Gas prices fuel action in Sacramento

From: POLITICO California Playbook - Tuesday Mar 15,2022 01:05 pm

Mar 15, 2022

By Jeremy B. White, Juhi Doshi, Chris Ramirez and Graph Massara

THE BUZZ — SLAM THE BRAKES: Soaring gas prices have vaulted to the top of Sacramento’s agenda.

Pain at the pump has become an inescapable political variable this year. With midterm elections on the horizon, $6 a gallon gas has California elected officials searching for a way to provide relief without backtracking on other pieces of their agenda. The California Republican Party and its national counterparts are pummeling Democrats over the financial pinch.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has found unusual common ground with Republicans by taking aim at gas taxes. In his January budget unveiling, the governor called for a gas tax “holiday” that would suspend this year’s planned increase, arguing a flush budget has put California in a position where it can forfeit roughly half a billion dollars in revenue. Republicans have been clamoring to halt the gas tax as well, as have some endangered Democrats like Rep. Josh Harder.

But the GOP’s drive disintegrated on Monday, as Democrats thwarted their effort to force a vote on axing the tax — and Newsom’s proposal may not be far behind. There is broad desire among legislative Democrats to maintain a gas tax increase, something that flows from a bruising 2017 battle. Both Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon have signaled to Newsom they are not thrilled about abandoning the fruits of that victory.

Legislative leaders are more enthusiastic about Newsom’s more recent pitch to put money directly into consumers’ pockets. The governor used his State of the State speech last week to call for rebates linked to exorbitant fuel costs, pledging to tackle “high gas prices and the geopolitical uncertainty fueling them.” That idea appears to be getting more traction than a gas tax suspension, with Atkins and Rendon saying they preferred sending relief from the brimming general fund to “a small cut to the gas tax that might not get passed on to consumers.”

It seems likely that Sacramento will somehow seek to alleviate drivers’ doldrums. But underlying that more immediate question is a larger debate: whether exorbitant oil costs, pushed even higher by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are an argument for more domestic drilling or a case for developing alternative energy sources.

Newsom and others have said it’s clear the solution is enough renewables to insulate us from fossil fuel shocks. Some moderate California Democrats argue we must augment oil production in the short term — a nonstarter in practical terms now, but a political signal. Unions representing California refinery and rig workers say we must continue producing fossil fuels as a bridge until 100 percent renewable electric generation is reliable. Those are more enduring fights than deciding whether Californians will see a tax cut or a check.

BUENOS DÍAS, good Tuesday morning. A Republican resolution to end Newsom’s state of emergency is set to get its first hearing in the Senate Governmental Organization committee today.

Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit jwhite@politico.com or follow me on Twitter @jeremybwhite.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I am not at all a supporter of creating CEQA exemptions. I am not a proponent of gutting an act that has made California a leader in environmental protections and environmental innovation. We act because we have seen recently the misguided application of an environmental law to student enrollment.” Rendon says a bill to reverse Berkeley enrollment cuts is not fundamentally about altering the California Environmental Quality Act.

BONUS QOTD: “This emergency triage legislation will solve that immediate problem, but we also need to ask ourselves how we got here. … CEQA is the law that, in many ways, tragically sealed California.” State Sen. Scott Wiener’s view.

TWEET OF THE DAY: CalMatters reporter Alexei Koseff @AKoseff on a quick Cal turnaround: “For further evidence of how politically toxic that UC Berkeley enrollment lawsuit is, the Assembly just voted 69-0 for a bill, made public three days ago, to eliminate environmental impact review for enrollment increases and override the court decision limiting the incoming class”

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

JOIN US! Sen. Alex Padilla will join POLITICO Live on Wednesday for a discussion with tech activist Timnit Gebru as part of POLITICO’s inaugural Recast Power List series, with the Recast author Brakkton Booker moderating. RSVP here to watch live.

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Top Talkers

EXCLUSIVE — Instagram, TikTok could get sued for addicting kids under California proposal, by POLITICO’s Susannah Luthi: The bipartisan measure from Assemblymembers Jordan Cunningham (R-Templeton) and Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), which rolls out on Tuesday, would hold social media companies legally liable for deploying features and apps that addict children to their detriment. Significantly, the legislation is retroactive, which would put the companies at legal risk for any past damage their products caused for teens and younger children.

BUSTED — “ 500 guns bought illegally in Georgia were mailed to California and sold to criminals, feds say,” by SF Chronicle’s Sam Whiting: “Five people are facing federal criminal charges for their alleged roles in a national gun trafficking operation that officials said brought more than 500 guns to California from Georgia, according to court documents reviewed by The Chronicle.”

PROTESTS — “ SFUSD Teachers Protest Missed Paychecks and Payroll Glitches at Headquarters Overnight,” by KQED’s Alex Emslie: “About 20 San Francisco Unified School District teachers and staff were camped out with sleeping bags in district offices Monday night, demanding that administrators fix payroll system glitches that have delayed or shortchanged hundreds of educators in recent weeks.”

— “Mayor Breed is not extending the Tenderloin emergency for S.F. drug crisis. What does that mean for the neighborhood?” by SF Chronicle’s Mallory Moench: “Mayor London Breed is letting the 90-day state of emergency in the Tenderloin expire, but will continue daily operations in the neighborhood with street cleaning and outreach to get people who are homeless and using drugs into services and off the sidewalk.”

— SHOT: “Gavin Newsom signs California law to override court decision capping UC Berkeley enrollment ,” by Andrew Sheeler: “The California Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom moved with lightning speed on Monday to pass a bill that would prevent UC Berkeley from having to cut its student enrollment by several thousand.”

— CHASER: Rendon stands by CEQA, despite UC Berkeley enrollment freeze , by POLITICO’s Alexander Nieves: Some prominent California Democrats are rallying to defend a polarizing environmental law that a judge used to cap enrollment at UC Berkeley.

— “SF is now boycotting most of the United States ,” by Mission Local’s Joe Eskenazi: “A March 4 memorandum from City Administrator Carmen Chu reveals that San Francisco will not enter into contracts with businesses headquartered in most of the United States — 28 states in all. Official travel to those states is also forbidden. And this list includes some surprises: Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Wisconsin.”

CAMPAIGN MODE

TECH BUCKS — Uber has dropped $250,000 into a business-funded committee backing Democratic former San Diego city council member David Alvarez over Democratic San Diego city council member Georgette Gomez. The two are vying to fill an open seat vacated by former Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez — a notable foe of Uber and its gig work ilk because she championed a law that would have required them to reclassify their contractors as employees (an industry-backed proposition carved the gig companies out).

— “ In Bay Area congressional race, parsing differences on Israel,” by Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel: “The open-seat race to represent California’s newly drawn 15th Congressional District is increasingly taking shape around two leading Democratic primary candidates whose competing policy objectives typify some of the finer distinctions between the moderate and activist wings of the party.”

CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

WEI OUT — Angie Wei is leaving the Newsom administration and will be succeeded as legislative affairs secretary by Third House and gubernatorial administration veteran Christy Bouma, who most recently has been at prominent lobbying firm Capitol Connections (its prominent clients include the California Professional Firefighters, the California Manufacturers and Technology Association and the Consumer Attorneys of California). Before joining Team Newsom, Wei was an executive at the powerful California Labor Federation.

— “ The housing crisis is pushing both Bay Area landlords and tenants to the financial brink,” by the SF Chronicle’s Lauren Hepler: “Now, as landlord and tenant groups battle over the future of renter protections, both sides warn that housing could get harder to find as property owners — fed up with California’s piecemeal approach to rent relief and evictions — take rentals off the market or raise income requirements in a bid to insulate themselves from future tenant disputes.”

— “Lorena Gonzalez is a foul-mouthed Latina troublemaker. That’s good for California workers,” opines the LA Times’ Anita Chabria: “[She’s] the kind old-school unionists love because organized labor is built by troublemakers, the ones who aren’t afraid to stand their ground and curse at you while they’re doing it. The ones who don’t care if they offend, because they find oppression offensive.”

— “Fentanyl test strips are in demand at Bay Area bars and restaurants: ‘People come in just for the strips’ ,” by SF Chronicle’s Danielle Echeverria: “To use the strips, people take a tiny fraction of a drug, mix it with water and then dip the strip into the mixture and wait to see if it turns up positive for fentanyl. That way, people intending to use drugs that are not fentanyl, like cocaine or ecstasy, can test to see if it’s been cut with the dangerous opioid.”

HOUSING HAVOC — “ UC Berkeley Enrollment Case Fuels Wider Battle for Student Housing,” by the Wall Street Journal’s Christine Mai-Duc: “California universities are turning dormitory lounges into bedrooms, putting students in hotel rooms, and leasing entire apartment buildings to deal with a housing shortage that recently led to a judge ordering UC Berkeley to freeze its on-campus enrollment.”

— “ ‘Chesa Boudin Derangement Syndrome’ grips S.F. politics,” opines the San Francisco Examiner’s Gil Duran: “Don’t get me wrong. Boudin has made his share of mistakes, but nothing resembling the exaggerated claims of those demanding his overthrow. His detractors portray him as the root of all ills. Every crime trend — even those pre-dating his tenure — can somehow be blamed on him.”

— “Want Vulnerable Californians to Have Healthier Pregnancies? Doulas Say the State Must Pay Up,” by California Healthline’s Rachel Bluth: “But the new benefit for people enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid health insurance program, has been delayed twice as the state and doulas — nonmedical workers who help parents before, during, and after birth — haggle over how much they should get paid.”

— “One year after a deputy’s second controversial killing, what’s actually changed in this Bay Area town? ” by the SF Chronicle’s Joshua Sharpe: “On Monday, a group called the Prosecutors Alliance of California lambasted the sheriff for defending Hall and for criticizing the DA for charging him, and asked the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors to ramp up oversight of the Sheriff’s Office.”

UP FOR THE JOB — “ Newsom Taps Big Law for 17 Judicial Appointments,” by Law.com’s Cheryl Miller.

SILICON VALLEYLAND

— “Elizabeth Holmes’ No. 2 and ex-boyfriend Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani is about to have his day in court,” by CNN’s Sara Ashley O'Brien.

— “In O.C, the wail of a siren on an iPhone app alerts a family when Ukrainian relatives under attack,” by the LA Times’ Ruben Vives: “The conflict half a world away has changed the lives of the roughly 112,000 people of Ukrainian descent in California. Like [Ganna] Hovey, many feel an overwhelming sense of despair and powerlessness. They’ve donated money, collected supplies to ship back home and participated in protests to call on world leaders to do more to stop Russia. But these acts feel paltry compared with the magnitude of what’s happening in their homeland.”

MEDIA MATTERS

— Sara Yasin has been named a managing editor for the Los Angeles Times.

MIXTAPE

— “Fired Elk Grove officer convicted in Sacramento court after kicking shoplifting suspect,” by SacBee’s Sam Stanton.

— “Sheriff’s deputies shoot, kill driver after patrol cars rammed in Palmdale,” by the LA Times’ Hayley Smith.

— “ California’s first lab-grown mosquitoes may take flight — stirring controversy,” by the Mercury News’ Lisa M. Krieger.

— “Ships are killing whales off the California coast. Here's what experts say will save them ,” by SF Chronicle’s Tara Duggan.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Protocol’s Megan Morrone … Salesforce’s Apryle Babish … Josh Deckard … Hector Manuel Ramireuz

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