T-minus three days.
That’s how much time Gov. Gavin Newsom has left to decide the fate of the remaining bills on his desk — and as the deadline draws nearer, the buildup for big-ticket and contentious proposals is getting more intense.
The direct impact of Newsom’s decisions was particularly apparent Wednesday, when he signed a stack of higher education bills — including one that makes it easier for community college students to transfer to a CSU or UC campus — while onstage at CSU Northridge, surrounded by lawmakers and pom pom-waving cheerleaders. “Eat your heart out, Texas! Eat your heart out, Florida!” Newsom yelled — referring to California’s $47.1 billion higher education budget — as the audience cheered. “Eat your heart out, Tennessee! Eat your heart out, fill-in-the-damn-blank!”
Conspicuously absent from the package, however, was a bill that would usher in the most consequential reforms to California’s financial aid system in a generation.
Also Wednesday, Newsom launched the Governor’s Council on Holocaust and Genocide Education, which has as one of its stated goals providing “young people with the tools necessary to recognize and respond to on-campus instances of anti-Semitism and bigotry.” The move comes as some Holocaust survivors urge Newsom to veto a bill that would make ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement. Citing anti-Semitic content, Jewish groups were some of the most vocal critics of early drafts of California’s ethnic studies model curriculum — which the state Board of Education approved in March after taking into account more than 100,000 public comments.
Here’s a look at other noteworthy bills Newsom signed or vetoed in the past few days.
Signed into law:
- Reforms to the state’s beleaguered unemployment department. The Employment Development Department, which admitted it may have paid as much as $31 billion in fraudulent claims — including $1 billion to jail and prison inmates — must now set up a new office to coordinate anti-fraud efforts and cross-check prison rosters against jobless claimants.
- Legal protections for groups that set prescribed burns.
- An end to mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug crimes. The controversial proposal was recommended by an obscure but influential committee examining California’s penal code.
- An end to using California’s environmental impact law to block free needle exchange programs.
- A streamlined process for terminally ill patients to use California’s assisted death law.
- Restrictions on what kinds of plastic products can be labeled recyclable.
- An end to restaurants providing single-use plastic utensils or condiment packets — unless specifically requested by the customer.
Vetoed:
- Establishing visitation as a civil right for people who are incarcerated.
- A ban on paying people who gather signatures for recall, referendum and initiative petitions by the signature.
- A requirement that businesses selling certain products to the state prove they aren’t contributing to tropical deforestation.
The coronavirus bottom line: As of Tuesday, California had 4,524,853 confirmed cases (+0.1% from previous day) and 69,184 deaths (+0.2% from previous day), according to state data. CalMatters is also tracking coronavirus hospitalizations by county.
California has administered 50,081,818 vaccine doses, and 70.9% of eligible Californians are fully vaccinated.
Plus: CalMatters is tracking the results of the Newsom recall election and the top 21 bills state lawmakers sent to Newsom’s desk.
This article appears in Help Wanted.