News: Why California passes laws it expects to get struck down

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Why California passes laws it expects to get struck down

May 17, 2022

By Lara Korte, Jeremy B. White, Juhi Doshi and Chris Ramirez

Presented by Southern California Edison

THE BUZZ — BILLS OR BUST: Monday's news that a judge had struck down California's landmark law requiring companies to have at least one woman in their boardrooms came as a disappointment to champions of gender parity. But it was not a surprise.

When the bill passed in 2018, then-Gov. Jerry Brown acknowledged that the law would probably face challenges in court . But in his estimate, it was still worth a signature. As Jeremy reported yesterday, Brown recognized the bill had "potential flaws that indeed may prove fatal to its ultimate implementation," but "recent events in Washington, D.C. make it crystal clear that many are not getting the message," an apparent reference to the sexual misconduct allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The law has undoubtedly been a huge boon for gender equality in corporate California, but it also highlights lawmakers' propensity to pass bills they know could be challenged in court. In those instances, the goal of the bill may not just be about creating new rules, but also about sending a signal to the rest of the world about California's values.

Consider Senate Bill 27, signed in 2019 by a newly-elected Gov. Gavin Newsom , which required presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to appear on primary ballots in California. It was a direct jab at President Donald Trump, who was up for reelection and had for years refused to publicize his tax returns, despite a decades-long precedent dating back to Jimmy Carter.

"States have a legal and moral duty to do everything in their power to ensure leaders seeking the highest offices meet minimal standards, and to restore public confidence," Newsom said upon signing SB 27. Within months, the California Supreme Court unanimously struck down the law.

This year, lawmakers are backing yet another bill with the expectation that it will be challenged in court. Senate Bill 1327, by Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) is modeled on a Texas law that allows private citizens to sue abortion providers. But instead of abortion providers, California is going after gun manufactuers, who are otherwise insultated from lawsuits due to a federal law.

Newsom explicitly called for such a bill in December after expressing outrage that the Supreme Court upheld Texas' law. The California bill effectively sets up a legal test of the logic underlying the high court's decision, and during committee meetings in April, some Democratic legislators noted that the ultimate hope is for the Texas law to be struck down.

The governor himself has practically dared the Supreme Court to strike down the bill, saying at a February press conference that "there is no principled way the U.S. Supreme Court can't uphold this law… it is quite literally modeled after the law they just upheld in Texas."

BUENOS DÍAS, good Tuesday morning. SeaWorld staff are in Sacramento today holding info sessions about their animal rescue efforts, wherein legislators will get to hobnob with some nontraditional lobbyists: a crowned crane, lemur, raccoon and an alligator.

Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up jwhite@politico.com and lkorte@politico.com or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte .

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "The political and ethnic divisions that fueled this mass shooting must be a call to action for all of us to come together and heal divisions through dialogue and shared understanding." State Sen. Dave Min (D-Irvine) on Sunday's mass shooting in a Laguna Woods church that is now being investigated as a federal hate crime.

TWEET OF THE DAY: Rendon spox Katie Talbot @ktalbotcomms buggin' out: "Shoutout to Assembly facilities for totally solving the cricket problem at the Capitol! I haven't seen even one cricket this year for which I am very grateful."

WHERE'S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

A message from Southern California Edison:

We believe everyone should have the right to breathe clean air. That's why we're leading the charge for more clean, renewable energy. We're a national leader in battery storage and delivering solar energy to our customers. We're working to cut emissions from buildings and freeways. And we proudly support the growth of green jobs.

Top Talkers

UNDER INVESTIGATION — "Feds investigating Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu over Angel Stadium sale," by the OC Register's Alicia Robinson: " An affidavit filed in federal court May 12 says authorities are investigating whether Sidhu "shared privileged and confidential information with the Angels during stadium sale negotiations, actively concealed same from a Grand Jury inquiry, and expects to receive campaign contributions as a result.""

MOTIVATED BY HATE — " Authorities: Suspect in Laguna Woods Shooting Was Politically Motivated by 'Hate' for Taiwanese," by the Voice of OC's Brandon Pho: "The suspect in a shooting that killed one and injured five others at a Taiwanese church event in Laguna Woods on Sunday was politically motivated by "hate" for Taiwanese people and was "upset" about political tensions between China and Taiwan, said authorities at a Monday news conference."

— "Plot to Blow Up Democratic Headquarters Exposed California Extremists Hiding in Plain Sight," by KQED's Alexandra Hall and Julie Small: "The two are charged in federal court with conspiracy to destroy by fire or explosive a building used in interstate commerce, with Copeland facing an additional destruction of records in official proceedings charge for allegedly destroying evidence of his communication with Rogers."

EXPOSED IN ROSEMEAD — " He was my high school journalism teacher. Then I investigated his relationships with teenage girls," by Insider's Matt Drange: " Despite numerous red flags, school and district officials repeatedly missed opportunities to put a stop to Burgess' behavior. Time and again, these adults failed to investigate disturbing stories and reports of sexual abuse that arose throughout his career. Burgess has not been charged with a crime, and school officials won't say whether they ever notified law enforcement of his relationships with teenage girls."'

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — SPOTTED: Newsom's chief of staff Jim DeBoo is billed as one of the co-hosts of a fundraiser this week for Assemblyman Jim Cooper 's campaign for Sacramento County sheriff, along with consultants Dana Williamson, Greg Campbell and lobbyist Tony Bui.

Cooper is the only Democrat running for the open Sacramento sheriff's seat, and someone DeBoo has known for years, but it's not every day you see the governor's staff rooting for him. The Elk Grove Democrat often finds himself on the opposite side of his fellow party members, especially when it comes to criminal justice. He has spoken forcefully against California's efforts to lessen punishments for certain nonviolent crimes, landing opposite Newsom and Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta, both of whom like to boast their criminal justice reform efforts.

In 2020 Cooper poured money into Prop. 20, a ballot initiative that would have undone some of the reforms enacted under Prop 47 and Prop 57. Williamson ran the counter campaign, successfully killing Prop. 20 and earning her firm more than $30,000 in the process, per state records. These days, Williamson works on Bonta's reelection campaign.

The seat is open this year following Sheriff Scott Jones ' decision to run for Congress. Cooper's main opponent is Undersheriff Jim Barnes.

In a statement to POLITICO, Williamson said, "Jim Cooper and I have disagreed many times over the years especially when it comes to criminal justice reform. His opponent however, is a Trumpian knock-off of Scott Jones. Every single voter in Sacramento County should be deeply concerned about that."

DAHLE'S PITCH — "In rural California, Republican Brian Dahle plants the seeds of a campaign for governor," by the Los Angeles Times' Phil Willon: " The 56-year-old Republican served on the Lassen County Board of Supervisors for 16 years before being elected to the California Legislature in 2012, where he served as Assembly Republican leader before being elected to the state Senate in 2018. He spent years working on water, forestry, wildfire and housing issues with elected officials from across the Western states."

— " Meet the Socialist Workers Party candidate running in California to be a US senator," by Sac Bee's Gillian Brassil: "While Garcia is a longtime advocate of a third party in Congress, she said it is needed now more than ever as fractures between moderate and left-leaning liberals and Trump and anti-Trump conservatives leave discussions about helping the working class out."

CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — SEIU, CSEA FOR AB 2011: The state's largest labor union, SEIU California, and the California School Employees Association are poised to back Assemblymember Buffy Wicks ' bill to open new sites to affordable housing, adding to the list of labor organizations backing the legislation.

The two groups said in a lette r to legislative leaders on Monday they would support the bill with amendments like an increase in targeted housing for lower-income people, additional funding for 100 percent affordable housing and strong worker protections — changes Wicks says she is amenable to. AB 2011 has won some key labor support from the California Conference of Carpenters but still faces considerable opposition from the formidable State Building & Construction Trades Council of California.

— " New data shows fewer people are homeless in San Francisco. Here's why," by SF Chronicle's Andres Picon and J.D. Morris: "Despite expert predictions that local homelessness rates have soared due to the pandemic, new data released Monday showed that San Francisco's unhoused population has fallen 3.5% since 2019, the first such decline the city has reported in years."

THANK PROP 13 — "Bay Area cities where homeowners have saved up to $30,000 on property taxes in the real estate boom," by SF Chronicle's Kellie Hwang: "As the Bay Area's top-in-the-nation home prices surged even higher during the pandemic, most buyers who managed to score a house are also likely paying far higher property tax bills than their neighbors who paid less for comparable homes and have owned them longer."

WILDFIRE ALERT — "Here Are the Wildfire Risks to Homes Across the Lower 48 States ," by the NYT's Christopher Flavelle and Nadja Popovich: "Half of all addresses in the lower 48 states face some degree of wildfire risk, according to First Street's model, a number that will rise to 56 percent by 2052. In some rural states, including Wyoming and Montana, more than 90 percent of properties already face some risk."

— " With inflation, California worries about progress on poverty," by CalMatters' Alejandro Lazo: "As the state's Democratic leaders weigh how to spend a record $97.5 billion budget surplus, they also are grappling with how best to keep many vulnerable Californians out of poverty with federal stimulus dollars waning and high inflation devouring household budgets."

HANG ON A SEC — " $2.7 billion settlement in CalPERS long-term care insurance lawsuit is canceled," by Sac Bee's Wes Venteicher: "An agreement in which CalPERS would have paid up to $2.7 billion to settle a lawsuit over the cost of its long-term care coverage has been scrapped, creating new uncertainty for tens of thousands of policyholders."

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MIXTAPE

— "Esparza Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Bredefeld," by GV Wire's David Taub.

RENT RISES — "As inflation spikes, Oakland reconsiders a record 6.7% rent hike," by SF Chronicle's Lauren Hepler.

FACING OFF — " Who will become Sacramento County's next DA? Election puts career prosecutor against reformer," by Sac Bee's Sam Stanton.

— "After plane crashes and close calls, pressure mounts to close this L.A. airport ," by the LATimes' Rachel Uranga.

Transitions

Angela Krasnick has joined the White House as director of platforms in the office of digital strategy. She most recently was content curator at Instagram.

ENGAGED

Brooks Nentwig, a digital marketing manager, on Friday proposed to Rose Lichtenfels, a global partnerships manager at Google who also runs a photography business and is a POLITICO alum.

BIRTHDAYS

former Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) … Protocol's Karyne Levy … David Brancaccio

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