| | | | |  | | By Jeremy B. White, Lara Korte and Sejal Govindarao | Presented by CCIA | THE BUZZ: Seven-plus years, four election cycles and thousands of floor votes later, it’s the final day of the Anthony Rendon speakership — the only one most Assembly members have experienced. The Lakewood Democrat has presided over a progressive policy bonanza. California hiked the minimum wage, gave farmworkers overtime, enacted ambitious climate laws, expanded early childhood education and delivered landmark labor wins. That last achievement is on brand for a man who derided the gig economy as “fucking feudalism” as unions battled with tech companies over job classification. His baseball doppelgänger won a World Series title. He has touted diversity, taken pride in rallying California against President Donald Trump and redeveloping the Los Angeles River. Enormous vote margins smoothed the path. The election before Rendon came into power, Democrats lost their short-lived legislative supermajorities. Democrats regained two-thirds margins in 2016 as candidates flipped Republican seats with Rendon at the helm. The caucus has never forfeited that supermajority, growing their advantage to a once-unfathomable three-quarters that Rendon dubbed the “gigamajority.” Booming budgets also increased opportunity: Rendon didn’t have to haggle over a deficit until the budget negotiations just wrapped. Decentralization has been the hallmark of Rendon’s management style. His teeming class of 2012 arrived during the speakership of John Pérez, who embraced assertive and top-down leadership tactics of show-running predecessors. Rendon could certainly wield his powers to rein in members, stripping intransigent or overly ambitious Democrats of committee slots and chairmanships. But he ascended on a promise to give committee chairs more autonomy, and he rarely carried or co-authored legislation. Newly empowered chairs benefited from the freedom — and from the long-term policy runway that came with up to 12 years in office thanks to a voter- approved change. As a rule, elected officials tend to resent being dictated to. But there were detractors: Members stewed when chairs killed their legislation, particularly by declining to hold votes. Critical committee leaders became power centers in their own right: The Rendon era was also, in a substantial way, the Lorena Gonzalez era. That game of chairs wasn’t the only source of intra-Democratic conflict. Rendon incurred the left’s white-hot wrath when he halted a single-payer healthcare bill in 2017, calling the measure untenable (They’ve never forgotten.) Frustration over his Covid-19 management style boiled over in a chaotic end-of-session melee that saw a housing bill run out of time and a lawmaker bring her baby to the Assembly floor. More members means more mouths to feed, and a bloc of moderate Democrats complained of feeling sidelined. And then there was the bitter end: a caustic and publicly divisive succession struggle that dragged on for months. Back in 2015, Rendon closed the deal soon after then-Speaker Toni Atkins (now the Senate leader) asked Democrats to sign a pledge committing to holding off on a vote. In 2021, it was Rendon facing a vote earlier than he wanted after soon-to-be-speaker Robert Rivas consolidated support. The fallout that ensued is indelibly part of the Rendon era. But that coda is only a piece of one of California’s most consequential speakerships. While term limits prevent another Willie Brown or Jesse Unruh, Rendon’s tenure trails only those two — and he will have served as speaker longer than anyone in the last 30 years. Most of the Class of 2012 allies who launched Rendon into the speakership are gone already. On Friday, he'll cede the crown. A long policy and political record will remain. BUENOS DÍAS, good Thursday morning. California’s reparations task force is set to transmit its final report to the Legislature today, moving us into the next phase of lawmakers actually trying to enact some of those ideas. We will see if Gov. Gavin Newsom takes a firmer position after distancing himself from cash payouts while deflecting questions about specific policies. 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.
| | | | A message from CCIA: A link tax is the last thing California needs. Oppose AB886. | | | WHERE’S GAVIN? Talking wildfires in Nevada County. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I put up with a lot of shit, like any manager. We can be overly forgiving at times. … To a large extent, I always wanted to be forgiving and provide people with opportunities for redemption. I don’t always know that I was quick to punish as I should have.” Rendon on his leadership regrets during a Public Policy Institute of California talk.
| | | | PLAYBOOK MEET & GREET! Join POLITICO in welcoming our new Playbook Author, Dustin Gardiner, at Cafeteria 15L on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. We're convening our most influential readers in Sacramento and beyond as we expand our footprint across the Golden State. Swing by and have a cocktail on us—you never know who you might run into! Register here. | | | | | |  | TOP TALKERS | | AND ANOTHER ONE: Bay Area tech executive and tech investor Lexi Reese is formally declaring her Senate candidacy today. Reese, a Google and Facebook alumna who served as chief operating officer at the HR platform Gusto, told POLITICO she wants to put to work her three decades of experience in tech, business and nonprofits — and she rejects the idea that she should “stand in line” and “wait for your turn” before taking on a Senate run. “Our economy is a hot mess and it’s increasingly unlivable,” she said,” adding that “the Senate is where direction for the country is coming from and we’re getting very bad direction.” Reece said she would contribute to her own campaign but declined to provide a budget she had in mind, beyond saying she was prepared to raise “many, many millions of dollars.” She rolled out a launch video and fired a shot across Elon Musk’s bow, including boycotting his Twitter platform out of concern for his politics and his treatment of employees. She’ll be vying with Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, and Barbara Lee, all of whom started with established bases and name recognition. — "Trump world fumes over McCarthy’s 2024 slight," by POLITICO’s Rachael Bade: “Former President Donald Trump has catapulted the careers of many a Republican over the past eight years. None have benefited more than Kevin McCarthy.” — "How Texas shrank its homelessness population — and what it can teach California," by CalMatters’ Marisa Kendall: “Texas recorded a 28 percent drop in homelessness since 2012, while California’s homeless population grew by 43 percent. What’s behind the diverging trends, and what can California learn from programs in Houston, Austin and San Antonio?” — "He led the fight against affirmative action in California. Now, the country is following his lead." by POLITICO Magazine’s Ian Ward: “In 1996, voters in California approved Proposition 209, a ballot initiative that made the state the first in the country to ban race-based affirmative action in public universities. The proposition’s chief architect was Ward Connerly, a California businessman who championed the initiative as a member of the University of California’s Board of Regents.”
| | | | A message from CCIA:   | | | | | CAMPAIGN MODE | | — "Harris on the hot seat: Veep has critical stretch ahead as campaign heats up," by POLITICO’s Eugene Daniels: “Toward the end of last year, senior aides of Vice President Kamala Harris gathered in the vice president’s ceremonial office and sat around a table to chart out the year ahead. The group presented her with a strategy document.” — "Former Sacramento mayoral candidate changes course, will run for state Legislature instead," by The Sacramento Bee’s Theresa Clift: “Sacramento mayoral candidate Maggy Krell is dropping out of the race to run for a California Assembly seat. Krell, a prosecutor specializing in sex trafficking prevention, is running for Democratic Assemblyman Kevin McCarty’s Sacramento-area seat, she said.”
| | CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR | | — "California tried and failed to ban for-profit ICE detention centers. What does that mean for other states?" by the Los Angeles Times’ Andrea Castillo: “California’s landmark ban on private prisons and immigrant detention facilities saw its fate sealed when a federal court officially repealed the 2020 law.” — "How a miracle-obsessed megachurch conquered a California city," by SFGATE’s Eric Ting: “It’s hard not to get drawn into the sermons of Bill Johnson. With his soft-spoken voice and frequent quips, Johnson, senior leader of the nondenominational megachurch Bethel Church in Redding, California, is so charismatic he can make stories about God sending “glory clouds” to rain gold dust on Bethel worshipers sound folksy, even reasonable.” — "Some L.A. fireworks shows canceled after new environmental rules. ‘We’re all disappointed,’" by the Los Angeles Times’ Grace Toohey: “The decisions come just a month after the L.A. Regional Water Quality Control Board adopted a protective fireworks display permit in late May, which requires new best practices aimed at reducing plastics and other pollution that could fall into oceans or marinas from fireworks displays.”
| | | | SUBSCRIBE TO POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don’t miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY. | | | | | | | MIXTAPE | | — "He could have saved an innocent friend from prison. He waited three decades to try," by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Joshua Sharpe — "The unorthodox quest to find Kristin Smart’s body, the last piece of an enduring mystery," by the Los Angeles Times’ Richard Winton — "Solano nonprofit executive lived in domestic violence safe house rented from city of Fairfield," by the Vallejo Sun’s Scott Morris — "LAPD shoots, kills armed suspect who fired at officers in South Los Angeles, authorities say," by ABC7’s Marc Cota-Robles
| | | | A message from CCIA: Lawmakers are proposing a bill that would charge websites every time they link to a news article. A new tax is the last thing CA needs. Oppose AB886. | | | CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here. Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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