Newsom rolls out the firepower

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

Jan 03, 2024 View in browser   By Sarah Grace Taylor and Rachel Bluth NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION: Gov. Gavin Newsom has made it clear that overhauling mental health care in the state with Proposition 1 is his top priority this year. Today, he showed just how much muscle he has to bring to the fight. California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks about the mental health crisis before signing off on two major pieces of legislation to transform the state's mental health system and address the state's homelessness crisis, in Los Angeles, on Oct. 12, 2023. | AP The governor rolled out the Prop 1 campaign in L.A., standing alongside Mayor Karen Bass and some of the most prominent public safety and labor officials in the state for a campaign that already appears to be flying high in both the early polls and in fundraising. As he and some of those with him made clear, Prop 1 will help the state deal with its No. 1 issue — homelessness — with a $6.38 billion bond to increase treatment and housing capacity and help get thousands of people off the streets. “We are in a unique position to take what we have been promoting these promises, make them real, and finally address the issue that defines more stress and more frustration than any other issue in this state, and that's what's happening on the streets and sidewalks,” Newsom said in one of his first public appearances of the year. Bass said she is convinced the measure will pass in March, a claim supported by recent polling which shows more than two-thirds of likely voters support the steep bond. The campaign supporting the measure is also flush with cash — raising nearly $5 million last month alone. Prop 1 also has the helpful support of people who work on the frontlines of the homelessness crisis in the state. They include the California Professional Firefighters, whose president, Brian Rice, joined the governor at the news conference. “When you see people in the street that are covered in urine or covered in feces, and they're dirty, and they're pacing and they're coughing or they're screaming at each other, at anybody, at a wall — we're so immune to it — what you're witnessing is human pain and suffering,” Rice said. “Firefighters are all in." POLITICO Pro subscribers can read more of Rachel’s coverage of Prop 1 here. IT’S WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. This is 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. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to sgtaylor@politico.com or send a shout on X. DMs are open. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Pro-Palestinian activists protesting the Israel-Gaza war converged at the California statehouse on Wednesday, disrupting the first day of the year’s legislative session in Sacramento, California. | Lara Korte/POLITICO RAUCOUS WELCOME: Protesters demanding a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war filled the Assembly gallery today, forcing lawmakers to halt proceedings and adjourn as they returned for the first session of the new year. Demonstrators entered the chamber’s gallery chanting “cease-fire now,” and unfurled posters over the lawmakers while others filled the Capitol rotunda outside the chambers. Assembly leaders initially tried to quell the outburst, but quickly recessed and walked out. It was the third time that protesters calling for a cease-fire had disrupted a California political event since Israel unleashed its response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas from Gaza. The war has been divisive in the U.S., with progressives calling for a halt to the Israeli response, which has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths, and the Biden administration and many other Democrats supporting Israel’s right to respond to the Hamas attack, which killed about 1,200 people, most of whom were also civilians. The Legislature’s Jewish Caucus had earlier released a letter condemning threats and attacks against Jews in the U.S. following the Oct. 7 attacks. “We cannot recall a time another time in recent history when Jews in California have felt as targeted, threatened and unsafe as they do now,” they wrote. — Dustin Gardiner, Jeremy B. White and Lara Korte ON THE BEATS A NEW LEASE ON LIFE: UCLA has come to the rescue of the shuttered Westside Pavilion. Google had been planning to convert the mall into an office and research facility but withdrew those plans. UCLA plans to convert the former shopping center, about 2 miles south of its Westwood campus, into the new California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, attending a news conference today with Newsom, said the center will be a state-of-the-art hub of research into a new approach to medical science. “The Institute will put Los Angeles and California at the forefront of these emerging fields, which are reshaping medicine and helping us better fight cancer and other range of diseases,” Block said. The new institute, which received $500 million from the state, also reflects an ongoing expansion of UCLA, which in 2022 acquired 35 acres from the defunct Marymount University in order to create a satellite campus. The former shopping center will also host a quantum computing research partnership between UCLA, tech firms and other universities. — Blake Jones SOUTHERN COMFORT: A pedestrian lane along the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego is expected to reopen Thursday, which is good news to business and political leaders who had been clamoring for its return. U.S. Customs and Border Protection shut Pedestrian West last month to free up agents to help with an increase of asylum-seekers and other migrants elsewhere along the U.S.-Mexico border. The closure was a reminder of the economic importance of the San Ysidro border crossing to California’s second-largest city. An estimated 60,000 people live in Tijuana and commute to San Diego each day, nearly a third of whom typically use PedWest. Shutting it down lengthened the already long wait to cross in a vehicle and further strained local businesses that have been struggling since the pandemic. Rep. Juan Vargas, who along with other lawmakers had pressed CBP to re-open the crossing, welcomed the development. “This is a huge relief to local businesses, individuals visiting family, students, and our workforce commuting daily from Tijuana.” — Ben Fox WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY PREPARING FOR TROUBLE: UC Berkeley plans to surround People’s Park with barbed wire and shipping containers to keep out protesters seeking to block construction of housing on a site long considered a landmark to local activists. (The Daily Californian) DESERT SURF: Strong demand is greeting the Palm Springs Surf Club, the first of three wave pools planned for the Coachella Valley. Purists may turn up their noses but all the available spots for January have been reserved. 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