POLITICO California Playbook PM: California, please stop watering your decorative grasses

Your afternoon must-read briefing on politics and government in the Golden State

May 17, 2022 View in browser   By Lara Korte and Colby Bermel HIGH AND DRY: California's bank account is bursting, and Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to spend some of that money plugging up the state's devastating drought. He's in SoCal today highlighting his administration's efforts to get the crisis under control. Newsom is leaning on local agencies and average Californians to reduce water usage — doing everything possible to avoid statewide water restrictions. Residents and businesses in 2021 used a whopping 19 percent more water than they did in 2020, despite the governor last year pleading with Californians to voluntarily cut usage by 15 percent. Now, the governor wants to spend hundreds of millions more than he proposed in January to reduce state water usage: $300 million for small water suppliers, drought relief, and urban water management grants, up $120 million from the January budget.  $116.8 million (all new) for improved forecasting and increased communication, including a $100 million public education campaign.  $216 million for water conservation programs, up from $190 million, that include incentives for replacing lawns and "ornamental turf" – which refers to grasses that serve no other purpose than decoration, but unlike your sundial or garden gnomes, use up a lot of water.  The hope is that state money will flow to local water agencies that would offer incentives to people who replace their lawns with drought-tolerant plants, said H.D. Palmer, director of communications for the administration's Department of Finance. Personally, we at Playbook PM are fans of the sophisticated rock lawn. A lot of this money isn't new — the governor in January laid out plans to funnel funds to small water suppliers, conservation programs and water management grants to address the crisis. And in March, after a historically dry first three months of 2022 , Newsom signed an executive order calling on local water suppliers to take more aggressive conservation actions. The order also directed the State Water Board to ban watering decorative grass at businesses and public institutions. The new proposal is a signal that Newsom is still opting to defer to local agencies to tackle the water shortage over unpopular top-down water restrictions from the state — a departure from the Brown administration's statewide water mandates. But if people keep running those sprinklers, who knows what could happen. POLITICO's Juhi Doshi is keeping an eye on Newsom's Los Angeles presser today in person. It can be seen by livestream here. HAPPY TUESDAY 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 lkorte@politico.com or send a shout on Twitter. DMs are open! WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY DÉJÀ VIRUS: California's positivity rate hit 5 percent today and hospitalizations are on the rise in what may become a familiar ebb-and-flow battle with the virus. Surges in some parts of the state, notably the Bay Area and Los Angeles, have prompted health officials there to call for people to wear their masks indoors, with such guidance remaining "recommended" rather than mandated. The rise in cases still prompted Apple Inc. today to scale back its return-to-the-office plans, and to reinstate mask requirements in corporate settings and 100 stores . And at least one school district, Pacific Grove Unified in Monterey County, is reinstating mask requirements. The fact that deaths remain low and hospitals continue to have capacity gives health officials some assurance that we may be in a different phase of the pandemic, one in which vaccines and treatments are preventing the worst. Vaccination rates, however, have largely stalled, and many vulnerable people have yet to get boosted. The case rates are considered to be significantly undercounted considering that many positive home tests are not reported. At a time when Covid has officially claimed a million American lives — more than 90,200 in California alone — the staying power of the virus may no longer prompt us to stop in our tracks, but to consider how much we're willing to risk. — Victoria Colliver ON THE BEATS ANOTHER LA MAYORAL CANDIDATE EXITS: Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has ended his bid to become the city's next mayor as the field in that race continues to dwindle. Feuer's announcement comes just days after City Councilmember Joe Buscaino dropped out and endorsed billionaire developer Rick Caruso, who has spent more than $25 million broadcasting tough-on-crime campaign ads. Feuer is instead backing Rep. Karen Bass, the candidate seen as most likely to advance to the general election alongside Caruso. The two candidates' departures leave Councilmember Kevin de León as the only major candidate left trying to catch Caruso and Bass, and recent polling shows he still has a lot of ground to make up. — Alexander Nieves SOCAL PROPOSED RATE HIKES: San Diego Gas & Electric customers could see their electric bills go up by $9 per month — and their gas bills by $9.60 monthly — under a proposed rate hike filed with state regulators today. Southern California Gas, the sister company of SDG&E, also filed a rate-hike application with the California Public Utilities Commission, which would take effect in 2024 and amount to $8.60 more per month for customers. SDG&E says it would spend the money on projects such as expanding its electric vehicle charging infrastructure, deploying more battery storage and reducing catastrophic wildfire risk. SoCalGas, meanwhile, says it would use it to increase the safety of its pipeline network, among other initiatives. Environmentalists cast skepticism on some of the proposals. "Southern Californians can't afford to keep funding SoCalGas' fossil fuel infrastructure and hydrogen climate scams," Food & Water Watch organizer Andrea Vega said in a statement. AD-65 AIR WARS: Business groups are wading into an Assembly race to defend a centrist incumbent. A coalition funded by the apartment industry, charter schools, prison guards and others have collected nearly $125,000 to re-elect Assemblymember Mike Gipson as the Los Angeles Democrat fends off a challenge from progressive Fatima Iqbal-Zubair. — Jeremy B. White AROUND CALIFORNIA Compiled by Juhi Doshi "'Gimme Shelter': How California's top cop enforces housing laws," by the Los Angeles Times' Liam Dillon: "In February, hours after California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta sent the small Silicon Valley enclave of Woodside a letter saying that its plan to declare itself a mountain lion habitat to evade state housing law was unconstitutional, the town backed down. Bonta's letter was a small but representative example of a more aggressive approach the attorney general's office has taken on housing matters since Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Bonta to the role in spring 2021. Last fall, Bonta created a special division to investigate housing issues from local approval of development projects to landlord and tenant disputes." "Bay Area 'white lives matter' rally sparks outrage in wake of Buffalo mass shooting," by SF Chronicle's Michael Cabanatuan: "A small group holding banners and signs associated with white supremacist ideologies cropped up in Danville over the weekend in the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., in which a man is accused of deliberately targeting and killing Black people inside a grocery store. The gathering, in which people held banners and waved signs with white supremacist slogans, according to people who witnessed it, has prompted a counter-protest scheduled for Tuesday." MIXTAPE — A police group contributed $250,000 to Attorney General Rob Bonta's campaign, on the same day it gave the same amount to the California Republican Party. (SF Chronicle) — The shooter who killed on person and injured five others at a Laguna Woods church was charged by the Orange County district attorney with murder, a charge that could lead to the death penalty. (LA Times) — U.S. authorities announced they discovered a major drug smuggling tunnel that stretches from Tijuana to San Diego. (AP)   Follow us on Twitter Katy Murphy @katymurphy POLITICO California @politicoca   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

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