ROBOTAXIS TAKE THE WHEEL — After more than seven hours of debate, the California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday voted to allow self-driving cars to carry paying passengers around San Francisco, siding with companies Cruise and Waymo over strong objections from local and labor leaders. POLITICO’s Jeremy B. White caught all the back-and-forth. “Ultimately advocates on both sides of this issue care about the future," said Commissioner John Reynolds, who resisted calls to recuse himself because he had worked for one of the companies seeking authorization, "and so do we.” As Jeremy writes, the San Francisco dispute reflects a wider reckoning that has played out in Sacramento, pitting the tech sector against organized labor as both sides wrestle over self-driving vehicles’ roles in a changing economy. Unions fear drivers being put out of work and are backing state legislation to restrict self-driving trucks. Tech companies believe the requirement would hobble their ability to improve and deploy the technology. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — TRADING SPACES: State Sen. Steve Glazer and Assemblymember Tim Grayson are both hoping to run for the Legislature again — just in opposite houses. Glazer, who was first elected to the Senate through a special election in 2015 and represents the majority of Contra Costa County, had initially considered challenging the state’s 12-year term limits law, which would prevent him from running for another four-year term in the upper chamber. But in a new episode of his “Table Talk” podcast, released today, Glazer said he decided against going to court and is instead eyeing a two-year term in Grayson’s Assembly district, which includes Concord and parts of Contra Costa County. "I'm going to take a look and see whether term limits law would allow me to serve, without legal question, at least another two and a half years in state office," he said on the pod. "So, I'm going to take a look at Tim Grayson's seat if he decides to run for Senate." As luck would have it, Grayson is indeed running for Senate. In an exclusive to POLITICO, Grayson today is launching his bid for Senate District 9, currently held by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, who served in the Assembly before being elected to the Senate in 2016. “Californians are struggling to keep pace with rising inflation and skyrocketing housing costs,” Grayson said in a statement. “I’ll stand up for them in the state Senate and expand on the work I did to stand up for middle-class Californians — expanding statewide protections for renters, standing up to Big Banks and pharmaceutical companies, providing affordable housing, and improving our roads, bridges, and infrastructure.” THURMOND WEIGHS IN — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond sent a letter to members of the Murrieta Valley Unified School District on Thursday, urging them to pull a measure requiring the forced outing of transgender students ahead of a board vote on the issue. Thurmond, who was kicked out of a school board meeting for opposing a similar measure in Chino Valley last month, noted in his letter that some LGBTQ+ youth could encounter "harm or abuse even in their own homes if their sexuality or gender identity is disclosed before they are ready." "Sadly, nearly half of LGBTQ+ students in our state have considered suicide,” he wrote. Murrieta’s proposal is the latest in what LGBTQ+ advocates say is a growing number of anti-gay and anti-trans policies appearing in school districts across California — and Democrats in the state government are pushing back. Attorney General Rob Bonta recently opened a civil rights investigation into the Chino Valley policy, citing privacy concerns. The Murrieta board adopted the measure on a 3-2 vote Thursday night.
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