| | | | |  | | By Jeremy B. White | COME TALK DRUGS: Join POLITICO March 19 at the Elks Tower in Sacramento for a conversation on prescription drug affordability with CAITLIN BERRY, of pharmacy benefit management company Prime Therapeutics; ROBIN FELDMAN, UCSF law professor; ANTHONY WRIGHT, executive director of Health Access California; and state Sen. SCOTT WIENER. How might officials find savings in the drug supply chain ecosystem? Doors open at 8:30 a.m. RSVP here for “Corrective Action: How to Address Prescription Drug Cost.” GRIM NEWS: Lawmakers agree the news industry is in a dire situation, but they appear to be less certain how to help it. Sen. Steve Glazer convened a hearing today that he described as an effort to diagnose and treat the crisis. “It’s one part health check, it’s one part autopsy, and it’s one part rescue mission,” he said. Senators heard about the potential and pitfalls of a digital ad revenue tax such as both Maryland and New Mexico have enacted. They pondered a tax credit to support local news jobs. But neither of those ideas is in a bill before legislators at the moment, though Glazer’s spox told us to “stay tuned.” Wednesday’s discussion only glancingly mentioned a bill from Assemblymember Buffy Wicks that would force tech giants to pay publishers for the news content on their platform. Silicon Valley giants that have opposed Wicks’ bill, including with a campaign denouncing a “link tax,” did not accept invites to testify. “I think they bear some responsibility to repair” what they’ve broken, Glazer said. Sen. Tom Umberg, chair of the committee where Wicks’ bill is currently parked, showed up late but vowed to watch the tape.
|  Assemblymember Buffy Wicks | Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo | A broken business model has bedeviled the industry for decades. As revenue plunged, precipitating mass layoffs and shuttered newsrooms, news executives have cast about for an antidote. They haven’t found the panacea yet. But the hearing demonstrated the growing appetite for government intervention. Glazer said he could think of few things more important than “shoring up that foundation” of democracy. Or as former journalist and Rebuild Local News founder Steven Waldman put it: “No one really is rushing to the idea that ‘Oh, let’s get the government to help,’” but “everyone has really come to the conclusion that the crisis is so severe” that it’s merited. IT’S WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to jwhite@politico.com or send a shout on X. DMs are open.
| | | | DON’T MISS AN IMPORTANT TALK ON ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS IN CA: Join POLITICO on March 19 to dive into the challenges of affordable prescription drugs accessibility across the state. While Washington continues to debate legislative action, POLITICO will explore the challenges unique to California, along with the potential pitfalls and solutions the CA Legislature must examine to address prescription drug affordability for its constituents. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | |  | WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY | | AGAINST THE TIDE: Tough-on-crime bills are popular this year but at least one lawmaker isn’t giving up on criminal justice reform. State Sen. Steven Bradford is back with legislation that would ban pretextual stops, the practice of stopping motorists for a minor infraction in order to search them and their vehicle. Bradford’s Senate Bill 50 failed last year and may be an even tougher sell this year as lawmakers face pressure to act on retail theft, car break-ins and other property crimes that increased during the pandemic. Pretextual stops, which have already been curbed in Los Angeles and San Francisco, disproportionately target Blacks and Latinos, according to critics such as Bradford, who says he knows from personal experience. “I have no doubt, had I been a white woman, I wouldn't have been pulled out my car at 1 a.m. in the morning on a freeway to do a sobriety check,” Bradford said at a news conference today. National Urban League Senior Vice President Jerika Richardson said a case can be made against pretextual stops even in this atmosphere. “We need our officers focused on solving and preventing crime instead of monopolizing their time with non-safety related stops,” she said. — Sarah Grace Taylor
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State Sen. Steven Bradford | Pool photo by Irfan Khan | | | ON THE BEATS | | DIVIDED DELEGATION: The California congressional delegation split on the TikTok bill today — with some notable cross-party defections. The bipartisan measure — which passed 352-65 in the House and now heads to an uncertain fate in the Senate — would force TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the app or face a ban from U.S. app stores. Most of the state’s delegation supported the legislation, which had strong support from Speaker emerita Nancy Pelosi, a noted China hawk. Opposing the bill were 12 Democrats, including Silicon Valley members such as Eric Swalwell, Zoe Lofgren and Ro Khanna, and progressives such as Barbara Lee. They were joined by Republican Reps. John Duarte and Tom McClintock. Rep. Josh Harder, whose wife just had a baby, was the only delegation member to miss the vote. — Mia McCarthy DANGER ZONE: California’s property insurer of last resort is getting dangerously bloated as regular insurers flee both disaster-prone and safer regions of the state, its president warned lawmakers today. Victoria Roach said the FAIR Plan has an exposure of $366 billion across the state, having added $10 billion in January and $15 billion in February alone. It has just $200 million in surplus cash on hand to cover losses and limited access to reinsurance. That means that if a catastrophic wildfire tears through a community with a high concentration of FAIR Plan customers, such as Lake Arrowhead or Truckee, the plan would levy heavy assessments on regular insurers who could pass along costs to other customers. Seven out of the top 12 property insurers, including State Farm and Allstate, have pulled back from California in some way over the past two years, blaming the cost of inflation and the increasing risk of climate-change-fueled wildfires. — Camille von Kaenel
| | | | In celebration of Earth Month, the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability and the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, in collaboration with POLITICO, host “Climate Forward 2024: Climate at the Crossroads” on April 4, 2024 at USC. Top experts from politics, government, media, and academia will discuss climate change issues with a focus on finding practical policy and business solutions as well identifying ways to remove political obstacles to implementing those changes. Register to attend in person or virtually. | | | | | | | | | UNDERDOG ON THE RISE: In Ysabel Jurado’s campaign for Los Angeles City Council — her first time running — the progressive tenants’ rights lawyer was up against the incumbent councilmember (the embattled Kevin De León) and two sitting state legislators (Assemblymembers Miguel Santiago and Wendy Carrillo). As of now, she’s leading them all. As Los Angeles slowly counts its ballots, the tally has skewed more and more left-leaning — propelling Jurado from third place on election night to the top of the heap. The margins are razor thin — as of Tuesday, Jurado has a 318-vote lead over De León and a 1,048-vote edge over Santiago, who is currently in third. Still, she’s confident she’ll be advancing to the general election, crediting her extensive field operation for establishing relationships with voters weary of longtime politicians. “No matter where you are in the district, the people at the doors will talk about how they're just tired of career politicians,” Jurado told POLITICO. This district on the east side of LA has been especially stung by controversy. It was represented by Jose Huizar, who pleaded guilty to extorting at least $1.5 million in bribes and was sentenced to 13 years in prison in January. Currently, the seat is held by De León, who has been in political exile after appearing on the offensive leaked audio tapes that became a national scandal. — Melanie Mason
| | WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY | | BATTLEGROUND SEAT: Democrat Rudy Salas will face Republican Rep. David Valadao in November after the party narrowly avoided a nightmare lockout scenario in California’s Central Valley swing seat. (POLITICO) OPEN TO IDEAS: Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra isn’t shutting the door on drug testing welfare recipients, a policy San Francisco voters approved earlier this month. (POLITICO) INVESTING IN TOMORROWLAND: Disney says in a new SEC filing that it will spend $30 billion in Disneyland and other theme parks over the next decade based on franchises such as Avatar, Tron and Zootopia. (The Orange County Register) RIDING IN LA: Starting Thursday, Waymo will begin operating driverless taxi rides in Los Angeles, though not yet on the freeways, after running a free pilot program over the past year. (Los Angeles Times) FALLING OUT: Former CNN host Don Lemon says his recent deal to produce content for X was abruptly canceled by Elon Musk hours after he did an interview that was “tense at times” with the billionaire. (The Wall Street Journal) | | | | 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 | | | | |
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