilities. Clara Harter in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

Key L.A. sheriff oversight official resigns, citing interference from county lawyers -- A key member of a commission that oversees the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department resigned Monday after the county’s attorneys tried to thwart the nine-member body’s filing of a legal brief in the politically charged criminal case against a former advisor to then-D.A. George Gascón. Keri Blakinger in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25

Meta says it plans to build the world’s longest undersea internet cable -- Called Project Waterworth, the massive cable spanning more than 50,000 kilometers will bring “industry-leading connectivity” to the United States, India, Brazil, South Africa and other regions, Meta said. Queenie Wong in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/19/25