Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters: Newsom Wheels and Deals on Big Issues
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 5 years ago on
September 5, 2019

Share

Gavin Newsom wasn’t born when the TV game show “Let’s Make a Deal” began its run but he’s channeling its host, Monty Hall, during the final days of his first legislative session as governor.
Every few days, it seems, Newsom announces that he and legislative leaders have agreed on one of the session’s major issues, most prominently — so far — rent control and charter school oversight.


Dan Walters
CALmatters

Opinion
Additionally, Labor Day saw a Newsom declaration that he supports Assembly Bill 5, arguably this year’s most controversial bill. It would place in state law, with some modifications, a state Supreme Court ruling that tightens up the legal definition of employment, striking a blow at widespread use of contract workers.
As the overall tone of Newsom’s initial year emerges, one bill at a time, he’s clearly moving California at least a few notches to the left, into ideological territory that his predecessors, including Jerry Brown, were not willing to explore.
That’s not unexpected, given what he said during last year’s campaign. Nevertheless what he’s doing now, and what he had already done in his first state budget, invite some skepticism about their long-term effects.
Sometimes, making a political deal becomes an end unto itself. Politicians, especially high-profile officeholders such as governors, often become more interested in making a deal than ensuring it’s the right deal.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The classic example of the syndrome is what happened in the final hours of the 1996 legislative session, when then-Gov. Pete Wilson and the Legislature rushed to enact an ill-conceived “deregulation” of the electric power industry without considering the potential downside risks.
It exposed California to manipulation of its electric power market, led to the bankruptcy of one major utility (Pacific Gas and Electric) and the near-insolvency of another (Southern California Edison) and has cost Californians countless billions of dollars in their utility bills.
PG&E is once again in bankruptcy, this time because of huge wildfire damage costs, and Newsom is working feverishly on some kind of deal to intervene as immensely powerful financial interests, including the utility’s stockholders and bondholders, squabble over its future.
What could possibly go wrong? The question answers itself.
Rent control is another potential downer. California’s chronic shortage of housing has sent costs skyrocketing and while rent control might help some tenants, it also sends a negative message to housing developers.
The pending proposal would apply only to older housing units, but once rent control is lodged in state law, Newsom, et al, will be pressed to expand its reach and that possibility will discourage the massive investment California sorely needs.

Companies Directly Affected by AB 5

Moreover, it’s unlikely that the session will directly confront the not-in-my-backyard attitudes of local governments, which also discourage new investment. Newsom says he wants more construction, but so far Newsom and legislators are moving in the opposite direction.

Newsom is building his short run record, but whether it will benefit California in the longer run is an open question.
Meanwhile, at the behest of unions, they are imposing new limits on the expansion of charter schools to protect the finances of traditional public schools. But they also limit options for children in low-performing schools, and thus could doom those kids, particularly those from poor families, to sub-par educations.
Finally, there’s AB 5, which would bolster the traditional form of work – on a payroll, with fringe benefits – but undercut the fast-growing “gig economy.”
Three companies directly affected by AB 5, Uber, Lyft and Doordash, have pledged $90 million toward a possible ballot measure to overturn the measure, so its passage probably isn’t the last word.
Newsom is building his short run record, but whether it will benefit California in the longer run is an open question.
CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
[activecampaign form=31]

DON'T MISS

How About an Honest Conversation About the Range of Light Monument Proposal?

DON'T MISS

UConn Coach Geno Auriemma Breaks NCAA Wins Record With 1,217th Victory

DON'T MISS

Fresno Doctors Will Pay $2.4 Million to Settle Kickback Allegations, DOJ Says

DON'T MISS

Warriors Guard De’Anthony Melton to Undergo Season-Ending Knee Surgery

DON'T MISS

Massive Ground Beef Recall Affects Restaurants Nationwide, USDA Warns

DON'T MISS

Chris Stapleton Wins 4 CMA Awards, but Morgan Wallen Is Entertainer of the Year

DON'T MISS

These Fresno Schools Are Unsafe and in Bad Condition. And No One Is Complaining

DON'T MISS

Putin Says Russia Has Tested a New Intermediate Range Missile in a Strike on Ukraine

DON'T MISS

SEC Chair Gary Gensler, Who Led US Crackdown on Cryptocurrencies, to Step Down

DON'T MISS

Is Fresno Mobile Home Park Controversy Over? Tenants Applaud Federal Judge’s Ruling

UP NEXT

How Trump Can Earn a Place in History That He Did Not Expect

UP NEXT

Demography Drives Destiny and Right Now California Is Losing

UP NEXT

Defining Deviancy Down. And Down. And Down.

UP NEXT

How Three Trump Policy Decrees Could Affect California Farmers

UP NEXT

Donald Trump Is Already Starting to Fail

UP NEXT

I Can’t Wait for Matt Gaetz’s Confirmation Hearings

UP NEXT

Let the Games Begin: 2026 Campaign for CA Governor Looms

UP NEXT

Why Trump’s Deportations Will Drive Up Your Grocery Bill

UP NEXT

Dems Still Dominate California, but Their Voters Have Drifted to the Right

UP NEXT

If You Thought Trump Wasn’t Serious About Deportations, Look at His First Appointments

Warriors Guard De’Anthony Melton to Undergo Season-Ending Knee Surgery

60 minutes ago

Massive Ground Beef Recall Affects Restaurants Nationwide, USDA Warns

1 hour ago

Chris Stapleton Wins 4 CMA Awards, but Morgan Wallen Is Entertainer of the Year

1 hour ago

These Fresno Schools Are Unsafe and in Bad Condition. And No One Is Complaining

1 hour ago

Putin Says Russia Has Tested a New Intermediate Range Missile in a Strike on Ukraine

1 hour ago

SEC Chair Gary Gensler, Who Led US Crackdown on Cryptocurrencies, to Step Down

2 hours ago

Is Fresno Mobile Home Park Controversy Over? Tenants Applaud Federal Judge’s Ruling

2 hours ago

Wiggins, Curry Power Warriors to Dominant Win Over Hawks

2 hours ago

Sale and Skubal Claim Cy Young Awards After Historic Pitching Triple Crown Seasons

2 hours ago

What Will Happen to CNBC and MSNBC When They No Longer Have a Corporate Connection to NBC News?

2 hours ago

How About an Honest Conversation About the Range of Light Monument Proposal?

It sometimes seems that we have lost the ability to truly communicate with one another. It is not so much what we say to one another, but ho...

13 minutes ago

13 minutes ago

How About an Honest Conversation About the Range of Light Monument Proposal?

45 minutes ago

UConn Coach Geno Auriemma Breaks NCAA Wins Record With 1,217th Victory

52 minutes ago

Fresno Doctors Will Pay $2.4 Million to Settle Kickback Allegations, DOJ Says

1 hour ago

Warriors Guard De’Anthony Melton to Undergo Season-Ending Knee Surgery

1 hour ago

Massive Ground Beef Recall Affects Restaurants Nationwide, USDA Warns

1 hour ago

Chris Stapleton Wins 4 CMA Awards, but Morgan Wallen Is Entertainer of the Year

1 hour ago

These Fresno Schools Are Unsafe and in Bad Condition. And No One Is Complaining

1 hour ago

Putin Says Russia Has Tested a New Intermediate Range Missile in a Strike on Ukraine

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend