Gavin Newsom signs last-minute California infrastructure bills he jammed into budget

Grace Scullion
·6 min read
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NEWSOM SIGNS, CELEBRATES $311 BILLION BUDGET AND INFRASTRUCTURE PACKAGE

Via Lindsey Holden...

Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers were all smiles and fist-bumps Monday at an infrastructure bill-signing, just weeks after they were at odds over the last-minute additions to budget deliberations.

The five bills are intended to make it easier for the state to build large-scale water, transportation, clean energy and broadband internet projects.

There was also plenty of political back-slapping as the governor signed the $311 billion budget agreement his administration reached in late June with Assembly and Senate leaders.

The infrastructure measures were not directly related to the budget, but Newsom shoehorned them into negotiations over the spending plan. This ticked off some Democrats, who took particular umbrage at his attempt to fast-track the 45-mile Delta Conveyance water tunnel.

The governor issued veto threats as Delta-area lawmakers fought back over including the controversial tunnel in the bill package. Newsom eventually removed the project, and lawmakers finalized the infrastructure measures last week.

On Monday, Newsom and lawmakers forgot the contentious debates in favor of praising each other and the budget, which also works to close the state’s estimated $31.5 billion spending gap.

“It’s that rags to riches story that California very often faces,” said Senate Budget Chair Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley.

“But luckily, because of the great budgeting we have been doing, responsible budgeting over the last 10 years — of bringing down debt, maintaining reserves, making sure that we are spending our monies appropriately — we were able to deal with that shortfall without having to cut any core programs,” Skinner added. “So in other words, no cuts to our schools, our health care, our safety net services.”

Newsom shrugged off the suggestion he had used the Delta tunnel merely as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the knowledge that it would likely drop out.

He called it “unsourced gossip” and said he remains committed to making the project happen.

“I’ve got a team that’s assembled directly to work on it,” Newsom said. “We’re going to see that through. That project is a huge project — one of the largest infrastructure projects of this type anywhere in the country.”

The infrastructure package marks the second time Newsom has attempted to gain leverage over lawmakers by pushing climate-related bills at the last minute.

During the final weeks of last year’s legislative session, he pressed lawmakers to pass oil well setback regulations and keep Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant open for five additional years.

He later bragged at the Clinton Global Initiative conference about having to “jam my own Democratic Legislature in the last few weeks of our session” to get the bills across the finish line.

“Had I not done that, all those special interests would have prevailed again to deny and delay,” Newsom said.

When asked about using this strategy again during budget negotiations, Newsom cited his remaining time as governor and a desire to take action on climate change.

“I feel a deep sense of urgency,” Newsom said. “I don’t want to just come up here and lament about extreme heat, extreme droughts, extreme weather. I want to actually deliver — not just on goals, ambition, but on projects. And so I’m in a different mindset. There’s the sort of hard-headed pragmatism. Let’s get moving.”

MULTIFAMILY HOUSING BILL HITS ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ROADBLOCK

What is the ‘best available science’? It’s unclear in the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources.

On Monday, environmental groups including the Surfrider Foundation and the California Coastal Commission argued that Senate Bill 423 does not include enough protection for coastal zones. Bill author Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, is attempting to extend Senate Bill 35 — which he pushed through the Legislature in 2017 — until 2036.

SB 423 continues SB 35’s streamlined permitting and approval processes for multifamily housing projects and authorizes the Department of General Services to act in place of local governments on property owned by or leased to the state.

The California Coastal Commission asked for the bill language to exempt a protected coastal zone, anticipating five feet of sea level rise by 2100. Wiener has so far only agreed to planning for three feet of sea level rise, as calculated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“We thought NOAA was a good approach,” Wiener said. “If the commission has other objective ways of (measuring sea-level rise) that aren’t sort of a nebulous, subjective way of doing it then we would be willing to go to five feet. But the ‘best available science’ is just not tight enough.”

In spite of opposition from Chair Luz Rivas, D-Arreta, the bill passed the committee. Wiener agreed to revise its language surrounding wildfire risk, add an exemption for developments proposed within 100 feet of wetlands and continue working on a coastal zone compromise.

According to Wiener, SB 35 has streamlined the construction of 20,000 homes in California since it went into effect in 2018. The bill has made its way through the Capitol in spite of opposition from the powerful State Building and Construction Trades Council of California.

The California Conference of Carpenters has supported the bill, and dozens of carpenters and construction union members — many donning hardhats — attended the hearing in support of the bill.

THE NEW FACE OF STATE WORKER COVERAGE

Via Maya Miller...

The Sacramento Bee has found its new state worker reporter.

Maya Miller, who previously anchored the The Bee’s economic mobility beat as part of the Equity Lab, will now lead the Capitol Bureau’s popular state worker coverage.

As a labor and economics writer, Miller delivered deeply reported stories that highlighted how state policies affected the lives of working people.

She closely followed the historic academic worker strike at the University of California, broke news about labor disputes brewing within the California State University system and kept readers informed about the legal fight over Proposition 22. Other stories introduced readers to people in their communities, such as a recipient of guaranteed income in Yolo County and participants in a South Natomas program that empowers youth living in subsidized housing.

After pinch-hitting on state worker stories for the last several months, Miller is excited to take on the role full-time. She still has much to learn about California’s government and its workforce, and she wants to hear from you.

You can reach her by call or text at 279-386-4504, or email her at mmiller@sacbee.com. Follow her on Twitter @mayacmiller and @TheStateWorker.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“My staff is quite literally trying to have interventions with me about it. They say I’m too obsessed with that. But I need to understand it.”

– Gov. Gavin Newsom, speaking to MSNBC’s Jen Psaki about Fox News.

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