| | | | |  | | By Lara Korte, Jeremy B. White, Matthew Brown and Ramon Castanos | HAPPY HOUR ALERT — You've seen us in your inboxes, now come see us at a bar! Join Jeremy, Lara and the rest of the POLITICO California team on Wednesday at SMIC's in downtown Sacramento. Grab a drink and get to know the crew. Cocktails and conversations start flowing at 6 p.m. RSVP here. THE BUZZ: It always comes back to housing. Gov. Gavin Newsom Sunday announced plans to put a ballot measure before voters in 2024 that would help house an estimated 10,000 Californians a year with behavioral health issues — chipping away at the homelessness epidemic that plagues the state. Let’s be clear: Adding several thousand beds would not solve homelessness. There are nearly 115,000 people sleeping on the streets of California every night. But, much like last year’s CARE Court legislation, this latest push by Newsom is focused on helping the most vulnerable: those with severe mental health or addiction problems. The facilities Newsom is proposing wouldn’t look like state mental health institutions of the past, he said. Instead, the state would create shelters ranging from “campus-style” residential facilities to smaller housing communities, all with access to on-site services and treatment. The measure would add roughly 6,000 beds, with varying lengths of stay. “It’s unacceptable what we’re dealing with at scale now in California,” Newsom said. “We have to address and come to grips with the reality of mental health in our state and in our nation.” To do this, the governor is working with Sen. Susan Eggman to propose a $3 billion to $5 billion general obligation bond, which California would have to pay back with interest over several years. Such a measure must pass both chambers of the legislature by two-thirds before going to the ballot in 2024. The bond would pay for the new residential treatment centers and provide funding specifically for housing the state’s 10,395 homeless veterans. Newsom is also hoping to round up another $1 billion in funding for housing by changing the landmark Mental Health Services Act, also known as Proposition 63, which voters passed in 2004 to fund mental health services. The measure levies a 1 percent tax on incomes of more than $1 million. In its first year, it generated $750 million and now yields up to $4 billion a year, covering about a third of the state’s mental health system. In the past, state officials have tried unsuccessfully to use Prop. 63 funding for housing, but have run into legal barriers. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who championed the measure as a legislator nearly 20 years ago, said it “saved the mental health system,” especially during times of economic downturns. But now, Steinberg said, it’s high time to modernize the act to include housing funds. As with virtually everything in California, there could be pushback — the California State Association of Counties worries the diversion of MHSA funds could have unintended consequences, namely, the loss of federal matching funds. BUENOS DÍAS, good Monday morning. California’s state workers are gearing up for their first contract negotiations post-pandemic. At 11 a.m. this morning, members of SEIU Local 1000, the state’s largest public employee union, will gather on the west steps of the Capitol to call for “living wages.” They’ll be joined by Assemblymember Ash Kalra. Contract negotiations with the state are set to start next month. Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up at jwhite@politico.com and lkorte@politico.com or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Indeed, these students’ tantrum raises a fair question as to whether they can be trusted to dispassionately defend clients that might have ideological opinions different from their own.” Republican Sen. Ted Cruz urging the Texas bar to carefully consider admitting Stanford graduates who protested a campus event with a conservative judge. TWEET OF THE DAY:
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KyungLahCNN | WHERE’S GAVIN? In the Imperial Valley, highlighting lithium production as a fifth part of his Tour of the State of California.
| | | | PLAYBOOK MEET & GREET HAPPENING THIS WEEK! Join California Playbook and POLITICO’s growing team in Sacramento at Smic’s Sip & Quip on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, for an evening of cocktails and conversation. As POLITICO expands in California, we want to more frequently convene our most influential readers in Sacramento and beyond. Swing by and have a cocktail on us—you never know who you might run into! Register here. | | | | | |  | TOP TALKERS | | LABEL MAKER — After years of anticipation, Newsom on Saturday announced the state would contract with Civica, a Utah-based generic pharmaceutical company, to start producing California-branded insulin. CalRX insulin will be available for $30 for a 10 mL vial, or $55 for a box of 5 pre-filled 3 mL insulin pens. Once the Food and Drug Administration approves of the new insulin, CIVICA can begin manufacturing, which should start in 2024. The $50 million contract with Civica will provide the startup costs for the initial manufacturing, which Newsom said will also eventually include a CalRX brand of the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone. Another $50 million that’s been allocated by the legislature will one day go towards producing the drugs in a California facility. — via POLITICO’s Rachel Bluth. — “Newsom vowed to pardon LGBTQ Californians. Only one living person has benefited,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Mackenzie Mays: “The governor launched the LGBTQ California Clemency Initiative in February 2020 and vowed to eradicate ‘historic homophobia” in the criminal justice system by offering pardons to people “subjected to discriminatory arrest and prosecution.’ The program focuses on charges such as vagrancy, loitering and sodomy that were used to target LGBTQ people and may remain on their criminal records decades later.” — “What? A strike? Parents blindsided by looming LAUSD walkout that is closing schools,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Sonja Sharp and Andrew J. Campa: “When I picked him up he said, ‘The teachers are going on strike,’” said the mother of four, whose two eldest children attend 186th Street Elementary School in Gardena, where 70 percent of students take the bus to campus and 100 percent get free lunch. “I said, ‘What?!’”
| | CAMPAIGN MODE | | CERVANTES CLOUT — Riverside Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes is getting a dual endorsement from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Speaker-elect Robert Rivas as Cervantes seeks the AD-58 seat her sister, Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, is giving up to run for Senate. — “Silicon Valley Bank's demise animates early days of California's 2024 U.S. Senate contest,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Benjamin Oreskes: “The second largest bank closure in U.S. history has been a told-you-so moment for Porter, whose campaign to succeed Sen. Dianne Feinstein has so far been infused with themes of economic fairness and how these downturns disproportionately hurt people with low incomes.” IOWA-ESQUE — “All 3 Senate hopefuls visited this retirement community. So who won the Rossmoor primary?” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Joe Garofoli: “We can’t verify whether there’s a larger club on Saturn, but Reps. Katie Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee wouldn’t have made the pilgrimage to Golden Rain Road if the Rossmoorians’ rings weren’t worth kissing.”
| | CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR | | REFERENDUM ON REFERENDUMS — Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) is set to introduce Assembly Bill 421 today to reform the state referendum process, aiming to push back against business interests that have used ballot measures in recent years to challenge legislation around climate change and labor laws. Last year, the fast food industry spent $4 million to gather 1 million signatures and qualify a ballot measure against AB 257, the highly-contentious, labor-backed FAST Act meant to establish a statewide council on wages and working conditions in casual California eateries. That bill is now on pause until voters can weigh in in 2024. Environmental advocates were similarly furious over efforts from the oil industry to roll back a key piece of climate legislation last year that would require oil well setbacks of 3,200 feet from homes, hospitals and schools. Newsom, who championed that legislation, derided “greedy” oil companies for the ballot measure. — “L.A. strongly approves of Mayor Bass but skeptical about fixing homelessness, poll shows,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Julia Wick: “Half of Angelenos approve of the job Bass is doing so far, while just 14 percent say they disapprove, according to a Suffolk University/Los Angeles Times poll conducted March 9-12. A little more than a third remain undecided.” — “Who deserves a levee? The fight to save California communities from flooding,” by The Mercury News’ Lisa M. Krieger: “This past week, as a levee failure drowned the town of Pajaro, Hamilton City’s river also overflowed. But then it gently spread across a landscaped floodplain, losing its fury. The levee held firm. The system, the first of its type in the state, offers a new paradigm for how to respond to flood risk in an era of dangerous climate change.” — “'We have nothing': Pajaro farmworkers face the prospect of no income at start of harvesting season,” by KQED’s Farida Jhabvala Romero: “The community of Pajaro, where many farmworkers live, became the emergency’s ground zero after a nearby river levee broke last week and residents were forced to evacuate their homes. Emergency crews have since patched up the Pajaro River levee breach, allowing flood waters to recede from streets, homes and businesses. But all 3,000 residents continue to be displaced and are under evacuation orders.” — “U.S. issues warning about Mexican pharmacies selling tainted, counterfeit pills,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Keri Blakinger and Connor Sheets: “The U.S. Department of State is aware of recent media reports regarding counterfeit pharmaceuticals available at pharmacies in Mexico, including those tainted with fentanyl and methamphetamine,” the alert said. “Counterfeit pills are readily advertised on social media and can be purchased at small, non-chain pharmacies in Mexico along the border and in tourist areas.” — “Hyundai, Kia sued by city of San Diego for alleged lack of anti-theft tech,” by the City News Service: “The city alleges Hyundai and Kia cars are not equipped with immobilizer technology that ensures cars cannot be started without their keys. The city's lawsuit covers the period stretching from 2011 to 2021, when it claims other carmakers adopted the safety feature while Hyundai and Kia ‘failed to keep up with the times.’”
| | BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL | | — Trump predicts imminent arrest, calls for protests, by POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein, Kyle Cheney and Erica Orden: Trump provided no clear basis for his expected arrest, beyond citing what he called “illegal leaks” about the ongoing investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. And, indeed, a Trump spokesperson later clarified that there had been no actual “notification” about an imminent arrest.
| | SILICON VALLEYLAND | | — When Silicon Valley libertarians realized they needed the government, and vice versa, by POLITICO’s Ben Schreckinger: Libertarian tech investors who had been busy waxing about Washington’s inevitable obsolescence like it was last year’s iPhone suddenly began shouting at Washington to save Silicon Valley.
| | MIXTAPE | | — “California is the target for another storm next week. Here's where the impacts could be,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Gerry Díaz. — “I'm a trained chef who tried to survive on California's new food stamp benefits. I failed miserably,” Opinion by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Soleil Ho. — “When migrants go missing at the border, their loved ones turn to unofficial channels for news,” by The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Alex Riggins and David Hernandez. — Bay Bridge's 'Bay Lights' LED light display was difficult to turn off, by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Heather Knight.
| | BIRTHDAYS | | — Penta’s Elliott Owensby … Was Saturday: Jeffrey Zimerman … Kristin Lee … Marc Adelman … Was Friday: Myrna Melgar ... Jessica Naziri
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