California Legislature takes office under Trump’s shadow

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California’s new Legislature started work Monday — both the regular session and a special session called by Gov. Gavin Newsom to prepare for the incoming Donald Trump presidency.

Here’s your rundown:

Special session: Both the Assembly and Senate gaveled in the special session — then quickly adjourned until Jan. 6 — without taking any action. Budget writers did file initial bills, including the Senate version that includes $25 million for deportation legal services and $10 million for cities and counties, on top of the $25 million sought by Newsom for the state Department of Justice.

In a brief chat with reporters afterwards, Newsom tried to cast the session as a sensible effort to prepare for a potential onslaught from Trump, CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff reports. The governor acknowledged that the courts have shifted to the right since the first Trump administration, which could challenge California’s litigation strategy, but suggested there was no alternative.

• Newsom: “We could roll over and just allow the progress of the last half century to evaporate without asserting ourselves.”

In the Senate, before Democrats and Republicans debated whether the extra session was even necessary, GOP leader Brian Jones of San Diego urged colleagues to not get too excited nor too upset “about what’s happening in Washington, D.C.”

• Jones: “The world’s not going to end while you take a break from the national chaos and national scene. Let’s concentrate on California.”

Democratic Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas sounded a similar note, warning lawmakers that “Californians are deeply anxious” and “don’t feel that the state of California is working for them.” Assembly GOP Leader James Gallagher told reporters that he hopes Rivas is serious about his commitment to affordability, but “the only way we can do that is to course correct on policies that have been championed by Democrats in the last 10 years.” 

“Talk is cheap,” Gallagher said.

New bills: Among the first to be introduced addresses the awkward timing of lawmakers taking the oath of office Monday before their election victories have been officially certified. Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Palo Alto Democrat, wants to provide more resources and guidance to county election offices to speed up California’s notoriously slow count. Read more from CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu.

All 10 Republican senators backed a bill to repeal the low-carbon fuel standard adopted last month by the California Air Resources Board that could increase prices at the pump. Meanwhile, the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus announced a proposal to lower gas prices by requiring the air board to approve a fuel blend with more ethanol.

Also, reparations backers aren’t giving up after a mixed record for bills last session and the defeat of Proposition 6 to ban forced labor in prisons. Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Culver City Democrat, is introducing a bill to allow California State University and University of California campuses to give admissions preferences to descendants of slaves. 

Bill limit: Legislators will have to pick their bills more carefully. After years of complaints that there are just too many to fully vet and debate, legislative leaders proposed — and the rank and file approved — a limit of 35 each for the two-year session. That’s down from 50 in the Assembly and 40 in the Senate. (About 100 bills total were introduced Monday, according to longtime lobbyist Chris Micheli.) Read more from CalMatters Digital Democracy reporters Sameea Kamal and Ryan Sabalow.

Anti-deportation rally: CalMatters’ Wendy Fry reports that hundreds of immigrants and advocates from across the state rallied at the state Capitol, urging Newsom to pardon people who are at risk of deportation from decades-old criminal convictions. They also called on state legislators to prevent cooperation between state prison staff and federal immigration officials and to not sell or lease any land or facilities that can be used for mass detention.

To keep the few remaining birth centers in California from shutting down — and encourage new ones to open — Assemblymember Mia Bonta plans to introduce a bill to lift some birth center licensing requirements, writes CalMatters health reporter Kristen Hwang.

Though state licenses aren’t required for birth centers, most insurers and Medi-Cal will only work with licensed facilities. One requirement mandates birth centers to participate in a specific Medi-Cal perinatal services program. But until recently, midwives, who essentially run birth centers, weren’t allowed to participate in the program — an example of the “de facto ban” California has on licensing birth centers.

The bill by the Oakland Democrat would remove this requirement to streamline the licensing process and allow birth centers to serve more low-income patients.

• Bonta, chairperson of the Assembly health committee: “Eliminating requirements that are only driving up prices for providers … is a much-needed step to ensure our remaining birth centers can stay afloat and lay the groundwork for more facilities to open.”

Speaking of reproductive health: Kristen also explains two new bills sponsored by the state’s Department of Justice to protect abortion access. Attorney General Rob Bonta (yes, they’re married) announced Monday a measure allowing him to fine local governments that block abortion clinics from opening. The second bill seeks to protect access to medical abortions by shielding abortion pill manufacturers, distributors and health care providers from civil or criminal liability in California.

Learn more about Bonta’s birth center bill and the two abortion access bills in Kristen’s stories.

As climate change makes wildfires more destructive and unpredictable, the economic costs are taking a toll on Californians: Some struggle to insure their property, and ratepayers pay more than double the national average for electricity.

A big reason why electric bills are so high is because of fire safety projects, writes CalMatters climate reporter Alejandro Lazo. After devastating wildfires in 2017 and 2018, many sparked by utility equipment, the California Public Utilities Commission authorized the state’s three largest power companies (Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric) to collect $27 billion in wildfire prevention and insurance costs from customers.

But with energy rates expected to outpace inflation through 2027, and a third of low-income households struggling to pay their power bills, how much of the cost should ratepayers bear?

Loretta Lynch, a former president of the utilities commission, says the commission approves “outrageous costs” without enough oversight, while allowing utilities to “address wildfires in the most expensive, least effective way possible.”

But PG&E’s chief operating officer told CalMatters that the company is under “robust” oversight. Last year, the commission approved a $3.7 billion plan for PG&E to bury 1,230 miles of power lines through 2026. 

Learn more about the cost of wildfire prevention in Alejandro’s story.

Over the next few years, career and technical education programs will likely be a state and national focus. But while vocational education has strong bipartisan support, some educators worry that the Trump administration could upend existing policies. Find out why from CalMatters K-12 education reporter Carolyn Jones.