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"slug": "tech-billionaires-hire-democratic-dealmakers-in-renewed-push-to-build-a-bay-area-city",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-forever\">California Forever,\u003c/a> the tech billionaire-backed group that hopes to build a city from scratch on farmland in the outer San Francisco Bay Area, is lobbying state leaders to fast-track a massive shipbuilding deal that would kick-start its development after years of local opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The billionaires behind the project are seeking a deal to expedite environmental reviews of the development and, if necessary, bypass county restrictions on building by being absorbed into Suisun City boundaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ve hired former Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg — Democratic architects of landmark environmental laws — to make their case, and are using the prospect of luring a major shipbuilder to California to accelerate the dealmaking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever has pursued its project for nearly a decade, though the vision has shifted: At first pitched as a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/02/california-forever-promises/\">walkable city\u003c/a> with cottages, bike lanes and even a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/heres-what-a-proposed-california-forever-lagoon-would-look-like/\">water park\u003c/a>, the plan then added a major shipbuilding operation and, last summer, a significant \u003ca href=\"https://www.dailyrepublic.com/business/solano-business/california-forever-marries-new-manufacturing-park-to-travis-shipbuilding-east-solano/article_bfd6f346-0ee7-4492-a08a-b4339439b76b.html\">manufacturing hub\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever’s proponents, led by the state’s powerful building trades union along with realtors, peace officers and pro-housing groups, argue the latest proposal would boost the state’s economy and bring \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayareaeconomy.org/report/suisun-expansion-plan-and-solano-shipyard/\">an estimated\u003c/a> half a million jobs to California. And now, a prospective tenant has emerged: Defense company \u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2026/04/09/saronic-technologies-california-forever-solano.html\">Saronic Technologies, Inc\u003c/a>., which builds autonomous vessels for use in national security, is deciding between California and Texas for its next factory. The state must fast-track the development or lose the deal, supporters argue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The developers are seeking the state’s permission to use an 18-year-old environmental impact report for the shipyard development, limit any legal challenges to the project to 270 days, and allow Suisun City to annex their land if needed, according to Steinberg and Hertzberg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067288\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067288\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/250513-CALIFORNIAFOREVERANNEXEXPLAINER-17-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/250513-CALIFORNIAFOREVERANNEXEXPLAINER-17-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/250513-CALIFORNIAFOREVERANNEXEXPLAINER-17-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/250513-CALIFORNIAFOREVERANNEXEXPLAINER-17-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The intersection of Highway 12 and Highway 113 in Solano County outside of Suisun City on May 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In short, if legislation is not approved, California will lose billions of dollars in investments and tens of thousands of jobs this summer to Texas and other states,” proponents \u003ca href=\"https://www.dailyrepublic.com/news/trades-labor-coalition-ask-state-leaders-to-pony-up-for-california-forever-projects/article_08128859-63cc-4861-b06c-2d3565dd27d3.html\">wrote in a joint letter\u003c/a> to Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some locals and lawmakers are skeptical, arguing that details about the project remain scarce. The proposed development would convert vast farmlands into factories and risk harming the surrounding ecosystem, they said, which deserves rigorous environmental review under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act that proponents are seeking to expedite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a project this scale in this location, it is what the (law) was designed for,” said Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/christopher-cabaldon-5699\">Christopher Cabaldon\u003c/a>, a Napa Democrat who represents the area. “A central question for the people of Solano County is: Is this going to be for the community or is this a conversion project that leaves them behind?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents also slammed California Forever for pursuing relief behind closed doors with state leaders and circumventing local opposition. Since 2018, the group has secretly bought up agricultural land, \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcn.org/articles/the-california-forever-debate-moves-underground/\">shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars\u003c/a> to court local residents and spent at least $330,000 lobbying the governor and legislative leaders for favorable legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think they know that the only way this actually happens is under cover of darkness, by trying to essentially get the governor to work this plan for them,” said Jordan Grimes, legislative director at Greenbelt Alliance, which has advocated for streamlined environmental reviews for housing projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Secretive beginnings foment distrust\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For residents of Solano County, an agricultural community on the outskirts of the Bay Area that includes coastal areas next to a deep-water shipping lane, the suspicion around California Forever has been hard to shake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group’s subsidiary, Flannery Associates, started buying up farmland in 2018, eventually acquiring 62,000 acres while routinely refusing to answer questions about its backers. Some farmers later alleged the company used strong-arm tactics to get them to sell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/business/land-purchases-solano-county.html\">Flannery’s backers were unmasked\u003c/a> as a group of wealthy venture capitalists including the founders of LinkedIn and Netscape, all led by former Goldman Sachs trader and real estate developer Jan Sramek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12048452\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12048452\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Solano Foundry would be built next to homes within California Forever’s proposed mega-development and would provide space for defense tech, transportation, energy and other advanced manufacturing companies. The company’s announcement comes just a year after it pulled a ballot initiative to build a city from scratch in southeast Solano County. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Marc Andreessen, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, holds investments in both California Forever and Saronic, the defense company eyeing California. Andreessen’s firm did not immediately return a CalMatters inquiry for comment. Despite rocky beginnings, California Forever needed the majority of Solano County voters on its side due to a 1984 “orderly growth” law that requires voters to approve development on unincorporated land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, the company debuted the East Solano Plan to rezone 17,500 acres of agricultural land for a dense, 400,000-person city. The proposal was set to go before voters that year, but its backers pulled it following powerful grassroots opposition, \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2024/04/08/opposition-groups-poll-shows-majority-reject-new-solano-county-city/?clearUserState=true\">poor polling\u003c/a> and a county assessment that found holes in the plan. Sramek \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook-pm/2024/07/29/how-california-forevers-ballot-initiative-failed-00171735\">acknowledged\u003c/a> the group likely moved too fast and said the initiative would go back before voters in 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, the group has pivoted. The East Solano Plan has become the Suisun Expansion Plan and the Solano Shipyard. In January 2025, Suisun City’s city council directed its manager to explore expanding the city’s limits through annexation, which is now underway, although it could take years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The annexation and the ship building have been a clear way to work around the need for voter support in Solano County,” said Nate Huntington, a member of the grassroots group Solano Together, which formed in response to the secretive land purchases. Huntington pointed out that California Forever hasn’t even submitted a proposal for a shipbuilding facility to the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of this has been happening in backrooms of Sacramento, and it’s not been publicly available.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Seeking state environmental relief\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California Forever is now selling the development to the state as a major incentive to lure manufacturers and shipbuilders to California — and the subsequent need for housing to accommodate the promised jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company wants the governor and state lawmakers to cut red tape for the development and require enough housing for the new jobs. Steinberg and Hertzberg told CalMatters they are contemplating legislation to that end, but only after California Forever signs a lease with a manufacturer or shipbuilder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their plan would allow the governor to designate construction on company land as “environmental leadership development projects,” which would effectively require any litigation to be resolved within 270 days. Steinberg authored the state law streamlining that process in 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036285\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036285\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, speaks during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for the proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://dot.ca.gov/programs/environmental-analysis/standard-environmental-reference-ser/volume-1-guidance-for-compliance/ch-36-environmental-impact-report\">State law\u003c/a> requires government agencies to prepare a report for any project that might have a significant impact on the environment. Instead of assessing the impact of the proposed shipyard, Steinberg and Hertzberg’s proposal would use a \u003ca href=\"https://content.solanocounty.gov/sites/default/files/2025-05/Solano%20County%20DEIR%20-%204-18-08.pdf\">2008 report\u003c/a>, which designated the area where the shipyard would go as “\u003ca href=\"https://baynature.org/2026/06/16/science-nature/bay/how-would-california-forevers-proposed-solano-shipyard-affect-the-environment-details-are-scant/\">water-dependent industrial usage\u003c/a>.” Most of California Forever’s \u003ca href=\"https://californiaforever.com/shipyard/\">7,500-acre\u003c/a> planned footprint does not have that designation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steinberg told CalMatters the report is sufficient since the site has changed little.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state and county need the ability to say yes now to these numerous opportunities,” he said in a text. A new report, he said, “would require years of additional delay and lost opportunities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the report is outdated, Cabaldon argues.[aside postID=news_12069959 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/20250114_Mare-Island_DMB_00333_qed.jpg']“This is completely different,” he said. “Just the notion that you would just say, ‘We are not going to do any assessments at all and we’ll just rely on this old one’ — that is not consistent with what the public interest is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steinberg and Hertzberg also want the state to require enough housing in the area, but to allow surrounding cities and Solano County to permit local housing developers to build first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if local governments aren’t willing to or cannot build enough housing within the timeline the manufacturer or the shipbuilder wants, Steinberg and Hertzberg’s proposal would allow Suisun City to annex adjacent California Forever-owned county land into its city boundaries — a controversial idea that has \u003ca href=\"https://www.vallejosun.com/activists-call-for-vote-on-california-forevers-suisun-city-expansion-plan/\">drawn fierce local opposition\u003c/a>. The move would be a “last resort,” Steinberg and Hertzberg stressed repeatedly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The annexation would effectively bypass the county’s orderly growth initiative, which requires voters to have a say in development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The shipbuilders and manufacturers need certainty on a much faster timeline,” Steinberg said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cabaldon said the pitch to build new housing to accommodate theoretical jobs is “fantastical,” noting that Saronic, the proposed ship-builder, is a leader in automation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no indication that this is going to generate on an ongoing basis that many jobs, and certainly not more jobs than we have housing for even today without building a single additional unit,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Historic union agreement prompts support\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In January, California Forever announced it had signed a 40-year deal with the Napa/Solano Building Trades Council and Northern California Carpenters Union to use union labor to build its development. The agreement was an important political alliance for CEO Sramek, bringing more influential advocates to the table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Digital Democracy, both the Building Trades Council and the Carpenters Union have given roughly $10 million in direct donations to legislative candidates since 2000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those advocates made themselves heard over the past few weeks, following a Texas county court \u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2026/06/17/saronic-brownsville-port-alpha-california.html\">approving significant tax incentives\u003c/a> to lure Saronic to Brownsville. In a statement, Saronic said its nationwide search is still “active and ongoing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052354\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052354\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250804-CALIFORNIAFOREVERSUISUNCITY-53-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250804-CALIFORNIAFOREVERSUISUNCITY-53-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250804-CALIFORNIAFOREVERSUISUNCITY-53-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250804-CALIFORNIAFOREVERSUISUNCITY-53-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view of the Suisun Slough in Suisun City, Solano County, on Aug. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The California Alliance For Jobs, an alliance of influential construction companies and workers, drafted two letters in quick succession calling for legislative leaders to streamline the California Forever expansion and shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We champed at the bit to go all in to get this project moving, and to get legislation through Sacramento this session,” said Joshua Arce, executive director of the alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suisun City Councilmember Princess Washington, who has consistently been the sole vote on the council against the annexation plan, said she feels organized labor is being used as “political pressure” to win approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Processes are slow, but they’re done that way through government to ensure that it’s being done correctly, that all parties of interest are being treated fairly, and there’s checks and balances,” Washington said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s unheard of for a project to be done as quickly as they want it to be done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, California Forever spokesperson Jim Wunderman said any shipyard project will comply with all California environmental and land use laws. He said county supervisors already approved using the 2008 impact report, and that legislation would allow the group to “meet prospective employers’ timelines.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said by pursuing expansion within Suisun City, California Forever is following the community’s preferences by channeling new growth into existing cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An ongoing presence in the Capitol\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Since 2024, California Forever has spent at least $330,000 lobbying the Legislature and governor’s office on bills and other actions, according to campaign finance records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steinberg and Hertzberg told CalMatters they were hired in April as “special counsel,” not lobbyists, meaning they are spending less than a third of their time talking with public officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grimes, who said he respects Steinberg for leading landmark environmental land use reforms in the Legislature, said he’s disappointed in his advocacy for California Forever, “a project that is antithetical to all of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12011201\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12011201\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A California Forever office in the Solano Town Center mall in Fairfield on April 2, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California Forever reported spending $90,000 lobbying the governor’s office and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, GO-Biz, last year on “federal shipbuilding activities and California business attraction and retention activities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“GO-Biz has discussed relevant state incentive programs with Saronic and explained how they operate,” said GO-Biz spokesperson Willie Rudman. He said the agency does not offer incentive packages to specific companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall though, GO-Biz helped organize a bid for Saronic to settle in Solano County. County staff reported during a board meeting that GO-Biz supported a \u003ca href=\"http://www.thereporter.com/2025/09/03/solano-state-reps-decline-shipyard-legislation-requests/?clearUserState=true\">legislative effort\u003c/a> to override the county’s “orderly growth” law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County supervisors rushed through a proposal to change the boundaries of the Solano Shipyard to comply, but with just days remaining before the end of the legislative session, Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/lori-wilson-165454\">Lori Wilson\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Suisun City, said there wasn’t time to introduce legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Wilson said, the proposal has been on the table, but “nothing’s been requested” of her office by California Forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also urged lawmakers to act fast or risk losing the shipbuilder to Texas last year — a negotiating tactic common in economic development, Cabaldon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12048457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12048457\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1048\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2-160x84.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2-1536x805.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Solano Foundry would be located in an area previously designated for “industry and technology” within the new city. It would also be close to Collinsville, where the company wants to build a shipyard. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Cabaldon argued that Saronic will decide where to place its shipyard based on “defense needs of the United States of America” instead of state incentives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to negotiate with our eyes open.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For the record: This story was corrected to reflect that Joshua Arce is executive director of the California Alliance for Jobs. It was also updated to add that GO-Biz says it does not offer incentive packages to specific companies.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-forever-solano-shipyard-deal/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Following years of local resistance, tech billionaires are turning to the state to fast track their plan to build a new city in the Bay Area. ",
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"title": "Tech Billionaires Hire Democratic Dealmakers in Renewed Push to Build a Bay Area City | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california-forever\">California Forever,\u003c/a> the tech billionaire-backed group that hopes to build a city from scratch on farmland in the outer San Francisco Bay Area, is lobbying state leaders to fast-track a massive shipbuilding deal that would kick-start its development after years of local opposition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The billionaires behind the project are seeking a deal to expedite environmental reviews of the development and, if necessary, bypass county restrictions on building by being absorbed into Suisun City boundaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’ve hired former Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg — Democratic architects of landmark environmental laws — to make their case, and are using the prospect of luring a major shipbuilder to California to accelerate the dealmaking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever has pursued its project for nearly a decade, though the vision has shifted: At first pitched as a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/02/california-forever-promises/\">walkable city\u003c/a> with cottages, bike lanes and even a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/heres-what-a-proposed-california-forever-lagoon-would-look-like/\">water park\u003c/a>, the plan then added a major shipbuilding operation and, last summer, a significant \u003ca href=\"https://www.dailyrepublic.com/business/solano-business/california-forever-marries-new-manufacturing-park-to-travis-shipbuilding-east-solano/article_bfd6f346-0ee7-4492-a08a-b4339439b76b.html\">manufacturing hub\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California Forever’s proponents, led by the state’s powerful building trades union along with realtors, peace officers and pro-housing groups, argue the latest proposal would boost the state’s economy and bring \u003ca href=\"https://www.bayareaeconomy.org/report/suisun-expansion-plan-and-solano-shipyard/\">an estimated\u003c/a> half a million jobs to California. And now, a prospective tenant has emerged: Defense company \u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2026/04/09/saronic-technologies-california-forever-solano.html\">Saronic Technologies, Inc\u003c/a>., which builds autonomous vessels for use in national security, is deciding between California and Texas for its next factory. The state must fast-track the development or lose the deal, supporters argue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The developers are seeking the state’s permission to use an 18-year-old environmental impact report for the shipyard development, limit any legal challenges to the project to 270 days, and allow Suisun City to annex their land if needed, according to Steinberg and Hertzberg.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067288\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067288\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/250513-CALIFORNIAFOREVERANNEXEXPLAINER-17-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/250513-CALIFORNIAFOREVERANNEXEXPLAINER-17-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/250513-CALIFORNIAFOREVERANNEXEXPLAINER-17-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/250513-CALIFORNIAFOREVERANNEXEXPLAINER-17-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The intersection of Highway 12 and Highway 113 in Solano County outside of Suisun City on May 13, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In short, if legislation is not approved, California will lose billions of dollars in investments and tens of thousands of jobs this summer to Texas and other states,” proponents \u003ca href=\"https://www.dailyrepublic.com/news/trades-labor-coalition-ask-state-leaders-to-pony-up-for-california-forever-projects/article_08128859-63cc-4861-b06c-2d3565dd27d3.html\">wrote in a joint letter\u003c/a> to Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some locals and lawmakers are skeptical, arguing that details about the project remain scarce. The proposed development would convert vast farmlands into factories and risk harming the surrounding ecosystem, they said, which deserves rigorous environmental review under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act that proponents are seeking to expedite.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a project this scale in this location, it is what the (law) was designed for,” said Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/christopher-cabaldon-5699\">Christopher Cabaldon\u003c/a>, a Napa Democrat who represents the area. “A central question for the people of Solano County is: Is this going to be for the community or is this a conversion project that leaves them behind?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Opponents also slammed California Forever for pursuing relief behind closed doors with state leaders and circumventing local opposition. Since 2018, the group has secretly bought up agricultural land, \u003ca href=\"https://www.hcn.org/articles/the-california-forever-debate-moves-underground/\">shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars\u003c/a> to court local residents and spent at least $330,000 lobbying the governor and legislative leaders for favorable legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think they know that the only way this actually happens is under cover of darkness, by trying to essentially get the governor to work this plan for them,” said Jordan Grimes, legislative director at Greenbelt Alliance, which has advocated for streamlined environmental reviews for housing projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Secretive beginnings foment distrust\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For residents of Solano County, an agricultural community on the outskirts of the Bay Area that includes coastal areas next to a deep-water shipping lane, the suspicion around California Forever has been hard to shake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The group’s subsidiary, Flannery Associates, started buying up farmland in 2018, eventually acquiring 62,000 acres while routinely refusing to answer questions about its backers. Some farmers later alleged the company used strong-arm tactics to get them to sell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/business/land-purchases-solano-county.html\">Flannery’s backers were unmasked\u003c/a> as a group of wealthy venture capitalists including the founders of LinkedIn and Netscape, all led by former Goldman Sachs trader and real estate developer Jan Sramek.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12048452\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12048452\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1125\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Solano Foundry would be built next to homes within California Forever’s proposed mega-development and would provide space for defense tech, transportation, energy and other advanced manufacturing companies. The company’s announcement comes just a year after it pulled a ballot initiative to build a city from scratch in southeast Solano County. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Marc Andreessen, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, holds investments in both California Forever and Saronic, the defense company eyeing California. Andreessen’s firm did not immediately return a CalMatters inquiry for comment. Despite rocky beginnings, California Forever needed the majority of Solano County voters on its side due to a 1984 “orderly growth” law that requires voters to approve development on unincorporated land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2024, the company debuted the East Solano Plan to rezone 17,500 acres of agricultural land for a dense, 400,000-person city. The proposal was set to go before voters that year, but its backers pulled it following powerful grassroots opposition, \u003ca href=\"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2024/04/08/opposition-groups-poll-shows-majority-reject-new-solano-county-city/?clearUserState=true\">poor polling\u003c/a> and a county assessment that found holes in the plan. Sramek \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook-pm/2024/07/29/how-california-forevers-ballot-initiative-failed-00171735\">acknowledged\u003c/a> the group likely moved too fast and said the initiative would go back before voters in 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, the group has pivoted. The East Solano Plan has become the Suisun Expansion Plan and the Solano Shipyard. In January 2025, Suisun City’s city council directed its manager to explore expanding the city’s limits through annexation, which is now underway, although it could take years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The annexation and the ship building have been a clear way to work around the need for voter support in Solano County,” said Nate Huntington, a member of the grassroots group Solano Together, which formed in response to the secretive land purchases. Huntington pointed out that California Forever hasn’t even submitted a proposal for a shipbuilding facility to the county.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of this has been happening in backrooms of Sacramento, and it’s not been publicly available.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Seeking state environmental relief\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California Forever is now selling the development to the state as a major incentive to lure manufacturers and shipbuilders to California — and the subsequent need for housing to accommodate the promised jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company wants the governor and state lawmakers to cut red tape for the development and require enough housing for the new jobs. Steinberg and Hertzberg told CalMatters they are contemplating legislation to that end, but only after California Forever signs a lease with a manufacturer or shipbuilder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their plan would allow the governor to designate construction on company land as “environmental leadership development projects,” which would effectively require any litigation to be resolved within 270 days. Steinberg authored the state law streamlining that process in 2013.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036285\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036285\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/231205-SolanoCountyFarmers-39-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jan Sramek, CEO of California Forever, speaks during a town hall meeting in Rio Vista on Dec. 5, 2023, for the proposed California city backed by Silicon Valley investors on farmland in eastern Solano County. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://dot.ca.gov/programs/environmental-analysis/standard-environmental-reference-ser/volume-1-guidance-for-compliance/ch-36-environmental-impact-report\">State law\u003c/a> requires government agencies to prepare a report for any project that might have a significant impact on the environment. Instead of assessing the impact of the proposed shipyard, Steinberg and Hertzberg’s proposal would use a \u003ca href=\"https://content.solanocounty.gov/sites/default/files/2025-05/Solano%20County%20DEIR%20-%204-18-08.pdf\">2008 report\u003c/a>, which designated the area where the shipyard would go as “\u003ca href=\"https://baynature.org/2026/06/16/science-nature/bay/how-would-california-forevers-proposed-solano-shipyard-affect-the-environment-details-are-scant/\">water-dependent industrial usage\u003c/a>.” Most of California Forever’s \u003ca href=\"https://californiaforever.com/shipyard/\">7,500-acre\u003c/a> planned footprint does not have that designation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steinberg told CalMatters the report is sufficient since the site has changed little.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state and county need the ability to say yes now to these numerous opportunities,” he said in a text. A new report, he said, “would require years of additional delay and lost opportunities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the report is outdated, Cabaldon argues.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“This is completely different,” he said. “Just the notion that you would just say, ‘We are not going to do any assessments at all and we’ll just rely on this old one’ — that is not consistent with what the public interest is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steinberg and Hertzberg also want the state to require enough housing in the area, but to allow surrounding cities and Solano County to permit local housing developers to build first.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But if local governments aren’t willing to or cannot build enough housing within the timeline the manufacturer or the shipbuilder wants, Steinberg and Hertzberg’s proposal would allow Suisun City to annex adjacent California Forever-owned county land into its city boundaries — a controversial idea that has \u003ca href=\"https://www.vallejosun.com/activists-call-for-vote-on-california-forevers-suisun-city-expansion-plan/\">drawn fierce local opposition\u003c/a>. The move would be a “last resort,” Steinberg and Hertzberg stressed repeatedly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The annexation would effectively bypass the county’s orderly growth initiative, which requires voters to have a say in development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The shipbuilders and manufacturers need certainty on a much faster timeline,” Steinberg said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cabaldon said the pitch to build new housing to accommodate theoretical jobs is “fantastical,” noting that Saronic, the proposed ship-builder, is a leader in automation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no indication that this is going to generate on an ongoing basis that many jobs, and certainly not more jobs than we have housing for even today without building a single additional unit,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Historic union agreement prompts support\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In January, California Forever announced it had signed a 40-year deal with the Napa/Solano Building Trades Council and Northern California Carpenters Union to use union labor to build its development. The agreement was an important political alliance for CEO Sramek, bringing more influential advocates to the table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Digital Democracy, both the Building Trades Council and the Carpenters Union have given roughly $10 million in direct donations to legislative candidates since 2000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those advocates made themselves heard over the past few weeks, following a Texas county court \u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2026/06/17/saronic-brownsville-port-alpha-california.html\">approving significant tax incentives\u003c/a> to lure Saronic to Brownsville. In a statement, Saronic said its nationwide search is still “active and ongoing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12052354\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12052354\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250804-CALIFORNIAFOREVERSUISUNCITY-53-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250804-CALIFORNIAFOREVERSUISUNCITY-53-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250804-CALIFORNIAFOREVERSUISUNCITY-53-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250804-CALIFORNIAFOREVERSUISUNCITY-53-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An aerial view of the Suisun Slough in Suisun City, Solano County, on Aug. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The California Alliance For Jobs, an alliance of influential construction companies and workers, drafted two letters in quick succession calling for legislative leaders to streamline the California Forever expansion and shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We champed at the bit to go all in to get this project moving, and to get legislation through Sacramento this session,” said Joshua Arce, executive director of the alliance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Suisun City Councilmember Princess Washington, who has consistently been the sole vote on the council against the annexation plan, said she feels organized labor is being used as “political pressure” to win approval.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Processes are slow, but they’re done that way through government to ensure that it’s being done correctly, that all parties of interest are being treated fairly, and there’s checks and balances,” Washington said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s unheard of for a project to be done as quickly as they want it to be done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement, California Forever spokesperson Jim Wunderman said any shipyard project will comply with all California environmental and land use laws. He said county supervisors already approved using the 2008 impact report, and that legislation would allow the group to “meet prospective employers’ timelines.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said by pursuing expansion within Suisun City, California Forever is following the community’s preferences by channeling new growth into existing cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An ongoing presence in the Capitol\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Since 2024, California Forever has spent at least $330,000 lobbying the Legislature and governor’s office on bills and other actions, according to campaign finance records.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steinberg and Hertzberg told CalMatters they were hired in April as “special counsel,” not lobbyists, meaning they are spending less than a third of their time talking with public officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grimes, who said he respects Steinberg for leading landmark environmental land use reforms in the Legislature, said he’s disappointed in his advocacy for California Forever, “a project that is antithetical to all of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12011201\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12011201\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/240502-CaliforniaForever-10-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A California Forever office in the Solano Town Center mall in Fairfield on April 2, 2024. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California Forever reported spending $90,000 lobbying the governor’s office and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, GO-Biz, last year on “federal shipbuilding activities and California business attraction and retention activities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“GO-Biz has discussed relevant state incentive programs with Saronic and explained how they operate,” said GO-Biz spokesperson Willie Rudman. He said the agency does not offer incentive packages to specific companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall though, GO-Biz helped organize a bid for Saronic to settle in Solano County. County staff reported during a board meeting that GO-Biz supported a \u003ca href=\"http://www.thereporter.com/2025/09/03/solano-state-reps-decline-shipyard-legislation-requests/?clearUserState=true\">legislative effort\u003c/a> to override the county’s “orderly growth” law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>County supervisors rushed through a proposal to change the boundaries of the Solano Shipyard to comply, but with just days remaining before the end of the legislative session, Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/lori-wilson-165454\">Lori Wilson\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Suisun City, said there wasn’t time to introduce legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, Wilson said, the proposal has been on the table, but “nothing’s been requested” of her office by California Forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company also urged lawmakers to act fast or risk losing the shipbuilder to Texas last year — a negotiating tactic common in economic development, Cabaldon said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12048457\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12048457\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1048\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2-160x84.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/CAForever2-1536x805.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Solano Foundry would be located in an area previously designated for “industry and technology” within the new city. It would also be close to Collinsville, where the company wants to build a shipyard. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of California Forever)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Cabaldon argued that Saronic will decide where to place its shipyard based on “defense needs of the United States of America” instead of state incentives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to negotiate with our eyes open.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>For the record: This story was corrected to reflect that Joshua Arce is executive director of the California Alliance for Jobs. It was also updated to add that GO-Biz says it does not offer incentive packages to specific companies.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-forever-solano-shipyard-deal/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "california-gave-every-student-in-prison-a-laptop-how-community-colleges-are-using-them",
"title": "California Gave Every Student in Prison a Laptop. How Community Colleges Are Using Them",
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"headTitle": "California Gave Every Student in Prison a Laptop. How Community Colleges Are Using Them | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>, every incarcerated individual taking a college course now has a tool those of us on the outside take for granted: a laptop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past three years, the prison system spent $23.2 million to distribute 30,000 laptops to all incarcerated students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost half of those went to the 13,000 inmates enrolled in community college, who are increasingly doing their coursework online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The growth of online learning marks a shift away from correspondence courses, where inmates receive assignments in physical packets, fill them out, and mail them back to colleges, with limited feedback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some community colleges still offer those types of courses, the laptops are starting to replace the packets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, students and faculty alike debate whether online courses are as effective as in-person courses. Some teachers say online options reduce disruptions when students have to miss class due to court hearings or prison lockdowns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088391\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088391\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_13_CM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_13_CM.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_13_CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_13_CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Project Rebound study room at Cal State Northridge on May 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jules Hotz for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some students say they prefer in-person courses because they can build invaluable connections. In either mode of learning, inmates say using laptops helps them prepare for life on the outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more we understand about today’s world, the better we’ll be equipped to get out into the workforce as things continue to change,” incarcerated student Richard Moye said in an interview. “We don’t want to get left behind. … Tech literacy is of the utmost importance behind prison walls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Online courses could increase enrollment\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2024, the state Legislative Analyst’s Office \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2024/4913/CC-Programs-State-Prisons-070124.pdf\">recommended\u003c/a> improving the California Community Colleges’ prison education program, called Rising Scholars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislature’s spending and policy adviser recommended addressing limited classroom space by offering more online courses. The office also suggested Rising Scholars prioritize enrollment for students still pursuing their first degrees, to allow for greater student access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, 104 of the 116 community colleges in the state partner with prisons to provide courses and degree programs. According to data tracked by the community colleges, over 21,000 courses took place in prisons during fall 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088394\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088394\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_18_CM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_18_CM.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_18_CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_18_CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Garret Eiferman, a graduate student, uses one of the computers inside the Project Rebound study room at Cal State Northridge on May 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jules Hotz for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Twenty colleges offer courses in person, with a faculty member commuting to the prison to teach the course. The rest teach courses either online or, with diminishing frequency, via mail correspondence, according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The true number of online versus mail correspondence courses taken by incarcerated community college students is unknown. While community colleges have the option to track courses using the data labels “correspondence” or “text one-way,” there is no consistency as far as which ones they use, according to the Chancellor’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In-person classes can be difficult to get into because of enrollment caps and limited classroom space. The average in-person course generally ranges from 18 to 40 students.[aside postID=news_12087201 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CollegeGraduationGetty.jpg']Many colleges enroll students on a first-come, first-served basis, enabling people on their second or third degree to “crowd out” those on their first degree, according to Orlando Sanchez Zavala, a policy analyst for the Legislative Analyst’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez Zavala said prioritizing enrollment for people pursuing their first degree would have the most impact on lowering recidivism rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaving prison with a degree can make parolees eligible for a wider range of jobs, and more prepared to enter the workforce, reducing their likelihood of reoffending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the prison system’s recidivism report, during the 2018-2019 fiscal year, those who earned an associate’s degree while incarcerated had a 8.5% conviction rate in the three years after getting out, compared to a 41.9% conviction rate for all individuals released that same year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez Zavala also suggested utilizing correspondence and online classes to open more courses with lower enrollment caps, allowing more incarcerated people to access community college.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Incarcerated students face multiple barriers\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For in-person courses, a major challenge is finding classroom space in prisons. Though prisons have classrooms, they are also used for other programming and group meetings. Sometimes, classes take place in gyms or dining areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Bruno Martinez, 40, said he struggled to get into classes when he was incarcerated at high-security facilities, where institution-wide lockdowns sometimes interrupted learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Formerly incarcerated student Garret Eiferman, 56, said he found that prison correctional officers were not always amenable to helping incarcerated students complete degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054782\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054782\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guard towers outside Kern Valley State Prison on Nov. 15, 2022. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters via CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He had to build relationships with officers so he could use the classrooms past 7 p.m., and, at times, even convince officers to allow his classmates to leave their buildings to attend class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He cited other obstacles to his instruction as well, including out-of-date textbooks with the hard covers ripped off for safety reasons, little to no feedback on his correspondence coursework, and challenges balancing work and other prison programs with classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though he didn’t take any online-only courses when he was in prison, Eiferman said he can see the benefits for students as they grapple with the obstacles he went through trying to take in-person courses.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Online courses improve tech literacy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The new laptops offer much to the inmates: education, enrichment, and — for those who will go free one day — future employment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Moye, online education is important for technology literacy. Moye, 44, has been incarcerated for 16 years and takes courses online and in-person through Solano Community College at California Medical Facility in Vacaville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moye said a lack of emphasis on tech literacy in prisons is a “disservice to this community” as jobs on the outside require applicants to be skilled at using computers and other tech. Online learning is closing this gap for incarcerated people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088395\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088395\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_23_CM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_23_CM.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_23_CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_23_CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graduate student Garret Eiferman at Cal State Northridge campus on May 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jules Hotz for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Students and teachers told CalMatters they now complete much of their coursework and grading through the online learning site Canvas, which is used across the state’s higher education systems for assigning and submitting work, as well as messaging between students and instructors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Isela Ocegueda is the vice president of instruction at Coastline College and teaches an online English course to incarcerated students. She says using Canvas streamlines an incarcerated student’s transition from school on the inside to school on the outside. At her college, 80% of instruction is online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until 2023, Coastline College provided courses in prisons through mail-in correspondence. The college calls its new online format “Canvas-supported correspondence.” Ocegueda says the online format allows instructors to offer more creative assignments and thorough feedback. Her first assignment to her English class last semester was a journal entry, in which she asked students to introduce themselves and tell her how she can help them throughout the class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The class final is a research paper, on which Ocegueda can give instant feedback and edits to students who can turn in multiple drafts, which was nearly impossible through snail-mail correspondence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Imagine just trying to receive essays in the mail and then make your corrections and then send them back,” Ocegueda said. “That was really hard to do in the mail version of correspondence. … Canvas-supported correspondence allows more for that writing process to actually happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Obstacles to online instruction\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While major improvements to Wi-Fi connectivity and research materials for inmate coursework have been made, there are still obstacles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wi-Fi access varies from prison to prison, and it can often take up to a week for students to get reading materials approved by prison librarians for them to access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students at Pelican Bay State Prison in Del Norte County and California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County say they can’t access Canvas in their cells due to a lack of Wi-Fi, while students at Folsom State Prison and San Quentin Rehabilitation Center say they are able to complete coursework from their cells, where the Wi-Fi is strong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992341\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992341\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A watchtower at a prison, with prison walls and barbed wire in the foreground.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A watch tower at California State Prison, Sacramento, on April 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to a state prison system spokesperson, inmates have Wi-Fi access in the housing units at all but four state prisons. All prisons have Wi-Fi in education areas and classrooms, though signal strength may vary, according to the spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in prisons \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/08/prison-education/\">reported\u003c/a> to CalMatters last year ongoing challenges with Wi-Fi and limited access to research materials, with some wishing they could do a simple Google search for information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Solano College English professor Ben Brookeshire’s main teaching challenge is delay in students accessing what he calls the “information space.” Some documents his students might need to explore on digital research libraries require approval from prison librarians.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>In-person courses boost engagement\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Eiferman, now a Cal State Northridge graduate student, did most of his in-prison coursework via correspondence courses from Palo Verde and Coastline colleges from 2009 to 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eiferman holds an associate in arts, an associate in science and a business certificate from his time incarcerated. He was also pursuing a U.S. history degree when he paroled in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bulk of my interaction with professors during the degree completion was very minimal. It’s distance learning, so that means it’s all done with an envelope and a stamp, and feedback was never a thing,” Eiferman said. “It was extremely challenging to transfer out here to the university, thinking that I knew stuff that I didn’t or stuff that I knew that needed to be retaught and relearned correctly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088396\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088396\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2230923952.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2230923952.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2230923952-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2230923952-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California State University, Northridge on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. \u003ccite>(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eiferman took his first in-person course through Bakersfield College at Golden State Community Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in the southern San Joaquin Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a math class, a subject he had always struggled with, but Eiferman said he had “aha moments” and was even able to help teach his fellow students. He said he took people “under his wings” to conduct “spirit building” and encourage them to stay in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moye said in-person classes allow students to more clearly understand teachers’ expectations. They also offer group interaction, peer support, tutoring and collaboration on class assignments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data tracked by the community college system indicates a 77% success rate for internet-based and correspondence instruction, and an 85% success rate for in-person instruction, for incarcerated students in spring 2025.[aside postID=news_12086323 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250923-ASPIRE-SAFETY-CONDITIONS-MD-02-KQED-1.jpg']“Success” means the student earned a C or higher, or a “pass” in non-letter graded courses. Incarcerated students have a success rate 10% higher than community college students overall in in-person courses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m a fan of in-person learning,” Moye said. “That’s my favorite style of learning, because to me, it resembles most what’s going on in society. If we’re trying to prepare incarcerated men and women for society, we have to have it look as much like society as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brookeshire said he has seen his peers debate the merits of online versus in-person courses in the prisons. He said he knows online courses are inevitable, but he strictly teaches in person because it’s the best way for him to connect with students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m very passionate,” Brookshire said. “I really believe there’s magic in a classroom, and I really believe that face-to-face instruction is irreplaceable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Joe Garcia contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ella Carter-Klauschie is a contributor with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2026/06/california-community-college-prisons-laptops-online-classes/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>, every incarcerated individual taking a college course now has a tool those of us on the outside take for granted: a laptop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the past three years, the prison system spent $23.2 million to distribute 30,000 laptops to all incarcerated students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost half of those went to the 13,000 inmates enrolled in community college, who are increasingly doing their coursework online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The growth of online learning marks a shift away from correspondence courses, where inmates receive assignments in physical packets, fill them out, and mail them back to colleges, with limited feedback.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While some community colleges still offer those types of courses, the laptops are starting to replace the packets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, students and faculty alike debate whether online courses are as effective as in-person courses. Some teachers say online options reduce disruptions when students have to miss class due to court hearings or prison lockdowns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088391\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088391\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_13_CM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_13_CM.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_13_CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_13_CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Project Rebound study room at Cal State Northridge on May 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jules Hotz for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some students say they prefer in-person courses because they can build invaluable connections. In either mode of learning, inmates say using laptops helps them prepare for life on the outside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more we understand about today’s world, the better we’ll be equipped to get out into the workforce as things continue to change,” incarcerated student Richard Moye said in an interview. “We don’t want to get left behind. … Tech literacy is of the utmost importance behind prison walls.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Online courses could increase enrollment\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2024, the state Legislative Analyst’s Office \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2024/4913/CC-Programs-State-Prisons-070124.pdf\">recommended\u003c/a> improving the California Community Colleges’ prison education program, called Rising Scholars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislature’s spending and policy adviser recommended addressing limited classroom space by offering more online courses. The office also suggested Rising Scholars prioritize enrollment for students still pursuing their first degrees, to allow for greater student access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, 104 of the 116 community colleges in the state partner with prisons to provide courses and degree programs. According to data tracked by the community colleges, over 21,000 courses took place in prisons during fall 2025.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088394\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088394\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_18_CM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_18_CM.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_18_CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_18_CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Garret Eiferman, a graduate student, uses one of the computers inside the Project Rebound study room at Cal State Northridge on May 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jules Hotz for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Twenty colleges offer courses in person, with a faculty member commuting to the prison to teach the course. The rest teach courses either online or, with diminishing frequency, via mail correspondence, according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The true number of online versus mail correspondence courses taken by incarcerated community college students is unknown. While community colleges have the option to track courses using the data labels “correspondence” or “text one-way,” there is no consistency as far as which ones they use, according to the Chancellor’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In-person classes can be difficult to get into because of enrollment caps and limited classroom space. The average in-person course generally ranges from 18 to 40 students.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Many colleges enroll students on a first-come, first-served basis, enabling people on their second or third degree to “crowd out” those on their first degree, according to Orlando Sanchez Zavala, a policy analyst for the Legislative Analyst’s Office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez Zavala said prioritizing enrollment for people pursuing their first degree would have the most impact on lowering recidivism rates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leaving prison with a degree can make parolees eligible for a wider range of jobs, and more prepared to enter the workforce, reducing their likelihood of reoffending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the prison system’s recidivism report, during the 2018-2019 fiscal year, those who earned an associate’s degree while incarcerated had a 8.5% conviction rate in the three years after getting out, compared to a 41.9% conviction rate for all individuals released that same year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sanchez Zavala also suggested utilizing correspondence and online classes to open more courses with lower enrollment caps, allowing more incarcerated people to access community college.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Incarcerated students face multiple barriers\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For in-person courses, a major challenge is finding classroom space in prisons. Though prisons have classrooms, they are also used for other programming and group meetings. Sometimes, classes take place in gyms or dining areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joseph Bruno Martinez, 40, said he struggled to get into classes when he was incarcerated at high-security facilities, where institution-wide lockdowns sometimes interrupted learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Formerly incarcerated student Garret Eiferman, 56, said he found that prison correctional officers were not always amenable to helping incarcerated students complete degrees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12054782\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12054782\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/PrisonHeatCM1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guard towers outside Kern Valley State Prison on Nov. 15, 2022. \u003ccite>(Larry Valenzuela/CalMatters via CatchLight Local)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He had to build relationships with officers so he could use the classrooms past 7 p.m., and, at times, even convince officers to allow his classmates to leave their buildings to attend class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He cited other obstacles to his instruction as well, including out-of-date textbooks with the hard covers ripped off for safety reasons, little to no feedback on his correspondence coursework, and challenges balancing work and other prison programs with classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though he didn’t take any online-only courses when he was in prison, Eiferman said he can see the benefits for students as they grapple with the obstacles he went through trying to take in-person courses.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Online courses improve tech literacy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The new laptops offer much to the inmates: education, enrichment, and — for those who will go free one day — future employment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Moye, online education is important for technology literacy. Moye, 44, has been incarcerated for 16 years and takes courses online and in-person through Solano Community College at California Medical Facility in Vacaville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moye said a lack of emphasis on tech literacy in prisons is a “disservice to this community” as jobs on the outside require applicants to be skilled at using computers and other tech. Online learning is closing this gap for incarcerated people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088395\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088395\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_23_CM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_23_CM.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_23_CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/052626_Project-Rebound_JAH_23_CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graduate student Garret Eiferman at Cal State Northridge campus on May 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jules Hotz for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Students and teachers told CalMatters they now complete much of their coursework and grading through the online learning site Canvas, which is used across the state’s higher education systems for assigning and submitting work, as well as messaging between students and instructors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Isela Ocegueda is the vice president of instruction at Coastline College and teaches an online English course to incarcerated students. She says using Canvas streamlines an incarcerated student’s transition from school on the inside to school on the outside. At her college, 80% of instruction is online.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until 2023, Coastline College provided courses in prisons through mail-in correspondence. The college calls its new online format “Canvas-supported correspondence.” Ocegueda says the online format allows instructors to offer more creative assignments and thorough feedback. Her first assignment to her English class last semester was a journal entry, in which she asked students to introduce themselves and tell her how she can help them throughout the class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The class final is a research paper, on which Ocegueda can give instant feedback and edits to students who can turn in multiple drafts, which was nearly impossible through snail-mail correspondence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Imagine just trying to receive essays in the mail and then make your corrections and then send them back,” Ocegueda said. “That was really hard to do in the mail version of correspondence. … Canvas-supported correspondence allows more for that writing process to actually happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Obstacles to online instruction\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While major improvements to Wi-Fi connectivity and research materials for inmate coursework have been made, there are still obstacles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wi-Fi access varies from prison to prison, and it can often take up to a week for students to get reading materials approved by prison librarians for them to access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students at Pelican Bay State Prison in Del Norte County and California Institution for Women in San Bernardino County say they can’t access Canvas in their cells due to a lack of Wi-Fi, while students at Folsom State Prison and San Quentin Rehabilitation Center say they are able to complete coursework from their cells, where the Wi-Fi is strong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992341\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992341\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"A watchtower at a prison, with prison walls and barbed wire in the foreground.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/006_KQED_NEWFOLSOMPRISONSACRAMENTO_04132023-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A watch tower at California State Prison, Sacramento, on April 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>According to a state prison system spokesperson, inmates have Wi-Fi access in the housing units at all but four state prisons. All prisons have Wi-Fi in education areas and classrooms, though signal strength may vary, according to the spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some students pursuing bachelor’s degrees in prisons \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/08/prison-education/\">reported\u003c/a> to CalMatters last year ongoing challenges with Wi-Fi and limited access to research materials, with some wishing they could do a simple Google search for information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Solano College English professor Ben Brookeshire’s main teaching challenge is delay in students accessing what he calls the “information space.” Some documents his students might need to explore on digital research libraries require approval from prison librarians.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>In-person courses boost engagement\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Eiferman, now a Cal State Northridge graduate student, did most of his in-prison coursework via correspondence courses from Palo Verde and Coastline colleges from 2009 to 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eiferman holds an associate in arts, an associate in science and a business certificate from his time incarcerated. He was also pursuing a U.S. history degree when he paroled in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bulk of my interaction with professors during the degree completion was very minimal. It’s distance learning, so that means it’s all done with an envelope and a stamp, and feedback was never a thing,” Eiferman said. “It was extremely challenging to transfer out here to the university, thinking that I knew stuff that I didn’t or stuff that I knew that needed to be retaught and relearned correctly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12088396\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12088396\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2230923952.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2230923952.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2230923952-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2230923952-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California State University, Northridge on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. \u003ccite>(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Eiferman took his first in-person course through Bakersfield College at Golden State Community Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in the southern San Joaquin Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a math class, a subject he had always struggled with, but Eiferman said he had “aha moments” and was even able to help teach his fellow students. He said he took people “under his wings” to conduct “spirit building” and encourage them to stay in class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moye said in-person classes allow students to more clearly understand teachers’ expectations. They also offer group interaction, peer support, tutoring and collaboration on class assignments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Data tracked by the community college system indicates a 77% success rate for internet-based and correspondence instruction, and an 85% success rate for in-person instruction, for incarcerated students in spring 2025.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Success” means the student earned a C or higher, or a “pass” in non-letter graded courses. Incarcerated students have a success rate 10% higher than community college students overall in in-person courses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m a fan of in-person learning,” Moye said. “That’s my favorite style of learning, because to me, it resembles most what’s going on in society. If we’re trying to prepare incarcerated men and women for society, we have to have it look as much like society as possible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brookeshire said he has seen his peers debate the merits of online versus in-person courses in the prisons. He said he knows online courses are inevitable, but he strictly teaches in person because it’s the best way for him to connect with students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m very passionate,” Brookshire said. “I really believe there’s magic in a classroom, and I really believe that face-to-face instruction is irreplaceable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Joe Garcia contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Ella Carter-Klauschie is a contributor with the College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journalists from across California. CalMatters higher education coverage is supported by a grant from the College Futures Foundation.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2026/06/california-community-college-prisons-laptops-online-classes/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "newsom-promised-to-help-californians-build-new-careers-now-the-money-is-running-out",
"title": "Newsom Promised to Help Californians Build New Careers. Now, the Money is Running Out",
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"headTitle": "Newsom Promised to Help Californians Build New Careers. Now, the Money is Running Out | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing in a West Sacramento \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l0Rs93LKuI\">high school cafeteria\u003c/a> in 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> promised fundamental reforms to the state’s job training programs. A few months later, he was in front of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpMC6yHOV_4\">a fire truck in Modesto\u003c/a>, and later, in\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG5InB3qU9Q&t=3628s\"> a welding classroom\u003c/a> in Redding, making the same promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/04/career-education/\">point of pride\u003c/a>,” Newsom said last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a handful of those reforms are underway. A new inter-agency council, designed to increase collaboration among workforce providers, is meeting next week. The state is also developing a new kind of \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/06/17/californias-career-passport-to-connect-qualified-workers-to-employment-with-or-without-a-four-year-degree/\">digital resume\u003c/a> that would help students and workers consolidate information about their work experience and education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as the state faces yet another budget deficit, a flagship workforce program could be forced to scale back. One of the state’s leading agencies for coordinating workforce training, the California Workforce Development Board, could lose 20% of its staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the governor’s budget proposal for 2026-27 fiscal year, several workforce programs, including the governor’s \u003ca href=\"https://cwdb.ca.gov/cwdb-home/our-programs/high-road-programs/high-road-training-partnerships/\">“high road training partnerships\u003c/a>,” would receive little or no new funding, meaning that they could shut down by the time the next governor assumes office or soon thereafter. The Legislature has already passed a budget that largely accepts Newsom’s proposals, and the governor has until the end of the month to approve it. Some job training organizations criticized the governor’s proposal to withhold new funding this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At a time when affordability is such a massive concern, it feels like we’re focusing on what things cost and not enough on what people can earn,” said Julia Hatton, the president of the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, told CalMatters. Her organization trains workers for jobs in construction and climate-related careers and has received nearly $4 million in state workforce grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087658\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087658\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (left) looks on during an election night gathering at the California Democrats headquarters on Nov. 4, 2025, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, in a legislative hearing in April, Allison Hewitt, a budget analyst with California’s Department of Finance said the state is still committed to workforce development and that the board’s budget isn’t being cut, just that it isn’t receiving new funding. The workforce development board received a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/279461#t=2476&f=c90f5001889cb947a92f8d013b87727d\">“surge”\u003c/a> of grants over the past few years, and those dollars have been spent so less funding is available this year, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That did not sit well with at least one legislator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, you can say that all you want,” said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/maria-elena-durazo-165445\">Sen. María Elena Durazo\u003c/a>, a Los Angeles Democrat, in response. “But if we’re not proposing funding for that … then you’re basically saying this is gonna be the new policy. The bottom line is without funding, it’s not a reality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement to CalMatters, Marissa Saldivar, a spokesperson for the governor, said Newsom’s workforce plan focuses on “structural changes to benefit students, which does not always require funding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for California’s Department of Finance, responded in the same email, saying that the current budget proposes over $250 million in new workforce funds, including in healthcare and construction. By comparison, the state put over $2.2 billion into new workforce grants in the 2022-23 budget year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Have workforce programs succeeded?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For decades, states and the federal government have pumped money into job training programs, especially for low-income workers without college degrees, but the results \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/resource-library/providing-public-workforce-services-job-seekers-30-month-impact-findings-wia-adult\">are often poor\u003c/a>. Graduates end up earning minimum-wage or landing in jobs \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2024/08/for-profit-schools-california-jobs/\">with low retention\u003c/a>, where many workers quit within the first year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To improve outcomes, California created the high road training partnerships to target job training programs that yield long-lasting, living-wage employment where the employer, not just the government, has a stake in the worker’s professional growth. Starting around 2014, the state put a small amount of money into these programs, said Stewart Knox, the secretary of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055465\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055465\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Valero Benicia Refinery in Benicia, on May 8, 2025, which processes up to 170,000 barrels of oil a day, making gasoline, diesel, and other fuels for California. Valero plans to shut down the Benicia refinery by April 2026, citing high costs and strict environmental rules. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2021 and 2022, the state made “massive investments in the workforce,” he said, pumping hundreds of millions into high-road programs all across the state, including in construction, healthcare, technology and in public sector jobs. The state sent money to current and former oil workers to help them retrain for careers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/10/refinery-workers-california/\">when refineries close\u003c/a>. It also sent money to youth apprenticeship programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Results have been\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/02/workforce-training/\"> mixed\u003c/a>. In the high-road program, some grants helped train hundreds or thousands of workers for union jobs while other grants created few concrete benefits for workers. One grant was supposed to train workers at the electric vehicle company Proterra, but the company closed before workers could begin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/rick-chavez-zbur-165429\">Rick Chavez Zbur\u003c/a>, a Los Angeles Democrat, is proposing \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2634\">a bill\u003c/a> to further restrict how the high-road money is used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out of the roughly 1,700 oil workers who could benefit from the state’s retraining grants, only about 500 participated as of May, according to a bill analysis. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2157\">That bill\u003c/a>, authored by San Rafael Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/damon-connolly-165425\">Damon Connolly,\u003c/a> a Democrat, would give grantees more time to spend the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A ‘master plan’ for career education\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2023, Newsom’s workforce plans culminated with \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/8.31.23-Career-Education-Executive-Order.pdf\">an executive order\u003c/a> calling for the creation of a master plan for career education that would create a “new foundation” for the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-CA-Master-Plan-for-Career-Education.pdf\">The plan\u003c/a>, released in 2025, called for better coordination among the state’s workforce providers, who \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/09/trade-schools-job-training-california/\">often compete for the same students.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The master plan also called for more high-road job training programs and highlighted ongoing work supporting youth apprentices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080557\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080557\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Caltrans worker adjusts construction cones as traffic comes to a slow on I-80 eastbound in San Francisco on Saturday, April 18, 2026. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re definitely not done. We’re kind of mid-stage,” said Knox. “What you’re seeing is a little less money, yes, in terms of programs, but that’s because we did such massive investments from 2021 on into the system (and) those outcomes now are what we’re focused on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knox pointed to outcomes from the master plan, including the growth of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/05/middle-school-california/\">dual enrollment,\u003c/a> which allows high school students to take college classes. The state is also helping thousands more students get \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/02/college-credit-california/\">college credit for their prior work experience\u003c/a>, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palmer, with the state’s Department of Finance, said in an email that the current proposal from the Legislature includes more funding both for dual enrollment and to help college students get credit for their work experience.[aside postID=news_12087559 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CaliforniaSealCM.jpg']Those funding allocations, however, come from a different pot of money, known as Proposition 98, which is largely restricted to education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Shirley Ware Education Center, a national job training nonprofit founded in Oakland, was among the earliest and largest recipients of the high-road training grants, which it used to help over 5,500 workers find better jobs, mostly in the healthcare industry. All told, the organization received more than $40 million in state workforce dollars starting in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the state was flush with cash, they put a lot of money into these programs,” said Rebecca Hanson, the executive director. Now, she said the state budget deficit makes it “hard to argue” for increased funding, especially when so many other core services are\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-budget-legislature-deal/\"> facing cuts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hanson’s high-road workforce grant ends in 2027, but even then, she said she isn’t too worried, since her organization has other funding and is used to these fluctuations in state support. “My hope is that by the time we’re talking about 2028, we’ll be able to find other money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/06/workforce-funding/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Newsom Promised to Help Californians Build New Careers. Now, the Money is Running Out | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Standing in a West Sacramento \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l0Rs93LKuI\">high school cafeteria\u003c/a> in 2023, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> promised fundamental reforms to the state’s job training programs. A few months later, he was in front of \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpMC6yHOV_4\">a fire truck in Modesto\u003c/a>, and later, in\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG5InB3qU9Q&t=3628s\"> a welding classroom\u003c/a> in Redding, making the same promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/04/career-education/\">point of pride\u003c/a>,” Newsom said last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, a handful of those reforms are underway. A new inter-agency council, designed to increase collaboration among workforce providers, is meeting next week. The state is also developing a new kind of \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/06/17/californias-career-passport-to-connect-qualified-workers-to-employment-with-or-without-a-four-year-degree/\">digital resume\u003c/a> that would help students and workers consolidate information about their work experience and education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as the state faces yet another budget deficit, a flagship workforce program could be forced to scale back. One of the state’s leading agencies for coordinating workforce training, the California Workforce Development Board, could lose 20% of its staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the governor’s budget proposal for 2026-27 fiscal year, several workforce programs, including the governor’s \u003ca href=\"https://cwdb.ca.gov/cwdb-home/our-programs/high-road-programs/high-road-training-partnerships/\">“high road training partnerships\u003c/a>,” would receive little or no new funding, meaning that they could shut down by the time the next governor assumes office or soon thereafter. The Legislature has already passed a budget that largely accepts Newsom’s proposals, and the governor has until the end of the month to approve it. Some job training organizations criticized the governor’s proposal to withhold new funding this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At a time when affordability is such a massive concern, it feels like we’re focusing on what things cost and not enough on what people can earn,” said Julia Hatton, the president of the Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, told CalMatters. Her organization trains workers for jobs in construction and climate-related careers and has received nearly $4 million in state workforce grants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087658\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087658\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (left) looks on during an election night gathering at the California Democrats headquarters on Nov. 4, 2025, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, in a legislative hearing in April, Allison Hewitt, a budget analyst with California’s Department of Finance said the state is still committed to workforce development and that the board’s budget isn’t being cut, just that it isn’t receiving new funding. The workforce development board received a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/hearings/279461#t=2476&f=c90f5001889cb947a92f8d013b87727d\">“surge”\u003c/a> of grants over the past few years, and those dollars have been spent so less funding is available this year, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That did not sit well with at least one legislator.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I mean, you can say that all you want,” said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/maria-elena-durazo-165445\">Sen. María Elena Durazo\u003c/a>, a Los Angeles Democrat, in response. “But if we’re not proposing funding for that … then you’re basically saying this is gonna be the new policy. The bottom line is without funding, it’s not a reality.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an emailed statement to CalMatters, Marissa Saldivar, a spokesperson for the governor, said Newsom’s workforce plan focuses on “structural changes to benefit students, which does not always require funding.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for California’s Department of Finance, responded in the same email, saying that the current budget proposes over $250 million in new workforce funds, including in healthcare and construction. By comparison, the state put over $2.2 billion into new workforce grants in the 2022-23 budget year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Have workforce programs succeeded?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>For decades, states and the federal government have pumped money into job training programs, especially for low-income workers without college degrees, but the results \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/resource-library/providing-public-workforce-services-job-seekers-30-month-impact-findings-wia-adult\">are often poor\u003c/a>. Graduates end up earning minimum-wage or landing in jobs \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/2024/08/for-profit-schools-california-jobs/\">with low retention\u003c/a>, where many workers quit within the first year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To improve outcomes, California created the high road training partnerships to target job training programs that yield long-lasting, living-wage employment where the employer, not just the government, has a stake in the worker’s professional growth. Starting around 2014, the state put a small amount of money into these programs, said Stewart Knox, the secretary of California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055465\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055465\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/250509-BeniciaRefinery-31-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Valero Benicia Refinery in Benicia, on May 8, 2025, which processes up to 170,000 barrels of oil a day, making gasoline, diesel, and other fuels for California. Valero plans to shut down the Benicia refinery by April 2026, citing high costs and strict environmental rules. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2021 and 2022, the state made “massive investments in the workforce,” he said, pumping hundreds of millions into high-road programs all across the state, including in construction, healthcare, technology and in public sector jobs. The state sent money to current and former oil workers to help them retrain for careers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2025/10/refinery-workers-california/\">when refineries close\u003c/a>. It also sent money to youth apprenticeship programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Results have been\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/02/workforce-training/\"> mixed\u003c/a>. In the high-road program, some grants helped train hundreds or thousands of workers for union jobs while other grants created few concrete benefits for workers. One grant was supposed to train workers at the electric vehicle company Proterra, but the company closed before workers could begin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/rick-chavez-zbur-165429\">Rick Chavez Zbur\u003c/a>, a Los Angeles Democrat, is proposing \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2634\">a bill\u003c/a> to further restrict how the high-road money is used.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Out of the roughly 1,700 oil workers who could benefit from the state’s retraining grants, only about 500 participated as of May, according to a bill analysis. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2157\">That bill\u003c/a>, authored by San Rafael Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/damon-connolly-165425\">Damon Connolly,\u003c/a> a Democrat, would give grantees more time to spend the money.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A ‘master plan’ for career education\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In 2023, Newsom’s workforce plans culminated with \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/8.31.23-Career-Education-Executive-Order.pdf\">an executive order\u003c/a> calling for the creation of a master plan for career education that would create a “new foundation” for the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-CA-Master-Plan-for-Career-Education.pdf\">The plan\u003c/a>, released in 2025, called for better coordination among the state’s workforce providers, who \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/2024/09/trade-schools-job-training-california/\">often compete for the same students.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The master plan also called for more high-road job training programs and highlighted ongoing work supporting youth apprentices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080557\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080557\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Caltrans worker adjusts construction cones as traffic comes to a slow on I-80 eastbound in San Francisco on Saturday, April 18, 2026. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We’re definitely not done. We’re kind of mid-stage,” said Knox. “What you’re seeing is a little less money, yes, in terms of programs, but that’s because we did such massive investments from 2021 on into the system (and) those outcomes now are what we’re focused on.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Knox pointed to outcomes from the master plan, including the growth of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/k-12-education/2025/05/middle-school-california/\">dual enrollment,\u003c/a> which allows high school students to take college classes. The state is also helping thousands more students get \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/02/college-credit-california/\">college credit for their prior work experience\u003c/a>, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Palmer, with the state’s Department of Finance, said in an email that the current proposal from the Legislature includes more funding both for dual enrollment and to help college students get credit for their work experience.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Those funding allocations, however, come from a different pot of money, known as Proposition 98, which is largely restricted to education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Shirley Ware Education Center, a national job training nonprofit founded in Oakland, was among the earliest and largest recipients of the high-road training grants, which it used to help over 5,500 workers find better jobs, mostly in the healthcare industry. All told, the organization received more than $40 million in state workforce dollars starting in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When the state was flush with cash, they put a lot of money into these programs,” said Rebecca Hanson, the executive director. Now, she said the state budget deficit makes it “hard to argue” for increased funding, especially when so many other core services are\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-budget-legislature-deal/\"> facing cuts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hanson’s high-road workforce grant ends in 2027, but even then, she said she isn’t too worried, since her organization has other funding and is used to these fluctuations in state support. “My hope is that by the time we’re talking about 2028, we’ll be able to find other money.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/06/workforce-funding/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new commission made up of legislators, public defenders, academics and advocates seeks to push \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> — one of just two states that don’t pay for basic public defense — to begin providing resources and enforcing minimum standards for county public defender systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Independent Commission on Public Defense includes three assemblymembers and two senators — among them Jesse Arreguín and Nick Schultz, chairs of the Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committees — as well as chief public defenders from several counties, retired judges, the directors of criminal justice nonprofits, and the heads of organizations representing thousands of defense attorneys in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have discussed the problem of our public defense system for years,” said Schultz, a Democrat from Burbank and former prosecutor who has sponsored legislation to improve public defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to “move past discussion and study, and come up with an actionable road map of what we need to do to really build out the robust public defense infrastructure that Californians are rightfully entitled to,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commissioners plan to develop a five-year plan to phase in state funding, along with enforceable standards like caseload limits and access to defense investigators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023544\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023544\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Jesse Arreguín speaks during a press conference with leaders from community groups throughout Alameda County in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland on Jan. 22, 2025, to discuss support for immigrant families in the Bay Area after President Donald Trump promised mass deportations. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/public-defense-investigators/\">CalMatters investigation last year\u003c/a> found that criminal defendants across the state are routinely convicted without anyone investigating the charges against them, significantly increasing the likelihood of wrongful convictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many California counties \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/public-defense-investigators-takeaways/\">do not employ a single defense investigator\u003c/a> who can interview witnesses, review police reports, visit crime scenes and retrieve video surveillance footage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CalMatters \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/12/the-walmart-of-public-defense/\">also found\u003c/a> that lawyers in some rural counties are handling caseloads that far exceed even the most permissive standards, making them less likely than other defense attorneys to challenge the prosecution’s evidence in legal motions and take their cases to trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the state has resisted stepping in. After a proposed bill that would have created an official state commission to address the issue was abandoned, two advocacy groups, the Wren Collective and UC Berkeley’s Criminal Law and Justice Center, decided to form an independent commission and began assembling participants who could develop and act on reforms.[aside postID=news_12088076 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/250418-SFPDFile-01-BL_qed.jpg']These types of commissions, which have facilitated significant improvements in other states’ public defender systems, are usually established by the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It became clear that this was an issue that was not a high priority for Sacramento, especially during a budget crisis,” said Chesa Boudin, the Berkeley center’s founding director and a former San Francisco district attorney. It also became clear, Boudin said, that “there was a tremendous gap between what experts understood to be the crisis and the public perception of California government as a kind of progressive leader in the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the decades since the U.S. Supreme Court established the right to an attorney in state court criminal proceedings, California has saddled its counties with the responsibility of providing lawyers to poor people accused of crimes. Many of those counties have opted for the cheapest path: paying private lawyers and firms a flat fee to represent indigent defendants, regardless of how many cases they handle or how much time they spend on each case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got some offices that have an incredibly high caliber of representation that they can provide, and you have other offices that are doing these flat-fee contracts where the quality has been documented to be pretty bad,” said Eve Brensike Primus, a law professor at the University of Michigan. Primus is the only member of the new commission from outside of California. She was asked to join because of her extensive research and writing about the structure of indigent defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An indigent defense commission in Michigan, which was formed by the legislature in 2013, has led to significant reforms and a substantial influx in state funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11930102\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11930102\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/GettyImages-1408774696.jpg\" alt=\"A young white man with a beard stands in a blue suit outside a gray building\" width=\"1024\" height=\"705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/GettyImages-1408774696.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/GettyImages-1408774696-800x551.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/GettyImages-1408774696-1020x702.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/GettyImages-1408774696-160x110.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former District Attorney Chesa Boudin is seen outside the Hall of Justice in San Francisco on Dec. 30, 2020. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The California commission’s work, Primus said, can serve “as a catalyst for political actors to do the right thing and start to fund and improve indigent defense delivery, or as fodder for lawsuits that then can try to get the judiciary to push the political actors to do what is necessary to provide for effective representation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission is scheduled to hold its first in-person meeting, which will be open to the public, in Berkeley in October, with additional meetings planned for Los Angeles, the Central Valley and Northern California over the next 12 months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Commissioners say they will work in subcommittees in-between these quarterly sessions to develop a concrete fiscal plan for the state, draft legislative language, and establish minimum standards for how counties should structure their public defender offices, compensate their attorneys, provide access to experts, and report on their work. Any recommendations would then need to be approved by the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2026/06/california-public-defense-commission/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A new commission made up of legislators, public defenders, academics and advocates seeks to push \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> — one of just two states that don’t pay for basic public defense — to begin providing resources and enforcing minimum standards for county public defender systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Independent Commission on Public Defense includes three assemblymembers and two senators — among them Jesse Arreguín and Nick Schultz, chairs of the Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committees — as well as chief public defenders from several counties, retired judges, the directors of criminal justice nonprofits, and the heads of organizations representing thousands of defense attorneys in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have discussed the problem of our public defense system for years,” said Schultz, a Democrat from Burbank and former prosecutor who has sponsored legislation to improve public defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The goal is to “move past discussion and study, and come up with an actionable road map of what we need to do to really build out the robust public defense infrastructure that Californians are rightfully entitled to,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commissioners plan to develop a five-year plan to phase in state funding, along with enforceable standards like caseload limits and access to defense investigators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12023544\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12023544\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/01/250122-OaklandImmigrants-22-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Jesse Arreguín speaks during a press conference with leaders from community groups throughout Alameda County in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland on Jan. 22, 2025, to discuss support for immigrant families in the Bay Area after President Donald Trump promised mass deportations. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/public-defense-investigators/\">CalMatters investigation last year\u003c/a> found that criminal defendants across the state are routinely convicted without anyone investigating the charges against them, significantly increasing the likelihood of wrongful convictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many California counties \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/public-defense-investigators-takeaways/\">do not employ a single defense investigator\u003c/a> who can interview witnesses, review police reports, visit crime scenes and retrieve video surveillance footage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CalMatters \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/12/the-walmart-of-public-defense/\">also found\u003c/a> that lawyers in some rural counties are handling caseloads that far exceed even the most permissive standards, making them less likely than other defense attorneys to challenge the prosecution’s evidence in legal motions and take their cases to trial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the state has resisted stepping in. After a proposed bill that would have created an official state commission to address the issue was abandoned, two advocacy groups, the Wren Collective and UC Berkeley’s Criminal Law and Justice Center, decided to form an independent commission and began assembling participants who could develop and act on reforms.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>These types of commissions, which have facilitated significant improvements in other states’ public defender systems, are usually established by the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It became clear that this was an issue that was not a high priority for Sacramento, especially during a budget crisis,” said Chesa Boudin, the Berkeley center’s founding director and a former San Francisco district attorney. It also became clear, Boudin said, that “there was a tremendous gap between what experts understood to be the crisis and the public perception of California government as a kind of progressive leader in the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the decades since the U.S. Supreme Court established the right to an attorney in state court criminal proceedings, California has saddled its counties with the responsibility of providing lawyers to poor people accused of crimes. Many of those counties have opted for the cheapest path: paying private lawyers and firms a flat fee to represent indigent defendants, regardless of how many cases they handle or how much time they spend on each case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You’ve got some offices that have an incredibly high caliber of representation that they can provide, and you have other offices that are doing these flat-fee contracts where the quality has been documented to be pretty bad,” said Eve Brensike Primus, a law professor at the University of Michigan. Primus is the only member of the new commission from outside of California. She was asked to join because of her extensive research and writing about the structure of indigent defense.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An indigent defense commission in Michigan, which was formed by the legislature in 2013, has led to significant reforms and a substantial influx in state funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11930102\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11930102\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/GettyImages-1408774696.jpg\" alt=\"A young white man with a beard stands in a blue suit outside a gray building\" width=\"1024\" height=\"705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/GettyImages-1408774696.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/GettyImages-1408774696-800x551.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/GettyImages-1408774696-1020x702.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/10/GettyImages-1408774696-160x110.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former District Attorney Chesa Boudin is seen outside the Hall of Justice in San Francisco on Dec. 30, 2020. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The California commission’s work, Primus said, can serve “as a catalyst for political actors to do the right thing and start to fund and improve indigent defense delivery, or as fodder for lawsuits that then can try to get the judiciary to push the political actors to do what is necessary to provide for effective representation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The commission is scheduled to hold its first in-person meeting, which will be open to the public, in Berkeley in October, with additional meetings planned for Los Angeles, the Central Valley and Northern California over the next 12 months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Commissioners say they will work in subcommittees in-between these quarterly sessions to develop a concrete fiscal plan for the state, draft legislative language, and establish minimum standards for how counties should structure their public defender offices, compensate their attorneys, provide access to experts, and report on their work. Any recommendations would then need to be approved by the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/investigation/2026/06/california-public-defense-commission/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "5-things-to-know-about-californias-new-billionaire-tax-measure",
"title": "5 Things to Know About California's New Billionaire Tax Measure",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A union wants \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081502/california-billionaire-tax-nears-the-november-ballot\">California’s billionaires\u003c/a> to rescue the state’s healthcare system. The billionaires have other ideas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On June 17, an initiative to tax the state’s wealthiest residents qualified for the ballot, according to the secretary of state’s office, which verifies petition signatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has consistently swatted down the idea of tax increases throughout his tenure, emerged early as an \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/01/billionaires-tax-health-funding/\">opponent of the proposed tax\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wealthy allies in Silicon Valley joined the fray armed with deep pockets and threats to leave the state, which depends disproportionately on high earners for revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union funding the measure, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, says California needs the revenue that would be generated by the measure to rescue the healthcare system from deep cuts that the Trump administration made last year in the president’s tax reform package, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom is \u003ca href=\"http://workona.com/redirect/#favIconUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fvi-assets%2Fstatic-assets%2Fassets%2Ffavicon-dark-CovzF8uX.ico&title=Unlikely%20Coalition%20Begins%20Campaign%20Against%20Billionaire%20Tax%20in%20California%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2026%2F06%2F17%2Fus%2Fcalifornia-billionaire-tax-opponents.html%3Fpartner%3Dslack%26smid%3Dsl-share\">reportedly trying to negotiate\u003c/a> a last-minute deal that would pull the initiative before the ballot is finalized on June 25.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What would it do?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/25-0024A1%20%28Billionaire%20Tax%20%29.pdf\">proposed initiative\u003c/a> would levy a one-time 5% tax on California residents whose net worth exceeded $1 billion at the start of this year. The tax would hit roughly 200 people, and billionaires could pay in installments over five years. Proponents of the measure estimate it would generate $100 billion for the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The revenue would go into a special fund with 90% reserved for healthcare spending and 10% for education and food assistance programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077053\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077053\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/BillionaireTaxAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/BillionaireTaxAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/BillionaireTaxAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/BillionaireTaxAP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A man’s shirt and sticker are displayed at the Billionaire Tax Now booth at the 2026 California Democratic Party State Convention in San Francisco, on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Legislature would control the funds and could allocate up to $25 billion annually to designated programs including Medi-Cal and CalFresh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It needs a simple majority to pass.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Who is supporting it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state’s largest healthcare workers union is bankrolling the measure, pouring more than $31 million into the campaign. “We are facing literally a collapse of our healthcare system here in California and elsewhere,” Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW, said in October when the campaign launched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union, which is \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/25/the-labor-leader-behind-californias-billionaire-tax-showdown-00840631\">known for wielding ballot measures aggressively\u003c/a>, argues that federal healthcare cuts will result in hospital and clinic closures, worsened patient access and thousands of lost jobs if the state doesn’t step in to backfill tens of billions of federal dollars. The group also points out that the Trump tax breaks for income, businesses and investments disproportionately benefit the wealthy people who would then be subject to the proposed billionaire tax.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whether or not folks support this, they can’t deny that these massive cuts to healthcare are coming,” said union spokesperson Renée Saldaña. “Nobody else has a solution to fill this massive $100 billion funding gap that is facing California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081506\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081506\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/BillionaireTaxGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1322\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/BillionaireTaxGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/BillionaireTaxGetty-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/BillionaireTaxGetty-1536x1015.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Healthcare workers and other supporters with the Billionaire Tax Now coalition hold placards during a media briefing in Los Angeles on April 27, 2026. Healthcare workers and allies outlined the next steps in their effort to get California’s Billionaire Tax on the ballot for the November election, with their efforts already exceeding 1,500,000 signatures collected from across the state. The initiative would levy a one-time 5% tax on California billionaires. \u003ccite>(Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Saldaña noted that people signing the initiative petition were supportive and sometimes wanted the tax to be continuous rather than one-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is popular. The public is feeling the strain of their own healthcare costs,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The measure has won high-profile support from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. A handful of local unions as well as the Teamsters and AFSCME California have also backed the measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Who is opposed to it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Newsom is an unsurprising and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/01/billionaires-tax-health-funding/\">vocal critic of the proposal\u003c/a>. He has long argued that increased taxes would drive wealthy people and businesses out of the state. In a recent appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, Newsom claimed that “we’ve already seen dozens and dozens of people leave the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google co-founder Sergey Brin, with a net worth of $300 billion, according to Forbes, reportedly moved to Nevada because of the tax threat. Brin, a one-time supporter of liberal causes turned Trump supporter, is also the biggest spender among opponents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of June 15, he has contributed $82 million to Building a Better California, which is funding multiple countermeasures designed to invalidate or weaken the initiative should it pass. The committee has not, however, taken a position on the wealth tax.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12084670\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12084670\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GavinNewsomAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GavinNewsomAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GavinNewsomAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GavinNewsomAP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks about his state budget proposal on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Jeff Chiu/AP )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The top two measures — the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/25-0041A1%20%28Retirement%20Protection%20%29.pdf\">Retirement and Personal Savings Protection Act\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/25-0040A1%20%28Gov.%20Efficiency%29.pdf\">Improving Transparency, Effectiveness and Efficiency in California Government Act\u003c/a> — will also likely appear on the November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The retirement act would prohibit new state taxes on personal property, effectively canceling the billionaire tax if both measures pass. The transparency act would require audits of state programs funded by special taxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other tech and industry titans, including Google CEO Eric Schmidt, worth $43.3 billion, Kleiner Perkins chairman John Doerr, worth $25 billion, and The Wonderful Company president Stewart Resnick, worth $5.4 billion, have donated millions of dollars to Brin’s committee.[aside postID=news_12070052 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Newsom-StateofState-013.jpg']Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen, worth an estimated $12.4 billion, also started Golden State Promise, a political action committee dedicated to opposing the tax initiative directly. Venture capitalist Ron Conway, who does not appear on \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/\">Forbes’ billionaires list\u003c/a>, is funding a third group, Stop The Squeeze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Collectively, the opposition campaigns have raised $107.9 million as of June 15, according to state campaign finance data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, said one of the most concerning parts of the proposal is a provision allowing the Legislature to amend the tax after passage. “They can change the level of taxation; they can change how often they get taxed; they can keep ratcheting down the income level of who pays it.” The union disputes this claim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Progressive groups like Planned Parenthood and the California Teachers Association have opposed the measure in recent weeks. Healthcare industry groups like the California Medical Association, California Primary Care Association and California Hospital Association also oppose it.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What’s really going on with healthcare?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which Congress passed last year, enacts a number of sweeping changes to Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people and those with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over time, experts say the changes will dramatically reduce the number of people with publicly funded insurance through mandates such as work requirements and shorter eligibility periods. The law also limits federal Medicaid spending. Because Medicaid programs draw on state and federal dollars, reductions in enrollment or federal spending mean less money for states like California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Department of Health Care Services projected early on that federal cuts could cost California $30 billion annually. Roughly 14 million people rely on Medicaid, also known as Medi-Cal, in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074131\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074131\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/OneBigBeautifulBillGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1251\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/OneBigBeautifulBillGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/OneBigBeautifulBillGetty-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/OneBigBeautifulBillGetty-1536x961.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">H.R. 1, the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, is seen during an enrollment ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on July 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. The House passed the sweeping tax and spending bill after winning over fiscal hawks and moderate Republicans. The bill makes permanent President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, increase spending on defense and immigration enforcement and temporarily cut taxes on tips, while at the same time cutting funding for Medicaid, food assistance for the poor, clean energy and raises the nation’s debit limit by $5 trillion. \u003ccite>(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers have also \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/01/billionaires-tax-health-funding/\">grappled with successive budget deficits and ballooning program costs\u003c/a>. Last year, Newsom and the Legislature limited Medi-Cal enrollment for low-income people without legal status. State leaders are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-budget-legislature-deal/\">eyeing additional cuts\u003c/a> this year to align with new federal requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miranda Dietz, director of the Health Care Program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, said \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/projected-reduction-in-medi-cal-coverage-due-to-federal-h-r-1-and-2025-26-state-budget-by-county-2028/\">close to 3 million Californians will lose healthcare\u003c/a> over the next two years as a result of state and federal changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The need for health insurance and healthcare is not going anywhere,” Dietz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What are the challenges?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Should the measure pass, it will surely face legal challenges that could tie the potential revenue up for years, experts say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seemingly retroactive nature of the tax invites a constitutional challenge, many say, though supporters \u003ca href=\"https://itep.org/expert-report-on-the-california-2026-billionaire-tax-revenue-economic-and-constitutional-analysis/\">reject those concerns\u003c/a>. The initiative proposes taxing those who are California residents as of Jan. 1, 2026, meaning those who have since left the state would still owe it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Peterson, a public policy professor at UCLA School of Law, said revenue from the initiative would “make a huge difference” in helping the state offset federal funding losses, but that’s only if the initiative survives legal challenges and efforts by billionaires to move or hide assets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12035915\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12035915\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg (center), attends the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump as he swears in as the 47th U.S. President in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. \u003ccite>(Kenny Holston/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Economists and state budget watchers are also wary of the number of \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/01/15/who-s-leaving-who-s-staying-sf-standard-s-billionaire-tax-tracker/\">billionaires who have already left the state\u003c/a>, taking their assets and businesses with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only six people moved out of state last year before the proposed tax would apply to them, but their collective worth would have generated the state $27 billion, \u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2026/03/17/6-billionaires-left-california-billionaire-tax-newsom-brin-page-thiel-spielberg-revenue/\">Fortune reported\u003c/a>. Others, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, worth $231 billion, have also \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/04/28/google-billionaire-sergey-brin-compares-california-wealth-tax-to-soviet-union-socialism/?utm_campaign=ForbesMainFB&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&streamIndex=0\">reportedly moved out\u003c/a> but not before Jan. 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, there’s no evidence yet that a majority of the state’s 200 billionaires are leaving. Some, including former gubernatorial candidate and billionaire Tom Steyer, have stated they support the proposal.[aside postID=news_12081620 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280-1.jpg']Early polling shows 50% of voters favor the initiative, with most strongly behind it, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000019c-d472-d628-a9bf-d7f6a3dc0000&nname=california-playbook&nid=00000150-384f-da43-aff2-bf7fd35a0000&nrid=07c908f2-070b-4e85-a787-f320a4b3c496\">UC Berkeley Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research-POLITICO poll\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that is not as strong a position as it may seem: 54% of voters are concerned about wealthy individuals leaving the state, and 63% are concerned about them taking their businesses with them. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-19/californias-proposed-billionaire-tax-gains-majority-support-in-new-poll-with-partisan-split-on-voter-id\">UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies-Los Angeles Times poll\u003c/a> from March showed similar division among voters with 52% in support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Generally, campaigns running ballot initiatives want their early polling numbers to be much higher because support nearly always dwindles as the election creeps closer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-unions-billionaire-tax-ballot/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A healthcare workers union is pushing a one-time 5% tax on the state's roughly 200 billionaires to offset federal Medicaid cuts.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A union wants \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081502/california-billionaire-tax-nears-the-november-ballot\">California’s billionaires\u003c/a> to rescue the state’s healthcare system. The billionaires have other ideas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On June 17, an initiative to tax the state’s wealthiest residents qualified for the ballot, according to the secretary of state’s office, which verifies petition signatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has consistently swatted down the idea of tax increases throughout his tenure, emerged early as an \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/01/billionaires-tax-health-funding/\">opponent of the proposed tax\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wealthy allies in Silicon Valley joined the fray armed with deep pockets and threats to leave the state, which depends disproportionately on high earners for revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union funding the measure, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, says California needs the revenue that would be generated by the measure to rescue the healthcare system from deep cuts that the Trump administration made last year in the president’s tax reform package, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom is \u003ca href=\"http://workona.com/redirect/#favIconUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fvi-assets%2Fstatic-assets%2Fassets%2Ffavicon-dark-CovzF8uX.ico&title=Unlikely%20Coalition%20Begins%20Campaign%20Against%20Billionaire%20Tax%20in%20California%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2026%2F06%2F17%2Fus%2Fcalifornia-billionaire-tax-opponents.html%3Fpartner%3Dslack%26smid%3Dsl-share\">reportedly trying to negotiate\u003c/a> a last-minute deal that would pull the initiative before the ballot is finalized on June 25.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What would it do?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/25-0024A1%20%28Billionaire%20Tax%20%29.pdf\">proposed initiative\u003c/a> would levy a one-time 5% tax on California residents whose net worth exceeded $1 billion at the start of this year. The tax would hit roughly 200 people, and billionaires could pay in installments over five years. Proponents of the measure estimate it would generate $100 billion for the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The revenue would go into a special fund with 90% reserved for healthcare spending and 10% for education and food assistance programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077053\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077053\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/BillionaireTaxAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/BillionaireTaxAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/BillionaireTaxAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/BillionaireTaxAP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A man’s shirt and sticker are displayed at the Billionaire Tax Now booth at the 2026 California Democratic Party State Convention in San Francisco, on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jeff Chiu/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Legislature would control the funds and could allocate up to $25 billion annually to designated programs including Medi-Cal and CalFresh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It needs a simple majority to pass.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Who is supporting it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The state’s largest healthcare workers union is bankrolling the measure, pouring more than $31 million into the campaign. “We are facing literally a collapse of our healthcare system here in California and elsewhere,” Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW, said in October when the campaign launched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union, which is \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/25/the-labor-leader-behind-californias-billionaire-tax-showdown-00840631\">known for wielding ballot measures aggressively\u003c/a>, argues that federal healthcare cuts will result in hospital and clinic closures, worsened patient access and thousands of lost jobs if the state doesn’t step in to backfill tens of billions of federal dollars. The group also points out that the Trump tax breaks for income, businesses and investments disproportionately benefit the wealthy people who would then be subject to the proposed billionaire tax.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whether or not folks support this, they can’t deny that these massive cuts to healthcare are coming,” said union spokesperson Renée Saldaña. “Nobody else has a solution to fill this massive $100 billion funding gap that is facing California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081506\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081506\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/BillionaireTaxGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1322\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/BillionaireTaxGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/BillionaireTaxGetty-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/BillionaireTaxGetty-1536x1015.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Healthcare workers and other supporters with the Billionaire Tax Now coalition hold placards during a media briefing in Los Angeles on April 27, 2026. Healthcare workers and allies outlined the next steps in their effort to get California’s Billionaire Tax on the ballot for the November election, with their efforts already exceeding 1,500,000 signatures collected from across the state. The initiative would levy a one-time 5% tax on California billionaires. \u003ccite>(Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Saldaña noted that people signing the initiative petition were supportive and sometimes wanted the tax to be continuous rather than one-time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is popular. The public is feeling the strain of their own healthcare costs,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The measure has won high-profile support from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. A handful of local unions as well as the Teamsters and AFSCME California have also backed the measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Who is opposed to it?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Newsom is an unsurprising and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/01/billionaires-tax-health-funding/\">vocal critic of the proposal\u003c/a>. He has long argued that increased taxes would drive wealthy people and businesses out of the state. In a recent appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, Newsom claimed that “we’ve already seen dozens and dozens of people leave the state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Google co-founder Sergey Brin, with a net worth of $300 billion, according to Forbes, reportedly moved to Nevada because of the tax threat. Brin, a one-time supporter of liberal causes turned Trump supporter, is also the biggest spender among opponents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of June 15, he has contributed $82 million to Building a Better California, which is funding multiple countermeasures designed to invalidate or weaken the initiative should it pass. The committee has not, however, taken a position on the wealth tax.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12084670\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12084670\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GavinNewsomAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GavinNewsomAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GavinNewsomAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GavinNewsomAP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks about his state budget proposal on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Jeff Chiu/AP )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The top two measures — the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/25-0041A1%20%28Retirement%20Protection%20%29.pdf\">Retirement and Personal Savings Protection Act\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/25-0040A1%20%28Gov.%20Efficiency%29.pdf\">Improving Transparency, Effectiveness and Efficiency in California Government Act\u003c/a> — will also likely appear on the November ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The retirement act would prohibit new state taxes on personal property, effectively canceling the billionaire tax if both measures pass. The transparency act would require audits of state programs funded by special taxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other tech and industry titans, including Google CEO Eric Schmidt, worth $43.3 billion, Kleiner Perkins chairman John Doerr, worth $25 billion, and The Wonderful Company president Stewart Resnick, worth $5.4 billion, have donated millions of dollars to Brin’s committee.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen, worth an estimated $12.4 billion, also started Golden State Promise, a political action committee dedicated to opposing the tax initiative directly. Venture capitalist Ron Conway, who does not appear on \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/\">Forbes’ billionaires list\u003c/a>, is funding a third group, Stop The Squeeze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Collectively, the opposition campaigns have raised $107.9 million as of June 15, according to state campaign finance data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robert Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, said one of the most concerning parts of the proposal is a provision allowing the Legislature to amend the tax after passage. “They can change the level of taxation; they can change how often they get taxed; they can keep ratcheting down the income level of who pays it.” The union disputes this claim.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Progressive groups like Planned Parenthood and the California Teachers Association have opposed the measure in recent weeks. Healthcare industry groups like the California Medical Association, California Primary Care Association and California Hospital Association also oppose it.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What’s really going on with healthcare?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which Congress passed last year, enacts a number of sweeping changes to Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people and those with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over time, experts say the changes will dramatically reduce the number of people with publicly funded insurance through mandates such as work requirements and shorter eligibility periods. The law also limits federal Medicaid spending. Because Medicaid programs draw on state and federal dollars, reductions in enrollment or federal spending mean less money for states like California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state Department of Health Care Services projected early on that federal cuts could cost California $30 billion annually. Roughly 14 million people rely on Medicaid, also known as Medi-Cal, in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074131\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074131\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/OneBigBeautifulBillGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1251\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/OneBigBeautifulBillGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/OneBigBeautifulBillGetty-160x100.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/OneBigBeautifulBillGetty-1536x961.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">H.R. 1, the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, is seen during an enrollment ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on July 3, 2025, in Washington, D.C. The House passed the sweeping tax and spending bill after winning over fiscal hawks and moderate Republicans. The bill makes permanent President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, increase spending on defense and immigration enforcement and temporarily cut taxes on tips, while at the same time cutting funding for Medicaid, food assistance for the poor, clean energy and raises the nation’s debit limit by $5 trillion. \u003ccite>(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers have also \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/01/billionaires-tax-health-funding/\">grappled with successive budget deficits and ballooning program costs\u003c/a>. Last year, Newsom and the Legislature limited Medi-Cal enrollment for low-income people without legal status. State leaders are \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-budget-legislature-deal/\">eyeing additional cuts\u003c/a> this year to align with new federal requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Miranda Dietz, director of the Health Care Program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, said \u003ca href=\"https://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/projected-reduction-in-medi-cal-coverage-due-to-federal-h-r-1-and-2025-26-state-budget-by-county-2028/\">close to 3 million Californians will lose healthcare\u003c/a> over the next two years as a result of state and federal changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The need for health insurance and healthcare is not going anywhere,” Dietz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>What are the challenges?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Should the measure pass, it will surely face legal challenges that could tie the potential revenue up for years, experts say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The seemingly retroactive nature of the tax invites a constitutional challenge, many say, though supporters \u003ca href=\"https://itep.org/expert-report-on-the-california-2026-billionaire-tax-revenue-economic-and-constitutional-analysis/\">reject those concerns\u003c/a>. The initiative proposes taxing those who are California residents as of Jan. 1, 2026, meaning those who have since left the state would still owe it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Peterson, a public policy professor at UCLA School of Law, said revenue from the initiative would “make a huge difference” in helping the state offset federal funding losses, but that’s only if the initiative survives legal challenges and efforts by billionaires to move or hide assets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12035915\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12035915\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg (center), attends the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump as he swears in as the 47th U.S. President in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. \u003ccite>(Kenny Holston/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Economists and state budget watchers are also wary of the number of \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/2026/01/15/who-s-leaving-who-s-staying-sf-standard-s-billionaire-tax-tracker/\">billionaires who have already left the state\u003c/a>, taking their assets and businesses with them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only six people moved out of state last year before the proposed tax would apply to them, but their collective worth would have generated the state $27 billion, \u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2026/03/17/6-billionaires-left-california-billionaire-tax-newsom-brin-page-thiel-spielberg-revenue/\">Fortune reported\u003c/a>. Others, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, worth $231 billion, have also \u003ca href=\"https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/04/28/google-billionaire-sergey-brin-compares-california-wealth-tax-to-soviet-union-socialism/?utm_campaign=ForbesMainFB&utm_medium=social&utm_source=ForbesMainFacebook&streamIndex=0\">reportedly moved out\u003c/a> but not before Jan. 1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the other hand, there’s no evidence yet that a majority of the state’s 200 billionaires are leaving. Some, including former gubernatorial candidate and billionaire Tom Steyer, have stated they support the proposal.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Early polling shows 50% of voters favor the initiative, with most strongly behind it, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000019c-d472-d628-a9bf-d7f6a3dc0000&nname=california-playbook&nid=00000150-384f-da43-aff2-bf7fd35a0000&nrid=07c908f2-070b-4e85-a787-f320a4b3c496\">UC Berkeley Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research-POLITICO poll\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that is not as strong a position as it may seem: 54% of voters are concerned about wealthy individuals leaving the state, and 63% are concerned about them taking their businesses with them. A \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-19/californias-proposed-billionaire-tax-gains-majority-support-in-new-poll-with-partisan-split-on-voter-id\">UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies-Los Angeles Times poll\u003c/a> from March showed similar division among voters with 52% in support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Generally, campaigns running ballot initiatives want their early polling numbers to be much higher because support nearly always dwindles as the election creeps closer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-unions-billionaire-tax-ballot/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "california-admits-using-high-risk-ai-including-systems-it-failed-to-report-last-year",
"title": "California Admits Using High-Risk AI — Including Systems It Failed to Report Last Year",
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"headTitle": "California Admits Using High-Risk AI — Including Systems It Failed to Report Last Year | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year ago, California officials had to report under a new state law how they used automated systems to make important decisions about people’s lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They said they never did — a startling answer for a number of reasons, sources \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/05/california-somehow-finds-no-ai-risks/\">told \u003cem>CalMatters\u003c/em> at the time\u003c/a>, including that there were several prominent examples to the contrary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the state has issued a more expansive answer: It is currently using six automated systems to make consequential decisions about the lives of Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The systems are used to do things like:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Predict whether incarcerated people will reoffend\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Evaluate whether unemployment claims are fraudulent\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Remotely administer exams for California State University students\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Detect when college students use generative AI to write assignments\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>That’s according to a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/High-Risk-ADS-Report-for-Program-Year-2025.pdf\">report released Friday\u003c/a> by the state’s technology department. The report is required \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202320240ab302\">under a 2023 law mandating that\u003c/a> that state agencies annually disclose their use of “high-risk automated decision systems,” which the law defines as systems “used to assist or replace human discretionary decisions that have a legal or similarly significant effect, including decisions that materially impact access to, or approval for, housing or accommodations, education, employment, credit, healthcare, and criminal justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law was pushed by civil rights, privacy and civil liberties groups concerned about harms from AI-like systems. Numerous such systems have been shown to produce results biased against marginalized groups, including those used for \u003ca href=\"https://venturebeat.com/technology/examsofts-remote-bar-exam-sparks-privacy-and-facial-recognition-concerns\">high-stakes testing\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing\">predicting recidivism\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://themarkup.org/machine-learning/2023/08/14/ai-detection-tools-falsely-accuse-international-students-of-cheating\">detecting AI-generated texts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058035\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12058035 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/GettyImages-2159671948-scaled-e1781542152687.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anthropic’s AI model, Claude, a Large Language Model (LLM) is displayed on an iPhone in Lafayette, California, on June 27, 2024. \u003ccite>(Smith Collection/Gado via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/05/california-somehow-finds-no-ai-risks/\">\u003cem>CalMatters\u003c/em> flagged last year’s report\u003c/a> as surprising, noting that the state corrections department had reported using software to predict post-release behavior and that the employment department used a fraud detection system that paused benefits for 600,000 Californians between Christmas and New Year’s in 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4542\">according to a Legislative Analyst’s Office report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the report names six high-risk systems in use today, state agencies have used some for several years now. Those include COMPAS, which has been used by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to assign recidivism scores to inmates for at \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/research/wp-content/uploads/sites/174/2023/06/Recidivism-Report-for-Offenders-Released-in-FY-2011-12.pdf\">least a decade\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The technology department said in the report that it found more systems for its report this year because it evaluated responses from state agencies more thoroughly, including by meeting with agencies and questioning them about their systems.[aside postID=news_12087201 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CollegeGraduationGetty.jpg']In addition to the six high-risk systems, the department’s report disclosed an additional six systems initially flagged as high risk but later determined not to be. One was AI used for legislative bill analysis by the California Department of Finance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also notes two high-risk systems that are not currently in use: the Department of Cannabis Control is developing artificial intelligence to analyze whether marijuana packaging violates a law against appealing to children, and California State University discontinued use of a language model for reviewing job applications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Results of the second annual survey come after cities like San José and San Francisco released their first AI inventories in recent months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also come at a time when California-based AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are going public and seeking government contracts. Americans are \u003ca href=\"https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/12/key-findings-about-how-americans-view-artificial-intelligence/\">split on whether they trust AI\u003c/a>, and surveys last year by \u003ca href=\"https://techequity.us/press_release/californians-are-more-concerned-than-excited-by-ai/\">TechEquity\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/10/carnegie-california-ai-survey\">Carnegie California found\u003c/a> that the majority of Californians want safety over innovation. A Gallup poll to evaluate the opinions of Americans found similar results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb1248\">Senate Bill 1248\u003c/a>, a bill that would have prohibited state employees from using automated decision systems as the sole basis for decision-making, was killed last month in the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/05/suspense-file-senate-assembly/\">rapid-fire appropriations process\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s missing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While the newly released report shares more information than last year’s, several questions remain about the state’s use of artificial intelligence and other automated systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report does not include generative AI pilot projects underway with support from the governor’s office to do things like help businesses file taxes, support state employees who work on homelessness and an AI assistant named Poppy that uses language models like Anthropic’s Claude to do things like draft documents, research policy, or build custom AI tools, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.genai.ca.gov/poppy/\">a state website\u003c/a>. The website says that 67 state departments provided input during the pilot phase, and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.genai.ca.gov/poppy/\">statewide rollout of Poppy begins next month\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989313\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989313\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-scaled-e1760733694503.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The OpenAI ChatGPT logo. \u003ccite>(Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/05/25/nx-s1-5772820/artificial-intelligence-education-technology-california-state-university\">California State University contract\u003c/a> with OpenAI to provide a version of ChatGPT is also not mentioned, though surveys of AI use in educational settings have found that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2026/02/ai-images-scandalized-a-california-elementary-school-now-the-state-is-pushing-new-safeguards/\">the technology can do more harm than good\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2023 law mandating the annual high-risk systems report excludes reporting by a number of state agencies, including the judicial branch and the University of California college system. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2026/05/ai-los-angeles-riverside-courts/\">Reporting by \u003cem>CalMatters\u003c/em> last month\u003c/a> found that a majority of the roughly 60 courts that operate statewide have adopted generative AI use policies. Courts in Los Angeles and Riverside counties have \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2026/05/ai-los-angeles-riverside-courts/\">begun testing\u003c/a> an AI tool to act as a clerk, drafting orders and producing research memos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CalMatters\u003c/em> is compiling an inventory of automated decision-making systems in use by state and local agencies throughout California in order to provide transparency into how governments are using decision-making systems and AI. Know about an AI system in use by a state or local agency? Email \u003ca href=\"mailto:khari@calmatters.org\">khari@calmatters.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-admits-government-ai-risk-after-denying/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "State officials have found they are using six high-risk AI-like systems. One year ago, they reported using zero.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A year ago, California officials had to report under a new state law how they used automated systems to make important decisions about people’s lives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They said they never did — a startling answer for a number of reasons, sources \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/05/california-somehow-finds-no-ai-risks/\">told \u003cem>CalMatters\u003c/em> at the time\u003c/a>, including that there were several prominent examples to the contrary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, the state has issued a more expansive answer: It is currently using six automated systems to make consequential decisions about the lives of Californians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The systems are used to do things like:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Predict whether incarcerated people will reoffend\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Evaluate whether unemployment claims are fraudulent\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Remotely administer exams for California State University students\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Detect when college students use generative AI to write assignments\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>That’s according to a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/High-Risk-ADS-Report-for-Program-Year-2025.pdf\">report released Friday\u003c/a> by the state’s technology department. The report is required \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202320240ab302\">under a 2023 law mandating that\u003c/a> that state agencies annually disclose their use of “high-risk automated decision systems,” which the law defines as systems “used to assist or replace human discretionary decisions that have a legal or similarly significant effect, including decisions that materially impact access to, or approval for, housing or accommodations, education, employment, credit, healthcare, and criminal justice.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law was pushed by civil rights, privacy and civil liberties groups concerned about harms from AI-like systems. Numerous such systems have been shown to produce results biased against marginalized groups, including those used for \u003ca href=\"https://venturebeat.com/technology/examsofts-remote-bar-exam-sparks-privacy-and-facial-recognition-concerns\">high-stakes testing\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing\">predicting recidivism\u003c/a>, and \u003ca href=\"https://themarkup.org/machine-learning/2023/08/14/ai-detection-tools-falsely-accuse-international-students-of-cheating\">detecting AI-generated texts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058035\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12058035 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/GettyImages-2159671948-scaled-e1781542152687.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Anthropic’s AI model, Claude, a Large Language Model (LLM) is displayed on an iPhone in Lafayette, California, on June 27, 2024. \u003ccite>(Smith Collection/Gado via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2025/05/california-somehow-finds-no-ai-risks/\">\u003cem>CalMatters\u003c/em> flagged last year’s report\u003c/a> as surprising, noting that the state corrections department had reported using software to predict post-release behavior and that the employment department used a fraud detection system that paused benefits for 600,000 Californians between Christmas and New Year’s in 2020, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4542\">according to a Legislative Analyst’s Office report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the report names six high-risk systems in use today, state agencies have used some for several years now. Those include COMPAS, which has been used by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to assign recidivism scores to inmates for at \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/research/wp-content/uploads/sites/174/2023/06/Recidivism-Report-for-Offenders-Released-in-FY-2011-12.pdf\">least a decade\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The technology department said in the report that it found more systems for its report this year because it evaluated responses from state agencies more thoroughly, including by meeting with agencies and questioning them about their systems.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In addition to the six high-risk systems, the department’s report disclosed an additional six systems initially flagged as high risk but later determined not to be. One was AI used for legislative bill analysis by the California Department of Finance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also notes two high-risk systems that are not currently in use: the Department of Cannabis Control is developing artificial intelligence to analyze whether marijuana packaging violates a law against appealing to children, and California State University discontinued use of a language model for reviewing job applications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Results of the second annual survey come after cities like San José and San Francisco released their first AI inventories in recent months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also come at a time when California-based AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI are going public and seeking government contracts. Americans are \u003ca href=\"https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/03/12/key-findings-about-how-americans-view-artificial-intelligence/\">split on whether they trust AI\u003c/a>, and surveys last year by \u003ca href=\"https://techequity.us/press_release/californians-are-more-concerned-than-excited-by-ai/\">TechEquity\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2025/10/carnegie-california-ai-survey\">Carnegie California found\u003c/a> that the majority of Californians want safety over innovation. A Gallup poll to evaluate the opinions of Americans found similar results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb1248\">Senate Bill 1248\u003c/a>, a bill that would have prohibited state employees from using automated decision systems as the sole basis for decision-making, was killed last month in the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/05/suspense-file-senate-assembly/\">rapid-fire appropriations process\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What’s missing\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While the newly released report shares more information than last year’s, several questions remain about the state’s use of artificial intelligence and other automated systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report does not include generative AI pilot projects underway with support from the governor’s office to do things like help businesses file taxes, support state employees who work on homelessness and an AI assistant named Poppy that uses language models like Anthropic’s Claude to do things like draft documents, research policy, or build custom AI tools, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.genai.ca.gov/poppy/\">a state website\u003c/a>. The website says that 67 state departments provided input during the pilot phase, and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.genai.ca.gov/poppy/\">statewide rollout of Poppy begins next month\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11989313\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11989313\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/GettyImages-2155035557-scaled-e1760733694503.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The OpenAI ChatGPT logo. \u003ccite>(Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/05/25/nx-s1-5772820/artificial-intelligence-education-technology-california-state-university\">California State University contract\u003c/a> with OpenAI to provide a version of ChatGPT is also not mentioned, though surveys of AI use in educational settings have found that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2026/02/ai-images-scandalized-a-california-elementary-school-now-the-state-is-pushing-new-safeguards/\">the technology can do more harm than good\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2023 law mandating the annual high-risk systems report excludes reporting by a number of state agencies, including the judicial branch and the University of California college system. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2026/05/ai-los-angeles-riverside-courts/\">Reporting by \u003cem>CalMatters\u003c/em> last month\u003c/a> found that a majority of the roughly 60 courts that operate statewide have adopted generative AI use policies. Courts in Los Angeles and Riverside counties have \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2026/05/ai-los-angeles-riverside-courts/\">begun testing\u003c/a> an AI tool to act as a clerk, drafting orders and producing research memos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>CalMatters\u003c/em> is compiling an inventory of automated decision-making systems in use by state and local agencies throughout California in order to provide transparency into how governments are using decision-making systems and AI. Know about an AI system in use by a state or local agency? Email \u003ca href=\"mailto:khari@calmatters.org\">khari@calmatters.org\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-admits-government-ai-risk-after-denying/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-scales-back-golden-mussel-safeguards-at-vital-reservoir-alarming-experts",
"title": "California Scales Back Golden Mussel Safeguards at Vital Reservoir, Alarming Experts",
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"headTitle": "California Scales Back Golden Mussel Safeguards at Vital Reservoir, Alarming Experts | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state of California is walking back protections meant to keep destructive golden mussels out of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/lake-oroville\">Lake Oroville\u003c/a>, one of the largest and most important reservoirs in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move follows a new state-funded risk assessment that the invasive species poses a lower risk to the lake, which water managers say changes the state’s calculus on costly and difficult measures aimed at keeping the invaders at bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No state agencies or scientists have found mussels in Oroville yet. But invasive species experts say the revised policy of the Department of Water Resources increases the likelihood that golden mussels will invade Lake Oroville and hitch a ride on boats to other lakes. They disagree, though, about whether preventing such an incursion is even possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>”California is under an epidemic of golden mussels,” said \u003ca href=\"https://redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/ricciardi/\">Anthony Ricciardi\u003c/a>, a professor of biology and the director of the Bieler School of Environment at McGill University. “Like in any epidemic, you got to control the key hubs — or else the war is lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reopening Lake Oroville\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California water managers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2024/10/california-delta-invasive-mussel/\">first discovered\u003c/a> golden mussels invading California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in October 2024 — marking their first detection in North America. The voracious and rapidly spreading mussels can encrust surfaces so thoroughly that they choke off water supplies and damage dams and power plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are now invading critical infrastructure in the Delta. And the very pumps, canals and aqueducts that keep water flowing to much of the state are \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Invasives/Species/Golden-Mussel\">funneling the larvae\u003c/a> to irrigation districts and water suppliers downstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sjgov.org/department/bos/board-news/board-news-detail/2026/04/28/sjc-board-of-supervisors-proclaims-local-emergency-golden-mussel\">San Joaquin\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DYibakJILm-/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet\">Kern Counties\u003c/a> have declared states of emergency, and state officials are updating key facilities along the state’s nature-defying water delivery system to reduce mussel damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12018571\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12018571\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM.jpg\" alt=\"A salmon under water with rocks.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fall-run Chinook salmon migrate and spawn in the Feather River near the California Department of Water Resources infrastructure and the Feather River Fish Hatchery in Oroville, Butte County, on Nov. 15, 2024. \u003ccite>(Xavier Mascareñas/California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With summer weather coming in hot, state water managers said that they \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2026/Apr-2026/Lake-Oroville-Update-April-29-2026\">are ending\u003c/a> a program to prevent mussels and their larvae from stowing away on boats to invade Lake Oroville, one of California’s largest reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department now no longer requires \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2026/May-2026/Lake-Oroville-Update-May-1-2026\">inspections and decontamination\u003c/a> for boats launching at Lake Oroville and nearby reservoirs — the Thermalito Forebay and the Thermalito Afterbay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Water Resources says lakes and launches upstream in the Feather River watershed didn’t take similar precautions, raising the risk that golden mussel larvae would wash into the reservoir on river flows regardless of the boat inspections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of the inspection program for the lake was also around $7.5 million to start it up, and $6.5 million per year to continue it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Installing UV treatment to prevent mussels from settling in the pipes at powerplants downstream from Oroville, by contrast, would cost an estimated $1 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We severely impacted recreation at that lake,” said Tanya Veldhuizen, special projects section manager in the California Department of Water Resources’ environmental assessment branch. “We also evaluated the risk to our infrastructure and what it would take to mitigate mussels — and that was much lower than expected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cold water, fewer mussels?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The decision reflects the findings from a new risk analysis the department commissioned for these reservoirs and related hydropower and fishery hatchery facilities, as well as for the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/What-We-Do/Recreation/Upper-Feather-River-Lakes\">Upper Feather River Lakes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conducted by a \u003ca href=\"https://www.rntconsulting.net/\">Canada-based consulting firm\u003c/a> specializing in aquatic invasive species, the assessment reports that, while surface temperatures are warm enough for the mussels to survive in shallower water at Lake Oroville, they’re too cold lower down for the mussels to reproduce at depths greater than 60 feet below the surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike the Delta, the waters at Lake Oroville are also low in nutrients, Veldhuizen said. Between the scarce food, cold temperatures, and water levels that drop enough to dry out mussels on the shoreline, Veldhuizen said she doesn’t expect the mussels to reach nuisance levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945857\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945857\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut.jpg\" alt=\"High view of a lake with mountains in the background. A small patch of land can be seen in the middle of the water.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A boat crosses Lake Oroville on Sunday, March 26, 2023, in Butte County, California. \u003ccite>(Noah Berger/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The department also expects cold water released from the reservoir will slow the growth of any larvae that reach the Feather River Fish Hatchery and the Oroville-Thermalito Complex powerplants downstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Oroville’s shoreline, boats and docks remain at risk — and that’s what worries Ricciardi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s where the action is. The boats will be moving them,” Ricciardi said — because boats and aquatic weeds clinging to vessels and their trailers can ferry mussels from one lake to another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And adult mussels can actually survive even in very cold water, says Demetrio Boltovskoy, a retired researcher formerly at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council. One study in China found \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.13289\">they can live for weeks\u003c/a> at near-freezing temperatures.[aside postID=science_2001267 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/06/260609-PACIFICAPIERUPDATE-10-BL-KQED.jpg']Still, Boltovskoy said that while he isn’t specifically familiar with Lake Oroville, reducing precautions may be reasonable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No matter what precautionary measures you take, sooner or later it will spread,” he said. “I don’t think that stopping their range expansion is actually feasible at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But invasive species experts are sharply divided on the subject. That’s true especially in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2025/07/golden-mussel-california-water-supplies-spread-inspections/\">told CalMatters\u003c/a> that invasions delayed translated to money saved. This year, the wildlife department directed inquiries about the new Oroville strategy to the Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so much to protect yet,” Martha Volkoff, environmental program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Invasive Species Program, said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2025/07/golden-mussel-california-water-supplies-spread-inspections/\">last summer.\u003c/a> “Yes, it’s a lot of work, but the long-term savings — to the environment and to all the other ways that it costs us — is investment well spent, even if we just delay new introductions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Relying on boaters: Clean, drain, dry\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The responsibility now rests more heavily with boaters to ensure their boats are clean, drained and dry — especially when leaving an infested body of water, like the Delta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If state water managers detect mussels at Lake Oroville, she said, the department will begin inspecting boats as they leave the lake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a strategy already in use at other infested lakes, including \u003ca href=\"https://parks.lacounty.gov/castaic-lake-state-recreation-area-2/\">Castaic\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23467\">Pyramid\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Managers of other Northern California lakes told CalMatters they will continue their inspection programs, including at lakes \u003ca href=\"https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=31843\">Folsom\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://tahoeboatinspections.com/\">Tahoe\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://scwa2.com/lake-berryessa-mussel-prevention-program/\">Berryessa\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085522\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085522\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/052626LAKE-TAHOE-_GH_062-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/052626LAKE-TAHOE-_GH_062-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/052626LAKE-TAHOE-_GH_062-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/052626LAKE-TAHOE-_GH_062-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emerald Bay and Lake Tahoe are seen from D.L. Bliss State Park on May 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Drew Gantner, manager of water resources at Solano County Water Agency, which oversees the mussel program at Lake Berryessa, called the Oroville decision concerning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If Lake Oroville does surrender its program and becomes infested with golden mussels it creates an increased risk for all waterbodies,” Gantner said. “At that point, any watercraft travelling to Berryessa (or anywhere else) from Lake Oroville would essentially be no different than watercraft coming from the Delta.” \u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ricciardi agreed that the stakes extend well past Oroville’s dam and downstream facilities. “There is another thing about invasions. They often surprise you,” Ricciardi said. “Sometimes invaders don’t act the way they’re supposed to act.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated to reflect that Anthony Ricciardi did not speak about ballast water when explaining how boats can spread invasive mussels.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2026/06/golden-mussels-oroville-boating-invasive/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Destructive golden mussels are wreaking havoc in California waterways. Why are California water managers ending precautions for a vital reservoir?",
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"title": "California Scales Back Golden Mussel Safeguards at Vital Reservoir, Alarming Experts | KQED",
"description": "Destructive golden mussels are wreaking havoc in California waterways. Why are California water managers ending precautions for a vital reservoir?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state of California is walking back protections meant to keep destructive golden mussels out of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/lake-oroville\">Lake Oroville\u003c/a>, one of the largest and most important reservoirs in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move follows a new state-funded risk assessment that the invasive species poses a lower risk to the lake, which water managers say changes the state’s calculus on costly and difficult measures aimed at keeping the invaders at bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No state agencies or scientists have found mussels in Oroville yet. But invasive species experts say the revised policy of the Department of Water Resources increases the likelihood that golden mussels will invade Lake Oroville and hitch a ride on boats to other lakes. They disagree, though, about whether preventing such an incursion is even possible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>”California is under an epidemic of golden mussels,” said \u003ca href=\"https://redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/ricciardi/\">Anthony Ricciardi\u003c/a>, a professor of biology and the director of the Bieler School of Environment at McGill University. “Like in any epidemic, you got to control the key hubs — or else the war is lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reopening Lake Oroville\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California water managers \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2024/10/california-delta-invasive-mussel/\">first discovered\u003c/a> golden mussels invading California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta in October 2024 — marking their first detection in North America. The voracious and rapidly spreading mussels can encrust surfaces so thoroughly that they choke off water supplies and damage dams and power plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are now invading critical infrastructure in the Delta. And the very pumps, canals and aqueducts that keep water flowing to much of the state are \u003ca href=\"https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Invasives/Species/Golden-Mussel\">funneling the larvae\u003c/a> to irrigation districts and water suppliers downstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sjgov.org/department/bos/board-news/board-news-detail/2026/04/28/sjc-board-of-supervisors-proclaims-local-emergency-golden-mussel\">San Joaquin\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DYibakJILm-/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet\">Kern Counties\u003c/a> have declared states of emergency, and state officials are updating key facilities along the state’s nature-defying water delivery system to reduce mussel damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12018571\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12018571\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM.jpg\" alt=\"A salmon under water with rocks.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/03_121124-Fall-Run-Salmon-XM-DWR-01-CM-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fall-run Chinook salmon migrate and spawn in the Feather River near the California Department of Water Resources infrastructure and the Feather River Fish Hatchery in Oroville, Butte County, on Nov. 15, 2024. \u003ccite>(Xavier Mascareñas/California Department of Water Resources)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With summer weather coming in hot, state water managers said that they \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2026/Apr-2026/Lake-Oroville-Update-April-29-2026\">are ending\u003c/a> a program to prevent mussels and their larvae from stowing away on boats to invade Lake Oroville, one of California’s largest reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The department now no longer requires \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/News/Blog/2026/May-2026/Lake-Oroville-Update-May-1-2026\">inspections and decontamination\u003c/a> for boats launching at Lake Oroville and nearby reservoirs — the Thermalito Forebay and the Thermalito Afterbay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Water Resources says lakes and launches upstream in the Feather River watershed didn’t take similar precautions, raising the risk that golden mussel larvae would wash into the reservoir on river flows regardless of the boat inspections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost of the inspection program for the lake was also around $7.5 million to start it up, and $6.5 million per year to continue it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Installing UV treatment to prevent mussels from settling in the pipes at powerplants downstream from Oroville, by contrast, would cost an estimated $1 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We severely impacted recreation at that lake,” said Tanya Veldhuizen, special projects section manager in the California Department of Water Resources’ environmental assessment branch. “We also evaluated the risk to our infrastructure and what it would take to mitigate mussels — and that was much lower than expected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Cold water, fewer mussels?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The decision reflects the findings from a new risk analysis the department commissioned for these reservoirs and related hydropower and fishery hatchery facilities, as well as for the \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/What-We-Do/Recreation/Upper-Feather-River-Lakes\">Upper Feather River Lakes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Conducted by a \u003ca href=\"https://www.rntconsulting.net/\">Canada-based consulting firm\u003c/a> specializing in aquatic invasive species, the assessment reports that, while surface temperatures are warm enough for the mussels to survive in shallower water at Lake Oroville, they’re too cold lower down for the mussels to reproduce at depths greater than 60 feet below the surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike the Delta, the waters at Lake Oroville are also low in nutrients, Veldhuizen said. Between the scarce food, cold temperatures, and water levels that drop enough to dry out mussels on the shoreline, Veldhuizen said she doesn’t expect the mussels to reach nuisance levels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11945857\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11945857\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut.jpg\" alt=\"High view of a lake with mountains in the background. A small patch of land can be seen in the middle of the water.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS64312_AP23095017106967-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A boat crosses Lake Oroville on Sunday, March 26, 2023, in Butte County, California. \u003ccite>(Noah Berger/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The department also expects cold water released from the reservoir will slow the growth of any larvae that reach the Feather River Fish Hatchery and the Oroville-Thermalito Complex powerplants downstream.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Oroville’s shoreline, boats and docks remain at risk — and that’s what worries Ricciardi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s where the action is. The boats will be moving them,” Ricciardi said — because boats and aquatic weeds clinging to vessels and their trailers can ferry mussels from one lake to another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And adult mussels can actually survive even in very cold water, says Demetrio Boltovskoy, a retired researcher formerly at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council. One study in China found \u003ca href=\"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ddi.13289\">they can live for weeks\u003c/a> at near-freezing temperatures.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Still, Boltovskoy said that while he isn’t specifically familiar with Lake Oroville, reducing precautions may be reasonable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No matter what precautionary measures you take, sooner or later it will spread,” he said. “I don’t think that stopping their range expansion is actually feasible at all.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But invasive species experts are sharply divided on the subject. That’s true especially in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2025/07/golden-mussel-california-water-supplies-spread-inspections/\">told CalMatters\u003c/a> that invasions delayed translated to money saved. This year, the wildlife department directed inquiries about the new Oroville strategy to the Department of Water Resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s so much to protect yet,” Martha Volkoff, environmental program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Invasive Species Program, said \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2025/07/golden-mussel-california-water-supplies-spread-inspections/\">last summer.\u003c/a> “Yes, it’s a lot of work, but the long-term savings — to the environment and to all the other ways that it costs us — is investment well spent, even if we just delay new introductions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Relying on boaters: Clean, drain, dry\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The responsibility now rests more heavily with boaters to ensure their boats are clean, drained and dry — especially when leaving an infested body of water, like the Delta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If state water managers detect mussels at Lake Oroville, she said, the department will begin inspecting boats as they leave the lake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a strategy already in use at other infested lakes, including \u003ca href=\"https://parks.lacounty.gov/castaic-lake-state-recreation-area-2/\">Castaic\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23467\">Pyramid\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Managers of other Northern California lakes told CalMatters they will continue their inspection programs, including at lakes \u003ca href=\"https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=31843\">Folsom\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://tahoeboatinspections.com/\">Tahoe\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://scwa2.com/lake-berryessa-mussel-prevention-program/\">Berryessa\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085522\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085522\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/052626LAKE-TAHOE-_GH_062-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/052626LAKE-TAHOE-_GH_062-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/052626LAKE-TAHOE-_GH_062-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/052626LAKE-TAHOE-_GH_062-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Emerald Bay and Lake Tahoe are seen from D.L. Bliss State Park on May 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Drew Gantner, manager of water resources at Solano County Water Agency, which oversees the mussel program at Lake Berryessa, called the Oroville decision concerning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If Lake Oroville does surrender its program and becomes infested with golden mussels it creates an increased risk for all waterbodies,” Gantner said. “At that point, any watercraft travelling to Berryessa (or anywhere else) from Lake Oroville would essentially be no different than watercraft coming from the Delta.” \u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ricciardi agreed that the stakes extend well past Oroville’s dam and downstream facilities. “There is another thing about invasions. They often surprise you,” Ricciardi said. “Sometimes invaders don’t act the way they’re supposed to act.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated to reflect that Anthony Ricciardi did not speak about ballast water when explaining how boats can spread invasive mussels.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2026/06/golden-mussels-oroville-boating-invasive/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "a-california-housing-bill-would-raise-wages-to-28-why-do-some-unions-hate-it",
"title": "A California Housing Bill Would Raise Wages to $28. Why Do Some Unions Hate It?",
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"headTitle": "A California Housing Bill Would Raise Wages to $28. Why Do Some Unions Hate It? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When is a minimum \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/wages\">wage hike\u003c/a> of more than $11 per hour actually a pay cut?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That question has dominated the debate over a current \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1751\">California housing bill\u003c/a> that has riven the state’s two most powerful construction worker unions and many state legislative Democrats reluctant to get on the wrong side of either group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1751\">Assembly Bill 1751\u003c/a>, authored by Fullerton Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva, would kick aside regulatory barriers to building townhouses — tightly clustered, multistory homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In exchange for this fast-tracked approval process, townhouse developers would be required to pay their workers at least $28 per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a significant pay bump over the statewide minimum wage of $16.90.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the fiercest opposition to the bill has come from what might seem like an unexpected source: The State Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization that represents electricians, plumbers, sheet metal workers and other skilled construction trade unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers continue building units at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The interim housing site is expected to house up to 200 people. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The trades — as the council is colloquially known — argue that the new wage floor could have the paradoxical side-effect of driving down the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-construction-workers-housing-20170512-htmlstory.html\">prevailing wages\u003c/a>” enjoyed by many of their members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prevailing wages are mandatory minimum pay rates for publicly-funded or supported construction projects, which include many affordable housing developments and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/04/california-housing-law-union-dispute-2/\">other projects\u003c/a> propelled forward by recent state law in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and federal regulators set prevailing rates based on surveys of the most common wages in each field and geographic area. Because union pay scales can cover hundreds of similarly employed workers, those union-level wages often set the prevailing wage.[aside postID=news_12086113 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty.jpg']In a testy debate on the Assembly floor earlier this month, Quirk-Silva stressed — repeatedly — that the bill would in no way affect the state-set wage rates. “It does not replace prevailing wage,” she said. “It does not undercut prevailing wage. This bill leaves prevailing wage exactly where it stands in current law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades aren’t buying it, noting that the federal government sets its own rates for federally-supported projects. But the group’s bigger beef may boil down to precedent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, the building trades have battled any legislation aimed at easing regulations on the construction of new housing unless it also included pro-union guarantees. Those are either union-level prevailing wage pay requirements or, in more recent years, even more restrictive “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2021/06/california-affordable-housing-unions/\">skilled and trained\u003c/a>” rules that require developers to hire apprenticeship program graduates, the vast majority of whom are union members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s townhouse streamlining bill introduces a new standard: a minimum wage far lower than what most trades members already make.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making a meager minimum wage hike the new bone that pro-housing bills throw to construction workers would “signify the new norm,” said Chris Hannan, president of the Trades Council. “When you start a trend of doing a minimum wage, then that becomes the new go-to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The trades and carpenters, at it again\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Standing on the other side of the debate, supporting the new wage standard, are California’s unionized carpenters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades battling the carpenters is a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-construction-unions-housing/\">familiar face-off in Sacramento\u003c/a>. This isn’t even the first time the groups have publicly locked horns over this specific wage proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/05/california-housing-crisis-unions/\">longtime ally\u003c/a> of the carpenters, inserted residential construction worker minimum wage of between $28 and $40 per hour \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/prevailing-wage-construction-california-ab130/\">into a budget bill\u003c/a> in the final hours of the fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044982\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044982\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Aside from high-rise construction developments where the use of steel and concrete tend to draw more specialized workers, unions represent relatively few laborers who build California homes, the carpenters argued at the time. The new wage standard would be a modest corrective for those non-union laborers whose current wage floor is the state minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, carpenters union leaders have argued that improving working standards for low-wage workers presents an “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/04/california-housing-law-union-dispute-2/\">organizing opportunity\u003c/a>” for the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades were apoplectic. Dozens of union members crowded in the budget bill hearing to decry what they saw as an anti-union reversal of state labor policy. One representative likened the measure to \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/25/california-democrats-stage-intraparty-war-over-last-minute-push-to-build-more-housing-00425196\">“Jim Crow” laws\u003c/a>. Many labor-friendly Democrats on the committee recoiled; the proposal was shelved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the idea has been given a bit more time for debate, though the trades and some lawmakers have still complained of a process they see as rushed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Quirk-Silva’s bill was introduced in early February, it focused solely on townhouse regulations. The wage language was added only in time for its second committee hearing in late April. (Quirk-Silva’s staff declined to make her available for an interview to explain that delay or discuss the bill in general, citing personal family matters. On the Assembly floor, she explained the late addition in part by noting “severe health issues” among staff and family members.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then the entirety of the legislative debate has been focused on the wage issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076525\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at the Friendship House Association of American Indians in San Francisco on Jan. 16, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That itself is a notable development: The bill exempts the construction of townhomes from both environmental review and the jurisdiction of elected local city councils and planning boards. Just a few years ago, such a proposal would have made for a capitol-shaking, headline-grabbing fight. But a year after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/ceqa-urban-development-infill-budget/\">exempting most urban housing\u003c/a> developments from environmental litigation, the land-use implications appear to be an afterthought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At an Assembly floor vote last month, San Diego Assemblymember Chris Ward referred to the minimum wage issue as the “900 pound gorilla.” He, like many Democrats who spoke on the bill, said that he supported the legislation in general, but that he remained wary of the “unresolved” questions about how the new wage rate would affect existing labor standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill needed 41 out of 80 “yes” votes to move onto the Senate. It passed with just 47.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hike or pay cut?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s office tried to get around the prevailing wage fight early on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prevailing wages are required of publicly funded works, including many affordable housing projects. They are set by the California Department of Industrial Relations, which sets its rates based on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/oprl/FAQ_PrevailingWage.html#q1\">most common wage\u003c/a> for each job type in each region of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s bill specifically bars the state department from taking the new $28 per hour townhome wages into account when running those calculations, lest a glut of townhome builders inadvertently bring down the wages owed to union roofers and plumbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A construction worker operates machinery to move dirt at the site of new middle housing units at 2824 D Street in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The trades aren’t satisfied with that concession. That’s because the federal government conducts its own wage surveys and set its own prevailing wage for federally-funded infrastructure projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current federal prevailing wage required for a residential roofer in Sacramento, for example, is \u003ca href=\"https://sam.gov/wage-determination/CA20260019/5\">$46.73 per hour\u003c/a> plus benefits. That number is based on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/government-contracts/construction/faq#23\">most common wage paid\u003c/a> for that job in the area or — if no single rate is paid to at least 30% of the workers in the survey — on the regional average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The federal government won’t give a rat’s ass about what this bill says,” Scott Wetch, a lobbyist for Trades-affiliated unions, said at the bill’s April hearing. “And they will set the prevailing wage rate for all the crafts at $28.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades “have a case” in this argument, said Kevin Duncan, an economist at Colorado State University Pueblo who has studied prevailing wage policy’s effect on construction costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imagine a smaller market with a relatively low unionization rate. If the bill uncorked a geyser of contractors paying all their low-wage workers exactly $28 per hour, “that would be the prevailing rate — and with zero benefits,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Backers of the bill dispute that, saying such a specific outcome is unlikely given how many contractors are likely to use this specific townhouse bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also argue that vanishingly few residential roofers do federal public works jobs in Sacramento — or anywhere in California — so changes in the federal prevailing wage for residential projects aren’t likely to affect many workers anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers and supporters march through Oakland to the Lion Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex, on April 27, 2026, as part of a demonstration calling for more than $300,000 in unpaid wages from Bay Area contractors Milestone Roofing and Saarman Construction. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Instead, most roofers are non-union on privately-funded projects and many are being paid less than $28 per hour, said Danny Curtin, director of the California Council of Carpenters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To say that raising those wages “will actually bring everybody else’s wages down, defies comprehension,” he said at the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/06/ab-1751-trades-carpenters-fight/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When is a minimum \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/wages\">wage hike\u003c/a> of more than $11 per hour actually a pay cut?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That question has dominated the debate over a current \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1751\">California housing bill\u003c/a> that has riven the state’s two most powerful construction worker unions and many state legislative Democrats reluctant to get on the wrong side of either group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1751\">Assembly Bill 1751\u003c/a>, authored by Fullerton Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva, would kick aside regulatory barriers to building townhouses — tightly clustered, multistory homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In exchange for this fast-tracked approval process, townhouse developers would be required to pay their workers at least $28 per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a significant pay bump over the statewide minimum wage of $16.90.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the fiercest opposition to the bill has come from what might seem like an unexpected source: The State Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization that represents electricians, plumbers, sheet metal workers and other skilled construction trade unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers continue building units at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The interim housing site is expected to house up to 200 people. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The trades — as the council is colloquially known — argue that the new wage floor could have the paradoxical side-effect of driving down the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-construction-workers-housing-20170512-htmlstory.html\">prevailing wages\u003c/a>” enjoyed by many of their members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prevailing wages are mandatory minimum pay rates for publicly-funded or supported construction projects, which include many affordable housing developments and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/04/california-housing-law-union-dispute-2/\">other projects\u003c/a> propelled forward by recent state law in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and federal regulators set prevailing rates based on surveys of the most common wages in each field and geographic area. Because union pay scales can cover hundreds of similarly employed workers, those union-level wages often set the prevailing wage.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In a testy debate on the Assembly floor earlier this month, Quirk-Silva stressed — repeatedly — that the bill would in no way affect the state-set wage rates. “It does not replace prevailing wage,” she said. “It does not undercut prevailing wage. This bill leaves prevailing wage exactly where it stands in current law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades aren’t buying it, noting that the federal government sets its own rates for federally-supported projects. But the group’s bigger beef may boil down to precedent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, the building trades have battled any legislation aimed at easing regulations on the construction of new housing unless it also included pro-union guarantees. Those are either union-level prevailing wage pay requirements or, in more recent years, even more restrictive “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2021/06/california-affordable-housing-unions/\">skilled and trained\u003c/a>” rules that require developers to hire apprenticeship program graduates, the vast majority of whom are union members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s townhouse streamlining bill introduces a new standard: a minimum wage far lower than what most trades members already make.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making a meager minimum wage hike the new bone that pro-housing bills throw to construction workers would “signify the new norm,” said Chris Hannan, president of the Trades Council. “When you start a trend of doing a minimum wage, then that becomes the new go-to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The trades and carpenters, at it again\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Standing on the other side of the debate, supporting the new wage standard, are California’s unionized carpenters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades battling the carpenters is a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-construction-unions-housing/\">familiar face-off in Sacramento\u003c/a>. This isn’t even the first time the groups have publicly locked horns over this specific wage proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/05/california-housing-crisis-unions/\">longtime ally\u003c/a> of the carpenters, inserted residential construction worker minimum wage of between $28 and $40 per hour \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/prevailing-wage-construction-california-ab130/\">into a budget bill\u003c/a> in the final hours of the fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044982\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044982\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Aside from high-rise construction developments where the use of steel and concrete tend to draw more specialized workers, unions represent relatively few laborers who build California homes, the carpenters argued at the time. The new wage standard would be a modest corrective for those non-union laborers whose current wage floor is the state minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, carpenters union leaders have argued that improving working standards for low-wage workers presents an “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/04/california-housing-law-union-dispute-2/\">organizing opportunity\u003c/a>” for the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades were apoplectic. Dozens of union members crowded in the budget bill hearing to decry what they saw as an anti-union reversal of state labor policy. One representative likened the measure to \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/25/california-democrats-stage-intraparty-war-over-last-minute-push-to-build-more-housing-00425196\">“Jim Crow” laws\u003c/a>. Many labor-friendly Democrats on the committee recoiled; the proposal was shelved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the idea has been given a bit more time for debate, though the trades and some lawmakers have still complained of a process they see as rushed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Quirk-Silva’s bill was introduced in early February, it focused solely on townhouse regulations. The wage language was added only in time for its second committee hearing in late April. (Quirk-Silva’s staff declined to make her available for an interview to explain that delay or discuss the bill in general, citing personal family matters. On the Assembly floor, she explained the late addition in part by noting “severe health issues” among staff and family members.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then the entirety of the legislative debate has been focused on the wage issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076525\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at the Friendship House Association of American Indians in San Francisco on Jan. 16, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That itself is a notable development: The bill exempts the construction of townhomes from both environmental review and the jurisdiction of elected local city councils and planning boards. Just a few years ago, such a proposal would have made for a capitol-shaking, headline-grabbing fight. But a year after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/ceqa-urban-development-infill-budget/\">exempting most urban housing\u003c/a> developments from environmental litigation, the land-use implications appear to be an afterthought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At an Assembly floor vote last month, San Diego Assemblymember Chris Ward referred to the minimum wage issue as the “900 pound gorilla.” He, like many Democrats who spoke on the bill, said that he supported the legislation in general, but that he remained wary of the “unresolved” questions about how the new wage rate would affect existing labor standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill needed 41 out of 80 “yes” votes to move onto the Senate. It passed with just 47.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hike or pay cut?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s office tried to get around the prevailing wage fight early on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prevailing wages are required of publicly funded works, including many affordable housing projects. They are set by the California Department of Industrial Relations, which sets its rates based on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/oprl/FAQ_PrevailingWage.html#q1\">most common wage\u003c/a> for each job type in each region of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s bill specifically bars the state department from taking the new $28 per hour townhome wages into account when running those calculations, lest a glut of townhome builders inadvertently bring down the wages owed to union roofers and plumbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A construction worker operates machinery to move dirt at the site of new middle housing units at 2824 D Street in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The trades aren’t satisfied with that concession. That’s because the federal government conducts its own wage surveys and set its own prevailing wage for federally-funded infrastructure projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current federal prevailing wage required for a residential roofer in Sacramento, for example, is \u003ca href=\"https://sam.gov/wage-determination/CA20260019/5\">$46.73 per hour\u003c/a> plus benefits. That number is based on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/government-contracts/construction/faq#23\">most common wage paid\u003c/a> for that job in the area or — if no single rate is paid to at least 30% of the workers in the survey — on the regional average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The federal government won’t give a rat’s ass about what this bill says,” Scott Wetch, a lobbyist for Trades-affiliated unions, said at the bill’s April hearing. “And they will set the prevailing wage rate for all the crafts at $28.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades “have a case” in this argument, said Kevin Duncan, an economist at Colorado State University Pueblo who has studied prevailing wage policy’s effect on construction costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imagine a smaller market with a relatively low unionization rate. If the bill uncorked a geyser of contractors paying all their low-wage workers exactly $28 per hour, “that would be the prevailing rate — and with zero benefits,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Backers of the bill dispute that, saying such a specific outcome is unlikely given how many contractors are likely to use this specific townhouse bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also argue that vanishingly few residential roofers do federal public works jobs in Sacramento — or anywhere in California — so changes in the federal prevailing wage for residential projects aren’t likely to affect many workers anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers and supporters march through Oakland to the Lion Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex, on April 27, 2026, as part of a demonstration calling for more than $300,000 in unpaid wages from Bay Area contractors Milestone Roofing and Saarman Construction. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Instead, most roofers are non-union on privately-funded projects and many are being paid less than $28 per hour, said Danny Curtin, director of the California Council of Carpenters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To say that raising those wages “will actually bring everybody else’s wages down, defies comprehension,” he said at the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/06/ab-1751-trades-carpenters-fight/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "democrat-ma-and-republican-romero-in-a-close-race-for-lieutenant-governor",
"title": "Democrat Ma and Republican Romero in a Close Race for Lieutenant Governor",
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"headTitle": "Democrat Ma and Republican Romero in a Close Race for Lieutenant Governor | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two candidates for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>’s second-highest job were virtually tied in the race for lieutenant governor as votes trickled in early Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Treasurer Fiona Ma, a Democrat, and former state legislator Republican Gloria Romero were leading a tight pack of mostly Democratic hopefuls with nearly 20% each. Newsom cabinet official Josh Fryday followed with about 14%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lieutenant governor is mostly a ceremonial position with a lukewarm reputation in Sacramento. But the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/04/california-lieutenant-governor-race/\">No. 2 job in the state\u003c/a> has been used as a slingshot to the governor’s office before, drawing in four major candidates eager to replace Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who terms out this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ma, Fryday and former Stockton Mayor Tubbs are the leading Democratic candidates in a top-two primary that will send two candidates on to the November general election. Fryday, who heads volunteer programs for the state, has amassed the biggest treasure chest — nearly $4 million — and is backed by teachers unions and the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ma, a longtime politician with deep roots in San Francisco, is endorsed by influential labor unions and has raised about $2.8 million. But her run for the second-highest statewide office is shadowed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article253382258.html\">2021 sexual harassment allegations\u003c/a> that Tubbs supporters have latched onto. Ma has called the allegation “frivolous”, but the state paid $350,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by one of her former employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946514\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11946514\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A profile picture of a man looking off-camera to his right.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Tubbs, former mayor of Stockton, implemented an 18-month trial of Universal Basic Income for 125 residents in the city. \u003ccite>(Nick Otto/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tubbs was among the first to announce his campaign in 2024. Once a progressive star, he rose to political stardom 10 years ago as a young big city mayor who piloted a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2023/04/california-guaranteed-income/\">guaranteed income program\u003c/a> in Stockton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ousted by a Republican newcomer, his political career seemed to fade and he went on to lead Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, an advocacy organization. It’s his first crack at public office since then, and he’s garnered support from progressive Democrats and the powerful union SEIU California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Longtime state lawmaker Romero is the leading Republican. Romero spent 12 years representing East Los Angeles in the state Legislature as a Democrat. She switched parties in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Higher education at the forefront\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The major Democratic candidates have struggled to set themselves apart on policy. Because the lieutenant governor sits on all three college governing boards, each has claimed they would work to make universities build more housing and lower tuition costs. This has included practical solutions from directing Federal Student Aid applicants to food assistance program CalFresh, to more far-fetched ones, such as free tuition for in-demand programs, such as nursing.[aside label=\"Live 2026 Election Results\" link1='https://www.kqed.org/elections/results/california/governor,Learn about the results of the California Governor Election' hero=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2026/04/Aside-California-Governor-2026-Primary-Election-1200x1200@2x.png]The lieutenant governor also sits on the commission responsible for millions of acres of public land. Fryday thinks identifying more undeveloped land to build student housing on will help lower tuition costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ma wants Cal State universities, which rely heavily on state funding, to find other revenue sources through partnerships with private companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At an April candidate debate in Los Angeles, Tubbs said he supports freezing tuition but did not elaborate on how he would make up the loss in revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Romero seeks greater transparency about faculty, salaries and housing allowances and would push for more student representation on the UC Board of Regents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To set themselves apart, the Democrats have leaned on their distinct backgrounds. Fryday has made clean energy a core part of his campaign as a former executive of a clean energy organization started by billionaire gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer. Ma has framed the job as another bulwark against the Trump administration. Tubbs, who works as an unpaid economic adviser to Newsom, has focused on affordability and cutting tuition for low-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-primary-lieutenant-governor/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two candidates for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>’s second-highest job were virtually tied in the race for lieutenant governor as votes trickled in early Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Treasurer Fiona Ma, a Democrat, and former state legislator Republican Gloria Romero were leading a tight pack of mostly Democratic hopefuls with nearly 20% each. Newsom cabinet official Josh Fryday followed with about 14%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lieutenant governor is mostly a ceremonial position with a lukewarm reputation in Sacramento. But the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/04/california-lieutenant-governor-race/\">No. 2 job in the state\u003c/a> has been used as a slingshot to the governor’s office before, drawing in four major candidates eager to replace Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who terms out this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ma, Fryday and former Stockton Mayor Tubbs are the leading Democratic candidates in a top-two primary that will send two candidates on to the November general election. Fryday, who heads volunteer programs for the state, has amassed the biggest treasure chest — nearly $4 million — and is backed by teachers unions and the governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ma, a longtime politician with deep roots in San Francisco, is endorsed by influential labor unions and has raised about $2.8 million. But her run for the second-highest statewide office is shadowed by \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article253382258.html\">2021 sexual harassment allegations\u003c/a> that Tubbs supporters have latched onto. Ma has called the allegation “frivolous”, but the state paid $350,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by one of her former employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11946514\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11946514\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A profile picture of a man looking off-camera to his right.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/04/RS43525_GettyImages-1208196864-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Tubbs, former mayor of Stockton, implemented an 18-month trial of Universal Basic Income for 125 residents in the city. \u003ccite>(Nick Otto/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Tubbs was among the first to announce his campaign in 2024. Once a progressive star, he rose to political stardom 10 years ago as a young big city mayor who piloted a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2023/04/california-guaranteed-income/\">guaranteed income program\u003c/a> in Stockton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ousted by a Republican newcomer, his political career seemed to fade and he went on to lead Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, an advocacy organization. It’s his first crack at public office since then, and he’s garnered support from progressive Democrats and the powerful union SEIU California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Longtime state lawmaker Romero is the leading Republican. Romero spent 12 years representing East Los Angeles in the state Legislature as a Democrat. She switched parties in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Higher education at the forefront\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The major Democratic candidates have struggled to set themselves apart on policy. Because the lieutenant governor sits on all three college governing boards, each has claimed they would work to make universities build more housing and lower tuition costs. This has included practical solutions from directing Federal Student Aid applicants to food assistance program CalFresh, to more far-fetched ones, such as free tuition for in-demand programs, such as nursing.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The lieutenant governor also sits on the commission responsible for millions of acres of public land. Fryday thinks identifying more undeveloped land to build student housing on will help lower tuition costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ma wants Cal State universities, which rely heavily on state funding, to find other revenue sources through partnerships with private companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At an April candidate debate in Los Angeles, Tubbs said he supports freezing tuition but did not elaborate on how he would make up the loss in revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Romero seeks greater transparency about faculty, salaries and housing allowances and would push for more student representation on the UC Board of Regents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To set themselves apart, the Democrats have leaned on their distinct backgrounds. Fryday has made clean energy a core part of his campaign as a former executive of a clean energy organization started by billionaire gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer. Ma has framed the job as another bulwark against the Trump administration. Tubbs, who works as an unpaid economic adviser to Newsom, has focused on affordability and cutting tuition for low-income families.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/06/california-primary-lieutenant-governor/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
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