| | | | |  | | By Dustin Gardiner and Lara Korte | Presented by Connected Commerce Council | DRIVING THE DAY— TO TRIP, OR NOT TO TRIP? That is the question before Gov. Gavin Newsom today after the Legislature passed state Sen. Scott Wiener’s bill to decriminalize some psychedelics, including magic mushrooms.
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California Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego). | Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo | THE BUZZ — Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins’ push to scrap California’s travel ban was, in part, a result of getting back in touch with her younger self. Atkins is carrying a proposal this session that would repeal the 2016 law that prohibits publicly funded travel to states that discriminate against LGBTQ people — a list that has ballooned to 26 states. She said her pivot started with some reflections on her childhood. Atkins, who is lesbian, grew up in rural southwestern Virginia in a conservative community where her parents were devout Pentecostals. She said she saw almost no positive depictions of gay people and heard only unkind whispers. Thinking about the issue from that perspective, Atkins said she realized the ban could be hurting LGBTQ young people who already feel under attack in many states. “That wouldn’t have made the 17-year-old Toni Atkins feel OK, ‘California doesn’t want to come here, they think we’re backwards people,’” she told Playbook. “It begins to feel to me like we’re walling off parts of the country.” Lawmakers are expected to send her measure, Senate Bill 447, to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk in the coming days. The bill would repeal the travel prohibition and replace it with an outreach campaign that would bring pro-LGBTQ messages to television screens and highway billboards in red states. Assemblymember Evan Low, who carried the 2016 bill that created the travel ban, could be the legislation’s most significant hurdle. Low said he’s “very conflicted” about California funding travel to states where LGBTQ people could be harmed. Republicans also oppose the bill because of the cost of the outreach program, about $583,000 per year. Atkins says much of the effort will be privately funded. Atkins might seem like an unlikely figure to lead the repeal effort as the first openly gay president of the state Senate who supported the ban’s creation in 2016. But, she said, the status quo isn’t working. “States were continually being added,” Atkins said. “I thought, it’s now or never. How long do you sustain something like that?” Atkins said the idea for an outreach campaign, which she’s dubbed the Bridge Project, was inspired by country music idol Dolly Parton, who preaches kindness. (Read below for Atkins’ ultimate Dolly playlist.) “She comes from a very conservative community, but she was always accepting,” Atkins said. “So, it is within you to be that light.”
| | | | A message from Connected Commerce Council: Over 2 million CA small businesses sell online — to reach customers nationwide, track performance metrics, and manage logistics. Keep California small businesses connected with online marketplaces. Learn more. | | | HAPPY FRIDAY. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. PLAYBOOK TIP LINE — What are you hearing — or hoping — Toni Atkins will do next, after she leaves Senate leadership? Give us a ring or drop us a line. Now you can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts now. Or drop us a line at lkorte@politico.com and dgardiner@politico.com, or on Twitter —@DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
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Assemblymember Bill Essayli ( R-Riverside). | Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo | HAZARD UP AHEAD — It’s not often that inner-party skirmishes break out into the open. But one freshman Republican on Thursday put his own party leadership on blast for not seconding legislation that would have barred lawmakers from using an Assembly pool vehicle if they get a DUI. At a Rules committee hearing, Bill Essayli motioned for a vote on his resolution — which just might have been inspired by some Democrats’ recent drunk driving convictions — but was left hanging when Republican Floor Leader Heath Flora didn’t prop him up with a second. “Mr. Flora, you’re not going to second?” Essayli asked, earning him a quick scolding from the chair to stay in order. The Riverside lawmaker, who has been racking up political points in conservative social media circles for promoting school board policies that notify parents about their transgender students, took to Twitter to accuse Flora of trying to “save the Democrats from having to go on record.” “I doubt his voters sent him to Sacramento … to protect Democrats, but alas here we are,” Essayli tweeted. Flora, in a statement, told us that he has “authored multiple DUI penalty enhancement bills over the years.” “Today was really just a procedural disagreement that unfortunately played out on camera and then got shared around on social media,” he said. THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT THE ‘PRESS’ — After a robust pressure campaign from Capitol reporters, legislative leaders on Thursday agreed to a temporary workspace for journalists. KCRA Reporter Ashley Zavala, president of the Capitol Correspondents Association of California, tweeted her thanks to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, adding that she hopes leaders can also come up with a long-term solution soon. (Disclaimer: POLITICO's Lara Korte is also a CCAC board member.). And as for that hallway access issue that the Los Angeles Times’ Hannah Wiley brought up earlier this week, it appears it stemmed from a miscommunication with sergeants, “who have since been instructed not to interfere with our work,” Wiley said on Twitter. “The Assembly hallways are fair game for interviews.”
| | | | A message from Connected Commerce Council:   | | | | | WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY | | CRUISE CONTROL: San Franciscans upset about driverless cars need to check their bias — their anti-robot bias, that is. That’s the response from Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt who told The Washington Post that the reason there’s so much skepticism around the robotaxis, which have recently become the focus of a state investigation, is because people are threatened by intelligence that isn’t their own. “Anything that we do differently than humans is being sensationalized,” he said. A SAN FRANCISCO STORY: Her dad is accused of attacking Paul Pelosi. Her mom is a nudist. But Inti Gonzalez, as the San Francisco Chronicle writes, is working hard to overcome a traumatic childhood and “daunting barrage” of challenges. Gonzalez, 21, is now an activist co-managing a $1 million project to build tiny houses for homeless youths in Richmond while living in a “thriving artist colony” in Oakland. She’s also studying for a real estate license. DROP IN THE BUCKET: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott wanted to make a point when he sent 12 busloads of migrants to Los Angeles. But as The New York Times points out, that’s a negligible amount of people compared to the millions who make their way to make U.S. cities, independent of a Republican governor’s help.
| | | | Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of the first episodes in September – click here. | | | | | | | Playbookers | | DOLLYWOOD: As promised, Atkins shared with us her playlist of top all-time Dolly Parton tracks. It includes fan favorites and some extra-deep cuts: “Smoky Mountain Memories,” “Coat of Many Colors,” “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “Both Sides Now,” “Hard Candy Christmas,” “Rocky Top” and “Daddy Come and Get Me.” BIRTHDAYS — POLITICO’s Jeremy B. White
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