| | | | |  | | By Jeremy B. White , Lara Korte and Sakura Cannestra | Presented by Charge Ahead California Coalition | THE BUZZ: There's no blocking cryptocurrency from pervading California politics. California campaigns could soon start accepting Bitcoin and the like after the Fair Political Practices Commission voted yesterday to reverse a four-year ban on the practice, making California one of 13 states (plus D.C.) to explicitly allow the novel donation source. Crypto contributions should be cleared by mid-September, just in time for Dogecoin to fund some advertising in the critical final weeks of campaign season. Boringly conventional cash generated by crypto investing has already filtered into California campaigns, although a pandemic detection measure largely funded by Samuel Bankman-Fried's firm missed the 2022 ballot. Just as roughly 90 percent of conversations in San Francisco now feature the words "blockchain" or "cryptocurrency," Sacramento is examining digital money on multiple fronts. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order in May to regulate the burgeoning blockchain marketplace, with the tech-tied governor saying California was "getting ahead of the curve" in an effort to nurture innovation while protecting consumers. That came not long after the White House waded in . State agencies, unlike campaigns, won't be accepting Ethereum any time soon. A pair of bills to permit the practice stalled earlier this year, with State Controller Betty Yee warning it would be "fiscally irresponsible for the state to venture into the cryptocurrency space at this time," citing fluctuating valuation and the trickiness of adapting old-school accounting practices to a new currency paradigm. But a crypto regulation bill is moving after Assembly Banking and Finance Chair Tim Grayson caught players by surprise by gutting and amending legislation to create a permitting framework. Any policy push inevitably spurs parallel action in the Third House of lobbyists and consultants. So it goes with blockchain. Among the California firms counseling clients on the emerging field is one run by former Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon, who carried crypto bills in the Legislature. A recently launched crypto-focused firm that supported the state agency payments bill is led by Nate Bradley, who was best known in Sacramento for his lobbying around cannabis, another industry that rapidly scaled up in California. The Blockchain Advocacy Coalition recorded its first lobbying expenditure in 2020 and opposes Grayson's bill. Crypto's tumultuous financial ride has reshaped the landscape as market capitalization plunged. As the most recent committee summary of Grayson's bill put it: "Six months ago, this analysis would have read very differently," with crypto investors going from "riding high" to seeing $2 trillion in assets vanish. While cryptocurrencies could rebound, the analysis warned the plunge demonstrated that "extreme volatility" was not an aberration but an ingrained feature. That's the type of conclusion that will surely influence policymakers' views of how to regulate this industry. EXTRA CREDIT — Have you ever noticed a cryptocurrency ATM and wondered "How does that work?" If you missed it, our stellar tech policy reporter Susannah Luthi took a deep dive into how the kiosks are vexing regulators . BUENOS DÍAS, good Friday morning. Multiple former governors are participating — some virtually — in a USC Schwarzenegger Institute event marking 20 years of California's clean car standards. Govs Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown, Gray Davis will be among the speakers. You can tune in here . Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up: jwhite@politico.com and lkorte@politico.com or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte . QUOTE OF THE DAY: "We need to stop trying to take African American women in this city and associate them with being somebody's puppet or slave, or whatever you want to call it. ... That's the problem I have that continues to persist with Black women and the arguments that unfortunately come from a component of this city that mostly consists of white liberals." San Francisco Mayor London Breed pushes back on criticism of her appointee, SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, via the SF Standard . TWEET OF THE DAY: Rep. @NormaJTorres on the latest Jan. 6 committee revelations: "187 minutes of inaction by the former president, the VP's detail was so scared they were giving instructions to say goodbye to their families. I never said goodbye to mine, we prepared to fight for our lives." WHERE'S GAVIN? In Los Angeles to talk about gun violence. He has not signed all the gun bills currently on his desk. | | A message from Charge Ahead California Coalition: LEGISLATORS AND GOVERNOR NEWSOM - GET US OFF GAS NOW! Millions of dollars are at stake for Californians still suffering from high gas prices. We can't afford to chip away at the more than $10 billion dollars that have been promised to our clean, electric car programs. We need our leaders to protect these investments. It's time to break free from volatile prices at the pump and clean up our air! Learn more: www.InvestInCleanAir.com. | | | |  | TOP TALKERS | | CHASED AROUND THE WORLD — " How two L.A. COVID swindlers dodged the FBI and joined the European jet set ," by the Los Angeles Times' Michael Finnegan: "The husband and wife enjoying the plush cabin with their black dog were convicted swindlers from Los Angeles on the sixth day of a daring getaway. With police worldwide on alert to arrest them, they had slipped off to Portugal and hoped to vanish in the Balkans by nightfall." RETURN TO THE TOP — " S.F. reclaims top spot as Earth's most expensive city to build in ," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Chase DiFeliciantonio: "Ballooning inflation, ongoing construction labor shortages and supply chain issues all contributed to the rising costs, the company's Global Managing Director of Real Estate Neil Bullen said in a statement." | | CAMPAIGN MODE | | — " Editorial: We need straight talk, please, from Caruso and Bass about prosecutorial discretion ," opines the Los Angeles Times' Editorial Board: "The crazy thing about Los Angeles city attorney candidate Faisal Gill's call for a 100-day pause in the filing of some misdemeanors isn't the plan itself." | | | | STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president's ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today . | | | | | | | CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR | | — " S.F. Mayor Breed vetoes law to end single-family zoning, arguing it will actually hurt housing production ," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Mallory Moench and J.D. Morris: "The veto is yet another example of the ongoing rift between the moderate mayor and the majority progressive board over the best way to address the city's housing crisis, as San Francisco struggles with how to build enough homes to meet a state mandate in less than ten years." RIDING THE COVID WAVE — " 'I'm over it.' Many in L.A. shrug off COVID-19 wave despite super-infectious subvariants ," by the Los Angeles Times' Rebecca Schneid, Heidi Pérez-Moreno and Hailey Branson-Potts: "The virus — which is widespread and overwhelmingly causing mild illness right now — simply does not scare people like it used to." — " Fact check: Did Gov. Gavin Newsom admit that his state of emergency was illegal? " by the Sacramento Bee's Andrew Sheeler: "Gov. Gavin Newsom declared the emergency on March 4, 2020, as COVID-19 surged across California, the country and the globe. The declaration, made under the California Emergency Services Act, was the source of authority for mask orders, school closures, other actions." — " California is clawing back some COVID-19 rent relief it gave to tenants and landlords ," by the Sacramento Bee's Lindsey Holden: "The agency claims overpayment, tenants withholding funds from landlords and fraudulent activity are among the reasons they ask people who've gotten relief money to return it, Kausar said." | | BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL | | — 'Long overdue': Pelosi affirms support for labeling Russia a sponsor of terrorism , by POLITICO's Andrew Desiderio: Every senator except for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has agreed to quick consideration of a resolution calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to make the designation. All 100 senators must consent to a bill in order for it to be fast-tracked on the floor. — " Post-Roe, bill to codify same-sex marriage may have a shot at Senate passage ," by the Los Angeles Times' Jennifer Haberkorn: "Fearful that the rollback of abortion rights is merely a precursor to the reversal of other major Supreme Court decisions protecting same-sex marriage and the use of contraception, Democrats are pushing bills that would enshrine both into law." — Schumer's legal weed bill is finally here , by POLITICO's Natalie Fertig: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act would decriminalize weed on the federal level and allow states to set their own marijuana laws without fear of punishment from Washington. | | | | A message from Charge Ahead California Coalition:   | | | | | SILICON VALLEYLAND | | — " Ex-Coinbase Employee and 2 Others Charged With Insider Trading of Crypto Assets ," by the New York Times' Matthew Goldstein and David Yaffe-Bellany: "The case is the first time the authorities have filed criminal insider-trading charges involving cryptocurrency assets, said Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York." | | HOLLYWOODLAND | | RIDING HISTORY — " 'Nope': The Bay Area's peculiar connection to Jordan Peele's latest movie ," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Chris Vognar: "In June 1878, San Francisco's Eadweard Muybridge went to see a man about a horse. More specifically, he ventured to a Palo Alto racetrack at the behest of Leland Stanford, a railroad robber baron who went on to found Stanford University and become governor of California." — " There's a Hollywood filming boom in far-flung Europe. Locals aren't so sure it's a good thing ," by the Los Angeles Times' Jaweed Kaleem: "Expensive studio lots and permit-heavy American landscapes are being traded for the Baltics, Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, where the dollar goes further, workers cost less, crew hotels are cheap and a history of war and conquest means cityscapes from D.C. and Denmark can be easily conjured." | | MEDIA MATTERS | | — " Sweeping changes remake Facebook app in TikTok's image ," by Axios' Sara Fischer: "The move shifts Facebook further from a social network and toward an entertainment and shopping platform like TikTok, which has increasingly challenged Facebook's dominance in user engagement and mobile advertising." | | | | INTRODUCING POWER SWITCH: The energy landscape is profoundly transforming. Power Switch is a daily newsletter that unlocks the most important stories driving the energy sector and the political forces shaping critical decisions about your energy future, from production to storage, distribution to consumption. Don't miss out on Power Switch, your guide to the politics of energy transformation in America and around the world. SUBSCRIBE TODAY . | | | | | | | MIXTAPE | | — " Piedmont saw its official homeless count spike. Now its unsheltered residents are nowhere to be found ," by the San Francisco Chronicle's Sarah Ravani. HOMEBASE — " Investigation into Sacramento councilman's residence is underway, but city won't say who's leading it ," by the Sacramento Bee's Theresa Clift. — " This new S.F. condo building is sitting empty. Neighbors and homebuyers want to know why ," by the San Francisco Chronicle's J.K. Dineen. — " How to avoid 210 Freeway closure as second-coming of 'Carmageddon' hits LA ," by CBS News' Los Angeles Staff. | | BIRTHDAYS | | Meghan Sullivan Belica of Wells Fargo … Tarun Chhabra … Natacha Hildebrand | | A message from Charge Ahead California Coalition: California's record budget surplus was an opportunity to provide us relief from the soaring costs of owning a car. The investments promised to our clean car programs are at risk! Our legislators have a responsibility to protect promised investments that support equitable clean, electric car programs that will get us off the gas price rollercoaster.
Low-income communities and communities of color bear an unfair burden of fuel costs and harmful pollution, having suffered generations of systematic marginalization. Critical equity programs that make pollution-free travel an option for all Californians are chronically underfunded. As we finalize our state's budget, we cannot give in to the pressure to chip away at the investments in these critical clean, electric car programs!
Learn more at www.InvestInCleanAir.com. | | | CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here . Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you're promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.
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