Category: State Ievel issues

  • Smaller state districts? Sure, why not?

    Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while and so it was this week with the SF Comicle Open Forum column. Under the title State needs to expand Legislature, some SF attorney made the case that we need smaller Assembly and State Senate districts leading to more elected members. I seldom think we need more politicians, but he makes an interesting point.

    California has fewer legislators per capita than any other state. The Assembly has 80 seats and the Senate 40, figures established in the 1879 Constitution and left unchanged even as the population grew from under 1 million to nearly 40 million.

    Today, a single state senator represents more people than live in South Dakota. Districts of this scale make competitive elections the exception rather than the rule. Reaching such a vast number of residents requires money, name recognition and organizational infrastructure that challengers rarely have. The mechanics of campaigning tilt toward incumbents and the dominant party. A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll in 2022 found that a majority of respondents believed the state was headed in the wrong direction. That same year, almost every legislator seeking reelection kept their seat.

    Geography adds a separate problem. When a district stretches across counties and communities, minority-party voters in suburban and exurban areas are often lost in electorates so large that their preferences barely register. We saw the consequences of this dynamic in 2024 when Republicans won nearly 41% of the Assembly vote but secured only 25% of the seats.

    The true irony of all this is that the Legislature foisted five tiny little city council districts on us at the local level. Back in 2021, with a push by a SoCal lawyer, we lost citywide council elections thus we each lost four of our five votes. Some people lost all five of their votes when no candidate stepped up to run. Similar micro-districting happened to school boards, water districts, et al. But not in Sacramento. Maybe it’s time, but the self-preservation force is strong for the status quo.

  • High-Cost Rail – Part 165 Bonta retreats

    The news that AG Rob Bonta has dropped the lawsuit against the Feds to “recoup” $4 billion in high-cost rail subsidies had all the markings of a holiday news drop. I saw it flicker by on X a couple of days ago from Rep. Kevin Kiley, but otherwise it was very quiet. But wait! The SF Comicle actually ran a piece about the retreat that provides us with a good holiday belly laugh:

    “This action reflects the State’s assessment that the federal government is not a reliable, constructive, or trustworthy partner in advancing high-speed rail in California,” a spokesperson for the rail authority wrote in a statement. “As a result, the State has opted to move forward without the Trump administration. We regret that they will not share in California’s success.”

    Looking back at the previous 164 posts I don’t see any successes. Quite the opposite. Money is being flushed down the drain with no end in sight. And they think they will con private investors to join in as noted in Part 164.

    “Federal dollars remain a fraction of our high-speed rail investment and the action will not diminish the project, which is primarily state-funded,” said state Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee and a major advocate for the rail line. “We have not anticipated receiving that money now for the better part of the year so in a sense it’s been written off.”

    Even before the federal funding came under threat, the rail authority CEO Ian Choudri, who was appointed in August 2024, had begun to focus on luring private investors to complete the project more quickly.

    One has to wonder when Gov. Newsom will finally do his patented flip-flop, kill the thing and preserve his presidential aspirations from being railroaded into the ground? I can’t imagine Bonta pulled the plug on the lawsuit all by himself. The $1 billion per year from Cap and Trade just prolongs the bleeding.

  • Diane Papan: Legislative highlights

    Our rookie assemblywoman Diane Papan just sent us all a mailer listing the legislative highlights for this year. Let’s have a look:

    AB 93: Data centers: Water use reporting

    AB 900: Stewardship of conserved lands

    AB 527: Geothermal exploratory projects

    AB 1250: Paratransit service

    AB 60: Safer cosmetics for California families

    AB 650: Cutting through bureaucracy to build homes

    AB 411: The Caring About The Terrain, Livestock, and Ecosystems (CATTLE) Act

    There you have it–postage paid State of California Assembly. It was quite a year.

  • Cut housing regulations? Start here.

    Politicians across the political spectrum rail against excessive regulations on building housing. CEQA is being gutted and onerous quotas are being foisted on cities and towns all over the state. Very few cities are trying to maintain some sense of order and quality of life since they know just pushing housing without all the other infrastructure is insane. The Merc sizes the problem in a piece about San Mateo County, Half Moon Bay, Belvedere and Clayton not having state-approved plans yet.

    In total, the Bay Area’s 110 local governments are responsible for adding 441,000 new homes between 2023 and 2031, up from 187,990 in the previous eight-year cycle. So far, the region is far behind schedule in meeting the ambitious new goal, in part because of high interest rates and other market forces.

    Despite the threat of stricter penalties, housing advocates say the few remaining municipalities without completed housing elements appear to lack a sense of urgency in obtaining the state’s sign-off.

    “They’re mostly small and wealthy jurisdictions that probably feel they don’t have any obligation and that they can hire enough lawyers to get out of whatever obligation the state imposes on them,” said Matt Regan, a housing policy expert with the Bay Area Council, a pro-business group.

    I keep waiting for some “small wealthy jurisdictions” to lead the legal way out of this mess. We don’t need a lot of lawyers, just a couple of really good ones. 441,000 new units over the next six years? It just not sustainable. Not even close. Here in the County the Merc notes

    On the Peninsula, San Mateo County received a similar letter from the accountability unit in September. County officials said they are working as “expeditiously as possible” to finish their required rezoning process by the middle of next year, attributing the delay to “difficulties of navigating the many new housing laws” passed in recent years. They said the county had not received a builder’s remedy application.

    There’s quite a bit of County land “up the hill” from the Easton Addition in B’game. What if the County decides easy access to 280 and a fairly well-run water system make for a good target location? Will they be funding and building another water tank, sewer line, school and sheriff sub-station. I doubt it.

    For all the talk of authoritarianism spilling out of Sacramento, this top-down issuance of quotas and heavy-handed penalties merits a long look in the mirror. The RHNA numbers are where the next cut should come from.

  • Smelling smoke in Sacramento: Is there fire?

    I’m smelling smoke in Sacramento and wondering how big the fire might get. When the SF Comicle decides to do a full-page piece on a corruption indictment of a very senior Newsom ex-staffer you know they are getting in front of something that blew up on X just a day or two ago. The SacBee led four days ago, and the WSJ was on it two days ago when one Dana Williamson appeared in court, but the Comicle has a way of ignoring or burying these stories on A10. Before anyone’s TDS gets triggered the WSJ writes:

    A federal investigation involving prominent former aides to Democratic politicians could generate uncomfortable questions as California pols seek higher office. The feds allege a conspiracy among former aides to raid a campaign account by billing it for bogus services. Since the investigation began during the Biden administration, it won’t be easy for Democrats to dismiss it as Trump lawfare.

    Apparently the Feds first reached out to Williamson asking questions about the Gavinor but she told them she Knew Nothing. She now sees where that got her. The smell of smoke is strong because all the support Newsom gave Biden before his TV crack-up. It couldn’t be retribution.

    Williamson was Newsom’s chief of staff until last November when she alerted Newsom of the investigation. Her little team is accused of (and two have plead guilty to bank and wire fraud) skimming $10K a month out of a dormant Xavier Becerra campaign account totaling $180K. The would-be governor Becerra called it a “gut punch”. But wait, there’s more from the SacBee:

    The charges also accuse Williamson of filing false tax returns, claiming more than $1 million in business deductions for personal expenses, including trips to luxury resorts in Mexico, designer handbags, jewelry, home furniture, and travel on private jets. The indictment also alleges that Williamson provided government information to a company involved in litigation with the state and lied about it to the FBI.

    All sorts of money has been sloshing around Sacramento for a long time. High-cost rail is billions over budget. Lost EDD money totalled $31 billion and Williamson is also accused of filing a fraudulent PPP claim. Non-profits and NGOs get grant money all the time for all sorts of things. The Newsom tab to solve homelessness is somewhere between $24 and $37 billion. And Williamson worked as director of public affairs for PG&E from 2006 to 2011. I bought extra popcorn today.

  • Don’t “Miami” Burlingame

    I feel for the people on the west side of EssEff. The (over)development pressure from various state laws and codes has them on edge. Close the Great Highway? Sure. Let the voters on the east side disrupt your daily life. Miami styled high rises blocking the sunset in the Sunset? Too bad. Now with Scott Weiner’s SB79 signed into law, we are all at risk of being Miami-ized. SB 79 does this:

    • Overriding local limits: SB 79 supersedes certain local zoning restrictions to permit greater density and building height for housing projects located within a half-mile of qualifying transit stops.
    • Target areas: It primarily applies to urban counties with significant transit infrastructure, such as those in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.
    • Affordability: The law includes requirements for a portion of the new units to be set aside for lower-income households.
    • Local flexibility: Local governments can adopt alternative development plans that must be approved by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

    The bill looked like it was headed to defeat, but the Sacramento sausage-making took center stage as

    The chair, Sen. Aisha Wahab of Fremont, opposed the bill on the grounds that it tilted too heavily toward developers without requiring enough affordable housing. In Sacramento, a chair’s word usually decides a bill’s fate. But Weiner went above Wahab’s head, calling Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire, the Dem. Majority leader, asking him to give the other Senators on the committee to vote against the chair, a maneuver known in the Capitol as “rolling the chair” and is often seen as a breach of decorum and defiance of leadership.

    There was more sausage-making to come including

    Amendments made in the 11th hour got the bill through the State Building and Construction Trades Council, when the bill was amended to require union labor on any building taller than 85 feet, and tenant groups got some protections for low-income neighorhoods. In the end, Wahab and Durazo flipped to support the bill.”  Lucky for Newsom, the bill’s reach was narrowed to counties with over 15 major passenger rail stations, leaving out Contra Costa, and Marin, where Newsom recently purchased a mansion in Kentfield for $9 million.

    How nice. Marin gets the status quo while EssEff, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties get the intense development pressure. With B’game’s central location between the city and Silicon Valley and the lovely amenities, schools and weather, I’m feeling a bit like the bullseye on the developers’ dartboard. Will our council get creative? Will they muster support from other similarly situated Peninsula cities? Or even go farther afield like Huntington Beach? I’m not seeing that sort of backbone. Will the parking lot across ECR from Walgreen’s be the Miami beachhead in town?

  • Happy Columbus Day 2025

    The second Tuesday in October is and always will be Columbus Day. Courtesy of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy, we learn:

    Each October, we gather as a community to celebrate Italian-American Heritage Month — a time to reflect on our proud history and honor the legacy of those who came before us. At the heart of this celebration stands a figure of profound historical importance: Christopher Columbus.

    Columbus was more than an explorer; he was a visionary of the Renaissance era. His daring voyage in 1492 opened the door to the first permanent European presence in the New World — a moment that profoundly reshaped global history and laid the foundation for the world we know today.

    It’s worth remembering that the Pledge of Allegiance, recited daily by students across America, was written in 1892 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ journey — a testament to how deeply his legacy is woven into the American fabric.

    There will always be some small haters who think that by changing or removing symbols of the past, they can change the future. Think the Father Serra statue up at the I-280 rest stop as reported by the Merc:

    Extending a cultural fight that started years ago, Caltrans has quietly demolished a statue of 18th-century missionary and Catholic saint Junipero Serra that had overlooked Interstate 280 in Hillsborough — a move that pleased Native critics who had questioned Serra’s legacy, even as it enraged some in the church.

    The composition of the artwork — built half a century ago, using rebar sprayed with a powdered form of concrete — meant that it could not easily be moved to another site, officials said, so it was demolished instead. Crawford did not respond to a question about which criteria the statue did not meet.

    “Which criteria?” and “Why no public notice or discussion?”. Crickets. But Columbus and Serra will live on in history while the small haters will be forgotten as they should be.

  • Mark Simon signing off at the Daily Journal

    Columnist Mark Simon ended his 9/11 column with this blurb "I’LL BE AROUND: You deserve a break. I am taking a breather from this exercise in journalism. Enjoy."  Sounds like an adios to me which would be a shame.  I've disagreed with a goodly amount of what he's written over the years, but he is plugged-in and politicians do return his phone calls.

    This last column took politicians and bicycle activists to task.  First up was Gov. Newsom and his rhetoric around Prop. 50 and redistricting.

    It hands me a laugh when I hear Democrats talking tough. Maybe they are trying to emulate President Trump in a misguided belief that coarse, tough-guy language will counter the absence of a coherent message. In any case, it kind of rings false.

    Next up was Kevin Mullin

    He was asked how it is to serve in Congress at what is conceded to be an unpleasant time.

    “Every single day I go there, I have to pinch myself,” he said. “Honestly, that sounds sort of hokey, right? … It sounds a little Pollyanna, but it is an enormous responsibility that I feel that I represent 762,000 people on this Peninsula at a time when our democracy is under attack,” he said.

    So, he was apologizing for expressing his feelings about serving in Congress. I have heard this kind of thing from Democrats for decades. Rarely, if ever, have I heard a Republican apologize for his or her emotions about the job, the office or the country, even when some of them probably should have. Why is that, do you suppose?

    And his take on Josh Becker is hilariously accurate.  Talking about Becker roaming up and down El Camino during the Labor Day demonstrations and posting numerous videos, Simon zeroes in thusly

    These were just the latest in an onslaught of news releases and social media postings from Becker. Some are personal, some political, but the rate is relentless. I get that the senator is busy, I get that he wants to communicate. But he is approaching this with all the energy and self-awareness of a golden retriever.

    All of Becker's "working for change" missives cause me to think "how about working to preserve what is good about the Peninsula instead?"  You can click through for Simon's other comments about e-bikes, Tom Lantos and Russia.  They are equally common sense based.  Might as well end with a bang.  Adios, Mark.

     

  • Transit Tax: Taxation with minimal representation

    You can love BART, or you can ignore BART unless the agency starts dipping further into your pocket.  As a County we now pay $4 million a year, but the proposed tax increase would up that to $35 million–and still not solve the systemic issues with "transit" across the board.  The Merc is highlighting the Papan, Speier and Mueller opposition to the current proposal.  Even with more governance participation, most of the County would rather see Caltrain propped up than subsidize BART.  Per the Merc piece today, the tax has 54% approval but recall from eighteen months ago the support assumes somebody else will pay the freight.

    San Mateo County officials are clashing with the state lawmakers over a proposed regional sales tax that would bail out the Bay Area’s distressed transit systems, arguing that their constituents would shoulder an outsized share of the burden without a fair say in how the money is spent.

    The debate has complicated negotiations around the bill, SB 63, which would allow voters to impose a half-cent sales tax in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and a full cent in San Francisco. The tax could raise up to $1 billion annually over the next 14 years for BART, Caltrain, San Francisco’s Muni and other agencies facing steep budget gaps as federal and state relief funds dry up.

    At issue is San Mateo County’s lack of representation on BART’s board, which is made up of elected representatives from San Francisco, Alameda County and Contra Costa County. Together, the three county’s residents pay some $392 million in sales and property taxes toward the system, which make up nearly 40% of its total operating revenue. Meanwhile, San Mateo County contributes just $4 million annually.

    If voters pass the measure, San Mateo residents could be on the hook for roughly $35 million a year, about 10 percent of the sales tax revenue earmarked for BART.

    The sales tax could be placed on the ballot either through an action of the commission or through a qualified citizens’ initiative. The bill’s sponsors are hoping to take the latter route, as it would require a simple majority to pass, versus a two-thirds vote if placed on the ballot by MTC. Polling has shown that 54% of voters across Alameda, Contra Costa and San Mateo would vote yes on such a measure.

    These "qualified citizens' initiatives" are always suspect and this one feels even more suspect than most.

  • Political Theater: 50 ways to leave your voter

    The whole sheriff removal soap opera might have to take a back seat to this week’s installment of political theater.  The Guv signed the bill that puts Proposition 50 on the ballot November 4th.  The Gavymandering bill to redistrict congressional seats across the state was signed Thursday and yesterday (Saturday) the first of many mail pieces about Prop 50 was in my mailbox!  The opposition is quick and apparently well-funded.

    ProtectFairElections.org says it is paid for by Right Path California.  I’ve never heard of them, but I hear the father of the independent districting commission, Charles Munger, and Ahhnold Schwarzenegger are jumping in big time.  We are in for an interesting two months.  But it will be expensive entertainment costing taxpayers $250 million.  With apologies to Paul Simon, 50 ways to leave your voter got stuck in my head.

    “The problem is all inside your head,” she said to me
    The answer is easy if you take it logically”
    I’d like to help you in your struggle to be free
    There must be 50 ways to leave your voter
    She said, “It’s really not my habit to intrude
    Furthermore, I hope my meaning won’t be lost or misconstrued”
    But I’ll repeat myself at the risk of being crude
    There must be 50 ways to leave your voter
    50 ways to leave your voter
    You just slip out the back, Jack
    Make a new plan, Stan
    You don’t need to be coy, Roy
    Just get yourself free
    Hop on the bus, Gus
    You don’t need to discuss much
    Just drop off the key, Lee
    And get yourself free
    Gavymandering flyer

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