| DRIVING THE DAY: Gov. Gavin Newsom is on his way to China after a brief stop in Israel, where he was expected to meet with people affected by the country's war with Hamas. His trip is giving him some geopolitical exposure and highlighting his role as a leader of a major green energy economy. Back home, his Senate appointee Laphonza Butler is officially out of the running for next year’s race, bringing the focus back to the top three Democrats, Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff. Butler’s bowing out also saves Newsom a headache. Here’s why. THE BUZZ — Anthony Rendon wants to get lawmakers talking about happiness. Things are much slower for the speaker emeritus since successor Robert Rivas took the gavel in July. After seven years in charge and one of the most contentious transfers of power the body had ever seen, his political future remains nebulous. But, as he told Playbook during a conversation in downtown Los Angeles this month, Rendon wants to spend his last year chairing a select committee on a subject that, he says, gets far too little attention from the California legislature. “It feels like we don’t take happiness seriously as a policy issue,” he said, sitting in a coffee shop with his four-year-old daughter, Vienna, who sat on his knee while digging into a yogurt parfait. “Nobody ever really talks about what makes people happy, and why they’re happy, and why they’re happy in some places and why they aren’t happy in others. I think it’s something that needs to be talked about,” he added. Happiness has kept philosophers wondering for millennia, but in recent years, musings have become much more concrete, and Rendon wants to bring it to Sacramento. The United Nations just celebrated 10 years of the annual World Happiness Report, which postulates that a country’s success should be judged not just by material achievements, but by its peoples’ happiness. The UN calculates its rankings of happiest countries by simply asking residents about their life satisfaction, which researchers tie to GDP per capita, social supports, life expectancy, freedom and the level of corruption. When lawmakers return in January, they’ll have a full schedule: housing, climate change, big tech and fentanyl are all top of mind. But as Rendon sees it, happiness is just as existential: “There’s no point in giving people housing if they’re not happy,” he said. There are lessons to be learned, Rendon says. Happiness is tied to certain levels of subsistence. Policy decisions around things like public transportation can have dire impacts on isolation and social connection. He also floated the idea of an abbreviated work week to up the happiness index. “The more you can have those moments of doing those things you like a lot, whether it’s playing an instrument or being with your family, that’s when people are happiest,” he said. “So, from a policy perspective, do you accomplish that with a 30-hour work week? Three-day weekends? What do you do there?” The intersection of philosophy and politics is not new for Rendon, who started out studying aesthetic theory and has long been a champion of culture and the arts. But those characteristics have been thrown into sharp relief over the past 18 months as he reluctantly relinquished power and returned to life in the legislative trenches. His conversation with Playbook touched on all the political topics du jour: the end of the Legislative session (“incredibly boring” as a normal member), the appointment of Sen. Butler (“Super thoughtful. Super smart.”) and the 2026 treasurer’s race (which he’s still running in). He’d like to maybe teach. But he thinks he’d “be miserable teaching government or poli-sci,” he said. Politics might be his day job, but Rendon said he finds the constant speculation and plotting to be tedious. “It’s like, the more people talk about stuff they can’t control, the more maladjusted they obviously are,” he said. GOOD MORNING. Happy Friday. PLAYBOOK TIP LINE — Who in the legislature is getting a new committee appointment next year? Give us a ring or drop us a line. Now you can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts now. Or drop us a line at lkorte@politico.com and dgardiner@politico.com, or on Twitter —@DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte WHERE’S GAVIN? Heading to China. SPOTTED: Speaker Rivas hanging out with the one and only Willie Brown.
| 
