Exploring big ideas for California

The two-day CalMatters Ideas Festival wrapped Thursday with more than a dozen events examining critical policy issues impacting the lives of millions of Californians. In addition to discussions about climate change, reparations and transportation, the conference also explored California’s:

• Electorate: CalMatters senior editor Dave Lesher sat down with Julián Castro, a cabinet member under President Barack Obama and current CEO of the Latino Community Foundation, and GOP strategist Mike Madrid to discuss young Latino voters’ potential to shake up the state’s political dynamics, explains CalMatters’ Yue Stella Yu. Though Madrid said those voters’ shift to the right is driven by economic concerns rather than immigration, Castro contended their opposition to the GOP’s stances on abortion and LGBTQ issues may keep them in the Democratic ranks. Read more on the panel.

• Labor force: CalMatters economy reporter Levi Sumagaysay moderated a panel with labor and economy experts on the importance of apprenticeships. These programs can help boost the state economy, offer Californians a pathway to high-paying jobs and jump start careers for high schoolers, writes CalMatters’ Carolyn Jones. But a lack of pay or childcare options have prevented some from getting apprenticeships: “We’ve figured out how to pay electricians and plumbers while they’re training, but we expect teachers to work for free,” said the deputy chief of California Division of Apprenticeship Standards. Read more on the panel.

• Homelessness crisis: During a panel led by CalMatters homelessness reporter Marisa Kendall, Sen. Scott Wiener said the state’s homelessness crisis was “created by allowing for very tunnel vision, selfish” policy. Alongside housing advocates, the San Francisco Democrat joined panel members to discuss the consequences of encampment sweeps, the effectiveness of the state’s “housing first” approach and the root causes of homelessness, reports CalMatters’ Jenna Peterson. Read more on the panel.

In other highlights Thursday:

• Attorney General Rob Bonta pledged to accelerate his office’s investigations of police shootings of unarmed civilians, with only 10 cases cleared so far under the 2021 law and some victims’ families complaining about the wait. “I want answers faster, too,” he said. Interviewed by CalMatters justice reporter Nigel Duara, Bonta said California needs to be ready to fight a national abortion ban. He passed on the chance to announce he’s running for governor in 2026 — a race already crowded with other big-name Democrats — saying he will make a decision “at some point,” but is “focused on being the best attorney general I can be.”

• Xavier Becerra, current U.S. Health and Human Services secretary and former California attorney general, was also asked about a gubernatorial campaign, and also demurred.

• Former state Controller Betty Yee is officially running, and said she decided to jump in after talking to her elderly mother and realizing that a family like hers in California now might not be able to open a small business and send kids to college. In a conversation with CalMatters Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal, Yee said she will travel all over the state to meet residents of communities that have been left behind. Seeking to become California’s first female governor, she also said that it matters for women to be in power. Yee also called for “strict accountability” on state spending and said she sees little appetite for needed tax reform.

(CalMatters invited the other announced candidates for governor, who declined.)

Exactly one year ago Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced something audacious on gun control — a push to amend the U.S. Constitution to get around court rulings and gridlock in Congress. 

What progress has been made? Much more in online petitions to build up his political action committee than in state legislatures to call a constitutional convention, explains CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff. 

Legislative leaders in several other large states controlled by Democrats told Alexei that calling for a constitutional convention to adopt the amendment has not come up. While California has some of the toughest gun regulations in the country, Newsom’s nationwide proposal would require background checks for gun purchases, raise the minimum age for all buyers to 21, mandate a waiting period between purchasing and taking possession of a gun and ban the sale of assault weapons.

Newsom spokesperson Nathan Click says the momentum will pick up in 2025.

• Click: “We’re under no illusions of how hard it is to pass a constitutional amendment, so that’s why we’ve focused on building this grassroots army to help these legislators.”

But one gun rights advocate says Newsom’s effort is as much about his national political ambitions as the issue.

• Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation: “He’s staking out this territory for Democratic primaries for running for the White House in the future. He’s trying to take that mantle so that other candidates can’t claim to be the most anti-gun candidate.” 

Read more on what’s happened on Newsom’s gun crusade in Alexei’s story.

Lawmakers are calling a handful of legislative mulligans this week, as they revisit and tweak measures that either failed or received heavy blowback:

• Psychedelic treatment: GOP Senate leader Brian Jones of San Diego and Democratic Sen. Josh Becker of Menlo Park introduced a bill to legalize the therapeutic use of psychedelics — specifically, psilocybin or “magic mushrooms” — in three counties. Three-year pilot programs in San Francisco, Santa Cruz and San Diego counties would offer psilocybin to military veterans and first responders. Two earlier proposals to legalize psychedelic therapy have failed recently: In May, the appropriations committee killed a bill by Sen. Wiener, and last year Gov. Newsom vetoed a similar bill, also by Wiener.

• Restaurant fees: As part of a crackdown on hidden “junk fees” last year, California passed an overarching law banning advertisement for goods and services that did not include all “mandatory fees or charges other than taxes,” such as fees for concert tickets and hotel rooms. After some initial confusion over the rule’s scope, the attorney general’s office clarified in May that the law also applied to restaurants, upsetting the food industry. Thursday, Sen. Bill Dodd, a Napa Democrat and co-author of the 2023 law, introduced a bill clarifying that food service providers are exempt from the rule when advertising individual prices of food and beverage items — as long as the service charges or mandatory fees are listed “clearly and conspicuously” on menus or other displays. Because the law takes effect July 1, Dodd’s new bill would take effect immediately if passed. 

• Nondisclosure agreements: After the Assembly’s election committee killed a bill in April that would have banned lobbyists and certain public officials from signing NDAs when developing legislation, Assemblymember Joe Patterson introduced a narrower bill Wednesday, reports KCRA. The Rocklin Republican’s measure includes a carveout for NDAs that protect trade secrets and financial information, likely to avoid opposition from business groups that pushed back against the previous measure.

One of the more curious uses of California’s landmark environmental law recently was to try to stop housing near UC Berkeley partly due to noise from student parties. The case went all the way to the state Supreme Court. Find out how it ruled Thursday from CalMatters housing reporter Ben Christopher.