Newsom calls out CA cities on homelessness

I’m CalMatters Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal, and I’m in for Lynn today.

From CalMatters homelessness reporter Marisa Kendall:

Whose fault is the California homelessness crisis? 

According to Gov. Gavin Newsom, cities and counties are to blame for failing to get people off the street — despite all the money he’s given them to do so.

That was the message the governor pushed Thursday as he signed a package of housing and homelessness bills at a San Francisco event with legislators and carpenters’ union members. 

Newsom: “There’s never been more support to address all of those concerns than in the last four or five years. So what gives? Time to do your job. Time to address the crisis of encampments on the streets in this state … I’m not going to fund the rhetoric of failure anymore.”

When asked by a reporter how the state will make sure cities such as San Francisco meet their housing goals, Newsom said it’s “not the state’s job to figure out how to do that.” Instead, he said his office is focused on enforcing housing laws; it threatened the city of Norwalk with legal action earlier this week.

Attorney General Rob Bonta, at the press conference: “No local government, no local jurisdiction, no local entity needs to do everything. But every jurisdiction, every local government needs to do something. They need to participate. They need to build housing in their jurisdiction.”

Speaking at an affordable housing development in San Francisco, Newsom also gave an update on the $6.4 billion mental health and housing bond passed by voters in March. The state will use $2.2 billion to extend Homekey, which helps cities and counties turn hotels and other buildings into homeless housing. The new program, dubbed Homekey+, will start doling out funds in May 2025 for housing for people with mental health and/or substance use disorders. 

Housing bills: Newsom signed 32 housing-related bills in all, including SB 1395, which will make it easier for cities to erect “tiny homes” for homeless individuals; SB 450, which strengthens a 2021 law restricting single-family zoning; and AB 1893, which will clarify the controversial “builders’ remedy” law.

It’s worth noting that this batch broke a logjam on Newsom signing bills authored by state senators. He also signed three Senate bills to protect Californians from AI-generated, sexually explicit content. But even with these signings, Newsom still has 875 bills to decide on by his Sept. 30 deadline, according to lobbyist Chris Micheli. CalMatters is tracking what he decides on noteworthy ones.  

You’re a California homeowner who just spent thousands of dollars to protect your property from wildfires — and saved maybe $100 on your insurance bill. 

Could grants to low- and middle-income residents help? That’s an idea California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara wants to bring to the Legislature next year, he said in conversation Thursday with CalMatters’ economy reporter Levi Sumagaysay.

During the hour-long CalMatters event in Sacramento, Lara discussed his multi-pronged approach to the insurance crisis — with companies decreasing coverage, raising premiums for residential and commercial customers, or leaving the state altogether. Part of the plan includes speeding up the state’s reviews of insurance companies’ proposed rate hikes — which are supposed to take 60 days, but often take as long as 18 months, by which time rates might not reflect the risk anymore. 

Lara: “This was completely ignorant on my part as a new insurance commissioner. I’m like, ‘Okay, we’re reviewing these rates. We’re done, right?’ They’re like, ‘Oh no, there is a whole backlog.’” 

Another significant change Lara is pushing to make insurance more available: For California to come out of the “dark ages” to join other states in allowing insurance companies to do “catastrophe modeling.” That would allow them to take projected losses into account – not just historical information — using data such as frequency, severity, damage and loss from wildfires and other natural disasters. Insurers can start using the modeling to set rates next year.

Lara also wants to tackle problems with the FAIR Plan — a “last resort” insurance plan required by state law that offers minimum coverage for wildfires. His plan is to raise the amount of coverage. Run by a pool of insurers, the FAIR Plan has grown to 400,000 policies. 

“I’m so confident in my plan,” he said. “I know it’s going to work.” 

But consumer groups and Lara’s predecessors as insurance commissioner have expressed concerns that his plan favors insurers. Read more on what Lara had to say to Levi.

Let’s get to some job and career news: 

Internship grants: More than 300 K-12 schools will split $450 million to set up internships, boost dual-enrollment at community colleges and take other steps to connect students to high-paying jobs in health care, technology and the arts, the Department of Education plans to announce today. But it’s been a rocky road: Delays and mishaps in the Golden State Pathways program have meant an entire grade level missed the opportunity to participate, explains CalMatters’ education reporter Carolyn Jones. The Golden State Pathways program launched in 2022 as part of California’s broader effort to boost career and technical education at high schools and community colleges and make career training available to every student. Read more on the grants in Carolyn’s story.

Job training: And while most can agree career education is a good thing, in some cases, streamlining is key. In the 25,000-person town of Reedley, for example, there are five different public institutions that offer programs. Sometimes, they work together — but other times, they’re competing for the same students, explains CalMatters’ Community College reporter Adam Echelman. That’s despite numerous efforts to promote collaboration. Newsom wants to unify these programs by creating a Master Plan for Career Education, which state agencies are required to create by Oct. 1. Read more on the governor’s plans in Adam’s story.

A lucrative post: California’s public employee pension fund had a good year — and its head honcho is getting a generous thank you as a result. Marcie Frost, the pension fund’s chief executive, will earn more than $1 million for the first time since she joined the agency in 2016. The CalPERS administrative board awarded her a $667,320 bonus — more than triple what she got last year — on top of her base pay of $578,000, CalMatters’ Adam Ashton reports. 

California iPhone users, you can now join those with Android devices to present your driver’s license and state IDs, Apple and Gov. Newsom announced Thursday. California became the fifth state to opt-in to Google Wallet identification last month, and is the seventh to get Apple Wallet IDs. Find out where you can use the digital IDs — and where you can’t — from CalMatters’ technology reporter Khari Johnson.