Other Organization Updates
June 17, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Budget Negotiations Continue Beyond Deadline
On Monday, the legislature met its constitutional deadline to pass and send the Governor a balanced budget by June 15. The framework meets the legal requirements for legislators to continue to be paid their salaries, but it does not represent a fully negotiated deal with the Governor. Many unresolved issues will linger into August, but there is an effort to try to finish some items before the legislature leaves for a one month summer recess in July.
June 10, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
A Mostly Sleepy Primary
Bass and Caruso will face off in November.
June 3, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Speakership Detente
On Tuesday, Assembly Democrats caucused for 6 hours after Assemblymember Robert Rivas announced he had secured enough votes to replace Assemblymember Anthony Rendon as Speaker of the lower house. Neither one of them emerged from the caucus as the clear victor. Instead, they released a joint statement saying that Rivas has the support of the majority of the caucus to become speaker, but the caucus agreed that Rendon should continue as speaker through at least the end of the legislative session.
May 27, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Assembly Speakership Change
Assemblymember Robert Rivas, a Democrat representing Assembly District 30 in the rural Salinas area, has secured enough votes to be the next Speaker of the State Assembly. The Speaker determines what committees members sit on, oversees all business of the Assembly, sets the tone for the Assembly’s priorities and negotiates the budget with the Governor. Current Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon has been serving in this role since 2016 and is termed out in 2024.
May 23, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
The Suspense is Killing Me
The Assembly and Senate Appropriations committees held Suspense File hearings yesterday where they advanced only a fraction of the bills that were under their jurisdiction, leaving the remaining bills dead for this legislative session. Bills with a high cost to the state or that are highly controversial usually find themselves placed on Suspense and can be killed without a hearing on the merits.
May 16, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Newsom’s May Revise
Governor Newsom unveiled his updated budget, known as the May Revise, totaling $300.7 billion. The budget accounts for a projected $97.5 billion surplus of which $49.2 billion are discretionary funds (non discretionary funds largely go to education).
May 9, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Assemblymember Haney
The newest member of the California State Assembly, Matt Haney, was sworn in this week. Accompanied by his mother at the ceremony, Assemblymember Haney now represents the 17th Assembly district, which includes the eastern half of San Francisco. He previously served on the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors.
May 2, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Senate Budget Blueprint
State Senate leaders released their budget priorities blueprint “Putting Wealth to Work” yesterday. The blueprint accounts for an estimated $65 billion in additional, surplus revenue based on projections from the Legislative Analysts’ Office, that the Senate proposes be utilized to fund their priorities.
April 23, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Assemblymember-Elect Haney
San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney will become the newest legislator in the Assembly after winning the runoff special election against David Campos earlier this week. Haney received 62% of the votes cast and will succeed David Chiu who vacated the seat after being appointed to serve as San Francisco’s City Attorney. Assemblymember-Elect Haney is expected to be sworn in as soon as the election results are certified.
April 16, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
California’s Climate Investments
California has released an annual report showing the state’s total investment of $10.5 billion in projects funded by the Cap-and-Trade program were expected to reduce emissions by 76 million metric tons. Between December 2020 to November 2021, more than 75,000 new California Climate Investments projects were launched with more than $1 billion in funding directed to projects in disadvantaged communities.
April 8, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Tragedy in Sacramento
Six people tragically lost their lives and a dozen more were injured in Downtown Sacramento during a shooting last weekend. The Governor and several state officials expressed their sympathy towards the victims and called for additional steps to be taken to curb gun violence. Earlier in the year, the Governor publicly stated his support for SB 1327 (Hertzberg), which allows Californians to sue gun manufacturers for damages caused by gun violence.
April 1, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Eleni Makes History
Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis made history by becoming the first woman in California to sign a bill into law. Kounalakis is serving as Acting Governor while Governor Newsom is out of the state and memorialized this moment, which happened to also be the last day of Women’s History Month, by signing AB 2179 (Grayson) extending eviction protections for Californians waiting on rental relief applications to be processed.
March 25, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Gas Money
Governor Newsom unveiled his proposal to provide relief to Californians amid soaring gas prices. His $11 billion dollar proposal includes $2 billion to provide free public transit to Californians for 3 months and $9 billion in tax refunds for drivers. The refund will come in the form of $400 debit cards distributed to drivers with cars registered at DMV.
March 21, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Newsom Administration Honors AVTA
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) spearheaded a celebration honoring the Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA) for becoming the first all-electric transit agency in North America. AVTA, a Weideman Group client, serves the cities of Palmdale, Lancaster, and Northern Los Angeles County, with annual ridership of over three million.
March 11, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
State of the State
In an uncharacteristically short 18-minute speech, Governor Newsom delivered his annual State of the State address this week. Newsom highlighted homelessness, crime, education and health care, but seemed to get most excited when talking about addressing the impact of high gasoline prices on Californians and addressing climate change. Acknowledging that gas prices are hitting Californians hard, the Governor announced he will be unveiling a proposal to put money back in the pockets of consumers to combat rising gas prices.
March 6, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Masks Off
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly announced that unvaccinated people no longer need to wear a mask indoors and that the state will be lifting its school mask mandate on March 11. Additionally, the State Senate and Assembly will be lifting their mask mandates in the Capitol for members, staff and visitors on Monday. Governor Newsom has lifted all but 5% of the emergency executive orders instituted to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
February 26, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Crisis in Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is causing ripple effects across the globe. In addition to the humanitarian impact of the crisis, we have already seen this conflict create stock market volatility and experts are warning that supply chain issues will intensify and that we are likely to experience an increase in gas prices and grocery costs. In a recent address to the nation, President Biden stated he will order the release of oil from the nation’s strategic reserves as needed to head off spikes in gas prices.
February 18, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
End in Sight
Governor Gavin Newsom revealed his SMARTER plan designed to move into the endemic stage of COVID-19.
February 11, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Endemic Plan
Governor Gavin Newsom announced the state is looking to move towards a COVID-19 endemic strategy and details on the plan could come as early as next week. The state will treat COVID-19 much like other viruses, still living in the community, but manageable without the need for aggressive mitigation efforts such as a shelter in place order. A preliminary step towards the endemic comes as California’s indoor mask mandate will be lifted on February 15th.
February 4, 2022
Weideman Group Weekly
Deadline Votes
Monday marked the last day for bills that were introduced in 2021 to pass their house of origin. Some of the most watched bills at the deadline included AB 257 (Holden), creating a commission to regulate labor standards for fast food industry workers, and AB 1400 (Kalra), establishing a government run single payer health care system in California. AB 257 successfully cleared the Assembly Floor marking a big win for organized labor and now moves on to the Senate.