Newsom wraps up bills, heads to Mexico

While Gov. Gavin Newsom is in Mexico to attend the inauguration of its first female president, legislators’ work isn’t done — and some who also planned to go aren’t thrilled to be stuck in Sacramento. 

Today, Assemblymembers will meet in a special session called by Newsom to consider legislation that seeks to ease gas price spikes, including his proposal that would require refineries to keep a minimum supply of fuel. Republican legislators and oil companies argue that the measure will actually raise gas prices. Nevertheless, the bill passed a key committee last week.

Before he left, Newsom cleared the nearly 40 bills remaining on his desk Monday morning. Since the Legislature adjourned on Aug. 31, he vetoed 183 of about 990 measures in total, making his veto rate roughly 18%. 

Even Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher of Chico gave the governor credit for blocking “some pretty bad/stupid” bills, citing Senate Bill 961, which would have mandated speed warning tech in new vehicles, starting in 2030. 

Other vetoed bills include:

Automatic voter registration: Proponents originally sought to create an automatic voter registration system in California. The version Newsom spiked was watered down to just allow the Secretary of State to create a list of people “preapproved for registration.” Besides cost concerns, Newsom wrote in his veto message that the “proposed system would capture those who have already declined to register, a decision that should be respected as a matter of personal prerogative.” 

College athletes: Saying that he wants California colleges to continue to “be competitive” with schools in other states, Newsom blocked a bill that would have brought more transparency to paying college athletes for using their name, image and likeness. 

And on his last day to act on bills, Newsom also green-lit some:

Legacy admissions: A measure to prohibit private, nonprofit universities from making admissions decisions based on whether family members of students donated money to the school or had attended the school. In a statement, Newsom said that the “California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to just a lucky few.” The legislation would impact about a half-dozen private institutions (none of California’s public universities consider legacy admissions).

Oil well monitoring: A measure that gives oil and gas companies 3 1/2 more years to start detecting and fixing leaking wells near homes and schools. The bill was born out of a request from state air and water regulators who said they needed more time to hire staff, test leak-detecting techniques and develop policies.

Cannabis cafes: After issuing emergency regulations in September to limit the sale of consumable hemp products, Newsom signed a bill to allow cannabis retailers to sell non-cannabis food and drinks, as well as host live performances.

For a rundown of key bills decided by Newsom during September, check out the CalMatters tracker.

Sweltering heat intensified by climate change threatens not only farmworkers and inland communities, but school children, too, reports CalMatters’ Alejandra Reyes-Velarde. Though Gov. Newsom vetoed a bill that would have created a master plan to make schools more climate resilient, voters in November will decide on Prop. 2, which would allow the state to borrow $10 billion to repair school facilities, including fixing broken air conditioning systems.

Many schools remain unprepared to protect students from extreme heat, which can make them ill, force more absences and reduce how much they learn. A 2023 study by UC Berkeley and Stanford University found that 15% to 20% of California’s K-12 public schools “have no functioning heating and air conditioning systems at all.” 

Juliette Sanchez, eighth grader at Melrose Leadership Academy in Oakland: “For me it’s a lot harder to focus on what I’m doing. Like, right now I’m sticking to the table. It’s uncomfortable to write. My arm is sticky and I’m just hot.”

The problem is particularly severe in inland school districts, where temperatures often reach 100 degrees, and paying to upgrade buildings is more difficult. “The reality is it’s not going to get any cooler and resources will always be a challenge for any school district,” said Paul Idsvoog, Fresno Unified School District’s chief operations officer.

Read more about extreme heat in schools in Alejandra’s story.

As local governments clear more homeless encampments following Gov. Newsom’s executive order, nonprofits are key to helping move people into housing, providing shelter beds and offering counseling services.

But as CalMatters homelessness reporter Marisa Kendall explains, these nonprofits say they must wait weeks, sometimes months, for the city, county or state to reimburse them. Some nonprofits are turning down new projects or taking out loans to pay their employees, make rent and keep their organizations afloat.

As of last month, for example, the city of Los Angeles owed nearly $7 million to PATH — one of the nonprofits it partnered with to move people from encampments into hotels as part of Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe campaign. And The People Concern, a Los Angeles County homeless service provider, is paying $63,000 a month in interest on money it borrowed.

John Maceri, chief executive officer: “That’s $63,000 a month we should just be burning, because we can’t be compensated for it.”

In the rush to provide services, cities sometimes set up homelessness programs before formal contracts with nonprofits, needed for reimbursements, are signed. And sometimes, the state government is to blame: In April, Marin County won an $18 million grant as part of Newsom’s encampment clearing fund, but still no money has come through, according to the director of the county’s Whole Person Care and Homelessness Division.

Read more about nonprofits’ challenges in Marisa’s story.