Why a Dem signed onto a GOP bill

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

Mar 07, 2024 View in browser   By Eric He State Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, D-Jackson, listens to the discussion of a bill at the Capitol in Sacramento, California, on July 10, 2023. Rich Pedroncelli | AP SAVE THE DATE -- Join POLITICO at the Elks Tower in Sacramento on Tuesday, March 19, for a conversation exploring the challenges of prescription drug affordability with CAITLIN BERRY, of pharmacy benefit management company Prime Therapeutics; ROBIN FELDMAN, UC Law San Francisco 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 for Corrective Action: How to Address Prescription Drug Cost here.  OUT ON A LIMB: State. Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil is in her first term and the Democrat from Jackson keeps finding ways to break with her party. Alvarado-Gil — who voted with Republicans last year against gun legislation and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s effort to cap oil industry profits — is now bucking her colleagues on homelessness. She is one of three Democrats to sign on as a co-author of a bill authored by Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones to restrict homeless encampments across the state. The other two are state Sens. Catherine Blakespear from Encinitas and Bill Dodd from Napa. California Democrats, including Newsom, have been increasingly aggressive in trying to address homelessness, and that has included clearing encampments. Few so far, however, have signed on yet to Jones’ Senate Bill 1011. A similar effort by Jones last year had a Democratic co-author but died in committee with no one in the majority party voting for it. Alvarado-Gil says she’s OK being with the Republicans if necessary. “There’s always going to be pressure to go with the status quo or follow the leader,” she said. “I’ve failed at that test throughout my whole life.” The legislation, modeled after San Diego’s “unsafe camping” ordinance, would ban encampments near schools, open spaces and major transit stops if there is available shelter space. The city’s policy, adopted last June, came in response to deep frustration over the proliferation of tents. Opponents of such measures view it as criminalizing homelessness and treating a symptom of the problem instead of the cause. The results in California’s second-largest city so far are mixed. The number of people camping on downtown streets has dropped to the lowest in two years but there are more encampments along the San Diego River. Still, state lawmakers such as Alvarado-Gil, whose district includes Modesto, believe it’s worth trying statewide. Cities and the state have struggled to clear encampments amid an extreme shortage of affordable housing and legal constraints. The latter issue could get some clarity in June, when the Supreme Court is expected to rule on an anti-camping ordinance in Grants Pass, Oregon. Homelessness, one of the top issues for most Californians, may not be as glaring in Modesto — but it is still a problem, with more than 1,600 people unsheltered in the city last year. Alvarado-Gil said she did not get into government because of the homelessness crisis, but as chair of the Senate’s Human Services committee, the issue is within her purview. She recently invited POLITICO along on a day-long tour of shelters and encampments around Modesto. Standing in Enslen Park after eating lunch with about a dozen homeless people, Alvarado-Gil gestured at kids on a nearby playground and said a majority of her constituents would not want to bring their children to the park if it was dotted with tents. “That's not what they want to have to explain to their young kids, or have to experience on the way to take their kids to school,” she said. Alvarado-Gil has practical reasons to cross party lines. Her district is one of the more conservative in the state, and she is the first Democrat to represent it in the state Senate in three decades. She won after six Republicans diluted the vote in the primary and allowed two Democrats to advance to the general election in 2022. Some of the people she met on her tour expressed wariness of encampment bans like the one she supports. Daniel Lempenau, a retired software engineer known affectionately as “Pastor Dan” who has organized lunches at the park for 15 years, called such policies inhumane. “They don't have any real place to be … and so they run from one place to another,” he said. Emily Webster, youth navigation center director for the Modesto-based Center for Human Services, said bans are only a short-term solution at best. “Moving people without the services is just moving a problem around,” she said. Alvarado-Gil said she is studying the issue, considering proposals going off the framework of Jones’ bill to adapt to more rural areas like her district. “Let me just make clear: This bill will not solve homelessness,” Alvarado-Gil said. “But it is a solution and part of the larger scope.” The bill is expected to be heard in the Senate public safety committee on April 16. IT’S  THURSDAY 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 ehe@politico.com or send a shout on X. DMs are open. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Rep. Katie Porter speaks to the media during a campaign event. | Josh Edelson/Getty Images DEMLASH — Like the other Democrats running for Senate, Rep. Katie Porter lambasted former President Donald Trump’s anti-democratic tendencies. Now, after a disappointing loss, Democrats are accusing Porter of emulating Trumpian rhetoric. A frustrated Porter lashed out on Wednesday at interests that spent money to “rig” the result, then doubled down with a statement blasting those who had “manipulated” the vote “by dishonest means.” The Orange County Democrat failed to advance in part because Rep. Adam Schiff and allies spent heavily to boost Republican Steve Garvey into second. But that tactic is both commonplace and legal — Porter herself sought to split the Republican vote — and she faced a swift backlash for suggesting the election was less than legitimate. Sen. Alex Padilla, who oversaw California elections as secretary of state, called it “ridiculous.” ON THE BEATS Rep. Adam Schiff waves to supporters next to his wife at an election night party on Tuesday in Los Angeles. | Jae C. Hong/AP SPREAD THE WEALTH: Progressive Democrats, still smarting over Schiff’s efforts to elevate Garvey in the California Senate race, are calling on the Burbank congressman to spread his campaign wealth to battleground congressional races. The group argues that Garvey’s presence on the November ballot — instead of a competitive Democrat vs. Democrat Senate race — could help boost GOP turnout, hurting Democrats’ chances down the ballot. “Adam Schiff’s selfishness may have just helped MAGA extremists win control of the same House of Representatives that oversees the presidential Electoral College count,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC). “For the sake of our democracy, Adam Schiff should donate millions of dollars to the down-ballot congressional candidates that he just left out to dry.” — Melanie Mason WIN FOR NATIVE AMERICANS — Fresno County voters this week rejected a measure seen as an effort to circumvent a state law banning the use of a racial slur. The law, authored by Assemblymember James Ramos, requires the word “squaw,” widely viewed as derogatory, to be removed from all geographic features and place names in the state, including sites like Squaw Lake and Squaw Leap in Fresno County, by 2025. The federal government, independent of the California law, renamed Squaw Valley to Yokuts Valley in early 2023. Fresno County supervisors, stymied in their attempts to sue the state over the law, put forth a ballot measure to give the board explicit control over the naming of geographic features or place names through an amended county charter. Voters soundly rejected that measure, with nearly 64 percent voting against it. “This is a word that contributes to making Native American women appear less than others,” Ramos said in a statement. “That ignorance and bigotry is a factor in the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. I am happy to see that voters chose to close the door on this painful chapter of Native American history.” — Lara Korte CALL TO SERVICE: California's Service Corps is looking to add 10,000 more volunteers to address climate disasters and help provide assistance to communities throughout the state. Corps members will be given stipends and can earn up to $10,000 toward education. They are expected to provide about 5 million combined service hours annually, with a focus on disaster relief and addressing hunger. "As Californians, the spirit of service and giving back is in our DNA — it's why we have the largest service corps in the nation, bigger than the Peace Corps and a model for other states," Newsom said today in a statement announcing the recruitment drive. — Sarah Grace Taylor WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY SHIFT RIGHT: San Francisco isn’t the only blue city embracing tougher-on-crime measures amid public frustration with carjackings and retail theft. (POLITICO) DTL ASAP: Gov. Newsom says he will use the state’s infrastructure law to expedite development of a $2 billion residential and commercial project in downtown Los Angeles. (Los Angeles Times) SUGAR FIX: A manager of the Salt & Straw ice cream shop in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley says fentanyl users have been ransacking the pints freezer, showing a particular fondness for Chocolate Gooey Brownie and Salted, Malted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. (San Francisco Standard)   Follow us on Twitter 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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