News: Dems tack right on immigration

Wednesday, January 8, 2025

Dems tack right on immigration

Jan 08, 2025

Becca Prowda listens as her husband Daniel Lurie, right, speaks at a news conference in San Francisco.

Becca Prowda, left, listens as her husband Daniel Lurie, right, speaks at a news conference in San Francisco, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024. | AP/Jeff Chiu

DRIVING THE DAY: Daniel Lurie will be sworn as San Francisco’s 46th mayor this morning. The philanthropist and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune ousted incumbent London Breed in the November election, a campaign that was defined by Lurie’s criticism of Breed’s handling of the city’s problems with homelessness, drug addiction and crime. Lurie’s inauguration will be held in front of City Hall, an event that’s expected to draw a crowd of thousands. His 11:30 speech will be livestreamed on YouTube.

THE BUZZ: BREAKING RANK — California’s frontline House Democrats avoided handing damaging 2026 campaign fodder to their opponents, voting through an immigration crackdown opposed by most of their party brethren.

Seven Democrats from the state on Tuesday voted for the Laken Riley Act, noticeably more than the three who did so last year. The traction among the minority party is particularly head-turning for legislation that would require federal law enforcement to arrest undocumented immigrants for nonviolent crimes like burglary and theft — simultaneously making them targets for deportation.

In total, 48 Democrats — 11 more than last March — backed the GOP-led bill named for a Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by an undocumented immigrant.

The uptick following President-elect Donald Trump’s swing-state sweep is a telling sign “that some in the Democratic ranks are moving in step with the electorate, abandoning their party’s old pieties on those issues and embracing tough new enforcement measures,” write our colleagues Daniella Diaz, Nicholas Wu and Myah Ward.

It’s also a signal of how California’s more moderate Democrats may approach the issue during Trump’s second term, after Californian officials at virtually all levels of government spent much of his first stint trying to slow his immigration agenda at every turn.

Yet the increased support among Democrats is also a symptom of the party’s consolatory wins in California House races. Three of four members who newly supported the legislation just flipped Republican-led House seats, while the fourth, Rep. Dave Min, is also new to Congress. He replaced former Rep. Katie Porter, who did not vote on the harsher policy.

Reps. Adam Gray, Derek Tran and George Whitesides, having just ousted Republicans, followed the risk-averse lead of Reps. Josh Harder, Jim Costa and Mike Levin who had also crossed the aisle by voting for the proposal in 2024.

Gray explained his action by saying he “voted to allow states to hold the federal government accountable for its dereliction of duty and hold criminals accountable for their crimes.”

In a statement, he added: “I look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to fix our immigration system, strengthen our border and protect our families.”

The legislation lands at the nexus of immigration and crime just after Californians overwhelmingly supported a ballot measure to increase penalties for retail theft and drug offenses. In politically contested counties, the margins of support for Proposition 36 were even higher.

“Voters in these particular districts,” said Democratic consultant Dan Gottlieb, who worked on California House races and is now advising Gray and Tran, “had really serious concerns about the dialogue around public safety and immigration.”

“Having this be one of the first votes that you take in the hall of Congress is a powerful message to send to the voters,” Gottlieb said.

Still, 159 House Democrats sent the opposite message, voting unsuccessfully to kill the proposal and warning it would make DACA recipients vulnerable to deportation.

“There are serious flaws in this bill,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, also of California, told reporters. “It's very clear that House Republicans are going to push an anti-immigrant agenda.”

GOOD MORNING. Happy Wednesday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook.

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WHERE’S GAVIN? Newsom’s office said the governor will be in Los Angeles this morning, working with local, state and federal fire officials responding to the Palisades Fire.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

PLANTING A FLAG — State Sen. Scott Wiener is expected to unveil intent language today for a new bill that would create safety guardrails around the development of artificial intelligence. The intro text is a far cry from a detailed bill. Rather, it serves as a placeholder while Wiener negotiates with AI companies, the governor’s office and others.

But the move sends a pointed message: Wiener isn’t stepping back from the contentious fight over AI safety, even as Gov. Gavin Newsom has formed his own AI working group to craft recommendations.

Newsom created the working group in September after he vetoed SB 1047, Wiener’s major AI safety bill that drew attention beyond California’s borders for its potential to set national safety-testing standards for the largest AI models.

Wiener said he hopes to collaborate with the governor’s working group, which includes experts at Stanford, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and UC Berkeley.

But the senator from San Francisco has also stressed that the Legislature is a “coequal branch” of government and that lawmakers are eager to address the safety risks while the technology is still evolving. Wiener’s intent bill states that AI regulations could include findings of the governor’s task force, though his proposal “is not limited” to that.

CAMPAIGN YEAR(S)

Mike Gipson speaks behind a microphone at his desk in the California Assembly.

Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson, calls on lawmakers to approve his gun control measure at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Wednesday, May 25, 2022. California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday harshly criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in the wake of an elementary school shooting that left students and teachers dead. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: 2026 JOCKEYING — Assemblymember Mike Gipson, a former Board of Equalization staffer who as a legislator has sought to expand elected officials’ power over tax decisions, will announce today that he’s running for the BOE in 2026.

Gipson carried legislation last year to give a new board — composed of the BOE chair, state controller and Department of Finance director — control of the Office of Tax Appeals and Department of Tax and Fee Administration. His effort stalled in the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee, but could fare better if he pursues it again this year after Speaker Robert Rivas recently appointed him chair of the panel.

He told Playbook he hasn’t decided whether to bring the proposal back while he’s campaigning, but said the idea should “continue to be a conversation.” BOE members including new chair Ted Gaines have supported attempts to shift control from staffers and administrative law judges to elected officials — reversing parts of a 2017 change to the state’s tax system that was meant to insulate tax decisions from political pressure.

Controller Malia Cohen, who helped Gaines win the chair election last month, has also endorsed Gipson in his run for the board. So too have Rivas and incumbent BOE member Tony Vazquez.

Gipson said elected officials “can provide not only the transparency, but also the accountability” that bureaucrats who do not have to answer to voters may not. He added that reforms have been implemented requiring officials to disclose conflicts of interest that could prevent them from exploiting tax decisions for campaign contributions, one of the concerns that spurred the 2017 overhaul that created the OTA.

Gipson has served in the Assembly since 2014 and is term-limited in 2026. He’s also a former police officer.

STATE CAPITOL

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: FOWL PLAY — Keep your cocks in the barn, California: Fighting roosters is illegal here and, turns out, unpopular as well. A recent survey of California voters, commissioned by the Humane Society, found over 70 percent of respondents would support a new law to crack down on illegal cockfighting. The animal welfare group says it’s still a problem — with thousands of bird breed facilities in the state — despite being illegal since 2007.

They note that three of the largest cockfighting seizures in the U.S. have been in California, and they’ve found evidence of illegal bird breeding yards in 43 counties.

It's especially ruffling feathers now as California contends with an avian flu outbreak that’s been tearing through poultry operations. More than 20 percent of survey respondents said disease was a top concern when it comes to cockfighting, and over 60 percent said they were worried about other crimes associated with it, like drug trafficking and weapons dealing.

Today, cockfighting is a misdemeanor. Keep your beak to the ground for a bill this year that increases penalties or enforcement. — Rachel Bluth

CLIMATE AND ENERGY

WHITE WHALE WAIVERS — The Biden administration has approved most of California's requests to enforce its stricter-than-federal air quality rules, but the biggest ones are proving the hardest for EPA to handle. Read last night’s California Climate to see which two rules are still in limbo.

SKINNER’S NEW GIG — Former state Sen. Nancy Skinner couldn’t stay away from clean-energy policy for long. Newsom’s administration announced Tuesday that Skinner, a longtime climate hawk, has been appointed to the California Energy Commission, a powerful perch from which she can continue to shape policy on electric cars, hydrogen power and the electrical grid. Skinner, a Democrat, will be paid $199,380.

Top Talkers

SOCAL FIRE — Thousands of people were evacuated Tuesday as a fire raged through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood north of Santa Monica, as the Los Angeles Times reports. The fire destroyed apartment buildings, numerous homes as powerful wind gusts fueled “life-threatening” conditions. Even the iconic Getty Villa Museum caught fire in the inferno.

Newsom declared an emergency due to the fire and visited the frontlines. His office said FEMA had also awarded the state a grant to help local fire departments with response costs. “This is a highly dangerous windstorm that’s creating extreme fire risk — and we're not out of the woods,” Newsom said Tuesday night.

Cal Fire has issued a red-flag warning for much of Southern California through Thursday due to high Santa Ana winds. The warning includes much of LA County, as well as the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valleys, San Diego and Riverside mountains, eastern San Diego Valleys, Inland Orange County and the Inland Empire.

OAKLAND’S WAITING GAME — Former longtime Rep. Barbara Lee said Tuesday that she’s still evaluating whether she plans to run for mayor of Oakland in an April special election — despite opening a campaign fundraising account. Lee, in an interview with KQED’s Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos, said she would share her decision in a statement later this week. “That means I’m thinking about it. I’m doing a deep dive because there are many, many challenges,” Lee said. “I love Oakland.”

AROUND THE STATE

— The California Department of Justice has ended its oversight of the San Francisco Police Department, which began after a series of police shootings. State officials said the city has met most of DOJ’s recommendations. (San Francisco Chronicle)

— The Environmental Protection Agency has rejected local officials’ requests to consider labeling the Tijuana River Valley a superfund site. EPA officials said toxic pollution levels in the area don’t meet their requirements for a special clean-up designation. (The San Diego Union-Tribune)

— Conservative Huntington Beach has once again sued California in an attempt to overturn the state’s sanctuary law, limits when local governments can cooperate with federal immigration authorities. (The Orange County Register)

PLAYBOOKERS

PEOPLE MOVES — Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan was named to be the next director and State Public Health Officer at the California Department of Public Health, Newsom announced Tuesday night. Pan’s job is subject to Senate confirmation. If confirmed, she’ll make $313,388 annually.

Longtime San Francisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan, who chronicled the city’s homelessness crisis for decades, will retire today. In a farewell column, Fagan documents his parallel career to outgoing Mayor London Breed, who rose from public housing to elected office and spent much of her career trying to tackle the elusive homelessness problem.

Former DOT Secretary Elaine Chao is now a board member for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.

Shery Yang has been appointed comms director for the California Fair Political Practices Commission. She was previously comms director for the California Democratic Party.

Matt Smith is now comms director for Louisiana Rep. Julia Letlow. He previously was comms director for California Rep. Michelle Steel.

Lurie is adding Nina Negusse as comms director, Annie Gabillet as deputy comms director and Charles Lutvak as press secretary and senior comms adviser. Negusse previously was at Edelman, Gabillet was on Lurie’s campaign, and Lutvak was a national spokesperson for the Kamala Harris presidential campaign.

Law firm Withers has acquired the trust and estates firm Hoffman Sabban & Watenmaker as part of its Los Angeles office. Paul Gordon Hoffman, Alan Watenmaker, Chang Chae and Eric Tokuyama will join the firm as partners.

Christine Mahon has joined Latigo Strategies as a partner. She was most recently chief communications officer at Clutch.

BIRTHDAYS — former Rep. Richard Pombo … Catherine Coddington in the office Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel … Russ Caditz-Peck …

BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Tuesday): Jeremy Ragent

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