| | | | |  | | By Tyler Katzenberger, Lara Korte and Dustin Gardiner | | Presented by |  | | | |  Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, listens to debate on a bill at the Capitol in Sacramento, California. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo | THE BUZZ: LET’S MAKE A DEAL — In order to get tech companies to help floundering California newsrooms, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks may have to give them something they really want, even if journalists weren't asking for it. A draft deal dated Saturday between Wicks and Google, first reported by POLITICO, includes at least $40 million annually for an unspecified “AI Innovation Accelerator” program managed by a “yet-to-be finalized” nonprofit. The five-year, $300 million-plus agreement would see California form a public-private partnership with Google and news publishers to fund in-state newsrooms and AI initiatives — the very technology that many journalists fear will accelerate job losses. Wicks has yet to announce the details of a final deal — and declined to comment when Playbook caught up with her on Monday — but the inclusion of funding for a technology that could replace some journalism jobs would mark a remarkable shift from the effort's original purpose: to make platforms share ad revenues from news link sharing and funnel it back to newsrooms. Google’s annual contribution to California newsrooms, as outlined in the draft proposal, would total up to $30 million per year — less than half the $74 million annual sum the search giant agreed to award Canadian newsrooms after the country’s government passed a similar bill last year. Media Guild of the West President Matt Pearce in an email to union members Sunday evening said such a deal would be a “ratification of Google’s monopoly power over our newsrooms” and “simply not what our guild signed up for.” The draft agreement still has allies in local media. Neil Chase, CEO of nonprofit outlet CalMatters and a board member for Local Independent Online News Publishers, over the weekend urged LION members to email Wicks’ office in favor of the agreement. “I would love to see as much money as possible go toward California journalism, but my sense is that after intense negotiations this is what was possible,” he said Monday in an emailed statement to Playbook. “I’m happy to support it.” Under the proposal, money awarded for newsrooms would be managed by a new nonprofit public charity established at UC Berkeley’s journalism school. As with many complex negotiations, this one involved multiple moving pieces. State Sen. Steve Glazer's bill to revive journalism by imposing a fee on data extraction was even more repellent to tech players than the Wicks bill, according to people familiar with the negotiations — adding legislative leverage to produce a deal. There's a good chance, however, that even if Glazer's measure passed, Gov. Gavin Newsom would reject it after insisting he won't raise taxes in a deficit year. — Jeremy B. White contributed to this report. GOOD MORNING. Happy Tuesday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. Today is the second day of the Democratic National Convention. Read more below on all the California updates from Chicago… And follow our @ccadelago and @melmason for reports on the ground. You can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts. Or drop us a line at lkorte@politico.com and dgardiner@politico.com, or on X — @DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte. WHERE’S GAVIN? In Chicago for the DNC. Tonight the governor will speak from the convention floor, where he’ll deliver the delegates to ceremonially put Vice President Kamala Harris over the top for the Democratic nomination. With both Newsom and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis at the convention, Senate President pro Tem Mike McGuire is in charge. | | | | A message from Amazon: Kathy started at an Amazon fulfillment center where she turned her love of tinkering into a career in robotics. “After completing the Mechatronics and Robotics Apprenticeship, I doubled my income,” she said. More than 200,000 employees, like Kathy, have used Amazon Career Choice to unlock career growth opportunities. Learn more. | | | |  | CALIFORNIA AT THE CONVENTION | | |  Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., speaks at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference at Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Va., Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) | AP | CLOSE TO HOME — Every presidential election year, California's most committed Democrats heed the siren call of a swing state, leaving deep blue California to volunteer in Arizona and Nevada — states that could actually determine who wins the White House. At the kickoff California delegation breakfast on Monday, Rep. Pete Aguilar made a pitch for the grassroots to ditch their quadrennial trek to the battleground and instead stay closer to home. "If you're going to sign up to knock a door or work a precinct, I just want to let you know — stay in California," urged Aguilar, the third ranking Democrat in the House. Aguilar's task was to convince the party faithful that GOTV efforts in a handful of House races across the state are just as consequential as volunteering in Maricopa or Clark county. "Take that bus, bring a friend — but meet me in Bakersfield. Meet me in the Santa Clarita Valley," Aguilar said. Those were the areas where Democrats failed to oust Republicans in blue-tilting districts in 2022. Those defeats were especially stinging after the party outperformed expectations nationwide and nearly held the House — but losses in California and fellow blue bastion New York delivered control of the chamber to the Republicans. Aguilar, who has adopted the California House races as his own pet project, portrayed this year as a chance for redemption. "We will not let that happen again," he said. "We will not come up short." — Melanie Mason
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President Joe Biden speaks during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago Aug. 19, 2024. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | OPENING NIGHT — A slate of California Democrats took the stage Monday night to sing Harris’ praises and celebrate the induction of one of their own into the annals of American history. Rep. Maxine Waters, a longtime Harris ally, invoked one of their heroes from the civil rights movement: Fannie Lou Hamer. Waters, 86, said she was in her early 20s when she saw Hamer at the 1964 Democratic National Convention. (Hamer was there to plead for alternate African American delegates to be seated in place of the all-white Mississippi delegation.) “When the dust settles in November, and Americans of all stripes have elected [Harris] their president, I know she’ll be thinking about Fannie Lou, who I happen to know is one of Kamala’s heroes,” Waters said. “In that moment, all of us, all of us from New York to Pennsylvania to Arizona to California, we can ask ourselves: ‘Is this America?’ And we will be able to say loudly and proudly, ’you’re damn right it is!” Rep. Robert Garcia spoke about the pandemic — drawing contrasts between the Trump and Biden administrations and recalling how Harris personally offered her condolences when his mother and stepfather passed away from Covid-19. In a chat with Playbook on the convention floor, Garcia said the Harris campaign asked him to speak about Covid and his loss. “I honored my mom but also took on Donald Trump a little bit. And I think that was really great to have a segment on Covid,” he said. “Donald Trump is a huge failure, and I personally hold him responsible for hundreds of thousands of people dying.” Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis spoke about Harris’ record in California, and how she always calls her on her birthday and is a good friend. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass harkened back to her time as speaker of the California Assembly, when she worked with then-Attorney General Harris to reform the child welfare system. ‘When Kamala meets a young person, you can feel her passion, you can feel her heart, and you can feel her fearlessness,” Bass said. “That is what defines a commitment to children, being willing to fight fiercely for every child.” Sen. Laphonza Butler spoke about Harris’ dedication as a prosecutor “for the people” and her record going after “cheats and fraudsters,” a thinly-veiled shot at Trump. “We deserve a president who is tough — not just tough talking,” Butler said. Newsom and Garcia, along with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber, got prime billing in the front row during Biden's late-night speech.
| | | | A message from Amazon:   | | | | | STATE CAPITOL | | SKIN CHECK — Did anyone notice the changes made to Jim Wood’s Assembly Bill 3129 last week? The bill to add more oversight into health care acquisitions now excludes dermatology practices, and nobody really knows why. Wood’s office and the bill’s sponsor, Health Access, say they have no idea where the amendment, made in Senate Appropriations, came from. Appropriations chair Anna Caballero’s office wouldn’t comment. It’s even a mystery to Don Schinske, a lobbyist who represents the dermatology industry and says his client isn’t responsible. “I wish we had that kind of juice,” Schinske told POLITICO. — Rachel Bluth (knowledgeable parties can reach Rachel at rbluth@politico.com)
| | SAN FRANCISCO | | FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: OUTSIDER LANE — Daniel Lurie launches a new TV ad today in support of his campaign for San Francisco mayor. The ad, titled “City Hall insiders,” emphasizes one of Lurie’s core messages: that his opponents, all current or former city officials, are part of a corrupt system that has failed to tackle the city’s biggest problems from homelessness to drug addiction. “The system that’s supposed to fix things is the problem,” Lurie says in the ad, which his camp exclusively shared with Playbook. “The insiders won’t change a system built for their benefit.” The ad comes a day after Lurie, a nonprofit executive and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, released an ethics and transparency platform that aims to tighten city campaign-finance rules. It also comes as Lurie has repeatedly hammered opponent Mark Farrell, a former interim mayor and city supervisor, over allegations that he has improperly used a ballot-measure committee to fund his mayoral campaign — which Farrell denies. Lurie has also accused incumbent Mayor London Breed, who holds the lead in recent polling, of being part of a broken status quo inside City Hall.
| | | | A message from Amazon: Amazon provides on-the-job skills training that starts on day one so employees have the opportunity to grow and the support to stay. “With Amazon’s free skills training programs, there’s no limit to what you can achieve,” said Kathy.
More than 200,000 Amazon hourly employees, like Kathy, have taken advantage of free on-the-job training programs and prepaid tuition benefits to move into higher-paying, in-demand careers.
See the impact. | | | | | CLIMATE AND ENERGY | | FEEDSTOCK FRACAS — The California Air Resources Board has been trying since last year to shore up the low-carbon fuel standard, its marquee trading program to reduce emissions from transportation fuels. But the new draft amendment it put out last week got it a new set of enemies: Midwestern farmers. Soy and canola producers — as well as environmentalists and oil producers — sound off in last night’s California Climate.
| | Top Talkers | | — Nancy Pelosi had a sharp message for her detractors in comments to CNN this morning: “I have my relationship with the president, and I just wanted to win this election. So if they’re upset, I’m sorry for them. But the country is very happy … I don’t know who they are, but, you know, that’s their problem, not mine.” — Kamala Harris is doing something radically different from Hillary Clinton — downplaying her gender. (POLITICO) — Russia is not a fan of George Clooney’s nonprofit foundation. (POLITICO) | | AROUND THE STATE | | — A panel in Fresno debated reparations for Black Californians over the weekend. (Fresnoland) — UC President Michael Drake vowed Monday to enforce rules banning encampments and identity-concealing face masks in the wake of Gaza protests. (San Francisco Chronicle) — Yosemite’s Half Dome cables are dangerous, but they won’t be made safer, Fresno Bee columnist Marek Warszawski writes. — The LAPD raised concerns about the city attorney’s push to charge a protester involved in a November pro-Palestine demonstration. (Los Angeles Times)
| | PLAYBOOKERS | | SPOTTED: DNC EDITION — Rep. Ami Bera in the Hyatt Regency lobby with his golf clubs…sitting on the floor as delegates: Reps. Hilda Solis, Judy Chu, Jimmy Gomez and Sydney Kamlager-Dove… seen around Chicago: former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Reps. Robert Garcia, Maxine Waters, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Sen. Laphonza Butler… Newsom advisers Sean Clegg, Juan Rodriguez, Nathan Click and Anthony York… Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California head Jodi Hicks… Political Data Inc.’s Paul Mitchell (spotted deadlifting)... California Labor Federation head Lorena Gonzalez rocking a blue "It's better in a union" T-shirt on the floor of United Center… San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria ordering breakfast… Democratic adviser Kevin Liao supervising influencers… PEOPLE MOVES — Nicolás Ballón is now comms director for Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). He previously was press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). WEDDING BELLS — Los Angeles Times reporter Hannah Wiley got married earlier this month. Huge congratulations! Pic here BIRTHDAYS — Alex Vassar … Google’s Lauren Epshteyn … Adam Ginzberg … BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Monday): Farhad Manjoo … Julius Genachowski of the Carlyle Group … (was Sunday): Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) … Andy Samberg ... John D. Goldman ... Stuart Tochner ... Jules Polonetsky … Pete Montgomery WANT A SHOUT-OUT FEATURED? — Send us a birthday, career move or another special occasion to include in POLITICO’s California Playbook. You can now submit a shout-out using this Google form. 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 Rebecca Haase to find out how: rhaase@politico.com.
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