| | | | |  | | By Lara Korte and Susannah Luthi | CORPORATE COEDS: A landmark California law requiring corporate boards to include women resulted in California firms more than doubling the number of female company directors. Now, a Los Angeles County judge says it's unconstitutional. Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis has ruled California's requirement that corporate boards appoint at least one woman (and up to three by the end of this year)violated the Constitutional right to equal treatment. California's Department of Justice could appeal the ruling, but if it stands, it could mean a return to male-dominated boardrooms. Senate Bill 826, passed in 2018 amid the #MeToo movement, followed years of unsuccessful attempts to coax California executives into voluntarily hiring more women. The bill, signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown, required publicly held companies headquartered in California to have at least one woman on their boards by the end of 2019. And it worked. With the threat of a $100,000 fine hanging over their heads, corporations tapped more women for powerful positions.
- At the time the law was passed, men far outpaced women in new appointments — 87 to 34 in the third quarter of 2018.
- But by the time the law went into effect, at the end of 2019, women made up the plurality of appointments, 73 to 60.
- The number of women directors on California boards lept from 766 to 1,844 between 2018 and 2022, per a March report from California Partners Project, an organization co-founded by California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
Former Democratic State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, who wrote the legislation, voiced her disappointment in an interview today and said she felt the court's decision was wrong. Most board seats are term-limited, she said, and if the law is struck down permanently, it could mean a return to the hiring habits of boardrooms past. "What I fear is that unless we continue to proceed this movement toward greater gender equality on corporate boards, that the good old boys will go back to their good old ways," Jackson said. HAPPY MONDAY AFTERNOON! Welcome to California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check of California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. We'll go Monday to Thursday through June 9 before returning in August for the legislative homestretch. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to katymurphy@politico.com and sluthi@politico.com or send a shout on Twitter. DMs are open! |  | WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY | |
LAO BLINKS WARNING TO THE GOLDEN STATE: Lights are flashing recession, and not everyone in California is as optimistic about the state's economic forecast as the Newsom administration. The Legislative Analyst's Office served up a much more pessimistic view of the state's finances days after the governor touted California's massive surplus and laid out his plan for spending a lot of it. Inflation, consumer jitters, slowing home sales and tight labor markets signal recession, the LAO warned, noting that analysts predict "stagnant revenues."
The Newsom administration's budget isn't doing enough to shore up the state against risk, the LAO continued, urging the governor to add more money to California's reserve funds. Analysts also think that the administration's near-term plan to manage the state's spending limits could push California toward financial trouble as early as 2023 by racking up the sum the government is constitutionally required to return to taxpayers or spend on specific purposes, such as public schools. | | ON THE BEATS | |
LATINOS IN LA — Los Angeles Latinos are keen to vote this November in major numbers, driven by issues like homelessness, cost of living, and lack of affordable housing. Crime and public safety rank as their fifth-highest concerns while police brutality and police reform have fallen to the bottom of their list. That's according to new polling from the NALEO Education Fund of one of L.A.'s largest voting blocs. Per the new survey, 1.2 million of LA County's 1.8 million Latinos are expected to vote in November. It's a similar turnout compared to that seen in 2018, but a huge bump from 2014, when Latino turnout fell to 633,000.
Also of note: With less than a month until the primary elections, a plurality — 40 percent — of Latinos remain undecided on the mayor's race. City Councilmember Kevin de León carried the most Latino support, at 50 percent, followed by the right-of-center real estate mogul Rick Caruso at 47 percent, and progressive Democratic U.S. Rep. Karen Bass at 44 percent. MORE CANNABIS CASH: Newsom and California's cannabis regulators want to give cities upward of $20 million to open more pot shops. The governor's budget pitch would award funds to cities that do not yet license brick-and-motor dispensaries or pot delivery businesses. Who would get how much cash would largely be set by the Department of Cannabis Control. And state lawmakers would have to buy into the plan and flesh out details ahead of the June 15 budget deadline. Legislators would most likely want to see money earmarked for neighborhoods and groups — such as low-income people — with the highest number of past drug arrests. — Alexander Nieves | | AROUND CALIFORNIA | |
Compiled by Juhi Doshi
"Laguna Woods church shooting 'politically motivated hate crime' targeting Taiwanese, sheriff alleges ," by the LATimes' Hannah Fry, Richard Winton, Anh Do, and Luke Money: "The suspect in the Laguna Woods church shooting Sunday appeared to be motivated by political hatred directed at the Taiwanese community, Orange County sheriff's officials said Monday. While investigators provided few details, they said their investigation suggests the deadly attack was a "politically motivated hate crime." "Evidence was collected linking him to this crime based on preliminary information in the investigation, it is believed the suspect involved was upset about political tensions between China and Taiwan," Sheriff Don Barnes said. The FBI has opened a federal hate crime investigation into the shooting, according to Kristi Johnson, an assistant director with the bureau. That would be supplementary to any local charges filed in Orange County." "Sacramento suburbs have some of the highest wildfire risk in California, new report shows," by Sac Bee's Michael McGough: "A new report released this week by a U.S. climate research nonprofit estimated that more than 4.6 million properties in California, or about 40% of the state, have at least "moderate" risk of burning in a wildfire some time in the next three decades. Cameron Park, El Dorado Hills, Pollock Pines, Lincoln, Loomis, Newcastle and parts of Folsom and Roseville are among areas with a "severe" community wildfire risk factor, according to the First Street tool." | | MIXTAPE | |
— The amount of homeless people living in Oakland increased by 24% over the past three years. (SF Chronicle)
— Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti's nomination to be the ambassador to India is stalled in the Senatebecause of several Democrats expressing hesitation over his nomination. (LA Times) — California gets a new state park near Modesto, the first in almost a decade. Plans are for it to open next year. (LA Times)
| | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
Comments
Post a Comment