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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Santa Clara County officials on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s demand to set aside hundreds of ballots and vet the voters’ names amid an unprecedented \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106247/doj-orders-contra-costa-other-california-counties-to-verify-ballots\">investigation\u003c/a> of purported noncitizens on county voter rolls. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The defiant response comes as a legal battle between California and the federal government over the voter rolls escalates just over two weeks before Election Day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Department of Justice had sent letters to all of California’s county registrars this month directing them to provide information verifying the flagged voters’ citizenship and hold off on counting ballots from those voters in the meantime. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A district court judge in Los Angeles will hear the federal government’s request to expedite enforcement of the demand on Tuesday, after a federal appeals court ruled Monday that it was too soon for the higher court to step in. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Echoing the response of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106053/at-a-contra-costa-county-elections-office-workers-say-security-is-paramount\">local officials\u003c/a> facing similar demands across the state, Santa Clara County Executive James Williams said the DOJ had no authority to conscript local election officials in such an effort.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“A letter like that, and one that makes threats to election officials concerning criminal and other legal sanctions, is deeply disturbing and entirely inappropriate,” Williams said in an interview. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103669\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A vote-by-mail ballot for the Nov. 3, 2026, general election on Oct. 8, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration is ramping up its pressure on California in what federal officials have called a campaign to root out potential noncitizens registered to vote. Earlier this month, the Justice Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California and Los Angeles County\u003c/a> elections officials over the list of voters who the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a rare Sunday hearing, lawyers for the federal government asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt ballot counting for 20,000 voters on that list. Election experts questioned the legality of the Trump administration’s move, which came as nearly 3 million Californians have already cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 midterm election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“What they say they’re trying to do is enforce a federal law that makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections,” Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the UCLA School of Law, said on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101915782/bracing-for-the-coming-wave-of-legal-challenges-to-midterm-voting\">KQED’s Forum\u003c/a>. “What I think they’re actually trying to do is to project the image that there’s a widespread voter fraud problem in this country, and to kind of mimic the claims that President Trump has made, that noncitizens are voting in droves and affecting the outcome of elections.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In letters to the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Sunday, Williams and Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti argued that state and federal law prohibit the county’s registrar of voters from complying with the federal government’s request. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They argued that the Department of Justice has not presented the county with a warrant for the Social Security numbers and driver’s license information they are seeking. And they cited the National Voter Registration Act, which prevents systematic purges of ineligible voters from registration rolls within 90 days of an election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams also questioned how the federal government produced the list of 902 names that it categorized as “likely aliens” on the county’s voter rolls, echoing doubts cast by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and others over the data and methodology behind the federal investigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There were three duplicates on the first page alone; the data looks very messy,” Williams said. “A significant number of random names appear not to be voters in Santa Clara County at all.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The county’s move won praise from Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, who said the Trump administration’s actions were intended to distract local election officials who are in the midst of administering California’s early voting period. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Our elections officials need to continue focusing on what they’re doing,” he said. “Our state Department of Justice will defend the system and push back against it in court and be successful.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 902 names are a subset of the 20,000-name roster that the U.S. Department of Justice sent to California’s secretary of state this month. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Sunday’s hearing before the 9th Circuit, attorneys with the DOJ called the probe an effort to prevent noncitizens from violating federal law by casting a ballot — and accused California officials of resisting partnership on the issue. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/voter-registration-and-citizenship\">like most states\u003c/a>, asks that residents registering to vote attest under penalty of perjury that they are citizens. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Attestation is not verification,” Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/USAttyEssayli/status/2114509118702854448\">wrote\u003c/a> Sunday in a post on the social media platform X. “Ensuring only citizens vote isn’t political, it’s enforcing state and federal law.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But cases of actual voter fraud are incredibly rare. Last week, federal agents charged 28 noncitizen Californians, all of them legal residents, with illegally voting or registering to vote. None has been convicted, but those accused represent just 0.0001% of registered voters in the state.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its ruling rejecting the Justice Department’s request for an injunction, Judges Mark J. Bennett and Gabriel P. Sanchez concluded that the federal government “failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider its application for a Temporary Restraining Order.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Highlighting that the Trump administration has levied allegations that California’s voter rolls contain noncitizens since the summer, the judges wrote that the government’s “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“At least part of the delay here is attributable to the United States’s own delay in filing suit,” they said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Justice had sent letters to all of California’s county registrars this month directing them to provide information verifying the flagged voters’ citizenship and hold off on counting ballots from those voters in the meantime. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A district court judge in Los Angeles will hear the federal government’s request to expedite enforcement of the demand on Tuesday, after a federal appeals court ruled Monday that it was too soon for the higher court to step in. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Echoing the response of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106053/at-a-contra-costa-county-elections-office-workers-say-security-is-paramount\">local officials\u003c/a> facing similar demands across the state, Santa Clara County Executive James Williams said the DOJ had no authority to conscript local election officials in such an effort.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“A letter like that, and one that makes threats to election officials concerning criminal and other legal sanctions, is deeply disturbing and entirely inappropriate,” Williams said in an interview. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Trump administration is ramping up its pressure on California in what federal officials have called a campaign to root out potential noncitizens registered to vote. Earlier this month, the Justice Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California and Los Angeles County\u003c/a> elections officials over the list of voters who the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Trump administration is ramping up its pressure on California in what federal officials have called a campaign to root out potential noncitizens registered to vote. Earlier this month, the Justice Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California and Los Angeles County\u003c/a> elections officials over the list of voters who the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a rare Sunday hearing, lawyers for the federal government asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt ballot counting for 20,000 voters on that list. Election experts questioned the legality of the Trump administration’s move, which came as nearly 3 million Californians have already cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 midterm election. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a rare Sunday hearing, lawyers for the federal government asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt ballot counting for 20,000 voters on that list. Election experts questioned the legality of the Trump administration’s move, which came as nearly 3 million Californians have already cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 midterm election. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What they say they’re trying to do is enforce a federal law that makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections,” Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the UCLA School of Law, said on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101915782/bracing-for-the-coming-wave-of-legal-challenges-to-midterm-voting\">KQED’s Forum\u003c/a>. “What I think they’re actually trying to do is to project the image that there’s a widespread voter fraud problem in this country, and to kind of mimic the claims that President Trump has made, that noncitizens are voting in droves and affecting the outcome of elections.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In letters to the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Sunday, Williams and Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti argued that state and federal law prohibit the county’s registrar of voters from complying with the federal government’s request. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In letters to the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Sunday, Williams and Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti argued that state and federal law prohibit the county’s registrar of voters from complying with the federal government’s request. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>They argued that the Department of Justice has not presented the county with a warrant for the Social Security numbers and driver’s license information they are seeking. And they cited the National Voter Registration Act, which prevents systematic purges of ineligible voters from registration rolls within 90 days of an election. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>They argued that the Department of Justice has not presented the county with a warrant for the Social Security numbers and driver’s license information they are seeking. And they cited the National Voter Registration Act, which prevents systematic purges of ineligible voters from registration rolls within 90 days of an election. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Williams also questioned how the federal government produced the list of 902 names that it categorized as “likely aliens” on the county’s voter rolls, echoing doubts cast by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and others over the data and methodology behind the federal investigation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There were three duplicates on the first page alone; the data looks very messy,” Williams said. “A significant number of random names appear not to be voters in Santa Clara County at all.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The county’s move won praise from Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, who said the Trump administration’s actions were intended to distract local election officials who are in the midst of administering California’s early voting period. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Our elections officials need to continue focusing on what they’re doing,” he said. “Our state Department of Justice will defend the system and push back against it in court and be successful.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The 902 names are a subset of the 20,000-name roster that the U.S. Department of Justice sent to California’s secretary of state this month. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In Sunday’s hearing before the 9th Circuit, attorneys with the DOJ called the probe an effort to prevent noncitizens from violating federal law by casting a ballot — and accused California officials of resisting partnership on the issue. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/voter-registration-and-citizenship\">like most states\u003c/a>, asks that residents registering to vote attest under penalty of perjury that they are citizens. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Attestation is not verification,” Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/USAttyEssayli/status/2114509118702854448\">wrote\u003c/a> Sunday in a post on the social media platform X. “Ensuring only citizens vote isn’t political, it’s enforcing state and federal law.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But cases of actual voter fraud are incredibly rare. Last week, federal agents charged 28 noncitizen Californians, all of them legal residents, with illegally voting or registering to vote. None has been convicted, but those accused represent just 0.0001% of registered voters in the state.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In its ruling rejecting the Justice Department’s request for an injunction, Judges Mark J. Bennett and Gabriel P. Sanchez concluded that the federal government “failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider its application for a Temporary Restraining Order.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In its ruling rejecting the Justice Department’s request for an injunction, Judges Mark J. Bennett and Gabriel P. Sanchez concluded that the federal government “failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider its application for a Temporary Restraining Order.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Highlighting that the Trump administration has levied allegations that California’s voter rolls contain noncitizens since the summer, the judges wrote that the government’s “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Highlighting that the Trump administration has levied allegations that California’s voter rolls contain noncitizens since the summer, the judges wrote that the government’s “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“At least part of the delay here is attributable to the United States’s own delay in filing suit,” they said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“At least part of the delay here is attributable to the United States’s own delay in filing suit,” they said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "The county executive called federal demands to set aside hundreds of ballots and vet the voters’ citizenship “entirely inappropriate” just days before the Nov. 3 election.",
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"title": "Santa Clara County Rejects Trump Administration Voter Probe | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Santa Clara County officials on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s demand to set aside hundreds of ballots and vet the voters’ names amid an unprecedented \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106247/doj-orders-contra-costa-other-california-counties-to-verify-ballots\">investigation\u003c/a> of purported noncitizens on county voter rolls. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The defiant response comes as a legal battle between California and the federal government over the voter rolls escalates just over two weeks before Election Day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Department of Justice had sent letters to all of California’s county registrars this month directing them to provide information verifying the flagged voters’ citizenship and hold off on counting ballots from those voters in the meantime. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A district court judge in Los Angeles will hear the federal government’s request to expedite enforcement of the demand on Tuesday, after a federal appeals court ruled Monday that it was too soon for the higher court to step in. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Echoing the response of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106053/at-a-contra-costa-county-elections-office-workers-say-security-is-paramount\">local officials\u003c/a> facing similar demands across the state, Santa Clara County Executive James Williams said the DOJ had no authority to conscript local election officials in such an effort.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“A letter like that, and one that makes threats to election officials concerning criminal and other legal sanctions, is deeply disturbing and entirely inappropriate,” Williams said in an interview. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103669\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A vote-by-mail ballot for the Nov. 3, 2026, general election on Oct. 8, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration is ramping up its pressure on California in what federal officials have called a campaign to root out potential noncitizens registered to vote. Earlier this month, the Justice Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California and Los Angeles County\u003c/a> elections officials over the list of voters who the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a rare Sunday hearing, lawyers for the federal government asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt ballot counting for 20,000 voters on that list. Election experts questioned the legality of the Trump administration’s move, which came as nearly 3 million Californians have already cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 midterm election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“What they say they’re trying to do is enforce a federal law that makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections,” Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the UCLA School of Law, said on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101915782/bracing-for-the-coming-wave-of-legal-challenges-to-midterm-voting\">KQED’s Forum\u003c/a>. “What I think they’re actually trying to do is to project the image that there’s a widespread voter fraud problem in this country, and to kind of mimic the claims that President Trump has made, that noncitizens are voting in droves and affecting the outcome of elections.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In letters to the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Sunday, Williams and Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti argued that state and federal law prohibit the county’s registrar of voters from complying with the federal government’s request. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They argued that the Department of Justice has not presented the county with a warrant for the Social Security numbers and driver’s license information they are seeking. And they cited the National Voter Registration Act, which prevents systematic purges of ineligible voters from registration rolls within 90 days of an election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams also questioned how the federal government produced the list of 902 names that it categorized as “likely aliens” on the county’s voter rolls, echoing doubts cast by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and others over the data and methodology behind the federal investigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There were three duplicates on the first page alone; the data looks very messy,” Williams said. “A significant number of random names appear not to be voters in Santa Clara County at all.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The county’s move won praise from Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, who said the Trump administration’s actions were intended to distract local election officials who are in the midst of administering California’s early voting period. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Our elections officials need to continue focusing on what they’re doing,” he said. “Our state Department of Justice will defend the system and push back against it in court and be successful.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 902 names are a subset of the 20,000-name roster that the U.S. Department of Justice sent to California’s secretary of state this month. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Sunday’s hearing before the 9th Circuit, attorneys with the DOJ called the probe an effort to prevent noncitizens from violating federal law by casting a ballot — and accused California officials of resisting partnership on the issue. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/voter-registration-and-citizenship\">like most states\u003c/a>, asks that residents registering to vote attest under penalty of perjury that they are citizens. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Attestation is not verification,” Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/USAttyEssayli/status/2114509118702854448\">wrote\u003c/a> Sunday in a post on the social media platform X. “Ensuring only citizens vote isn’t political, it’s enforcing state and federal law.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But cases of actual voter fraud are incredibly rare. Last week, federal agents charged 28 noncitizen Californians, all of them legal residents, with illegally voting or registering to vote. None has been convicted, but those accused represent just 0.0001% of registered voters in the state.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its ruling rejecting the Justice Department’s request for an injunction, Judges Mark J. Bennett and Gabriel P. Sanchez concluded that the federal government “failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider its application for a Temporary Restraining Order.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Highlighting that the Trump administration has levied allegations that California’s voter rolls contain noncitizens since the summer, the judges wrote that the government’s “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“At least part of the delay here is attributable to the United States’s own delay in filing suit,” they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "newsom-could-commute-californias-death-sentences-will-he-pay-a-political-price",
"title": "Newsom Could Commute California’s Death Sentences. Will He Pay a Political Price?",
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"headTitle": "Newsom Could Commute California’s Death Sentences. Will He Pay a Political Price? | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two months after he was inaugurated as governor of California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> announced that he was putting a halt to executions in the state and dismantling the lethal injection equipment at San Quentin State Prison, where death sentences were once carried out.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“ This is not flippant. I haven’t come to this lightly,” the governor said at the time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, as Newsom serves out his final weeks in office, he is once again grappling with whether to take it one step further and commute some or all of California’s hundreds of remaining death sentences and convert them to life without the possibility of parole.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I have to prepare for my own consciousness, my rocking chair test,” Newsom said in a conversation on a \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/episode/4bY4lQWXcKHgRFRn4mXcK9\">recent episode\u003c/a> of his podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom. “Do I commute the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Newsom put a stop to executions in March 2019, there were 737 people on California’s death row. Today, based on \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/condemned-inmate-list-secure-request/\">statistics from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation\u003c/a>, 563 remain. Nearly 170 people on death row have died since Newsom’s executive order halting executions, mostly of natural causes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12076613\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin on July 26, 2023. In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state would seek to transform the maximum security prison into a center focused on the rehabilitation of incarcerated individuals. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California has not executed anyone since 2006 as legal challenges, concerns over the state’s lethal injection protocol and finally Newsom’s moratorium have essentially disabled the state’s death penalty.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, opponents of capital punishment say Newsom’s commuting those sentences and converting them to life without parole would be significant.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We are propping up the death penalty for the entire world,” said Natasha Minsker, an attorney and consultant to anti-death penalty organizations. “And it’s time for California to be out of the business of endorsing the death penalties.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Newsom is mindful that a decision to commute the state’s remaining death sentences will not sit well with some victims of crime and their families. He heard from them before and after he issued the moratorium in 2019. Some felt betrayed and angry that the governor was, in a sense, protecting people who committed heinous crimes from the “ultimate punishment” they felt was deserved.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shortly before Newsom made his decision public, his lead adviser on the process, Daniel Zingale, recalls a solemn moment in the governor’s office.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Before he went out to announce it publicly, we prayed together,” Zingale said. “He and I and some other members of the senior staff actually prayed for guidance and wisdom.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zingale said that as he contemplated his decision, Newsom wanted data, legal and budget analyses and meetings with crime victims and their families.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One thing he did not ask for? “He never once showed any interest in looking at a poll about it, or what you would consider the politics of it,” Zingale said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As he nears the end of his time as governor — and the start of a possible presidential campaign — it may be hard to imagine politics not playing a part in a decision to commute death sentences. But Newsom may have more to consider.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I think ultimately the governor is looking at the question of what matters to him, what does he want to be his legacy? When he looks back on his life, did he follow through on his values?” Minsker said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Public support for capital punishment peaked in the 1990s during a wave of high crime rates and the passage of extreme anti-crime measures. Since then, with DNA evidence exonerating some who were sentenced to death in other states, support for the death penalty has been steadily declining, especially against the alternative of life without the possibility of parole.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The peak came in 1994, with 80% of Americans approving of the death penalty for murder, according to Gallup, which has measured public opinion on capital punishment in the U.S. each year since 1937. In 2025, its \u003ca href=\"https://news.gallup.com/poll/1606/death-penalty.aspx\">most recent survey\u003c/a>, just 52% said they supported the death penalty for people who commit murder. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12036705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An inmate at San Quentin State Prison on March 17, 2023. \u003cbr> (Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I believe that the United States is right now in the middle of a national reconsideration of capital punishment,” said Austin Sarat, a professor of law and politics at Amherst College. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sarat pointed to the reaction to the gruesomely botched execution of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/10/nx-s1-5997504/christa-pike-hospital-prison-after-botched-execution\">Christa Pike\u003c/a> in Tennessee last month — she survived — and the bipartisan backlash to plans by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to livestream the upcoming execution of an Army major convicted of a mass shooting at Fort Hood. Both underscore how much politics around the death penalty have changed, Sarat said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While political consultants in Newsom’s orbit may try to dissuade him from commuting death sentences as he looks ahead to 2028, Sarat doubts the issue would really haunt the governor.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I think the distance between where he is and where he would go if he commuted death row is not as great as one might think,” Sarat said. He notes that many of the so-called purple states in a presidential election don’t even have the death penalty, including Michigan and Wisconsin, which banned the practice in the 19th century.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I think that we’re on the road to abolition,” Sarat said. “And abolition in this country is going to come not fast and not smoothly. Two steps forward, one step back.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12066363\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, on June 3, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, Newsom announced he had \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/10/22/governor-newsom-announces-clemency-actions-2/\">granted 27 pardons and 30 commutations\u003c/a> that had been recommended by elected officials, correctional staff, faith leaders and others. Governors often issue these acts of clemency throughout their time in office in recognition of sincere efforts toward rehabilitation. None of these actions were for death row inmates. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, capital punishment has not been a major issue in this year’s gubernatorial campaign in California. Democrat Xavier Becerra, who polls show is almost certain to follow Newsom as governor, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/XavierBecerra/status/2060056603462865166\">promises\u003c/a> to extend Newsom’s moratorium. But Republican Steve Hilton said he would reverse Newsom’s order and resume executions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The law is the law,” Hilton said during a \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-08-10/race-governor-2026-final-stretch-steve-hilton\">conversation\u003c/a> at the Commonwealth Club. “I personally am actually opposed to the death penalty, but the people voted — it was very clear in an initiative,” he said, referring to the narrow passage of \u003ca href=\"https://www.lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Proposition?number=66&year=2016\">Proposition 66\u003c/a> in 2016, adding that you can’t “unilaterally just overrule something because you don’t like it.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After California voters reinstated the death penalty in 1978, then-Gov. Jerry Brown, who personally opposed capital punishment, made appointments to the state Supreme Court that reflected that. Voters in 1986 removed three of “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2018/12/my-turn-recalling-jerry-browns-first-supreme-court-choice-as-his-final-pick-faces-confirmation/\">Jerry’s Judges\u003c/a>,” including Chief Justice Rose Bird, who had voted to overturn 61 death sentences.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An outside view of a large prison facility (San Quentin).\" class=\"wp-image-11991741\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, on June 3, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The shadow of Brown’s record haunted his sister, Kathleen Brown, who was the Democrats’ nominee for governor in 1994. Incumbent Republican Gov. Pete Wilson said Brown couldn’t be trusted to carry out executions, even though she promised to follow the law. He easily won reelection.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four years later, Democrat Gray Davis emphasized his strong support for capital punishment, effectively defusing the issue and defeating Republican Attorney General Dan Lungren in 1998.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whatever Newsom decides on commutations for the state’s condemned inmates, it will almost surely come after the November election. And more than half of the cases, involving people who were convicted of more than one felony, will require review by the California Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zingale, who has not advised Newsom for years, said he trusts the governor will weigh the situation fully.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I am certain he will act out of authentic conviction, because I got to see how he approaches a decision in this realm,” Zingale said. “And so I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I know that it will be consistent with his conscience.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ This is not flippant. I haven’t come to this lightly,” the governor said at the time.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Now, as Newsom serves out his final weeks in office, he is once again grappling with whether to take it one step further and commute some or all of California’s hundreds of remaining death sentences and convert them to life without the possibility of parole.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Now, as Newsom serves out his final weeks in office, he is once again grappling with whether to take it one step further and commute some or all of California’s hundreds of remaining death sentences and convert them to life without the possibility of parole.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I have to prepare for my own consciousness, my rocking chair test,” Newsom said in a conversation on a \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/episode/4bY4lQWXcKHgRFRn4mXcK9\">recent episode\u003c/a> of his podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom. “Do I commute the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I have to prepare for my own consciousness, my rocking chair test,” Newsom said in a conversation on a \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/episode/4bY4lQWXcKHgRFRn4mXcK9\">recent episode\u003c/a> of his podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom. “Do I commute the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere?”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>When Newsom put a stop to executions in March 2019, there were 737 people on California’s death row. Today, based on \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/condemned-inmate-list-secure-request/\">statistics from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation\u003c/a>, 563 remain. Nearly 170 people on death row have died since Newsom’s executive order halting executions, mostly of natural causes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>When Newsom put a stop to executions in March 2019, there were 737 people on California’s death row. Today, based on \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/condemned-inmate-list-secure-request/\">statistics from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation\u003c/a>, 563 remain. Nearly 170 people on death row have died since Newsom’s executive order halting executions, mostly of natural causes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12076613\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin on July 26, 2023. In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state would seek to transform the maximum security prison into a center focused on the rehabilitation of incarcerated individuals.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12076613\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin on July 26, 2023. In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state would seek to transform the maximum security prison into a center focused on the rehabilitation of incarcerated individuals.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California has not executed anyone since 2006 as legal challenges, concerns over the state’s lethal injection protocol and finally Newsom’s moratorium have essentially disabled the state’s death penalty.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Still, opponents of capital punishment say Newsom’s commuting those sentences and converting them to life without parole would be significant.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We are propping up the death penalty for the entire world,” said Natasha Minsker, an attorney and consultant to anti-death penalty organizations. “And it’s time for California to be out of the business of endorsing the death penalties.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Newsom is mindful that a decision to commute the state’s remaining death sentences will not sit well with some victims of crime and their families. He heard from them before and after he issued the moratorium in 2019. Some felt betrayed and angry that the governor was, in a sense, protecting people who committed heinous crimes from the “ultimate punishment” they felt was deserved.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Newsom is mindful that a decision to commute the state’s remaining death sentences will not sit well with some victims of crime and their families. He heard from them before and after he issued the moratorium in 2019. Some felt betrayed and angry that the governor was, in a sense, protecting people who committed heinous crimes from the “ultimate punishment” they felt was deserved.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shortly before Newsom made his decision public, his lead adviser on the process, Daniel Zingale, recalls a solemn moment in the governor’s office.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Before he went out to announce it publicly, we prayed together,” Zingale said. “He and I and some other members of the senior staff actually prayed for guidance and wisdom.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Zingale said that as he contemplated his decision, Newsom wanted data, legal and budget analyses and meetings with crime victims and their families.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One thing he did not ask for? “He never once showed any interest in looking at a poll about it, or what you would consider the politics of it,” Zingale said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As he nears the end of his time as governor — and the start of a possible presidential campaign — it may be hard to imagine politics not playing a part in a decision to commute death sentences. But Newsom may have more to consider.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As he nears the end of his time as governor — and the start of a possible presidential campaign — it may be hard to imagine politics not playing a part in a decision to commute death sentences. But Newsom may have more to consider.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I think ultimately the governor is looking at the question of what matters to him, what does he want to be his legacy? When he looks back on his life, did he follow through on his values?” Minsker said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I think ultimately the governor is looking at the question of what matters to him, what does he want to be his legacy? When he looks back on his life, did he follow through on his values?” Minsker said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Public support for capital punishment peaked in the 1990s during a wave of high crime rates and the passage of extreme anti-crime measures. Since then, with DNA evidence exonerating some who were sentenced to death in other states, support for the death penalty has been steadily declining, especially against the alternative of life without the possibility of parole.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Public support for capital punishment peaked in the 1990s during a wave of high crime rates and the passage of extreme anti-crime measures. Since then, with DNA evidence exonerating some who were sentenced to death in other states, support for the death penalty has been steadily declining, especially against the alternative of life without the possibility of parole.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The peak came in 1994, with 80% of Americans approving of the death penalty for murder, according to Gallup, which has measured public opinion on capital punishment in the U.S. each year since 1937. In 2025, its \u003ca href=\"https://news.gallup.com/poll/1606/death-penalty.aspx\">most recent survey\u003c/a>, just 52% said they supported the death penalty for people who commit murder. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The peak came in 1994, with 80% of Americans approving of the death penalty for murder, according to Gallup, which has measured public opinion on capital punishment in the U.S. each year since 1937. In 2025, its \u003ca href=\"https://news.gallup.com/poll/1606/death-penalty.aspx\">most recent survey\u003c/a>, just 52% said they supported the death penalty for people who commit murder. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12036705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An inmate at San Quentin State Prison on March 17, 2023. \u003cbr>\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I believe that the United States is right now in the middle of a national reconsideration of capital punishment,” said Austin Sarat, a professor of law and politics at Amherst College. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Sarat pointed to the reaction to the gruesomely botched execution of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/10/nx-s1-5997504/christa-pike-hospital-prison-after-botched-execution\">Christa Pike\u003c/a> in Tennessee last month — she survived — and the bipartisan backlash to plans by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to livestream the upcoming execution of an Army major convicted of a mass shooting at Fort Hood. Both underscore how much politics around the death penalty have changed, Sarat said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Sarat pointed to the reaction to the gruesomely botched execution of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/10/nx-s1-5997504/christa-pike-hospital-prison-after-botched-execution\">Christa Pike\u003c/a> in Tennessee last month — she survived — and the bipartisan backlash to plans by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to livestream the upcoming execution of an Army major convicted of a mass shooting at Fort Hood. Both underscore how much politics around the death penalty have changed, Sarat said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While political consultants in Newsom’s orbit may try to dissuade him from commuting death sentences as he looks ahead to 2028, Sarat doubts the issue would really haunt the governor.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>While political consultants in Newsom’s orbit may try to dissuade him from commuting death sentences as he looks ahead to 2028, Sarat doubts the issue would really haunt the governor.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I think the distance between where he is and where he would go if he commuted death row is not as great as one might think,” Sarat said. He notes that many of the so-called purple states in a presidential election don’t even have the death penalty, including Michigan and Wisconsin, which banned the practice in the 19th century.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I think the distance between where he is and where he would go if he commuted death row is not as great as one might think,” Sarat said. He notes that many of the so-called purple states in a presidential election don’t even have the death penalty, including Michigan and Wisconsin, which banned the practice in the 19th century.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I think that we’re on the road to abolition,” Sarat said. “And abolition in this country is going to come not fast and not smoothly. Two steps forward, one step back.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I think that we’re on the road to abolition,” Sarat said. “And abolition in this country is going to come not fast and not smoothly. Two steps forward, one step back.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12066363\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, on June 3, 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12066363\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, on June 3, 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Thursday, Newsom announced he had \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/10/22/governor-newsom-announces-clemency-actions-2/\">granted 27 pardons and 30 commutations\u003c/a> that had been recommended by elected officials, correctional staff, faith leaders and others. Governors often issue these acts of clemency throughout their time in office in recognition of sincere efforts toward rehabilitation. None of these actions were for death row inmates. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Thursday, Newsom announced he had \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/10/22/governor-newsom-announces-clemency-actions-2/\">granted 27 pardons and 30 commutations\u003c/a> that had been recommended by elected officials, correctional staff, faith leaders and others. Governors often issue these acts of clemency throughout their time in office in recognition of sincere efforts toward rehabilitation. None of these actions were for death row inmates. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, capital punishment has not been a major issue in this year’s gubernatorial campaign in California. Democrat Xavier Becerra, who polls show is almost certain to follow Newsom as governor, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/XavierBecerra/status/2060056603462865166\">promises\u003c/a> to extend Newsom’s moratorium. But Republican Steve Hilton said he would reverse Newsom’s order and resume executions.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, capital punishment has not been a major issue in this year’s gubernatorial campaign in California. Democrat Xavier Becerra, who polls show is almost certain to follow Newsom as governor, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/XavierBecerra/status/2060056603462865166\">promises\u003c/a> to extend Newsom’s moratorium. But Republican Steve Hilton said he would reverse Newsom’s order and resume executions.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The law is the law,” Hilton said during a \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-08-10/race-governor-2026-final-stretch-steve-hilton\">conversation\u003c/a> at the Commonwealth Club. “I personally am actually opposed to the death penalty, but the people voted — it was very clear in an initiative,” he said, referring to the narrow passage of \u003ca href=\"https://www.lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Proposition?number=66&year=2016\">Proposition 66\u003c/a> in 2016, adding that you can’t “unilaterally just overrule something because you don’t like it.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The law is the law,” Hilton said during a \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-08-10/race-governor-2026-final-stretch-steve-hilton\">conversation\u003c/a> at the Commonwealth Club. “I personally am actually opposed to the death penalty, but the people voted — it was very clear in an initiative,” he said, referring to the narrow passage of \u003ca href=\"https://www.lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Proposition?number=66&year=2016\">Proposition 66\u003c/a> in 2016, adding that you can’t “unilaterally just overrule something because you don’t like it.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After California voters reinstated the death penalty in 1978, then-Gov. Jerry Brown, who personally opposed capital punishment, made appointments to the state Supreme Court that reflected that. Voters in 1986 removed three of “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2018/12/my-turn-recalling-jerry-browns-first-supreme-court-choice-as-his-final-pick-faces-confirmation/\">Jerry’s Judges\u003c/a>,” including Chief Justice Rose Bird, who had voted to overturn 61 death sentences.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>After California voters reinstated the death penalty in 1978, then-Gov. Jerry Brown, who personally opposed capital punishment, made appointments to the state Supreme Court that reflected that. Voters in 1986 removed three of “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2018/12/my-turn-recalling-jerry-browns-first-supreme-court-choice-as-his-final-pick-faces-confirmation/\">Jerry’s Judges\u003c/a>,” including Chief Justice Rose Bird, who had voted to overturn 61 death sentences.\u003c/p>\n"
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An outside view of a large prison facility (San Quentin).\" class=\"wp-image-11991741\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, on June 3, 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The shadow of Brown’s record haunted his sister, Kathleen Brown, who was the Democrats’ nominee for governor in 1994. Incumbent Republican Gov. Pete Wilson said Brown couldn’t be trusted to carry out executions, even though she promised to follow the law. He easily won reelection.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The shadow of Brown’s record haunted his sister, Kathleen Brown, who was the Democrats’ nominee for governor in 1994. Incumbent Republican Gov. Pete Wilson said Brown couldn’t be trusted to carry out executions, even though she promised to follow the law. He easily won reelection.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Four years later, Democrat Gray Davis emphasized his strong support for capital punishment, effectively defusing the issue and defeating Republican Attorney General Dan Lungren in 1998.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Four years later, Democrat Gray Davis emphasized his strong support for capital punishment, effectively defusing the issue and defeating Republican Attorney General Dan Lungren in 1998.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Whatever Newsom decides on commutations for the state’s condemned inmates, it will almost surely come after the November election. And more than half of the cases, involving people who were convicted of more than one felony, will require review by the California Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Whatever Newsom decides on commutations for the state’s condemned inmates, it will almost surely come after the November election. And more than half of the cases, involving people who were convicted of more than one felony, will require review by the California Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Zingale, who has not advised Newsom for years, said he trusts the governor will weigh the situation fully.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I am certain he will act out of authentic conviction, because I got to see how he approaches a decision in this realm,” Zingale said. “And so I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I know that it will be consistent with his conscience.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I am certain he will act out of authentic conviction, because I got to see how he approaches a decision in this realm,” Zingale said. “And so I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I know that it will be consistent with his conscience.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "Hundreds of people remain on California’s death row. In his final weeks in office, Gov. Gavin Newsom is considering whether to commute their sentences to life without the possibility of parole.",
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"title": "Newsom Could Commute California’s Death Sentences. Will He Pay a Political Price? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two months after he was inaugurated as governor of California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> announced that he was putting a halt to executions in the state and dismantling the lethal injection equipment at San Quentin State Prison, where death sentences were once carried out.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“ This is not flippant. I haven’t come to this lightly,” the governor said at the time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, as Newsom serves out his final weeks in office, he is once again grappling with whether to take it one step further and commute some or all of California’s hundreds of remaining death sentences and convert them to life without the possibility of parole.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I have to prepare for my own consciousness, my rocking chair test,” Newsom said in a conversation on a \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/episode/4bY4lQWXcKHgRFRn4mXcK9\">recent episode\u003c/a> of his podcast, This Is Gavin Newsom. “Do I commute the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Newsom put a stop to executions in March 2019, there were 737 people on California’s death row. Today, based on \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/condemned-inmate-list-secure-request/\">statistics from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation\u003c/a>, 563 remain. Nearly 170 people on death row have died since Newsom’s executive order halting executions, mostly of natural causes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12076613\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/230726-SAN-QUENTIN-MHN-08_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin on July 26, 2023. In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state would seek to transform the maximum security prison into a center focused on the rehabilitation of incarcerated individuals. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California has not executed anyone since 2006 as legal challenges, concerns over the state’s lethal injection protocol and finally Newsom’s moratorium have essentially disabled the state’s death penalty.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, opponents of capital punishment say Newsom’s commuting those sentences and converting them to life without parole would be significant.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We are propping up the death penalty for the entire world,” said Natasha Minsker, an attorney and consultant to anti-death penalty organizations. “And it’s time for California to be out of the business of endorsing the death penalties.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Newsom is mindful that a decision to commute the state’s remaining death sentences will not sit well with some victims of crime and their families. He heard from them before and after he issued the moratorium in 2019. Some felt betrayed and angry that the governor was, in a sense, protecting people who committed heinous crimes from the “ultimate punishment” they felt was deserved.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shortly before Newsom made his decision public, his lead adviser on the process, Daniel Zingale, recalls a solemn moment in the governor’s office.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Before he went out to announce it publicly, we prayed together,” Zingale said. “He and I and some other members of the senior staff actually prayed for guidance and wisdom.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zingale said that as he contemplated his decision, Newsom wanted data, legal and budget analyses and meetings with crime victims and their families.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One thing he did not ask for? “He never once showed any interest in looking at a poll about it, or what you would consider the politics of it,” Zingale said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As he nears the end of his time as governor — and the start of a possible presidential campaign — it may be hard to imagine politics not playing a part in a decision to commute death sentences. But Newsom may have more to consider.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I think ultimately the governor is looking at the question of what matters to him, what does he want to be his legacy? When he looks back on his life, did he follow through on his values?” Minsker said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Public support for capital punishment peaked in the 1990s during a wave of high crime rates and the passage of extreme anti-crime measures. Since then, with DNA evidence exonerating some who were sentenced to death in other states, support for the death penalty has been steadily declining, especially against the alternative of life without the possibility of parole.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The peak came in 1994, with 80% of Americans approving of the death penalty for murder, according to Gallup, which has measured public opinion on capital punishment in the U.S. each year since 1937. In 2025, its \u003ca href=\"https://news.gallup.com/poll/1606/death-penalty.aspx\">most recent survey\u003c/a>, just 52% said they supported the death penalty for people who commit murder. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12036705\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/031723-SAN-QUENTIN-REHABILITATION-CENTER-MHN-08-CM-copy-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An inmate at San Quentin State Prison on March 17, 2023. \u003cbr> (Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I believe that the United States is right now in the middle of a national reconsideration of capital punishment,” said Austin Sarat, a professor of law and politics at Amherst College. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sarat pointed to the reaction to the gruesomely botched execution of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/10/nx-s1-5997504/christa-pike-hospital-prison-after-botched-execution\">Christa Pike\u003c/a> in Tennessee last month — she survived — and the bipartisan backlash to plans by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to livestream the upcoming execution of an Army major convicted of a mass shooting at Fort Hood. Both underscore how much politics around the death penalty have changed, Sarat said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While political consultants in Newsom’s orbit may try to dissuade him from commuting death sentences as he looks ahead to 2028, Sarat doubts the issue would really haunt the governor.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I think the distance between where he is and where he would go if he commuted death row is not as great as one might think,” Sarat said. He notes that many of the so-called purple states in a presidential election don’t even have the death penalty, including Michigan and Wisconsin, which banned the practice in the 19th century.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I think that we’re on the road to abolition,” Sarat said. “And abolition in this country is going to come not fast and not smoothly. Two steps forward, one step back.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12066363\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/240603-SanQuentinACES-166-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, on June 3, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, Newsom announced he had \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/10/22/governor-newsom-announces-clemency-actions-2/\">granted 27 pardons and 30 commutations\u003c/a> that had been recommended by elected officials, correctional staff, faith leaders and others. Governors often issue these acts of clemency throughout their time in office in recognition of sincere efforts toward rehabilitation. None of these actions were for death row inmates. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, capital punishment has not been a major issue in this year’s gubernatorial campaign in California. Democrat Xavier Becerra, who polls show is almost certain to follow Newsom as governor, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/XavierBecerra/status/2060056603462865166\">promises\u003c/a> to extend Newsom’s moratorium. But Republican Steve Hilton said he would reverse Newsom’s order and resume executions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The law is the law,” Hilton said during a \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2026-08-10/race-governor-2026-final-stretch-steve-hilton\">conversation\u003c/a> at the Commonwealth Club. “I personally am actually opposed to the death penalty, but the people voted — it was very clear in an initiative,” he said, referring to the narrow passage of \u003ca href=\"https://www.lao.ca.gov/BallotAnalysis/Proposition?number=66&year=2016\">Proposition 66\u003c/a> in 2016, adding that you can’t “unilaterally just overrule something because you don’t like it.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After California voters reinstated the death penalty in 1978, then-Gov. Jerry Brown, who personally opposed capital punishment, made appointments to the state Supreme Court that reflected that. Voters in 1986 removed three of “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2018/12/my-turn-recalling-jerry-browns-first-supreme-court-choice-as-his-final-pick-faces-confirmation/\">Jerry’s Judges\u003c/a>,” including Chief Justice Rose Bird, who had voted to overturn 61 death sentences.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"An outside view of a large prison facility (San Quentin).\" class=\"wp-image-11991741\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/240603-SANQUENTINACES-176-BL-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, on June 3, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The shadow of Brown’s record haunted his sister, Kathleen Brown, who was the Democrats’ nominee for governor in 1994. Incumbent Republican Gov. Pete Wilson said Brown couldn’t be trusted to carry out executions, even though she promised to follow the law. He easily won reelection.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four years later, Democrat Gray Davis emphasized his strong support for capital punishment, effectively defusing the issue and defeating Republican Attorney General Dan Lungren in 1998.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whatever Newsom decides on commutations for the state’s condemned inmates, it will almost surely come after the November election. And more than half of the cases, involving people who were convicted of more than one felony, will require review by the California Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zingale, who has not advised Newsom for years, said he trusts the governor will weigh the situation fully.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I am certain he will act out of authentic conviction, because I got to see how he approaches a decision in this realm,” Zingale said. “And so I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I know that it will be consistent with his conscience.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Federal Prosecutors Charge 28 California Green Card Holders With Voting Violations",
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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>Twenty-eight \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/immigration\">immigrants\u003c/a> from across California are \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/11-foreign-nationals-arrested-california-federal-charges-alleging-they-illegally\">facing federal charges\u003c/a> alleging they illegally registered to vote or vote in California elections, federal prosecutors announced Monday in the Trump administration’s latest effort to imply California election rolls are riddled with fraudulent voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The charges come days after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">federal authorities filed\u003c/a> a lawsuit against state and Los Angeles County election officials that seeks to force elections officials not to count up to 20,000 registered voters’ ballots because federal prosecutors suspect those voters could be non-citizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s charges demonstrate why that lawsuit is so important,” Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter told reporters. “It’s about preventing voter fraud that cancels out the votes of U.S. citizens. Enforcing federal law increases the integrity of elections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCotter said federal prosecutors filed a motion urging the judge overseeing the lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles to order state officials to segregate the ballots that prosecutors suspect may have already been mailed to noncitizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12105147\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26292634447502-20ffab03-scaled-e1792439822914.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12105147\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26292634447502-20ffab03-scaled-e1792439822914.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" />\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, right, arrives for a news conference in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters at an event Monday that voter fraud is wrong. If the suspects are guilty, they should be held accountable, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Bonta noted that the charges are hardly proof that California’s elections are filled with fraudulent voters as President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Twenty-eight out of 23 million registered voters in California is just … a drop in the bucket numerically,” Bonta said. “It’s 0.0001% of all the registered voters, and it makes the point that there is no widespread voter fraud.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement comes just 15 days before the Nov. 3 election in which Californians are already deciding on a new governor, 14 statewide ballot measures and several competitive races that will be key to which party controls Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_12104940 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/20250903_FarmLaborCrisis_GC-15_qed.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s part of a national push by the Trump administration to find examples of noncitizens voting illegally in elections. Independent experts and state election officials say that voter fraud is exceedingly rare, despite claims from Trump and his allies that it happens on such a massive scale as to sway elections in Democrats’ favor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal prosecutors said all of the 28 foreign nationals who face charges are lawful permanent residents, otherwise known as green card holders. That means they are legally allowed to stay in the country but they are not citizens and are not allowed to vote in elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The defendants live in cities around the state from Los Angeles County to Sacramento. Of them, 22 are accused of voting in at least one election including as recently as the June primary; five only registered to vote and one submitted a provisional ballot in 2020, prosecutors say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Essayli said that in the last two months, federal prosecutors have charged around 113 noncitizens in 20 states with illegal voting and registration offenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arrests represent just a miniscule fraction of registered voters. For example, more than 9.4 million Californians cast ballots in the June primary election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who oversees prosecutors in Los Angeles, said the federal government may charge state election officials with crimes if they allowed noncitizens to vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are being complicit in noncitizens voting in our elections,” Essayli said. “And as they were warned last week, not only is it a civil violation, but they could also face criminal consequences for that conduct if they knowingly process ballots from noncitizens once we’ve informed them who the noncitizens are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087182\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087182\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ballots sit in crates before being counted at the City Hall Voting Center in San Francisco on Oct. 30, 2025, ahead of the statewide special election. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The charges come weeks after federal investigators issued grand jury \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2026-09-29/subpoena-records-trump-administration-probe-la-county-voters\">subpoenas\u003c/a> to Los Angeles elections officials seeking information on registered voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal prosecutors also sought information on registered voters in San Diego County, \u003ca href=\"https://inewsource.org/2026/10/01/san-diego-county-doj-voter-information-subpoenas/\">the news outlet inewsource\u003c/a> reported, as well as Orange County, according to records obtained last week by CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security recently claimed that Nevada had nearly 16,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls; they sent the state the names of only 185 voters. Nevada officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/us/politics/nevada-voters-homeland-security-trump.html\">confirmed they were all U.S. citizens\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom last week called the Trump administration’s voter fraud hunt “a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the prosecutors’ request to throw out ballots “should scare the hell out of every American.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will continue to carry out free and fair elections in the Golden State — and call out this authoritarian as he tries every play in the dictator’s playbook,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/calam\">Christopher Alam \u003c/a>contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/california-federal-arrests-voter-fraud/\">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",
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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>Twenty-eight \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/immigration\">immigrants\u003c/a> from across California are \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/11-foreign-nationals-arrested-california-federal-charges-alleging-they-illegally\">facing federal charges\u003c/a> alleging they illegally registered to vote or vote in California elections, federal prosecutors announced Monday in the Trump administration’s latest effort to imply California election rolls are riddled with fraudulent voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The charges come days after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">federal authorities filed\u003c/a> a lawsuit against state and Los Angeles County election officials that seeks to force elections officials not to count up to 20,000 registered voters’ ballots because federal prosecutors suspect those voters could be non-citizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today’s charges demonstrate why that lawsuit is so important,” Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter told reporters. “It’s about preventing voter fraud that cancels out the votes of U.S. citizens. Enforcing federal law increases the integrity of elections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McCotter said federal prosecutors filed a motion urging the judge overseeing the lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles to order state officials to segregate the ballots that prosecutors suspect may have already been mailed to noncitizens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12105147\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26292634447502-20ffab03-scaled-e1792439822914.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12105147\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/AP26292634447502-20ffab03-scaled-e1792439822914.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" />\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, right, arrives for a news conference in Los Angeles on Oct. 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California Attorney General Rob Bonta told reporters at an event Monday that voter fraud is wrong. If the suspects are guilty, they should be held accountable, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Bonta noted that the charges are hardly proof that California’s elections are filled with fraudulent voters as President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Twenty-eight out of 23 million registered voters in California is just … a drop in the bucket numerically,” Bonta said. “It’s 0.0001% of all the registered voters, and it makes the point that there is no widespread voter fraud.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement comes just 15 days before the Nov. 3 election in which Californians are already deciding on a new governor, 14 statewide ballot measures and several competitive races that will be key to which party controls Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s part of a national push by the Trump administration to find examples of noncitizens voting illegally in elections. Independent experts and state election officials say that voter fraud is exceedingly rare, despite claims from Trump and his allies that it happens on such a massive scale as to sway elections in Democrats’ favor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal prosecutors said all of the 28 foreign nationals who face charges are lawful permanent residents, otherwise known as green card holders. That means they are legally allowed to stay in the country but they are not citizens and are not allowed to vote in elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The defendants live in cities around the state from Los Angeles County to Sacramento. Of them, 22 are accused of voting in at least one election including as recently as the June primary; five only registered to vote and one submitted a provisional ballot in 2020, prosecutors say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Essayli said that in the last two months, federal prosecutors have charged around 113 noncitizens in 20 states with illegal voting and registration offenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The arrests represent just a miniscule fraction of registered voters. For example, more than 9.4 million Californians cast ballots in the June primary election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who oversees prosecutors in Los Angeles, said the federal government may charge state election officials with crimes if they allowed noncitizens to vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They are being complicit in noncitizens voting in our elections,” Essayli said. “And as they were warned last week, not only is it a civil violation, but they could also face criminal consequences for that conduct if they knowingly process ballots from noncitizens once we’ve informed them who the noncitizens are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087182\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087182\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ballots sit in crates before being counted at the City Hall Voting Center in San Francisco on Oct. 30, 2025, ahead of the statewide special election. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The charges come weeks after federal investigators issued grand jury \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2026-09-29/subpoena-records-trump-administration-probe-la-county-voters\">subpoenas\u003c/a> to Los Angeles elections officials seeking information on registered voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal prosecutors also sought information on registered voters in San Diego County, \u003ca href=\"https://inewsource.org/2026/10/01/san-diego-county-doj-voter-information-subpoenas/\">the news outlet inewsource\u003c/a> reported, as well as Orange County, according to records obtained last week by CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security recently claimed that Nevada had nearly 16,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls; they sent the state the names of only 185 voters. Nevada officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/us/politics/nevada-voters-homeland-security-trump.html\">confirmed they were all U.S. citizens\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom last week called the Trump administration’s voter fraud hunt “a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said the prosecutors’ request to throw out ballots “should scare the hell out of every American.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will continue to carry out free and fair elections in the Golden State — and call out this authoritarian as he tries every play in the dictator’s playbook,” Newsom said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/calam\">Christopher Alam \u003c/a>contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/california-federal-arrests-voter-fraud/\">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\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#transcript\">View full episode transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A local politician once called San Francisco politics a “knife fight in a phone booth” where centrist Democrats and progressives duke it out in close proximity. Out of that phone booth emerged Nancy Pelosi. In our series finale, we reckon with what her legacy will be – the fundraiser, the mentor, the fighter. In a moment when the Democratic Party is at a crossroads, how did Pelosi shape the destiny of the Democratic Party?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our team started working on this project in the lead up to the 2026 midterm election. Polls show that nationwide voters are ready to reject President Trump’s agenda and support Democrats again. But for the Democratic Party, things are shifting. Are we ready to change the party? This May, I went to a rally in San Francisco. The theme was change the Party. It was promoted by Saikat Chakrabarti, AOC’s former chief of staff. And at that time, one of the top three challengers in the race for the congressional seat, Nancy Pelosi, will be vacating. The venue was an event space in the city’s south of Market neighborhood. The room was packed, lots of energy, party atmosphere, a disco ball hung from the ceiling. The crowd skewed young and racially diverse. I wanted to hear what these attendees thought about the Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>And the theme has changed the party. Like, what does that mean to you? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Change the party.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>How so?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Because the Democratic establishment is just as corrupt as the Republican establishment. They’re donor Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Democrats are currently very stagnant and uninspired and they’re fighting for the wrong thing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>I also wanted to hear what people thought about Pelosi’s role in everything. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>And how does Nancy Pelosi fit into that?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>She was able to whip the votes for important issues, but at the end of the day, she was part of the problem and the corporate establishment Democratic Party. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>If we look at what happened in New York with Mayor Mamdani, he spoke to actual real life issues that people are really dealing with on a daily basis. And he used that as sort of his core. And I don’t think that’s what Pelosi and the establishment Democrats have historically done. They speak more to their corporate base, their donor base. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As a politics reporter, I take in a lot of different perspectives. One day I’ll go to a rally and ask voters what they think. And then another, I’ll interview the most powerful man in California. Governor Gavin Newsom. I asked him the same question. What’s Pelosi’s legacy?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>People need to study effectiveness, and they need to celebrate it, and they to celebrate some pragmatism, not just idealism.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Newsom’s had a front row seat to Pelosi’s work over the years. What does California, what does the Democratic Party lose in her retirement? And how do you get it back? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>Well, you lose, obviously, the wisdom, the temperance, the courage. I’m sorry everybody out there hates the establishment and incumbents. It kind of worked for us. Be careful what you wish for.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Like Pelosi, I’m also retiring this year. Now, just to be clear of the similarities and the there, there won’t be any buildings named after me, but we’re both leaving at a time of change for the Democratic Party, the institution Pelosi has devoted her life to.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>What do you make of the rise? We’re seeing a lot of turmoil in the Democratic party in terms of candidates.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I disagree with your terminology. A lot of turmoil in the Democratic Party. There isn’t a lot of tumble in the party. There’s some people who’ve won their elections.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The way she sees it, there are places where more progressive candidates can win and others where they can’t. In the period of time I sat down with her the summer of 2026, she was laser focused on the midterm elections. How do you want people to remember your legacy? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Not so fast on the legacy. We have to win the house, which we will do. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As someone who watched Nancy Pelosi’s rise from that raucous first election in 1987 to the power broker that she is today, I wanted to really take this moment to examine Nancy Pelosi impact on the party she’s devoted her entire life to. Has her role as a fundraiser pushed the party away from its working class ideals? Or has Pelosi kicked down the doors for a more progressive crop of voices in Congress? I’m Scott Schaefer from KQED. This is The Speaker, today the question of Nancy Pelosi’s legacy in a moment of conflict.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Over the decades, Nancy Pelosi built tremendous influence in the Democratic party, leveraging trusting relationships and her history of success, political capital, as we sometimes call it. In 2024, something happened that would require her to spend some of that capital. President Biden took the stage that June to debate Republican candidate Donald Trump.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Joe Biden: \u003c/strong>Making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the COVID, excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with, look, if we finally beat Medicare. Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biden’s performance in that debate caused a lot of Democrats to hit the panic button. Concerns about Biden’s cognitive ability and age inflamed already simmering tensions within the party around what its future should look like. And big donors were threatening to withhold their support as long as he was the nominee. And then Pelosi stepped in. She went on Morning Joe, the MSNBC show.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morning Joe: \u003c/strong>Does he have your support to be the head of the Democratic second? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morning Joe: \u003c/strong>As long as the president has the president, it’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biden had already decided he was running. This is basically Pelosi giving Biden a vote of no confidence. As close as she’d come to saying he should drop out of the race without saying so directly. The weeks dragged on. President Biden was still in the race. So behind the scenes, Pelosi knew she had to make a critical phone call.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was not there to undo his decision, I just told him what I thought.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>This would not be easy for her. They had been friends for decades. They’d worked hard with a narrow majority in the House to pass legislation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Infrastructure Bill, CHIPS Act, CHIPs and Science Act, more for climate than any history of any country in the world, issues that related to our veterans, the PACT Act. He was really on roll.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But she knew the time had come to say something.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I never asked him not to run. All I said is, two things. One, presentation that is being made is not a winning one. The polls are not good on this. And you’ve accomplished so much. This is a winning agenda that you have. I don’t know. Let me talk to my polls, because they have the polls. I said, well, that’s interesting. But I’d like to have more pollsters around the table to compare. I don’t have any recommendations of who they should be. But just have some other points of view so that we can see where we are on this. Because too much is at stake. Donald Trump. Too much is a stake.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>How hard was that conversation? I mean, you say you didn’t ask him not to run, but it was interpreted that way. And ultimately, there were others calling on him not to run. How hard is that given the relationship you’ve had with him?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was not a good thing. I mean, it was hard. I mean I’ve known him for decades. We’ve been friends a very long time. I love him. I think he was a great patriot. He was a Great President. All we wanted to do was to see the reality of when you take polls, it’s not about where you are. It’s about where the public is on issues and how your message is coming across. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>On July 21st, 2024, President Biden dropped out of the race. Pelosi endorsed his replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris, who was the only person who could legally use Biden’s remaining campaign funds. Pelosi threw her weight into the race, raising more money for the Harris campaign. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I give Kamala Harris great credit for getting out the vote. She got out a big vote. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But even so.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamala Harris: \u003c/strong>The votes for President of the United States are as follows.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In her role as vice president, Harris oversaw the certification of the election results.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamala Harris: \u003c/strong>Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D. Harris.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>Now, 2024 was a bit of an outlier in that, what we know on record, Kamala Harris far out-raised Donald Trump. She did not win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Hilary Braseth is the executive director of Open Secrets. That’s a nonprofit dedicated to tracking money in U.S. Politics. She says 2024 was an outlier because \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>If you raise more money than your opponent, the likelihood that you will win is roughly 80%. So it’s quite high.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And Nancy Pelosi, well, she’s famous for raising a lot of money for Democrats. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>She was the Speaker of the House for many years, and it’s no secret that she’s, with that title, also managed to raise a whole bunch of money.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Since 2000, she’s raised around $100 million directly and has helped the Democratic Party bring in around $1.25 billion total. To Brasif, Pelosi’s power comes in part from this fundraising ability. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>Members of Congress who are able to raise large sums of money is often seen as a proxy for how successful they may be in an election or how powerful they might be able to be once they are elected by virtue of having a war chest, we refer to it as, to transfer to other lower-ranking Democrats, which again fuels and reinforces the system of power. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Like in Nancy Pelosi’s case, she raises a ton of money, but she doesn’t need it for herself, right?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>And then she can transfer it to lower ranking members. So it’s powerful, right? She gets to decide who gets to receive this money that then produces a system of currying favor from lower ranking Democrats. And you have the party machinery here.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi’s strength as a fundraiser is more important than ever. This is an extremely consequential midterm election at a time when voters aren’t particularly excited about Democrats. As of February, Pelosi had about $9 million in a personal war chest, ready to deploy for congressional races around the country. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>She’s built strong relationships with heavy hitters when it comes to political donors. It also means that she’s had largely the backing of her party as somebody who’s been able to bring in very large sums of money.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But that’s also contributed to image problems and the rise of what progressive critics call corporate Democrats. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Barack Obama: \u003c/strong>Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010, money has poured into our political system. It allowed corporations, interest groups, and wealthy individuals to spend an unlimited amount of money funding political ads and other campaign activities. They often do this through political action committees, or PACs, and their supercharged cousins, super PACs. And this happens on both sides of the aisle. One of Pelosi’s political mantras is just win. She used the phrase in an interview once. She was asked about Democrats criticizing her to score political points in more conservative districts. Her answer, basically, go ahead, do whatever it takes to win the election. Times have changed in terms of political giving. Today, some of the largest contributors to PACs and campaigns have ties to Silicon Valley. Even today. As data centers and AI attract bipartisan criticism, Pelosi doesn’t discourage Democrats from taking tech contributions, insisting that support does not have to compromise their values. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I mean, candidates call me and say, tech is coming in for me. I don’t want it, but they’re coming in for me because they don’t like the opponent, and I’m afraid that other tech will come in for them. But tech money is different from fossil fuel money, and it’s different from gun money, because there are differences of opinion.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As California tech CEOs ingratiate themselves with Trump, Pelosi seems to draw a distinction between tech money and other corporate money. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Now, the tech community is a relatively new phenomenon in terms of… \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But it’s corporate money.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Yeah, no, but the tech money is on both sides of the issues. Some of the tech-money that’s saying we should have a better, fairer immigration system and the rest of that. I’m not here to protect them, but all the businesses are the same. I mean, I don’t want to paint everybody with the same brush, but they all want lower their taxes and lower their regulation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But when I ask Pelosi if she thinks the Democratic Party is too reliant on corporate donations, she bristles.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I completely, totally disagree that the Democratic Party is dominated by corporate money. It isn’t. And certainly the Democrats vote for gun violence prevention. The Republicans do not. Their Democrats vote to protect the environment. The other people are in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry as well as the gun industry. So it is a big difference. But we haven’t made that clear. And every poll shows, oh, they think we’re both sort of the same. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Right now, Pelosi’s eye is firmly on taking back the House. She’s traveling the country to raise money for Democrats, trying to flip seats from red to blue. She’s weighing in on a few non-House seats as well. For example, the Senate race in Michigan. Pelosi endorsed Haley Stevens, a fellow House member, the more centrist establishment Democrat. Stevens lost the primary to Abdul Al Sayed, the candidate who supports Medicare for All. And opposes unconditional military aid for Israel. But Pelosi sees the field like a chessboard. There are some districts and states she thinks the party will struggle to win with a progressive agenda. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I don’t know about Michigan. I don’t know what’s gonna happen there in the Senate. But I’ll tell you, the more left the candidate, the harder to win the general in Michigan, in Michigan.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But with the primaries over and the field of candidates set, Pelosi has hit the road to help Democrats win in November.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Will be a path to winning the White House. What’s happening right now is contrary to anything our founders had in mind for our country, contrary to the Constitution of the United States. And I just, well, we just win, baby. That’s just the whole thing. And win big. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>On the night of October 28th, 2022, just before the midterm elections, someone broke into the Pelosi home in San Francisco. The intruder, David DePapp, found Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in bed. He demanded to know, where’s Nancy? When Paul told him she wasn’t home, he said he’d wait for her. Paul managed to call the police from the bathroom. Police body cam footage from the officers who responded. Revealed DePapp and Paul Pelosi, wearing boxer shorts, struggling for a hammer. Police told DePap to put the hammer down. He said no and swung it at Paul, hitting him in the head, fracturing his skull. Later, authorities found zip ties at the scene and rope in DePaps backpack. According to a federal charging document, DePapa was planning on holding Nancy Pelosi hostage to break her kneecaps if she didn’t answer his questions honestly. Paul was 82 years old. He needed emergency surgery to repair his fractured skull and was in the hospital for several days. Nancy remembers sitting with her family in the ICU. In episode one, we talked about how many years earlier, as a teenager, Alexandra gave her mother permission to run for Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Then she said, get a life.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But that night in the ICU, Alexandra had a very different take.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>After daddy got hurt, she said, if I knew this was at the end of the road, I would never have given you my permission. And that’s too big a price to pay. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Were you surprised that Alexandra said what she did?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>No, I wasn’t surprised. No, this is our dad, our pop. Pop is what the grandchildren call him. No, that was terrible, terrible thing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>It was the cruelty after the attacks that really got to her.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It’s not only that, though. It’s all the things that people say along the way. I don’t even know how to refer to the person in the White House anymore. It’s just beyond. But he was making a joke of the whole thing. His kids were making a joke of the thing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Two days after the attack on Paul, Donald Trump Jr. Retweeted a meme, a hammer and white underwear that said, got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready. He wasn’t the only one. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>That Charlie Kirk or whatever his name was wasn’t there anybody who’s patriotic enough to spend to save to bail out this guy And what was that jerk’s name, Tesla. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Oh, Elon Musk.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi probably knows Elon Musk’s name, but in my experience, when she throws shade, she pretends she doesn’t know someone.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Elon Musk, he made terrible statements, too. They’re just very sick people, but that is trauma. I mean, physical is life or death. Trauma is with you for a long time to come, and that is very traumatizing to a family, to have that kind of assault.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our producer, Ariella, talked to another one of Pelosi’s daughters.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ariella Markowitz: \u003c/strong>Were you surprised when your mother decided to run for reelection after the attack?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christine Pelosi: \u003c/strong>No, I wasn’t surprised because we had the political work that was going to be done. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Christine Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christine Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was really particular that they should go out and live their lives and not live in fear. What were they supposed to do? Stay home and stay inside their house and not go out and be with people, not be in the community that they built together for 50 years in San Francisco because of something like that? I think the opposite.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But Christine thinks it’s bigger than that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christine Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I think a lot of women of her generation who were living the unlived lives of their mother. Her father was not supportive of her mother becoming a lawyer. There was a lot work that women tried to do but weren’t rewarded for. It was the men groomed for politics, not women. So I think for my mother, what she wanted for herself and for women of her generation, certainly of the next generation and the one after that, is for people to break through all of that and not be held back.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Less than two weeks after the attack on Paul, Republicans took back control of the House. Pelosi stepped down as leader of the house Democrats, but it wasn’t because of the attack on her husband. She was keeping a promise she made four years earlier, self-imposing a term limit response to the desire for new leadership among some in her caucus. In her speech after the election, she talked about how violence can undermine democracy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Indeed, American democracy is majestic, but it is fragile. Many of us here have witnessed its fragility firsthand, tragically, in this chamber. And so democracy must be forever defended from forces that wish it harm.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The political environment had gotten increasingly dangerous. Pelosi worries that the attacks on her and the events on January 6th, 2021 will discourage other women from entering politics.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Over the years, the attacks that were made on me, the women were saying, I could never do that. But you don’t want other people not running for office because they saw something happen. When women succeed, America succeeds. I firmly believe that. And I speak to women, I say to them all the time, know your power in this, you are so needed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In our last episode, we heard from Ilhan Omar, the representative from Minnesota’s Fifth District, one of the squad of four progressive lawmakers elected in 2018. She and Pelosi sometimes disagree. For example, on Medicare for All, she supports it. Pelosi does not. But when Omar first got to Congress. I talked to her quite often. She called a lot. So often, her staff would joke that Auntie Nancy’s calling.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>And I think she was mostly nervous for me and what I would be dealing with as someone who carried unique identities that were under attack in our country. I really thought that it was super kind of her to pay that much attention to me and what I might need, not just in terms of serving, but just mentally as well. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Before Omar was sworn in in 2018, she was worried about one thing in particular. This ban that existed on head coverings. Omar wears religious head covering. Head coverings of any kind weren’t allowed on the house floor at the time she was elected. So she brought it up to Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>She did her… You know, mom assurance thing of like, no, that’s not gonna happen and we’re gonna fix it to my surprise. She worked with me to have the rule change have my name attached to it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Ariella asked her\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ariella Markowitz: \u003c/strong>Were you surprised she took care of it, or?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Yeah, and that she was thoughtful, that she also wanted me to be the one who proposed the change\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi was right to be worried. The vitriol has only escalated since Omar was first elected. Omar was born in Somalia, but became a U.S. Citizen when she was a teenager. She’s also Muslim. Omar is often attacked by President Trump. At a rally in 2019, you can hear the crowd yelling, send her back before he speaks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Donald Trump: \u003c/strong>So, Representative Omar blamed the United States. For the terrorist attacks on our country, saying that…\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And the rhetoric has only intensified in President Trump’s second term. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Donald Trump: \u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Two months after Trump made these comments, she was attacked at a town hall meeting during the ICE surge in Minneapolis. During protests against that surge, federal agents killed two U.S. Citizens, Renee Good and Alex Preti. Omar was calling for the resignation of the head of DHS at that point. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>And DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Press Conference Archival: \u003c/strong>Whoa, whoa, whoa!\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>A man lunged and sprayed her with a liquid that turned out to be a mixture of water and vinegar. Omar finished the town hall after the man was tackled and removed by security. In that sense, her toughness, she can relate to Nancy Pelosi. She grew up with brothers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Her dad was very much instrumental in her life and the way that she thinks about life and the ways that she think about strength and courage. And I grew up with brothers and my dad really is the reason I am who I am today. And I think we have a similar energy that shaped us.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Even though they disagree about how to fix America’s health care system and other policies too, Pelosi’s steeliness through it all is something Omar admires. It is important. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Make sure people who see you as an inspiration don’t see you backing down. Because it will inspire them to stand up to police as well.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>While we were in D.C., Areola went to the annual California Congressional Transportation Reception. That sounds like fun, doesn’t it? I know. It was packed with politicians and workers from California public transportation projects. Pelosi was there, along with a freshman member of Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lateefah Simon: \u003c/strong>The Bay Area is very special because we throw down, we throw down hard. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Lateefah Simon represents California’s 12th District, right across the bay from Pelosi’s San Francisco seat. Like Representative Ilhan Omar, there are policies she disagrees with Pelosi on, but when Ariella asked her about Pelosi at the event, she lit up.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lateefah Simon: \u003c/strong>And I call her Ms Pelosi. I grew up in San Francisco and in Oakland. She spent so much time with freshmen and I gotta say, a lot of time with me really training me on how this place works. Now, she’s clear that I’m kind of like an ultra progressive. Like I’m a no war, anti-war organizer who grew up doing justice reform. What did that mentorship mean to you? Just like, how did, how do you think, what did she teach you? When I was running. She was very clear to me, I don’t want to talk politics with you, Latif, I want to talk about where you’re going to send your daughter to school. How are you going to be with family? You’re going leave your elderly mother. She’s so clear that our first obligation is to community and family. You know, I sit with her almost weekly and I ask her questions about particular bills and she gives me her her direct thoughts. And sometimes I’ll say, Miss Pelosi, I’m not going to vote that way. And yet… Yeah, she always says, vote your district. What are your hopes for the future of the Democratic Party as she’s stepping down? I remember how Nancy phrases the demand of the moment, and she always equates it with the children. So as a disabled woman, I’m always remembering that, that this is not about power. It must be about service. We’re up against Armageddon in some ways, I feel like, it’s David and Goliath. But I come from, you know, the Bay Area, where we’re ruthless in our own politic about what we believe, what is morally consequential. And I’m glad that I actually came into the Coliseum, not the Dome. Some people call it the DOME. It’s a Coliseium. We’re fighting for the lifeblood of our democracy. And I am so blessed that I have that lens to be able to say, well, no one’s going to push me around. I’ve seen the Nancy Pelosi’s. Hands. I’m stronger because of it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>When Pelosi first got to Congress in 1987, there were 13 Democratic women in the House. Now, there are 95. Pelosi helped many of them win their seats. But in many ways, politics is still a man’s club. For women to survive and build a career, you have to be ready to fight. And now, many women in Congress have a template. Nancy Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Many have pointed out that Pelosi’s political acumen came from Baltimore, her home city in Maryland. But, I really see San Francisco in her. A local politician once described San Francisco politics as a knife fight in a phone booth, a fierce battle that often becomes personal because the city is relatively small and the political spectrum runs from liberal to further left. Surviving the city’s political cauldron, often battles between progressives and centrists, forces politicians to learn how to navigate the many interests, labor, business, environmentalists, LGBTQ. Racial and ethnic groups, political clubs. California Governor Gavin Newsom sees Pelosi as a pure product of these dynamics.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>There’s that cross-pollination that was old San Francisco, the Moscone’s and the Burton’s, the Brown’s, and, you know, the machine.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Newsom grew up in a well-connected family. Nancy Pelosi was basically his aunt through marriage. His uncle was Paul Pelosi’s brother. He grew up with her coming to Thanksgiving or Christmas. Newsom said he didn’t really know she was a political player when he was growing up in San Francisco, but as he entered politics, city supervisor, mayor of San Francisco and eventually governor, he got closer to Pelosi. And as Newsom sees the party change today,\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>I’m literally mesmerized by the punditry about this DSA. I’m like, have you guys ever been out west, never been in the Bay Area, never paid attention to San Francisco politics? This is like decades, this is what we do. This is the Harry Britt versus the Brown Pelosi machine. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That dynamic between centrist and progressive Democrats is still shaping the party. But to Pelosi, knowing each side of the party through and through, her body in both camps, as former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown put it, I see that as her strength. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Tomorrow’s another day. You know, that’s what I always say to them. When you have like a weaver at the loom and we would weave this and sometimes people couldn’t be in the design and we’d say, okay, if you’re not in the designed, don’t go criticize the design because this is the consensus of the democratic caucus. This is what everybody’s put in and this is a consensus, but don’t criticize it because tomorrow was another day\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi’s time in elected office is winding down, but the monuments to her legacy are starting to be built. Across the San Francisco Bay Area, you can find markers of Pelosi’s impact and influence. The AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, at the University of California at Berkeley, the new Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy. I’ve been reflecting a lot about how life will be different when I’m no longer covering politics. When people stop saying things like, oh, I heard you on the radio or on a podcast. Now that Pelosi’s time in office is almost up, I wanted to ask her, what are you gonna miss most about not being, when you leave Congress?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Nobody in San Francisco or California ever has Potomac fever. I don’t know. I’ll miss some of my friends, but I’ll see them. I’m excited about going to Berkeley and having the UC Berkeley Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>You’re not gonna miss like just being in the mix all the time. No.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I didn’t go to stay that long. It’s just one thing led to another. You run for leadership, and then you’re leadership, then you become speaker, and it’s those. No, that’s being in the mix. I was in the mixed. Been that, done that. Yeah, I mean, I was first woman speaker of the House. This was a very big deal, and I won it back again. So no, I wouldn’t miss it at all.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi says she won’t miss being in the mix, but she’s still active. In our last interview, she told me she was in five states in one weekend, campaigning for the midterms, raising money, doing everything she can to win, and she is confident.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>What gives you hope? The fact that we’re gonna win this election gives me hope because we will.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But if there’s one thing I know as a journalist, it’s this. When someone claims to be certain, it’s our job to keep asking questions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>I’ve often said the things Nancy Pelosi is best at are the things very few people see. Governor Gavin Newsom said something similar.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>It was constant blocking and tackling. Just the constant, so it was Nancy, blocking and tackle, blocking and tackling. Wasn’t just delivering more resources, was stopping those resources from being cut and building coalitions that wouldn’t have otherwise existed without her. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That reminded me of one of Pelosi’s biggest local accomplishments. The Presidio is an old army base on the northern edge of San Francisco, with towering eucalyptus groves and sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a U.S. Military base from the mid-1800s to 1994. After Congress voted to decommission it, there was a big debate about what to do with it. Some in Congress wanted to sell the prime real estate to private developers. In the 90s, Pelosi got Congress on board to turn it into a thriving park with restaurants, businesses, and non-profits. And thanks to that public-private partnership structure Pelosi helped create, the park is now financially self-sufficient. We talked to Pelosi about it on Memorial Day this year when she spoke at an event honoring veterans. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I did my legislation to turn it from a post into a park, our motto was one that existed from the start, from 250 years ago, no shot fired in anger. So we always did it in the most nonpartisan, unifying way. And that’s what will protect the procedures we go forward. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In the early 90s, Pelosi was still relatively new to Washington, but she convinced even some Republican members of Congress to support her plan to preserve the land for the public and to have it pay for itself. Today, that legacy is under attack.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival: \u003c/strong>President Trump’s latest executive order is aimed directly at one of his political rivals’ favorite achievements, the Presidio Trust, established nearly three decades ago, largely because of the work of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Earlier this year, President Trump fired all six board members of the Presidio. But at the Memorial Day event, Pelosi was confident. The Trump administration can attack the Affordable Care Act. They can cut government programs. They can dismantle laws she spent months, even years, trying to pass Congress. But when it comes to her public park, The Presidio\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When we passed this legislation, we did it in a very wise and strong way. I feel that this procedure was protected by the legislation because it anticipated any kind of assault that it might have. So I’ll just leave it at that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>After she spoke, a crowd formed around Pelosi. The fog had broken by then, and the sun was shining in the cemetery. Kids with their parents, veterans, constituents, all came up to thank her for her work and her years as their representative.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Presidio Memorial Day Ambi: \u003c/strong>Thank you, Madam. You’re an inspiration. Thank you. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>At a time when people are very skeptical of political institutions or politicians, in San Francisco, Representative Nancy Pelosi is still pretty popular. I’m reflecting on my own career, decades following politics, and in many ways following the decline of our democracy. For Pelosi, the work is about building a better future, a better planet. Even though the results and legacy of her time in power will be studied and debated for years to come. This moment of gratitude, it reminded me that even now, when we’re so divided, government can still help people. The force that is Nancy Pelosi will soon be gone, and whatever comes next, well, that’s a tough act to follow.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The Speaker is a production of KQED in San Francisco and distributed by NPR. It’s hosted and reported by me, Scott Schaefer. Co-reported and produced by Ariella Markowitz. It’s edited by Padmini Raghunath. Final mix and sound designed by Christopher Beal. Additional mixing help from Brendan Willard. Fact-checking by Mark Betancourt. Additional editing from Anna Sussman and Jen Chien, KQED’s director of podcasts. Original theme music composed by Cedric Wilson. Additional music from APM. Maha Sanad is KQED’s podcast engagement producer. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is KQED’s editor-in-chief. Special thanks to Paul Burnett, Nan Alamilla Boyd, and Todd Holmes, our partners from the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Special thanks Ana de Almeida Amaral, Armando Arteaga, Jim Bennett, Izzy Bloom, Robert Chehosky, Brian Douglas, Annie Fruit, Rebecca Hopkins, Becca Kao, Sasha Khokha, Paul Lancour, John Lawrence, Marisa Lagos, Derek Larteau, Guy Marzorati, Victoria Mauleon, Katherine Monahan, Susan Page, Suzie Racho, Nicole Rodas, Katrina Schwartz, Zaldy Serrano, Renzo Santos, Katie Sprenger, and Molly Solomon. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our team started working on this project in the lead up to the 2026 midterm election. Polls show that nationwide voters are ready to reject President Trump’s agenda and support Democrats again. But for the Democratic Party, things are shifting. Are we ready to change the party? This May, I went to a rally in San Francisco. The theme was change the Party. It was promoted by Saikat Chakrabarti, AOC’s former chief of staff. And at that time, one of the top three challengers in the race for the congressional seat, Nancy Pelosi, will be vacating. The venue was an event space in the city’s south of Market neighborhood. The room was packed, lots of energy, party atmosphere, a disco ball hung from the ceiling. The crowd skewed young and racially diverse. I wanted to hear what these attendees thought about the Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our team started working on this project in the lead up to the 2026 midterm election. Polls show that nationwide voters are ready to reject President Trump’s agenda and support Democrats again. But for the Democratic Party, things are shifting. Are we ready to change the party? This May, I went to a rally in San Francisco. The theme was change the Party. It was promoted by Saikat Chakrabarti, AOC’s former chief of staff. And at that time, one of the top three challengers in the race for the congressional seat, Nancy Pelosi, will be vacating. The venue was an event space in the city’s south of Market neighborhood. The room was packed, lots of energy, party atmosphere, a disco ball hung from the ceiling. The crowd skewed young and racially diverse. I wanted to hear what these attendees thought about the Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>And the theme has changed the party. Like, what does that mean to you? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>And the theme has changed the party. Like, what does that mean to you? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Change the party.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Change the party.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>How so?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>How so?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Because the Democratic establishment is just as corrupt as the Republican establishment. They’re donor Democrats.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Because the Democratic establishment is just as corrupt as the Republican establishment. They’re donor Democrats.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Democrats are currently very stagnant and uninspired and they’re fighting for the wrong thing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Democrats are currently very stagnant and uninspired and they’re fighting for the wrong thing.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>I also wanted to hear what people thought about Pelosi’s role in everything. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>I also wanted to hear what people thought about Pelosi’s role in everything. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>And how does Nancy Pelosi fit into that?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>And how does Nancy Pelosi fit into that?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>She was able to whip the votes for important issues, but at the end of the day, she was part of the problem and the corporate establishment Democratic Party. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>She was able to whip the votes for important issues, but at the end of the day, she was part of the problem and the corporate establishment Democratic Party. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>If we look at what happened in New York with Mayor Mamdani, he spoke to actual real life issues that people are really dealing with on a daily basis. And he used that as sort of his core. And I don’t think that’s what Pelosi and the establishment Democrats have historically done. They speak more to their corporate base, their donor base. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>If we look at what happened in New York with Mayor Mamdani, he spoke to actual real life issues that people are really dealing with on a daily basis. And he used that as sort of his core. And I don’t think that’s what Pelosi and the establishment Democrats have historically done. They speak more to their corporate base, their donor base. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As a politics reporter, I take in a lot of different perspectives. One day I’ll go to a rally and ask voters what they think. And then another, I’ll interview the most powerful man in California. Governor Gavin Newsom. I asked him the same question. What’s Pelosi’s legacy?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As a politics reporter, I take in a lot of different perspectives. One day I’ll go to a rally and ask voters what they think. And then another, I’ll interview the most powerful man in California. Governor Gavin Newsom. I asked him the same question. What’s Pelosi’s legacy?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>People need to study effectiveness, and they need to celebrate it, and they to celebrate some pragmatism, not just idealism.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>People need to study effectiveness, and they need to celebrate it, and they to celebrate some pragmatism, not just idealism.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Newsom’s had a front row seat to Pelosi’s work over the years. What does California, what does the Democratic Party lose in her retirement? And how do you get it back? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Newsom’s had a front row seat to Pelosi’s work over the years. What does California, what does the Democratic Party lose in her retirement? And how do you get it back? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>Well, you lose, obviously, the wisdom, the temperance, the courage. I’m sorry everybody out there hates the establishment and incumbents. It kind of worked for us. Be careful what you wish for.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>Well, you lose, obviously, the wisdom, the temperance, the courage. I’m sorry everybody out there hates the establishment and incumbents. It kind of worked for us. Be careful what you wish for.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Like Pelosi, I’m also retiring this year. Now, just to be clear of the similarities and the there, there won’t be any buildings named after me, but we’re both leaving at a time of change for the Democratic Party, the institution Pelosi has devoted her life to.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Like Pelosi, I’m also retiring this year. Now, just to be clear of the similarities and the there, there won’t be any buildings named after me, but we’re both leaving at a time of change for the Democratic Party, the institution Pelosi has devoted her life to.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>What do you make of the rise? We’re seeing a lot of turmoil in the Democratic party in terms of candidates.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>What do you make of the rise? We’re seeing a lot of turmoil in the Democratic party in terms of candidates.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I disagree with your terminology. A lot of turmoil in the Democratic Party. There isn’t a lot of tumble in the party. There’s some people who’ve won their elections.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I disagree with your terminology. A lot of turmoil in the Democratic Party. There isn’t a lot of tumble in the party. There’s some people who’ve won their elections.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The way she sees it, there are places where more progressive candidates can win and others where they can’t. In the period of time I sat down with her the summer of 2026, she was laser focused on the midterm elections. How do you want people to remember your legacy? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The way she sees it, there are places where more progressive candidates can win and others where they can’t. In the period of time I sat down with her the summer of 2026, she was laser focused on the midterm elections. How do you want people to remember your legacy? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Not so fast on the legacy. We have to win the house, which we will do. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Not so fast on the legacy. We have to win the house, which we will do. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As someone who watched Nancy Pelosi’s rise from that raucous first election in 1987 to the power broker that she is today, I wanted to really take this moment to examine Nancy Pelosi impact on the party she’s devoted her entire life to. Has her role as a fundraiser pushed the party away from its working class ideals? Or has Pelosi kicked down the doors for a more progressive crop of voices in Congress? I’m Scott Schaefer from KQED. This is The Speaker, today the question of Nancy Pelosi’s legacy in a moment of conflict.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As someone who watched Nancy Pelosi’s rise from that raucous first election in 1987 to the power broker that she is today, I wanted to really take this moment to examine Nancy Pelosi impact on the party she’s devoted her entire life to. Has her role as a fundraiser pushed the party away from its working class ideals? Or has Pelosi kicked down the doors for a more progressive crop of voices in Congress? I’m Scott Schaefer from KQED. This is The Speaker, today the question of Nancy Pelosi’s legacy in a moment of conflict.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Over the decades, Nancy Pelosi built tremendous influence in the Democratic party, leveraging trusting relationships and her history of success, political capital, as we sometimes call it. In 2024, something happened that would require her to spend some of that capital. President Biden took the stage that June to debate Republican candidate Donald Trump.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Joe Biden: \u003c/strong>Making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the COVID, excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with, look, if we finally beat Medicare. Thank you.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Joe Biden: \u003c/strong>Making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the COVID, excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with, look, if we finally beat Medicare. Thank you.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biden’s performance in that debate caused a lot of Democrats to hit the panic button. Concerns about Biden’s cognitive ability and age inflamed already simmering tensions within the party around what its future should look like. And big donors were threatening to withhold their support as long as he was the nominee. And then Pelosi stepped in. She went on Morning Joe, the MSNBC show.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biden’s performance in that debate caused a lot of Democrats to hit the panic button. Concerns about Biden’s cognitive ability and age inflamed already simmering tensions within the party around what its future should look like. And big donors were threatening to withhold their support as long as he was the nominee. And then Pelosi stepped in. She went on Morning Joe, the MSNBC show.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morning Joe: \u003c/strong>Does he have your support to be the head of the Democratic second? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morning Joe: \u003c/strong>Does he have your support to be the head of the Democratic second? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morning Joe: \u003c/strong>As long as the president has the president, it’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morning Joe: \u003c/strong>As long as the president has the president, it’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biden had already decided he was running. This is basically Pelosi giving Biden a vote of no confidence. As close as she’d come to saying he should drop out of the race without saying so directly. The weeks dragged on. President Biden was still in the race. So behind the scenes, Pelosi knew she had to make a critical phone call.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biden had already decided he was running. This is basically Pelosi giving Biden a vote of no confidence. As close as she’d come to saying he should drop out of the race without saying so directly. The weeks dragged on. President Biden was still in the race. So behind the scenes, Pelosi knew she had to make a critical phone call.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was not there to undo his decision, I just told him what I thought.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was not there to undo his decision, I just told him what I thought.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>This would not be easy for her. They had been friends for decades. They’d worked hard with a narrow majority in the House to pass legislation.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>This would not be easy for her. They had been friends for decades. They’d worked hard with a narrow majority in the House to pass legislation.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Infrastructure Bill, CHIPS Act, CHIPs and Science Act, more for climate than any history of any country in the world, issues that related to our veterans, the PACT Act. He was really on roll.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Infrastructure Bill, CHIPS Act, CHIPs and Science Act, more for climate than any history of any country in the world, issues that related to our veterans, the PACT Act. He was really on roll.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But she knew the time had come to say something.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But she knew the time had come to say something.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I never asked him not to run. All I said is, two things. One, presentation that is being made is not a winning one. The polls are not good on this. And you’ve accomplished so much. This is a winning agenda that you have. I don’t know. Let me talk to my polls, because they have the polls. I said, well, that’s interesting. But I’d like to have more pollsters around the table to compare. I don’t have any recommendations of who they should be. But just have some other points of view so that we can see where we are on this. Because too much is at stake. Donald Trump. Too much is a stake.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I never asked him not to run. All I said is, two things. One, presentation that is being made is not a winning one. The polls are not good on this. And you’ve accomplished so much. This is a winning agenda that you have. I don’t know. Let me talk to my polls, because they have the polls. I said, well, that’s interesting. But I’d like to have more pollsters around the table to compare. I don’t have any recommendations of who they should be. But just have some other points of view so that we can see where we are on this. Because too much is at stake. Donald Trump. Too much is a stake.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>How hard was that conversation? I mean, you say you didn’t ask him not to run, but it was interpreted that way. And ultimately, there were others calling on him not to run. How hard is that given the relationship you’ve had with him?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>How hard was that conversation? I mean, you say you didn’t ask him not to run, but it was interpreted that way. And ultimately, there were others calling on him not to run. How hard is that given the relationship you’ve had with him?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was not a good thing. I mean, it was hard. I mean I’ve known him for decades. We’ve been friends a very long time. I love him. I think he was a great patriot. He was a Great President. All we wanted to do was to see the reality of when you take polls, it’s not about where you are. It’s about where the public is on issues and how your message is coming across. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was not a good thing. I mean, it was hard. I mean I’ve known him for decades. We’ve been friends a very long time. I love him. I think he was a great patriot. He was a Great President. All we wanted to do was to see the reality of when you take polls, it’s not about where you are. It’s about where the public is on issues and how your message is coming across. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>On July 21st, 2024, President Biden dropped out of the race. Pelosi endorsed his replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris, who was the only person who could legally use Biden’s remaining campaign funds. Pelosi threw her weight into the race, raising more money for the Harris campaign. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>On July 21st, 2024, President Biden dropped out of the race. Pelosi endorsed his replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris, who was the only person who could legally use Biden’s remaining campaign funds. Pelosi threw her weight into the race, raising more money for the Harris campaign. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I give Kamala Harris great credit for getting out the vote. She got out a big vote. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I give Kamala Harris great credit for getting out the vote. She got out a big vote. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But even so.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But even so.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamala Harris: \u003c/strong>The votes for President of the United States are as follows.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamala Harris: \u003c/strong>The votes for President of the United States are as follows.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In her role as vice president, Harris oversaw the certification of the election results.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In her role as vice president, Harris oversaw the certification of the election results.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamala Harris: \u003c/strong>Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D. Harris.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamala Harris: \u003c/strong>Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D. Harris.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>Now, 2024 was a bit of an outlier in that, what we know on record, Kamala Harris far out-raised Donald Trump. She did not win.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>Now, 2024 was a bit of an outlier in that, what we know on record, Kamala Harris far out-raised Donald Trump. She did not win.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Hilary Braseth is the executive director of Open Secrets. That’s a nonprofit dedicated to tracking money in U.S. Politics. She says 2024 was an outlier because \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Hilary Braseth is the executive director of Open Secrets. That’s a nonprofit dedicated to tracking money in U.S. Politics. She says 2024 was an outlier because \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>If you raise more money than your opponent, the likelihood that you will win is roughly 80%. So it’s quite high.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And Nancy Pelosi, well, she’s famous for raising a lot of money for Democrats. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>She was the Speaker of the House for many years, and it’s no secret that she’s, with that title, also managed to raise a whole bunch of money.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>She was the Speaker of the House for many years, and it’s no secret that she’s, with that title, also managed to raise a whole bunch of money.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Since 2000, she’s raised around $100 million directly and has helped the Democratic Party bring in around $1.25 billion total. To Brasif, Pelosi’s power comes in part from this fundraising ability. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Since 2000, she’s raised around $100 million directly and has helped the Democratic Party bring in around $1.25 billion total. To Brasif, Pelosi’s power comes in part from this fundraising ability. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>Members of Congress who are able to raise large sums of money is often seen as a proxy for how successful they may be in an election or how powerful they might be able to be once they are elected by virtue of having a war chest, we refer to it as, to transfer to other lower-ranking Democrats, which again fuels and reinforces the system of power. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>Members of Congress who are able to raise large sums of money is often seen as a proxy for how successful they may be in an election or how powerful they might be able to be once they are elected by virtue of having a war chest, we refer to it as, to transfer to other lower-ranking Democrats, which again fuels and reinforces the system of power. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Like in Nancy Pelosi’s case, she raises a ton of money, but she doesn’t need it for herself, right?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Like in Nancy Pelosi’s case, she raises a ton of money, but she doesn’t need it for herself, right?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>And then she can transfer it to lower ranking members. So it’s powerful, right? She gets to decide who gets to receive this money that then produces a system of currying favor from lower ranking Democrats. And you have the party machinery here.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>And then she can transfer it to lower ranking members. So it’s powerful, right? She gets to decide who gets to receive this money that then produces a system of currying favor from lower ranking Democrats. And you have the party machinery here.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi’s strength as a fundraiser is more important than ever. This is an extremely consequential midterm election at a time when voters aren’t particularly excited about Democrats. As of February, Pelosi had about $9 million in a personal war chest, ready to deploy for congressional races around the country. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi’s strength as a fundraiser is more important than ever. This is an extremely consequential midterm election at a time when voters aren’t particularly excited about Democrats. As of February, Pelosi had about $9 million in a personal war chest, ready to deploy for congressional races around the country. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>She’s built strong relationships with heavy hitters when it comes to political donors. It also means that she’s had largely the backing of her party as somebody who’s been able to bring in very large sums of money.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>She’s built strong relationships with heavy hitters when it comes to political donors. It also means that she’s had largely the backing of her party as somebody who’s been able to bring in very large sums of money.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But that’s also contributed to image problems and the rise of what progressive critics call corporate Democrats. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Barack Obama: \u003c/strong>Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010, money has poured into our political system. It allowed corporations, interest groups, and wealthy individuals to spend an unlimited amount of money funding political ads and other campaign activities. They often do this through political action committees, or PACs, and their supercharged cousins, super PACs. And this happens on both sides of the aisle. One of Pelosi’s political mantras is just win. She used the phrase in an interview once. She was asked about Democrats criticizing her to score political points in more conservative districts. Her answer, basically, go ahead, do whatever it takes to win the election. Times have changed in terms of political giving. Today, some of the largest contributors to PACs and campaigns have ties to Silicon Valley. Even today. As data centers and AI attract bipartisan criticism, Pelosi doesn’t discourage Democrats from taking tech contributions, insisting that support does not have to compromise their values. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010, money has poured into our political system. It allowed corporations, interest groups, and wealthy individuals to spend an unlimited amount of money funding political ads and other campaign activities. They often do this through political action committees, or PACs, and their supercharged cousins, super PACs. And this happens on both sides of the aisle. One of Pelosi’s political mantras is just win. She used the phrase in an interview once. She was asked about Democrats criticizing her to score political points in more conservative districts. Her answer, basically, go ahead, do whatever it takes to win the election. Times have changed in terms of political giving. Today, some of the largest contributors to PACs and campaigns have ties to Silicon Valley. Even today. As data centers and AI attract bipartisan criticism, Pelosi doesn’t discourage Democrats from taking tech contributions, insisting that support does not have to compromise their values. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I mean, candidates call me and say, tech is coming in for me. I don’t want it, but they’re coming in for me because they don’t like the opponent, and I’m afraid that other tech will come in for them. But tech money is different from fossil fuel money, and it’s different from gun money, because there are differences of opinion.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I mean, candidates call me and say, tech is coming in for me. I don’t want it, but they’re coming in for me because they don’t like the opponent, and I’m afraid that other tech will come in for them. But tech money is different from fossil fuel money, and it’s different from gun money, because there are differences of opinion.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As California tech CEOs ingratiate themselves with Trump, Pelosi seems to draw a distinction between tech money and other corporate money. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Now, the tech community is a relatively new phenomenon in terms of… \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But it’s corporate money.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Yeah, no, but the tech money is on both sides of the issues. Some of the tech-money that’s saying we should have a better, fairer immigration system and the rest of that. I’m not here to protect them, but all the businesses are the same. I mean, I don’t want to paint everybody with the same brush, but they all want lower their taxes and lower their regulation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Yeah, no, but the tech money is on both sides of the issues. Some of the tech-money that’s saying we should have a better, fairer immigration system and the rest of that. I’m not here to protect them, but all the businesses are the same. I mean, I don’t want to paint everybody with the same brush, but they all want lower their taxes and lower their regulation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But when I ask Pelosi if she thinks the Democratic Party is too reliant on corporate donations, she bristles.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I completely, totally disagree that the Democratic Party is dominated by corporate money. It isn’t. And certainly the Democrats vote for gun violence prevention. The Republicans do not. Their Democrats vote to protect the environment. The other people are in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry as well as the gun industry. So it is a big difference. But we haven’t made that clear. And every poll shows, oh, they think we’re both sort of the same. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I completely, totally disagree that the Democratic Party is dominated by corporate money. It isn’t. And certainly the Democrats vote for gun violence prevention. The Republicans do not. Their Democrats vote to protect the environment. The other people are in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry as well as the gun industry. So it is a big difference. But we haven’t made that clear. And every poll shows, oh, they think we’re both sort of the same. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Right now, Pelosi’s eye is firmly on taking back the House. She’s traveling the country to raise money for Democrats, trying to flip seats from red to blue. She’s weighing in on a few non-House seats as well. For example, the Senate race in Michigan. Pelosi endorsed Haley Stevens, a fellow House member, the more centrist establishment Democrat. Stevens lost the primary to Abdul Al Sayed, the candidate who supports Medicare for All. And opposes unconditional military aid for Israel. But Pelosi sees the field like a chessboard. There are some districts and states she thinks the party will struggle to win with a progressive agenda. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Right now, Pelosi’s eye is firmly on taking back the House. She’s traveling the country to raise money for Democrats, trying to flip seats from red to blue. She’s weighing in on a few non-House seats as well. For example, the Senate race in Michigan. Pelosi endorsed Haley Stevens, a fellow House member, the more centrist establishment Democrat. Stevens lost the primary to Abdul Al Sayed, the candidate who supports Medicare for All. And opposes unconditional military aid for Israel. But Pelosi sees the field like a chessboard. There are some districts and states she thinks the party will struggle to win with a progressive agenda. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I don’t know about Michigan. I don’t know what’s gonna happen there in the Senate. But I’ll tell you, the more left the candidate, the harder to win the general in Michigan, in Michigan.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I don’t know about Michigan. I don’t know what’s gonna happen there in the Senate. But I’ll tell you, the more left the candidate, the harder to win the general in Michigan, in Michigan.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But with the primaries over and the field of candidates set, Pelosi has hit the road to help Democrats win in November.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Will be a path to winning the White House. What’s happening right now is contrary to anything our founders had in mind for our country, contrary to the Constitution of the United States. And I just, well, we just win, baby. That’s just the whole thing. And win big. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Will be a path to winning the White House. What’s happening right now is contrary to anything our founders had in mind for our country, contrary to the Constitution of the United States. And I just, well, we just win, baby. That’s just the whole thing. And win big. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>On the night of October 28th, 2022, just before the midterm elections, someone broke into the Pelosi home in San Francisco. The intruder, David DePapp, found Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in bed. He demanded to know, where’s Nancy? When Paul told him she wasn’t home, he said he’d wait for her. Paul managed to call the police from the bathroom. Police body cam footage from the officers who responded. Revealed DePapp and Paul Pelosi, wearing boxer shorts, struggling for a hammer. Police told DePap to put the hammer down. He said no and swung it at Paul, hitting him in the head, fracturing his skull. Later, authorities found zip ties at the scene and rope in DePaps backpack. According to a federal charging document, DePapa was planning on holding Nancy Pelosi hostage to break her kneecaps if she didn’t answer his questions honestly. Paul was 82 years old. He needed emergency surgery to repair his fractured skull and was in the hospital for several days. Nancy remembers sitting with her family in the ICU. In episode one, we talked about how many years earlier, as a teenager, Alexandra gave her mother permission to run for Congress. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>On the night of October 28th, 2022, just before the midterm elections, someone broke into the Pelosi home in San Francisco. The intruder, David DePapp, found Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in bed. He demanded to know, where’s Nancy? When Paul told him she wasn’t home, he said he’d wait for her. Paul managed to call the police from the bathroom. Police body cam footage from the officers who responded. Revealed DePapp and Paul Pelosi, wearing boxer shorts, struggling for a hammer. Police told DePap to put the hammer down. He said no and swung it at Paul, hitting him in the head, fracturing his skull. Later, authorities found zip ties at the scene and rope in DePaps backpack. According to a federal charging document, DePapa was planning on holding Nancy Pelosi hostage to break her kneecaps if she didn’t answer his questions honestly. Paul was 82 years old. He needed emergency surgery to repair his fractured skull and was in the hospital for several days. Nancy remembers sitting with her family in the ICU. In episode one, we talked about how many years earlier, as a teenager, Alexandra gave her mother permission to run for Congress. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Then she said, get a life.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But that night in the ICU, Alexandra had a very different take.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But that night in the ICU, Alexandra had a very different take.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>After daddy got hurt, she said, if I knew this was at the end of the road, I would never have given you my permission. And that’s too big a price to pay. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>After daddy got hurt, she said, if I knew this was at the end of the road, I would never have given you my permission. And that’s too big a price to pay. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Were you surprised that Alexandra said what she did?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Were you surprised that Alexandra said what she did?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>No, I wasn’t surprised. No, this is our dad, our pop. Pop is what the grandchildren call him. No, that was terrible, terrible thing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>No, I wasn’t surprised. No, this is our dad, our pop. Pop is what the grandchildren call him. No, that was terrible, terrible thing.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>It was the cruelty after the attacks that really got to her.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>It was the cruelty after the attacks that really got to her.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It’s not only that, though. It’s all the things that people say along the way. I don’t even know how to refer to the person in the White House anymore. It’s just beyond. But he was making a joke of the whole thing. His kids were making a joke of the thing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It’s not only that, though. It’s all the things that people say along the way. I don’t even know how to refer to the person in the White House anymore. It’s just beyond. But he was making a joke of the whole thing. His kids were making a joke of the thing.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Two days after the attack on Paul, Donald Trump Jr. Retweeted a meme, a hammer and white underwear that said, got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready. He wasn’t the only one. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Two days after the attack on Paul, Donald Trump Jr. Retweeted a meme, a hammer and white underwear that said, got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready. He wasn’t the only one. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>That Charlie Kirk or whatever his name was wasn’t there anybody who’s patriotic enough to spend to save to bail out this guy And what was that jerk’s name, Tesla. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>That Charlie Kirk or whatever his name was wasn’t there anybody who’s patriotic enough to spend to save to bail out this guy And what was that jerk’s name, Tesla. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Oh, Elon Musk.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Oh, Elon Musk.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi probably knows Elon Musk’s name, but in my experience, when she throws shade, she pretends she doesn’t know someone.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi probably knows Elon Musk’s name, but in my experience, when she throws shade, she pretends she doesn’t know someone.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Elon Musk, he made terrible statements, too. They’re just very sick people, but that is trauma. I mean, physical is life or death. Trauma is with you for a long time to come, and that is very traumatizing to a family, to have that kind of assault.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Elon Musk, he made terrible statements, too. They’re just very sick people, but that is trauma. I mean, physical is life or death. Trauma is with you for a long time to come, and that is very traumatizing to a family, to have that kind of assault.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our producer, Ariella, talked to another one of Pelosi’s daughters.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our producer, Ariella, talked to another one of Pelosi’s daughters.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ariella Markowitz: \u003c/strong>Were you surprised when your mother decided to run for reelection after the attack?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christine Pelosi: \u003c/strong>No, I wasn’t surprised because we had the political work that was going to be done. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Christine Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christine Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was really particular that they should go out and live their lives and not live in fear. What were they supposed to do? Stay home and stay inside their house and not go out and be with people, not be in the community that they built together for 50 years in San Francisco because of something like that? I think the opposite.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christine Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was really particular that they should go out and live their lives and not live in fear. What were they supposed to do? Stay home and stay inside their house and not go out and be with people, not be in the community that they built together for 50 years in San Francisco because of something like that? I think the opposite.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But Christine thinks it’s bigger than that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But Christine thinks it’s bigger than that.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christine Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I think a lot of women of her generation who were living the unlived lives of their mother. Her father was not supportive of her mother becoming a lawyer. There was a lot work that women tried to do but weren’t rewarded for. It was the men groomed for politics, not women. So I think for my mother, what she wanted for herself and for women of her generation, certainly of the next generation and the one after that, is for people to break through all of that and not be held back.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christine Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I think a lot of women of her generation who were living the unlived lives of their mother. Her father was not supportive of her mother becoming a lawyer. There was a lot work that women tried to do but weren’t rewarded for. It was the men groomed for politics, not women. So I think for my mother, what she wanted for herself and for women of her generation, certainly of the next generation and the one after that, is for people to break through all of that and not be held back.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Less than two weeks after the attack on Paul, Republicans took back control of the House. Pelosi stepped down as leader of the house Democrats, but it wasn’t because of the attack on her husband. She was keeping a promise she made four years earlier, self-imposing a term limit response to the desire for new leadership among some in her caucus. In her speech after the election, she talked about how violence can undermine democracy.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Less than two weeks after the attack on Paul, Republicans took back control of the House. Pelosi stepped down as leader of the house Democrats, but it wasn’t because of the attack on her husband. She was keeping a promise she made four years earlier, self-imposing a term limit response to the desire for new leadership among some in her caucus. In her speech after the election, she talked about how violence can undermine democracy.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Indeed, American democracy is majestic, but it is fragile. Many of us here have witnessed its fragility firsthand, tragically, in this chamber. And so democracy must be forever defended from forces that wish it harm.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Indeed, American democracy is majestic, but it is fragile. Many of us here have witnessed its fragility firsthand, tragically, in this chamber. And so democracy must be forever defended from forces that wish it harm.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The political environment had gotten increasingly dangerous. Pelosi worries that the attacks on her and the events on January 6th, 2021 will discourage other women from entering politics.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The political environment had gotten increasingly dangerous. Pelosi worries that the attacks on her and the events on January 6th, 2021 will discourage other women from entering politics.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Over the years, the attacks that were made on me, the women were saying, I could never do that. But you don’t want other people not running for office because they saw something happen. When women succeed, America succeeds. I firmly believe that. And I speak to women, I say to them all the time, know your power in this, you are so needed. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Over the years, the attacks that were made on me, the women were saying, I could never do that. But you don’t want other people not running for office because they saw something happen. When women succeed, America succeeds. I firmly believe that. And I speak to women, I say to them all the time, know your power in this, you are so needed. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In our last episode, we heard from Ilhan Omar, the representative from Minnesota’s Fifth District, one of the squad of four progressive lawmakers elected in 2018. She and Pelosi sometimes disagree. For example, on Medicare for All, she supports it. Pelosi does not. But when Omar first got to Congress. I talked to her quite often. She called a lot. So often, her staff would joke that Auntie Nancy’s calling.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In our last episode, we heard from Ilhan Omar, the representative from Minnesota’s Fifth District, one of the squad of four progressive lawmakers elected in 2018. She and Pelosi sometimes disagree. For example, on Medicare for All, she supports it. Pelosi does not. But when Omar first got to Congress. I talked to her quite often. She called a lot. So often, her staff would joke that Auntie Nancy’s calling.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>And I think she was mostly nervous for me and what I would be dealing with as someone who carried unique identities that were under attack in our country. I really thought that it was super kind of her to pay that much attention to me and what I might need, not just in terms of serving, but just mentally as well. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>And I think she was mostly nervous for me and what I would be dealing with as someone who carried unique identities that were under attack in our country. I really thought that it was super kind of her to pay that much attention to me and what I might need, not just in terms of serving, but just mentally as well. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Before Omar was sworn in in 2018, she was worried about one thing in particular. This ban that existed on head coverings. Omar wears religious head covering. Head coverings of any kind weren’t allowed on the house floor at the time she was elected. So she brought it up to Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Before Omar was sworn in in 2018, she was worried about one thing in particular. This ban that existed on head coverings. Omar wears religious head covering. Head coverings of any kind weren’t allowed on the house floor at the time she was elected. So she brought it up to Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>She did her… You know, mom assurance thing of like, no, that’s not gonna happen and we’re gonna fix it to my surprise. She worked with me to have the rule change have my name attached to it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>She did her… You know, mom assurance thing of like, no, that’s not gonna happen and we’re gonna fix it to my surprise. She worked with me to have the rule change have my name attached to it.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Ariella asked her\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Ariella asked her\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ariella Markowitz: \u003c/strong>Were you surprised she took care of it, or?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ariella Markowitz: \u003c/strong>Were you surprised she took care of it, or?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Yeah, and that she was thoughtful, that she also wanted me to be the one who proposed the change\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Yeah, and that she was thoughtful, that she also wanted me to be the one who proposed the change\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi was right to be worried. The vitriol has only escalated since Omar was first elected. Omar was born in Somalia, but became a U.S. Citizen when she was a teenager. She’s also Muslim. Omar is often attacked by President Trump. At a rally in 2019, you can hear the crowd yelling, send her back before he speaks.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi was right to be worried. The vitriol has only escalated since Omar was first elected. Omar was born in Somalia, but became a U.S. Citizen when she was a teenager. She’s also Muslim. Omar is often attacked by President Trump. At a rally in 2019, you can hear the crowd yelling, send her back before he speaks.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Donald Trump: \u003c/strong>So, Representative Omar blamed the United States. For the terrorist attacks on our country, saying that…\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Donald Trump: \u003c/strong>So, Representative Omar blamed the United States. For the terrorist attacks on our country, saying that…\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And the rhetoric has only intensified in President Trump’s second term. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And the rhetoric has only intensified in President Trump’s second term. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Donald Trump: \u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Donald Trump: \u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Two months after Trump made these comments, she was attacked at a town hall meeting during the ICE surge in Minneapolis. During protests against that surge, federal agents killed two U.S. Citizens, Renee Good and Alex Preti. Omar was calling for the resignation of the head of DHS at that point. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Two months after Trump made these comments, she was attacked at a town hall meeting during the ICE surge in Minneapolis. During protests against that surge, federal agents killed two U.S. Citizens, Renee Good and Alex Preti. Omar was calling for the resignation of the head of DHS at that point. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>And DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>And DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Press Conference Archival: \u003c/strong>Whoa, whoa, whoa!\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Press Conference Archival: \u003c/strong>Whoa, whoa, whoa!\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>A man lunged and sprayed her with a liquid that turned out to be a mixture of water and vinegar. Omar finished the town hall after the man was tackled and removed by security. In that sense, her toughness, she can relate to Nancy Pelosi. She grew up with brothers.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>A man lunged and sprayed her with a liquid that turned out to be a mixture of water and vinegar. Omar finished the town hall after the man was tackled and removed by security. In that sense, her toughness, she can relate to Nancy Pelosi. She grew up with brothers.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Her dad was very much instrumental in her life and the way that she thinks about life and the ways that she think about strength and courage. And I grew up with brothers and my dad really is the reason I am who I am today. And I think we have a similar energy that shaped us.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Her dad was very much instrumental in her life and the way that she thinks about life and the ways that she think about strength and courage. And I grew up with brothers and my dad really is the reason I am who I am today. And I think we have a similar energy that shaped us.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Even though they disagree about how to fix America’s health care system and other policies too, Pelosi’s steeliness through it all is something Omar admires. It is important. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Even though they disagree about how to fix America’s health care system and other policies too, Pelosi’s steeliness through it all is something Omar admires. It is important. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Make sure people who see you as an inspiration don’t see you backing down. Because it will inspire them to stand up to police as well.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Make sure people who see you as an inspiration don’t see you backing down. Because it will inspire them to stand up to police as well.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>While we were in D.C., Areola went to the annual California Congressional Transportation Reception. That sounds like fun, doesn’t it? I know. It was packed with politicians and workers from California public transportation projects. Pelosi was there, along with a freshman member of Congress.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>While we were in D.C., Areola went to the annual California Congressional Transportation Reception. That sounds like fun, doesn’t it? I know. It was packed with politicians and workers from California public transportation projects. Pelosi was there, along with a freshman member of Congress.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lateefah Simon: \u003c/strong>The Bay Area is very special because we throw down, we throw down hard. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lateefah Simon: \u003c/strong>The Bay Area is very special because we throw down, we throw down hard. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Lateefah Simon represents California’s 12th District, right across the bay from Pelosi’s San Francisco seat. Like Representative Ilhan Omar, there are policies she disagrees with Pelosi on, but when Ariella asked her about Pelosi at the event, she lit up.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Lateefah Simon represents California’s 12th District, right across the bay from Pelosi’s San Francisco seat. Like Representative Ilhan Omar, there are policies she disagrees with Pelosi on, but when Ariella asked her about Pelosi at the event, she lit up.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lateefah Simon: \u003c/strong>And I call her Ms Pelosi. I grew up in San Francisco and in Oakland. She spent so much time with freshmen and I gotta say, a lot of time with me really training me on how this place works. Now, she’s clear that I’m kind of like an ultra progressive. Like I’m a no war, anti-war organizer who grew up doing justice reform. What did that mentorship mean to you? Just like, how did, how do you think, what did she teach you? When I was running. She was very clear to me, I don’t want to talk politics with you, Latif, I want to talk about where you’re going to send your daughter to school. How are you going to be with family? You’re going leave your elderly mother. She’s so clear that our first obligation is to community and family. You know, I sit with her almost weekly and I ask her questions about particular bills and she gives me her her direct thoughts. And sometimes I’ll say, Miss Pelosi, I’m not going to vote that way. And yet… Yeah, she always says, vote your district. What are your hopes for the future of the Democratic Party as she’s stepping down? I remember how Nancy phrases the demand of the moment, and she always equates it with the children. So as a disabled woman, I’m always remembering that, that this is not about power. It must be about service. We’re up against Armageddon in some ways, I feel like, it’s David and Goliath. But I come from, you know, the Bay Area, where we’re ruthless in our own politic about what we believe, what is morally consequential. And I’m glad that I actually came into the Coliseum, not the Dome. Some people call it the DOME. It’s a Coliseium. We’re fighting for the lifeblood of our democracy. And I am so blessed that I have that lens to be able to say, well, no one’s going to push me around. I’ve seen the Nancy Pelosi’s. Hands. I’m stronger because of it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lateefah Simon: \u003c/strong>And I call her Ms Pelosi. I grew up in San Francisco and in Oakland. She spent so much time with freshmen and I gotta say, a lot of time with me really training me on how this place works. Now, she’s clear that I’m kind of like an ultra progressive. Like I’m a no war, anti-war organizer who grew up doing justice reform. What did that mentorship mean to you? Just like, how did, how do you think, what did she teach you? When I was running. She was very clear to me, I don’t want to talk politics with you, Latif, I want to talk about where you’re going to send your daughter to school. How are you going to be with family? You’re going leave your elderly mother. She’s so clear that our first obligation is to community and family. You know, I sit with her almost weekly and I ask her questions about particular bills and she gives me her her direct thoughts. And sometimes I’ll say, Miss Pelosi, I’m not going to vote that way. And yet… Yeah, she always says, vote your district. What are your hopes for the future of the Democratic Party as she’s stepping down? I remember how Nancy phrases the demand of the moment, and she always equates it with the children. So as a disabled woman, I’m always remembering that, that this is not about power. It must be about service. We’re up against Armageddon in some ways, I feel like, it’s David and Goliath. But I come from, you know, the Bay Area, where we’re ruthless in our own politic about what we believe, what is morally consequential. And I’m glad that I actually came into the Coliseum, not the Dome. Some people call it the DOME. It’s a Coliseium. We’re fighting for the lifeblood of our democracy. And I am so blessed that I have that lens to be able to say, well, no one’s going to push me around. I’ve seen the Nancy Pelosi’s. Hands. I’m stronger because of it.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>When Pelosi first got to Congress in 1987, there were 13 Democratic women in the House. Now, there are 95. Pelosi helped many of them win their seats. But in many ways, politics is still a man’s club. For women to survive and build a career, you have to be ready to fight. And now, many women in Congress have a template. Nancy Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>When Pelosi first got to Congress in 1987, there were 13 Democratic women in the House. Now, there are 95. Pelosi helped many of them win their seats. But in many ways, politics is still a man’s club. For women to survive and build a career, you have to be ready to fight. And now, many women in Congress have a template. Nancy Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Many have pointed out that Pelosi’s political acumen came from Baltimore, her home city in Maryland. But, I really see San Francisco in her. A local politician once described San Francisco politics as a knife fight in a phone booth, a fierce battle that often becomes personal because the city is relatively small and the political spectrum runs from liberal to further left. Surviving the city’s political cauldron, often battles between progressives and centrists, forces politicians to learn how to navigate the many interests, labor, business, environmentalists, LGBTQ. Racial and ethnic groups, political clubs. California Governor Gavin Newsom sees Pelosi as a pure product of these dynamics.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Many have pointed out that Pelosi’s political acumen came from Baltimore, her home city in Maryland. But, I really see San Francisco in her. A local politician once described San Francisco politics as a knife fight in a phone booth, a fierce battle that often becomes personal because the city is relatively small and the political spectrum runs from liberal to further left. Surviving the city’s political cauldron, often battles between progressives and centrists, forces politicians to learn how to navigate the many interests, labor, business, environmentalists, LGBTQ. Racial and ethnic groups, political clubs. California Governor Gavin Newsom sees Pelosi as a pure product of these dynamics.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>There’s that cross-pollination that was old San Francisco, the Moscone’s and the Burton’s, the Brown’s, and, you know, the machine.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Newsom grew up in a well-connected family. Nancy Pelosi was basically his aunt through marriage. His uncle was Paul Pelosi’s brother. He grew up with her coming to Thanksgiving or Christmas. Newsom said he didn’t really know she was a political player when he was growing up in San Francisco, but as he entered politics, city supervisor, mayor of San Francisco and eventually governor, he got closer to Pelosi. And as Newsom sees the party change today,\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Newsom grew up in a well-connected family. Nancy Pelosi was basically his aunt through marriage. His uncle was Paul Pelosi’s brother. He grew up with her coming to Thanksgiving or Christmas. Newsom said he didn’t really know she was a political player when he was growing up in San Francisco, but as he entered politics, city supervisor, mayor of San Francisco and eventually governor, he got closer to Pelosi. And as Newsom sees the party change today,\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>I’m literally mesmerized by the punditry about this DSA. I’m like, have you guys ever been out west, never been in the Bay Area, never paid attention to San Francisco politics? This is like decades, this is what we do. This is the Harry Britt versus the Brown Pelosi machine. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>I’m literally mesmerized by the punditry about this DSA. I’m like, have you guys ever been out west, never been in the Bay Area, never paid attention to San Francisco politics? This is like decades, this is what we do. This is the Harry Britt versus the Brown Pelosi machine. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That dynamic between centrist and progressive Democrats is still shaping the party. But to Pelosi, knowing each side of the party through and through, her body in both camps, as former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown put it, I see that as her strength. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That dynamic between centrist and progressive Democrats is still shaping the party. But to Pelosi, knowing each side of the party through and through, her body in both camps, as former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown put it, I see that as her strength. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Tomorrow’s another day. You know, that’s what I always say to them. When you have like a weaver at the loom and we would weave this and sometimes people couldn’t be in the design and we’d say, okay, if you’re not in the designed, don’t go criticize the design because this is the consensus of the democratic caucus. This is what everybody’s put in and this is a consensus, but don’t criticize it because tomorrow was another day\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Tomorrow’s another day. You know, that’s what I always say to them. When you have like a weaver at the loom and we would weave this and sometimes people couldn’t be in the design and we’d say, okay, if you’re not in the designed, don’t go criticize the design because this is the consensus of the democratic caucus. This is what everybody’s put in and this is a consensus, but don’t criticize it because tomorrow was another day\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi’s time in elected office is winding down, but the monuments to her legacy are starting to be built. Across the San Francisco Bay Area, you can find markers of Pelosi’s impact and influence. The AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, at the University of California at Berkeley, the new Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy. I’ve been reflecting a lot about how life will be different when I’m no longer covering politics. When people stop saying things like, oh, I heard you on the radio or on a podcast. Now that Pelosi’s time in office is almost up, I wanted to ask her, what are you gonna miss most about not being, when you leave Congress?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Nobody in San Francisco or California ever has Potomac fever. I don’t know. I’ll miss some of my friends, but I’ll see them. I’m excited about going to Berkeley and having the UC Berkeley Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Nobody in San Francisco or California ever has Potomac fever. I don’t know. I’ll miss some of my friends, but I’ll see them. I’m excited about going to Berkeley and having the UC Berkeley Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>You’re not gonna miss like just being in the mix all the time. No.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I didn’t go to stay that long. It’s just one thing led to another. You run for leadership, and then you’re leadership, then you become speaker, and it’s those. No, that’s being in the mix. I was in the mixed. Been that, done that. Yeah, I mean, I was first woman speaker of the House. This was a very big deal, and I won it back again. So no, I wouldn’t miss it at all.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I didn’t go to stay that long. It’s just one thing led to another. You run for leadership, and then you’re leadership, then you become speaker, and it’s those. No, that’s being in the mix. I was in the mixed. Been that, done that. Yeah, I mean, I was first woman speaker of the House. This was a very big deal, and I won it back again. So no, I wouldn’t miss it at all.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi says she won’t miss being in the mix, but she’s still active. In our last interview, she told me she was in five states in one weekend, campaigning for the midterms, raising money, doing everything she can to win, and she is confident.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi says she won’t miss being in the mix, but she’s still active. In our last interview, she told me she was in five states in one weekend, campaigning for the midterms, raising money, doing everything she can to win, and she is confident.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>What gives you hope? The fact that we’re gonna win this election gives me hope because we will.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But if there’s one thing I know as a journalist, it’s this. When someone claims to be certain, it’s our job to keep asking questions.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But if there’s one thing I know as a journalist, it’s this. When someone claims to be certain, it’s our job to keep asking questions.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>I’ve often said the things Nancy Pelosi is best at are the things very few people see. Governor Gavin Newsom said something similar.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>I’ve often said the things Nancy Pelosi is best at are the things very few people see. Governor Gavin Newsom said something similar.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>It was constant blocking and tackling. Just the constant, so it was Nancy, blocking and tackle, blocking and tackling. Wasn’t just delivering more resources, was stopping those resources from being cut and building coalitions that wouldn’t have otherwise existed without her. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That reminded me of one of Pelosi’s biggest local accomplishments. The Presidio is an old army base on the northern edge of San Francisco, with towering eucalyptus groves and sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a U.S. Military base from the mid-1800s to 1994. After Congress voted to decommission it, there was a big debate about what to do with it. Some in Congress wanted to sell the prime real estate to private developers. In the 90s, Pelosi got Congress on board to turn it into a thriving park with restaurants, businesses, and non-profits. And thanks to that public-private partnership structure Pelosi helped create, the park is now financially self-sufficient. We talked to Pelosi about it on Memorial Day this year when she spoke at an event honoring veterans. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That reminded me of one of Pelosi’s biggest local accomplishments. The Presidio is an old army base on the northern edge of San Francisco, with towering eucalyptus groves and sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a U.S. Military base from the mid-1800s to 1994. After Congress voted to decommission it, there was a big debate about what to do with it. Some in Congress wanted to sell the prime real estate to private developers. In the 90s, Pelosi got Congress on board to turn it into a thriving park with restaurants, businesses, and non-profits. And thanks to that public-private partnership structure Pelosi helped create, the park is now financially self-sufficient. We talked to Pelosi about it on Memorial Day this year when she spoke at an event honoring veterans. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I did my legislation to turn it from a post into a park, our motto was one that existed from the start, from 250 years ago, no shot fired in anger. So we always did it in the most nonpartisan, unifying way. And that’s what will protect the procedures we go forward. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I did my legislation to turn it from a post into a park, our motto was one that existed from the start, from 250 years ago, no shot fired in anger. So we always did it in the most nonpartisan, unifying way. And that’s what will protect the procedures we go forward. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In the early 90s, Pelosi was still relatively new to Washington, but she convinced even some Republican members of Congress to support her plan to preserve the land for the public and to have it pay for itself. Today, that legacy is under attack.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In the early 90s, Pelosi was still relatively new to Washington, but she convinced even some Republican members of Congress to support her plan to preserve the land for the public and to have it pay for itself. Today, that legacy is under attack.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival: \u003c/strong>President Trump’s latest executive order is aimed directly at one of his political rivals’ favorite achievements, the Presidio Trust, established nearly three decades ago, largely because of the work of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival: \u003c/strong>President Trump’s latest executive order is aimed directly at one of his political rivals’ favorite achievements, the Presidio Trust, established nearly three decades ago, largely because of the work of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Earlier this year, President Trump fired all six board members of the Presidio. But at the Memorial Day event, Pelosi was confident. The Trump administration can attack the Affordable Care Act. They can cut government programs. They can dismantle laws she spent months, even years, trying to pass Congress. But when it comes to her public park, The Presidio\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When we passed this legislation, we did it in a very wise and strong way. I feel that this procedure was protected by the legislation because it anticipated any kind of assault that it might have. So I’ll just leave it at that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When we passed this legislation, we did it in a very wise and strong way. I feel that this procedure was protected by the legislation because it anticipated any kind of assault that it might have. So I’ll just leave it at that.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>After she spoke, a crowd formed around Pelosi. The fog had broken by then, and the sun was shining in the cemetery. Kids with their parents, veterans, constituents, all came up to thank her for her work and her years as their representative.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>After she spoke, a crowd formed around Pelosi. The fog had broken by then, and the sun was shining in the cemetery. Kids with their parents, veterans, constituents, all came up to thank her for her work and her years as their representative.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Presidio Memorial Day Ambi: \u003c/strong>Thank you, Madam. You’re an inspiration. Thank you. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Presidio Memorial Day Ambi: \u003c/strong>Thank you, Madam. You’re an inspiration. Thank you. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>At a time when people are very skeptical of political institutions or politicians, in San Francisco, Representative Nancy Pelosi is still pretty popular. I’m reflecting on my own career, decades following politics, and in many ways following the decline of our democracy. For Pelosi, the work is about building a better future, a better planet. Even though the results and legacy of her time in power will be studied and debated for years to come. This moment of gratitude, it reminded me that even now, when we’re so divided, government can still help people. The force that is Nancy Pelosi will soon be gone, and whatever comes next, well, that’s a tough act to follow.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The Speaker is a production of KQED in San Francisco and distributed by NPR. It’s hosted and reported by me, Scott Schaefer. Co-reported and produced by Ariella Markowitz. It’s edited by Padmini Raghunath. Final mix and sound designed by Christopher Beal. Additional mixing help from Brendan Willard. Fact-checking by Mark Betancourt. Additional editing from Anna Sussman and Jen Chien, KQED’s director of podcasts. Original theme music composed by Cedric Wilson. Additional music from APM. Maha Sanad is KQED’s podcast engagement producer. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is KQED’s editor-in-chief. Special thanks to Paul Burnett, Nan Alamilla Boyd, and Todd Holmes, our partners from the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Special thanks Ana de Almeida Amaral, Armando Arteaga, Jim Bennett, Izzy Bloom, Robert Chehosky, Brian Douglas, Annie Fruit, Rebecca Hopkins, Becca Kao, Sasha Khokha, Paul Lancour, John Lawrence, Marisa Lagos, Derek Larteau, Guy Marzorati, Victoria Mauleon, Katherine Monahan, Susan Page, Suzie Racho, Nicole Rodas, Katrina Schwartz, Zaldy Serrano, Renzo Santos, Katie Sprenger, and Molly Solomon. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. \u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#transcript\">View full episode transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A local politician once called San Francisco politics a “knife fight in a phone booth” where centrist Democrats and progressives duke it out in close proximity. Out of that phone booth emerged Nancy Pelosi. In our series finale, we reckon with what her legacy will be – the fundraiser, the mentor, the fighter. In a moment when the Democratic Party is at a crossroads, how did Pelosi shape the destiny of the Democratic Party?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our team started working on this project in the lead up to the 2026 midterm election. Polls show that nationwide voters are ready to reject President Trump’s agenda and support Democrats again. But for the Democratic Party, things are shifting. Are we ready to change the party? This May, I went to a rally in San Francisco. The theme was change the Party. It was promoted by Saikat Chakrabarti, AOC’s former chief of staff. And at that time, one of the top three challengers in the race for the congressional seat, Nancy Pelosi, will be vacating. The venue was an event space in the city’s south of Market neighborhood. The room was packed, lots of energy, party atmosphere, a disco ball hung from the ceiling. The crowd skewed young and racially diverse. I wanted to hear what these attendees thought about the Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>And the theme has changed the party. Like, what does that mean to you? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Change the party.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>How so?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Because the Democratic establishment is just as corrupt as the Republican establishment. They’re donor Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>Democrats are currently very stagnant and uninspired and they’re fighting for the wrong thing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>I also wanted to hear what people thought about Pelosi’s role in everything. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>And how does Nancy Pelosi fit into that?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>She was able to whip the votes for important issues, but at the end of the day, she was part of the problem and the corporate establishment Democratic Party. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Change the Party Vox: \u003c/strong>If we look at what happened in New York with Mayor Mamdani, he spoke to actual real life issues that people are really dealing with on a daily basis. And he used that as sort of his core. And I don’t think that’s what Pelosi and the establishment Democrats have historically done. They speak more to their corporate base, their donor base. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As a politics reporter, I take in a lot of different perspectives. One day I’ll go to a rally and ask voters what they think. And then another, I’ll interview the most powerful man in California. Governor Gavin Newsom. I asked him the same question. What’s Pelosi’s legacy?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>People need to study effectiveness, and they need to celebrate it, and they to celebrate some pragmatism, not just idealism.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Newsom’s had a front row seat to Pelosi’s work over the years. What does California, what does the Democratic Party lose in her retirement? And how do you get it back? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>Well, you lose, obviously, the wisdom, the temperance, the courage. I’m sorry everybody out there hates the establishment and incumbents. It kind of worked for us. Be careful what you wish for.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Like Pelosi, I’m also retiring this year. Now, just to be clear of the similarities and the there, there won’t be any buildings named after me, but we’re both leaving at a time of change for the Democratic Party, the institution Pelosi has devoted her life to.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>What do you make of the rise? We’re seeing a lot of turmoil in the Democratic party in terms of candidates.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I disagree with your terminology. A lot of turmoil in the Democratic Party. There isn’t a lot of tumble in the party. There’s some people who’ve won their elections.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The way she sees it, there are places where more progressive candidates can win and others where they can’t. In the period of time I sat down with her the summer of 2026, she was laser focused on the midterm elections. How do you want people to remember your legacy? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Not so fast on the legacy. We have to win the house, which we will do. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As someone who watched Nancy Pelosi’s rise from that raucous first election in 1987 to the power broker that she is today, I wanted to really take this moment to examine Nancy Pelosi impact on the party she’s devoted her entire life to. Has her role as a fundraiser pushed the party away from its working class ideals? Or has Pelosi kicked down the doors for a more progressive crop of voices in Congress? I’m Scott Schaefer from KQED. This is The Speaker, today the question of Nancy Pelosi’s legacy in a moment of conflict.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Over the decades, Nancy Pelosi built tremendous influence in the Democratic party, leveraging trusting relationships and her history of success, political capital, as we sometimes call it. In 2024, something happened that would require her to spend some of that capital. President Biden took the stage that June to debate Republican candidate Donald Trump.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Joe Biden: \u003c/strong>Making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the COVID, excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with, look, if we finally beat Medicare. Thank you.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biden’s performance in that debate caused a lot of Democrats to hit the panic button. Concerns about Biden’s cognitive ability and age inflamed already simmering tensions within the party around what its future should look like. And big donors were threatening to withhold their support as long as he was the nominee. And then Pelosi stepped in. She went on Morning Joe, the MSNBC show.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morning Joe: \u003c/strong>Does he have your support to be the head of the Democratic second? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Morning Joe: \u003c/strong>As long as the president has the president, it’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biden had already decided he was running. This is basically Pelosi giving Biden a vote of no confidence. As close as she’d come to saying he should drop out of the race without saying so directly. The weeks dragged on. President Biden was still in the race. So behind the scenes, Pelosi knew she had to make a critical phone call.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was not there to undo his decision, I just told him what I thought.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>This would not be easy for her. They had been friends for decades. They’d worked hard with a narrow majority in the House to pass legislation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Infrastructure Bill, CHIPS Act, CHIPs and Science Act, more for climate than any history of any country in the world, issues that related to our veterans, the PACT Act. He was really on roll.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But she knew the time had come to say something.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I never asked him not to run. All I said is, two things. One, presentation that is being made is not a winning one. The polls are not good on this. And you’ve accomplished so much. This is a winning agenda that you have. I don’t know. Let me talk to my polls, because they have the polls. I said, well, that’s interesting. But I’d like to have more pollsters around the table to compare. I don’t have any recommendations of who they should be. But just have some other points of view so that we can see where we are on this. Because too much is at stake. Donald Trump. Too much is a stake.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>How hard was that conversation? I mean, you say you didn’t ask him not to run, but it was interpreted that way. And ultimately, there were others calling on him not to run. How hard is that given the relationship you’ve had with him?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was not a good thing. I mean, it was hard. I mean I’ve known him for decades. We’ve been friends a very long time. I love him. I think he was a great patriot. He was a Great President. All we wanted to do was to see the reality of when you take polls, it’s not about where you are. It’s about where the public is on issues and how your message is coming across. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>On July 21st, 2024, President Biden dropped out of the race. Pelosi endorsed his replacement, Vice President Kamala Harris, who was the only person who could legally use Biden’s remaining campaign funds. Pelosi threw her weight into the race, raising more money for the Harris campaign. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I give Kamala Harris great credit for getting out the vote. She got out a big vote. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But even so.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamala Harris: \u003c/strong>The votes for President of the United States are as follows.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In her role as vice president, Harris oversaw the certification of the election results.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kamala Harris: \u003c/strong>Donald J. Trump of the state of Florida has received 312 votes. Kamala D. Harris.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>Now, 2024 was a bit of an outlier in that, what we know on record, Kamala Harris far out-raised Donald Trump. She did not win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Hilary Braseth is the executive director of Open Secrets. That’s a nonprofit dedicated to tracking money in U.S. Politics. She says 2024 was an outlier because \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>If you raise more money than your opponent, the likelihood that you will win is roughly 80%. So it’s quite high.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And Nancy Pelosi, well, she’s famous for raising a lot of money for Democrats. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>She was the Speaker of the House for many years, and it’s no secret that she’s, with that title, also managed to raise a whole bunch of money.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Since 2000, she’s raised around $100 million directly and has helped the Democratic Party bring in around $1.25 billion total. To Brasif, Pelosi’s power comes in part from this fundraising ability. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>Members of Congress who are able to raise large sums of money is often seen as a proxy for how successful they may be in an election or how powerful they might be able to be once they are elected by virtue of having a war chest, we refer to it as, to transfer to other lower-ranking Democrats, which again fuels and reinforces the system of power. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Like in Nancy Pelosi’s case, she raises a ton of money, but she doesn’t need it for herself, right?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>And then she can transfer it to lower ranking members. So it’s powerful, right? She gets to decide who gets to receive this money that then produces a system of currying favor from lower ranking Democrats. And you have the party machinery here.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi’s strength as a fundraiser is more important than ever. This is an extremely consequential midterm election at a time when voters aren’t particularly excited about Democrats. As of February, Pelosi had about $9 million in a personal war chest, ready to deploy for congressional races around the country. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Hilary Braseth: \u003c/strong>She’s built strong relationships with heavy hitters when it comes to political donors. It also means that she’s had largely the backing of her party as somebody who’s been able to bring in very large sums of money.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But that’s also contributed to image problems and the rise of what progressive critics call corporate Democrats. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Barack Obama: \u003c/strong>Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010, money has poured into our political system. It allowed corporations, interest groups, and wealthy individuals to spend an unlimited amount of money funding political ads and other campaign activities. They often do this through political action committees, or PACs, and their supercharged cousins, super PACs. And this happens on both sides of the aisle. One of Pelosi’s political mantras is just win. She used the phrase in an interview once. She was asked about Democrats criticizing her to score political points in more conservative districts. Her answer, basically, go ahead, do whatever it takes to win the election. Times have changed in terms of political giving. Today, some of the largest contributors to PACs and campaigns have ties to Silicon Valley. Even today. As data centers and AI attract bipartisan criticism, Pelosi doesn’t discourage Democrats from taking tech contributions, insisting that support does not have to compromise their values. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I mean, candidates call me and say, tech is coming in for me. I don’t want it, but they’re coming in for me because they don’t like the opponent, and I’m afraid that other tech will come in for them. But tech money is different from fossil fuel money, and it’s different from gun money, because there are differences of opinion.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As California tech CEOs ingratiate themselves with Trump, Pelosi seems to draw a distinction between tech money and other corporate money. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Now, the tech community is a relatively new phenomenon in terms of… \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But it’s corporate money.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Yeah, no, but the tech money is on both sides of the issues. Some of the tech-money that’s saying we should have a better, fairer immigration system and the rest of that. I’m not here to protect them, but all the businesses are the same. I mean, I don’t want to paint everybody with the same brush, but they all want lower their taxes and lower their regulation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But when I ask Pelosi if she thinks the Democratic Party is too reliant on corporate donations, she bristles.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I completely, totally disagree that the Democratic Party is dominated by corporate money. It isn’t. And certainly the Democrats vote for gun violence prevention. The Republicans do not. Their Democrats vote to protect the environment. The other people are in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry as well as the gun industry. So it is a big difference. But we haven’t made that clear. And every poll shows, oh, they think we’re both sort of the same. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Right now, Pelosi’s eye is firmly on taking back the House. She’s traveling the country to raise money for Democrats, trying to flip seats from red to blue. She’s weighing in on a few non-House seats as well. For example, the Senate race in Michigan. Pelosi endorsed Haley Stevens, a fellow House member, the more centrist establishment Democrat. Stevens lost the primary to Abdul Al Sayed, the candidate who supports Medicare for All. And opposes unconditional military aid for Israel. But Pelosi sees the field like a chessboard. There are some districts and states she thinks the party will struggle to win with a progressive agenda. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I don’t know about Michigan. I don’t know what’s gonna happen there in the Senate. But I’ll tell you, the more left the candidate, the harder to win the general in Michigan, in Michigan.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But with the primaries over and the field of candidates set, Pelosi has hit the road to help Democrats win in November.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Will be a path to winning the White House. What’s happening right now is contrary to anything our founders had in mind for our country, contrary to the Constitution of the United States. And I just, well, we just win, baby. That’s just the whole thing. And win big. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>On the night of October 28th, 2022, just before the midterm elections, someone broke into the Pelosi home in San Francisco. The intruder, David DePapp, found Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, in bed. He demanded to know, where’s Nancy? When Paul told him she wasn’t home, he said he’d wait for her. Paul managed to call the police from the bathroom. Police body cam footage from the officers who responded. Revealed DePapp and Paul Pelosi, wearing boxer shorts, struggling for a hammer. Police told DePap to put the hammer down. He said no and swung it at Paul, hitting him in the head, fracturing his skull. Later, authorities found zip ties at the scene and rope in DePaps backpack. According to a federal charging document, DePapa was planning on holding Nancy Pelosi hostage to break her kneecaps if she didn’t answer his questions honestly. Paul was 82 years old. He needed emergency surgery to repair his fractured skull and was in the hospital for several days. Nancy remembers sitting with her family in the ICU. In episode one, we talked about how many years earlier, as a teenager, Alexandra gave her mother permission to run for Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Then she said, get a life.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But that night in the ICU, Alexandra had a very different take.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>After daddy got hurt, she said, if I knew this was at the end of the road, I would never have given you my permission. And that’s too big a price to pay. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Were you surprised that Alexandra said what she did?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>No, I wasn’t surprised. No, this is our dad, our pop. Pop is what the grandchildren call him. No, that was terrible, terrible thing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>It was the cruelty after the attacks that really got to her.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It’s not only that, though. It’s all the things that people say along the way. I don’t even know how to refer to the person in the White House anymore. It’s just beyond. But he was making a joke of the whole thing. His kids were making a joke of the thing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Two days after the attack on Paul, Donald Trump Jr. Retweeted a meme, a hammer and white underwear that said, got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready. He wasn’t the only one. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>That Charlie Kirk or whatever his name was wasn’t there anybody who’s patriotic enough to spend to save to bail out this guy And what was that jerk’s name, Tesla. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Oh, Elon Musk.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi probably knows Elon Musk’s name, but in my experience, when she throws shade, she pretends she doesn’t know someone.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Elon Musk, he made terrible statements, too. They’re just very sick people, but that is trauma. I mean, physical is life or death. Trauma is with you for a long time to come, and that is very traumatizing to a family, to have that kind of assault.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our producer, Ariella, talked to another one of Pelosi’s daughters.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ariella Markowitz: \u003c/strong>Were you surprised when your mother decided to run for reelection after the attack?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christine Pelosi: \u003c/strong>No, I wasn’t surprised because we had the political work that was going to be done. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Christine Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christine Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was really particular that they should go out and live their lives and not live in fear. What were they supposed to do? Stay home and stay inside their house and not go out and be with people, not be in the community that they built together for 50 years in San Francisco because of something like that? I think the opposite.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But Christine thinks it’s bigger than that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christine Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I think a lot of women of her generation who were living the unlived lives of their mother. Her father was not supportive of her mother becoming a lawyer. There was a lot work that women tried to do but weren’t rewarded for. It was the men groomed for politics, not women. So I think for my mother, what she wanted for herself and for women of her generation, certainly of the next generation and the one after that, is for people to break through all of that and not be held back.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Less than two weeks after the attack on Paul, Republicans took back control of the House. Pelosi stepped down as leader of the house Democrats, but it wasn’t because of the attack on her husband. She was keeping a promise she made four years earlier, self-imposing a term limit response to the desire for new leadership among some in her caucus. In her speech after the election, she talked about how violence can undermine democracy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Indeed, American democracy is majestic, but it is fragile. Many of us here have witnessed its fragility firsthand, tragically, in this chamber. And so democracy must be forever defended from forces that wish it harm.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The political environment had gotten increasingly dangerous. Pelosi worries that the attacks on her and the events on January 6th, 2021 will discourage other women from entering politics.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Over the years, the attacks that were made on me, the women were saying, I could never do that. But you don’t want other people not running for office because they saw something happen. When women succeed, America succeeds. I firmly believe that. And I speak to women, I say to them all the time, know your power in this, you are so needed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In our last episode, we heard from Ilhan Omar, the representative from Minnesota’s Fifth District, one of the squad of four progressive lawmakers elected in 2018. She and Pelosi sometimes disagree. For example, on Medicare for All, she supports it. Pelosi does not. But when Omar first got to Congress. I talked to her quite often. She called a lot. So often, her staff would joke that Auntie Nancy’s calling.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>And I think she was mostly nervous for me and what I would be dealing with as someone who carried unique identities that were under attack in our country. I really thought that it was super kind of her to pay that much attention to me and what I might need, not just in terms of serving, but just mentally as well. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Before Omar was sworn in in 2018, she was worried about one thing in particular. This ban that existed on head coverings. Omar wears religious head covering. Head coverings of any kind weren’t allowed on the house floor at the time she was elected. So she brought it up to Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>She did her… You know, mom assurance thing of like, no, that’s not gonna happen and we’re gonna fix it to my surprise. She worked with me to have the rule change have my name attached to it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Ariella asked her\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ariella Markowitz: \u003c/strong>Were you surprised she took care of it, or?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Yeah, and that she was thoughtful, that she also wanted me to be the one who proposed the change\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi was right to be worried. The vitriol has only escalated since Omar was first elected. Omar was born in Somalia, but became a U.S. Citizen when she was a teenager. She’s also Muslim. Omar is often attacked by President Trump. At a rally in 2019, you can hear the crowd yelling, send her back before he speaks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Donald Trump: \u003c/strong>So, Representative Omar blamed the United States. For the terrorist attacks on our country, saying that…\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And the rhetoric has only intensified in President Trump’s second term. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Donald Trump: \u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Two months after Trump made these comments, she was attacked at a town hall meeting during the ICE surge in Minneapolis. During protests against that surge, federal agents killed two U.S. Citizens, Renee Good and Alex Preti. Omar was calling for the resignation of the head of DHS at that point. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>And DHS Secretary Kristi Noem must resign or face impeachment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Press Conference Archival: \u003c/strong>Whoa, whoa, whoa!\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>A man lunged and sprayed her with a liquid that turned out to be a mixture of water and vinegar. Omar finished the town hall after the man was tackled and removed by security. In that sense, her toughness, she can relate to Nancy Pelosi. She grew up with brothers.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Her dad was very much instrumental in her life and the way that she thinks about life and the ways that she think about strength and courage. And I grew up with brothers and my dad really is the reason I am who I am today. And I think we have a similar energy that shaped us.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Even though they disagree about how to fix America’s health care system and other policies too, Pelosi’s steeliness through it all is something Omar admires. It is important. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ilhan Omar: \u003c/strong>Make sure people who see you as an inspiration don’t see you backing down. Because it will inspire them to stand up to police as well.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>While we were in D.C., Areola went to the annual California Congressional Transportation Reception. That sounds like fun, doesn’t it? I know. It was packed with politicians and workers from California public transportation projects. Pelosi was there, along with a freshman member of Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lateefah Simon: \u003c/strong>The Bay Area is very special because we throw down, we throw down hard. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Lateefah Simon represents California’s 12th District, right across the bay from Pelosi’s San Francisco seat. Like Representative Ilhan Omar, there are policies she disagrees with Pelosi on, but when Ariella asked her about Pelosi at the event, she lit up.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lateefah Simon: \u003c/strong>And I call her Ms Pelosi. I grew up in San Francisco and in Oakland. She spent so much time with freshmen and I gotta say, a lot of time with me really training me on how this place works. Now, she’s clear that I’m kind of like an ultra progressive. Like I’m a no war, anti-war organizer who grew up doing justice reform. What did that mentorship mean to you? Just like, how did, how do you think, what did she teach you? When I was running. She was very clear to me, I don’t want to talk politics with you, Latif, I want to talk about where you’re going to send your daughter to school. How are you going to be with family? You’re going leave your elderly mother. She’s so clear that our first obligation is to community and family. You know, I sit with her almost weekly and I ask her questions about particular bills and she gives me her her direct thoughts. And sometimes I’ll say, Miss Pelosi, I’m not going to vote that way. And yet… Yeah, she always says, vote your district. What are your hopes for the future of the Democratic Party as she’s stepping down? I remember how Nancy phrases the demand of the moment, and she always equates it with the children. So as a disabled woman, I’m always remembering that, that this is not about power. It must be about service. We’re up against Armageddon in some ways, I feel like, it’s David and Goliath. But I come from, you know, the Bay Area, where we’re ruthless in our own politic about what we believe, what is morally consequential. And I’m glad that I actually came into the Coliseum, not the Dome. Some people call it the DOME. It’s a Coliseium. We’re fighting for the lifeblood of our democracy. And I am so blessed that I have that lens to be able to say, well, no one’s going to push me around. I’ve seen the Nancy Pelosi’s. Hands. I’m stronger because of it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>When Pelosi first got to Congress in 1987, there were 13 Democratic women in the House. Now, there are 95. Pelosi helped many of them win their seats. But in many ways, politics is still a man’s club. For women to survive and build a career, you have to be ready to fight. And now, many women in Congress have a template. Nancy Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Many have pointed out that Pelosi’s political acumen came from Baltimore, her home city in Maryland. But, I really see San Francisco in her. A local politician once described San Francisco politics as a knife fight in a phone booth, a fierce battle that often becomes personal because the city is relatively small and the political spectrum runs from liberal to further left. Surviving the city’s political cauldron, often battles between progressives and centrists, forces politicians to learn how to navigate the many interests, labor, business, environmentalists, LGBTQ. Racial and ethnic groups, political clubs. California Governor Gavin Newsom sees Pelosi as a pure product of these dynamics.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>There’s that cross-pollination that was old San Francisco, the Moscone’s and the Burton’s, the Brown’s, and, you know, the machine.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Newsom grew up in a well-connected family. Nancy Pelosi was basically his aunt through marriage. His uncle was Paul Pelosi’s brother. He grew up with her coming to Thanksgiving or Christmas. Newsom said he didn’t really know she was a political player when he was growing up in San Francisco, but as he entered politics, city supervisor, mayor of San Francisco and eventually governor, he got closer to Pelosi. And as Newsom sees the party change today,\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>I’m literally mesmerized by the punditry about this DSA. I’m like, have you guys ever been out west, never been in the Bay Area, never paid attention to San Francisco politics? This is like decades, this is what we do. This is the Harry Britt versus the Brown Pelosi machine. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That dynamic between centrist and progressive Democrats is still shaping the party. But to Pelosi, knowing each side of the party through and through, her body in both camps, as former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown put it, I see that as her strength. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Tomorrow’s another day. You know, that’s what I always say to them. When you have like a weaver at the loom and we would weave this and sometimes people couldn’t be in the design and we’d say, okay, if you’re not in the designed, don’t go criticize the design because this is the consensus of the democratic caucus. This is what everybody’s put in and this is a consensus, but don’t criticize it because tomorrow was another day\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi’s time in elected office is winding down, but the monuments to her legacy are starting to be built. Across the San Francisco Bay Area, you can find markers of Pelosi’s impact and influence. The AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park, at the University of California at Berkeley, the new Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy. I’ve been reflecting a lot about how life will be different when I’m no longer covering politics. When people stop saying things like, oh, I heard you on the radio or on a podcast. Now that Pelosi’s time in office is almost up, I wanted to ask her, what are you gonna miss most about not being, when you leave Congress?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Nobody in San Francisco or California ever has Potomac fever. I don’t know. I’ll miss some of my friends, but I’ll see them. I’m excited about going to Berkeley and having the UC Berkeley Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>You’re not gonna miss like just being in the mix all the time. No.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I didn’t go to stay that long. It’s just one thing led to another. You run for leadership, and then you’re leadership, then you become speaker, and it’s those. No, that’s being in the mix. I was in the mixed. Been that, done that. Yeah, I mean, I was first woman speaker of the House. This was a very big deal, and I won it back again. So no, I wouldn’t miss it at all.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi says she won’t miss being in the mix, but she’s still active. In our last interview, she told me she was in five states in one weekend, campaigning for the midterms, raising money, doing everything she can to win, and she is confident.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>What gives you hope? The fact that we’re gonna win this election gives me hope because we will.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But if there’s one thing I know as a journalist, it’s this. When someone claims to be certain, it’s our job to keep asking questions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>I’ve often said the things Nancy Pelosi is best at are the things very few people see. Governor Gavin Newsom said something similar.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Gavin Newsom: \u003c/strong>It was constant blocking and tackling. Just the constant, so it was Nancy, blocking and tackle, blocking and tackling. Wasn’t just delivering more resources, was stopping those resources from being cut and building coalitions that wouldn’t have otherwise existed without her. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That reminded me of one of Pelosi’s biggest local accomplishments. The Presidio is an old army base on the northern edge of San Francisco, with towering eucalyptus groves and sweeping views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a U.S. Military base from the mid-1800s to 1994. After Congress voted to decommission it, there was a big debate about what to do with it. Some in Congress wanted to sell the prime real estate to private developers. In the 90s, Pelosi got Congress on board to turn it into a thriving park with restaurants, businesses, and non-profits. And thanks to that public-private partnership structure Pelosi helped create, the park is now financially self-sufficient. We talked to Pelosi about it on Memorial Day this year when she spoke at an event honoring veterans. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I did my legislation to turn it from a post into a park, our motto was one that existed from the start, from 250 years ago, no shot fired in anger. So we always did it in the most nonpartisan, unifying way. And that’s what will protect the procedures we go forward. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In the early 90s, Pelosi was still relatively new to Washington, but she convinced even some Republican members of Congress to support her plan to preserve the land for the public and to have it pay for itself. Today, that legacy is under attack.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival: \u003c/strong>President Trump’s latest executive order is aimed directly at one of his political rivals’ favorite achievements, the Presidio Trust, established nearly three decades ago, largely because of the work of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Earlier this year, President Trump fired all six board members of the Presidio. But at the Memorial Day event, Pelosi was confident. The Trump administration can attack the Affordable Care Act. They can cut government programs. They can dismantle laws she spent months, even years, trying to pass Congress. But when it comes to her public park, The Presidio\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When we passed this legislation, we did it in a very wise and strong way. I feel that this procedure was protected by the legislation because it anticipated any kind of assault that it might have. So I’ll just leave it at that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>After she spoke, a crowd formed around Pelosi. The fog had broken by then, and the sun was shining in the cemetery. Kids with their parents, veterans, constituents, all came up to thank her for her work and her years as their representative.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Presidio Memorial Day Ambi: \u003c/strong>Thank you, Madam. You’re an inspiration. Thank you. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>At a time when people are very skeptical of political institutions or politicians, in San Francisco, Representative Nancy Pelosi is still pretty popular. I’m reflecting on my own career, decades following politics, and in many ways following the decline of our democracy. For Pelosi, the work is about building a better future, a better planet. Even though the results and legacy of her time in power will be studied and debated for years to come. This moment of gratitude, it reminded me that even now, when we’re so divided, government can still help people. The force that is Nancy Pelosi will soon be gone, and whatever comes next, well, that’s a tough act to follow.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The Speaker is a production of KQED in San Francisco and distributed by NPR. It’s hosted and reported by me, Scott Schaefer. Co-reported and produced by Ariella Markowitz. It’s edited by Padmini Raghunath. Final mix and sound designed by Christopher Beal. Additional mixing help from Brendan Willard. Fact-checking by Mark Betancourt. Additional editing from Anna Sussman and Jen Chien, KQED’s director of podcasts. Original theme music composed by Cedric Wilson. Additional music from APM. Maha Sanad is KQED’s podcast engagement producer. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is KQED’s editor-in-chief. Special thanks to Paul Burnett, Nan Alamilla Boyd, and Todd Holmes, our partners from the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Special thanks Ana de Almeida Amaral, Armando Arteaga, Jim Bennett, Izzy Bloom, Robert Chehosky, Brian Douglas, Annie Fruit, Rebecca Hopkins, Becca Kao, Sasha Khokha, Paul Lancour, John Lawrence, Marisa Lagos, Derek Larteau, Guy Marzorati, Victoria Mauleon, Katherine Monahan, Susan Page, Suzie Racho, Nicole Rodas, Katrina Schwartz, Zaldy Serrano, Renzo Santos, Katie Sprenger, and Molly Solomon. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. \u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "newsom-apologized-to-tribes-for-historic-harms-but-vetoed-2-bills-that-would-have-empowered-them",
"title": "Newsom Apologized to Tribes for Historic Harms, but Vetoed 2 Bills That Would Have Empowered Them",
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"headTitle": "Newsom Apologized to Tribes for Historic Harms, but Vetoed 2 Bills That Would Have Empowered Them | KQED",
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"content": "\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\n\n\n\u003cp>Five days after signing a law formalizing a state apology for “harms and atrocities” against California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/indigenous\">Native peoples\u003c/a>, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed two additional bills that California tribes had championed, one on water and the other on sacred sites.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tribal leaders say the vetoes leave them shut out of decisions about their ancestral waters and sacred places.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of Newsom’s vetoes struck down a measure that would have compelled state agencies to address water shortages faced by tribes. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2218\">Assembly Bill 2218\u003c/a> by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/ash-kalra-100938\">Ash Kalra\u003c/a>, a Santa Clara County Democrat, would have established a state policy to address water-related inequities and would have required a dispute between a tribe and any state water agency over water projects in the tribe’s ancestral territory to go through a mediation process, run by the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs. The Karuk Tribe and the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians co-sponsored the legislation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12036066\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses his revised 2024-25 state budget during a news conference in Sacramento, California, on May 10, 2024. Newsom vetoed a number of bills that would have given tribal leaders more power. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom also rejected a bill that would have barred state agencies from significantly interfering with tribal religious practices on state land unless the state showed a compelling reason and chose the approach that interfered least. Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/james-ramos-149649\">James Ramos\u003c/a>, a Democrat from San Bernardino and the Legislature’s only Native American member, authored \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1881\">AB 1881\u003c/a>, which was called the California Indian Freedom Act of 2026.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Only tribes could sue to enforce Ramos’ bill. Agencies would also have had to seek and document a tribe’s written consent before significantly changing a site they know is sacred, though an agency could ask for consultation if a tribe objected. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ramos is a member of the Serrano/Cahuilla tribe and is a former chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Neither bill drew a “no” vote in the Assembly, though 23 members did not vote on the water bill and 15 on the sacred-sites bill, many Republican. Not voting counts the same as a no vote, and lawmakers are known to skip votes that might offend their supporters and donors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In his veto message for the water bill, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VETO-msg-AB-2218.pdf\">wrote\u003c/a> that the bill was “not sufficiently clear about how its new policy will be implemented” and that “adding new sources of uncertainty will delay our urgent fight to secure Californians’ water supplies.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>About Ramos’ bill, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VETO-msg-AB-1881.pdf\">wrote\u003c/a> that he was “sympathetic to the goals of this measure” but that it could have “far-reaching impacts” on state government operations and management of state property, and that “this uncertainty calls for further discussion and review.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The governor’s office referred to Newsom’s veto messages in response to a request for comment on this article.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tribes-criticize-water-bill-veto\">Tribes criticize water bill veto\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Tribes need to be at the table when decisions are being made, not brought in after the important decisions have already been made,” said Russell “Buster” Attebery, chairman of the Karuk Tribe.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shingle Springs Vice Chair Malissa Tayaba called the veto of the water bill a “backhanded betrayal of California tribes and a direct contradiction of his apology and promises of reconciliation.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Her government, like other tribes, can sue or lodge formal objections to state water projects, she said, but those steps don’t guarantee an outcome. The final language of the bill would have added a mediation process that paused an agency’s action while the state and affected tribe discussed a resolution. Tayaba said \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/tribal_affairs/policy_project.html\">the status quo\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/08/california-water-agency-investigation-discrimination/\">excludes\u003c/a> her tribe from meaningful consultation on water projects in its ancestral lands and contributes to “a decimation” in salmon runs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12046548\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Trinity River flows through the Hoopa Valley in Northern California. (Mark McKenna for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Under the vetoed bill, the State Water Board would have had to consult with any tribe whose ancestral territory included a water body at issue in a water-rights investigation. It also would have required agencies to offer financial assistance to tribes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The bill represented a step toward building a more meaningful relationship between California and tribal nations,” Tayaba said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Association of California Water Agencies opposed the bill, saying it created a “new and poorly defined standard under the Water Code” and that the mediation process would be inadequate because it would not be binding. Under the rejected bill, a tribe could have withdrawn at any point, according to a legislative analysis — including if the tribe believed the state was not acting in good faith. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We cannot say with certainty how this bill will be implemented and what its impacts will be on water supply,” Andrea Abergel, an advocate for the California Municipal Utilities Association, testified before the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality in July. The organization, which represents more than 80 public utility agencies across the state, opposed the bill. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"current-law-doesn-t-prevent-sacred-site-destruction\">Current law doesn’t prevent sacred site destruction\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ramos said the sacred sites bill, sponsored by Indigenous Justice, an advocacy group, would have afforded Native Americans greater protections to practice their faith.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Tribal members are routinely questioned or harassed for wearing regalia or carrying ceremonial items in public places,” Ramos told the Senate Judiciary Committee in July. “We have the right to assemble and practice our customs and traditions in a state whose ancestral lands are traditional lands of Indian people.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The bill would also have treated restrictions on regalia and other ceremonial items at state buildings as a burden on religious practice, requiring that the items be allowed in and inspected by hand when possible.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1245\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1.jpg\" alt=\"Helen Gaddie (L) stands inside the dance circle during the Sierra Mono Museum's 45th annual powwow on August 6, 2016.\" class=\"wp-image-11049382\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-400x259.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-800x519.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-1180x765.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-960x623.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Helen Gaddie, left, wears regalia and stands inside the dance circle during the Sierra Mono Museum’s 45th annual powwow on Aug. 6, 2016. (Vanessa Rancano/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, a Democrat from Cupertino and a co-author of the bill, criticized the veto. “The least we can do as a government is allow Native Americans unburdened access to state lands to honor their heritage,” he said in a statement to CalMatters and ICT.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Supporters say the bill was needed because harm to sacred sites is a direct result of state and federal policies. Landmark Supreme Court cases such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-291_5i26.pdf\">Apache Stronghold v. United States\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/485/439/\">Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association\u003c/a> have allowed federal projects to go forward on sacred lands despite tribes’ religious-freedom claims. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>An Assembly analysis of the bill also notes state law restricts severe damage to sacred sites on public property unless there is a clear and convincing showing that the public interest requires it — but tribes have criticized state agencies for \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-22/caltrans-indigenous-burial-site\">failing\u003c/a> to prevent damage.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the bill’s findings, authors emphasize that Native American religions are land-based, meaning their practices are often inextricably linked to specific geographic locations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The California Chamber of Commerce applauded both vetoes. The bills “would have created serious legal barriers” to building water storage and infrastructure, wrote John Myers, spokesman for the chamber. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Kristopher Anderson, a policy adviser for the California Chamber of Commerce, testified in July against the sacred sites bill. “This bill is about much more than access,” he said. “It is about the way land and water are managed — and the consequences of this bill would have severe ramifications for the water supply reliability of communities and local economies throughout the state.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"apology-and-the-vetoes\">Apology and the vetoes\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom declared \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/30/governor-newsom-proclaims-a-day-of-remembrance-for-indian-boarding-schools/\">Sept. 30\u003c/a> a Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools, which Tayaba called “ironic” considering he rejected bills that would have expanded tribal power the same day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California was home to 13 federal Indian boarding schools between 1892 and 1974 that forcibly removed thousands of Native children from their families. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In June 2019, Newsom signed an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/6.18.19-Executive-Order.pdf\">executive order\u003c/a> apologizing on behalf of the state to California Native Americans and creating a Truth and Healing Council, \u003ca href=\"https://colorlines.com/articles/california-governor-apologizes-native-americans-genocide\">saying\u003c/a> they “suffered violence, discrimination and exploitation sanctioned by (the) state government.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Sept. 25, Newsom signed \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2115\">AB 2115\u003c/a> into law, formalizing an apology to California Native peoples for harms experienced as a result of state policy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Newsom acknowledges the state’s historical violence against California’s Indigenous People, but when given the chance to rectify those harms and finalize the bills … he disappointed us and failed to follow through,” said Kasil Willie, policy director of the environmental group Save California Salmon. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom, who is not eligible for re-election, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/25/governor-newsom-signs-legislation-supporting-california-native-americansgovernor-newsom-signs-legislation-supporting-california-native-americans/\">signed\u003c/a> a package of tribal bills, including making Native American Day a paid state holiday and making the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs permanent. His office says the state has returned more than 100,000 acres to tribes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Still, tribal leaders including Tayaba from Shingle Springs said they plan to continue their efforts to boost tribal consultation and co-stewardship.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“His apology, what does it really mean?” Tayaba said. “Man, did he really hurt us on his way out.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is co-published by CalMatters and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/07/newsom-uc-cal-state-billion-dollars-more/\">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",
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"\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"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Five days after signing a law formalizing a state apology for “harms and atrocities” against California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/indigenous\">Native peoples\u003c/a>, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed two additional bills that California tribes had championed, one on water and the other on sacred sites.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Five days after signing a law formalizing a state apology for “harms and atrocities” against California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/indigenous\">Native peoples\u003c/a>, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed two additional bills that California tribes had championed, one on water and the other on sacred sites.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tribal leaders say the vetoes leave them shut out of decisions about their ancestral waters and sacred places.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Tribal leaders say the vetoes leave them shut out of decisions about their ancestral waters and sacred places.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One of Newsom’s vetoes struck down a measure that would have compelled state agencies to address water shortages faced by tribes. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2218\">Assembly Bill 2218\u003c/a> by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/ash-kalra-100938\">Ash Kalra\u003c/a>, a Santa Clara County Democrat, would have established a state policy to address water-related inequities and would have required a dispute between a tribe and any state water agency over water projects in the tribe’s ancestral territory to go through a mediation process, run by the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs. The Karuk Tribe and the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians co-sponsored the legislation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>One of Newsom’s vetoes struck down a measure that would have compelled state agencies to address water shortages faced by tribes. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2218\">Assembly Bill 2218\u003c/a> by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/ash-kalra-100938\">Ash Kalra\u003c/a>, a Santa Clara County Democrat, would have established a state policy to address water-related inequities and would have required a dispute between a tribe and any state water agency over water projects in the tribe’s ancestral territory to go through a mediation process, run by the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs. The Karuk Tribe and the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians co-sponsored the legislation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12036066\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses his revised 2024-25 state budget during a news conference in Sacramento, California, on May 10, 2024. Newsom vetoed a number of bills that would have given tribal leaders more power. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12036066\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses his revised 2024-25 state budget during a news conference in Sacramento, California, on May 10, 2024. Newsom vetoed a number of bills that would have given tribal leaders more power. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Newsom also rejected a bill that would have barred state agencies from significantly interfering with tribal religious practices on state land unless the state showed a compelling reason and chose the approach that interfered least. Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/james-ramos-149649\">James Ramos\u003c/a>, a Democrat from San Bernardino and the Legislature’s only Native American member, authored \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1881\">AB 1881\u003c/a>, which was called the California Indian Freedom Act of 2026.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Newsom also rejected a bill that would have barred state agencies from significantly interfering with tribal religious practices on state land unless the state showed a compelling reason and chose the approach that interfered least. Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/james-ramos-149649\">James Ramos\u003c/a>, a Democrat from San Bernardino and the Legislature’s only Native American member, authored \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1881\">AB 1881\u003c/a>, which was called the California Indian Freedom Act of 2026.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Only tribes could sue to enforce Ramos’ bill. Agencies would also have had to seek and document a tribe’s written consent before significantly changing a site they know is sacred, though an agency could ask for consultation if a tribe objected. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Only tribes could sue to enforce Ramos’ bill. Agencies would also have had to seek and document a tribe’s written consent before significantly changing a site they know is sacred, though an agency could ask for consultation if a tribe objected. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ramos is a member of the Serrano/Cahuilla tribe and is a former chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Ramos is a member of the Serrano/Cahuilla tribe and is a former chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Neither bill drew a “no” vote in the Assembly, though 23 members did not vote on the water bill and 15 on the sacred-sites bill, many Republican. Not voting counts the same as a no vote, and lawmakers are known to skip votes that might offend their supporters and donors.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Neither bill drew a “no” vote in the Assembly, though 23 members did not vote on the water bill and 15 on the sacred-sites bill, many Republican. Not voting counts the same as a no vote, and lawmakers are known to skip votes that might offend their supporters and donors.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In his veto message for the water bill, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VETO-msg-AB-2218.pdf\">wrote\u003c/a> that the bill was “not sufficiently clear about how its new policy will be implemented” and that “adding new sources of uncertainty will delay our urgent fight to secure Californians’ water supplies.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In his veto message for the water bill, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VETO-msg-AB-2218.pdf\">wrote\u003c/a> that the bill was “not sufficiently clear about how its new policy will be implemented” and that “adding new sources of uncertainty will delay our urgent fight to secure Californians’ water supplies.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>About Ramos’ bill, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VETO-msg-AB-1881.pdf\">wrote\u003c/a> that he was “sympathetic to the goals of this measure” but that it could have “far-reaching impacts” on state government operations and management of state property, and that “this uncertainty calls for further discussion and review.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>About Ramos’ bill, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VETO-msg-AB-1881.pdf\">wrote\u003c/a> that he was “sympathetic to the goals of this measure” but that it could have “far-reaching impacts” on state government operations and management of state property, and that “this uncertainty calls for further discussion and review.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The governor’s office referred to Newsom’s veto messages in response to a request for comment on this article.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The governor’s office referred to Newsom’s veto messages in response to a request for comment on this article.\u003c/p>\n"
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"text": "Tribes criticize water bill veto",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Tribes need to be at the table when decisions are being made, not brought in after the important decisions have already been made,” said Russell “Buster” Attebery, chairman of the Karuk Tribe.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Tribes need to be at the table when decisions are being made, not brought in after the important decisions have already been made,” said Russell “Buster” Attebery, chairman of the Karuk Tribe.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shingle Springs Vice Chair Malissa Tayaba called the veto of the water bill a “backhanded betrayal of California tribes and a direct contradiction of his apology and promises of reconciliation.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Shingle Springs Vice Chair Malissa Tayaba called the veto of the water bill a “backhanded betrayal of California tribes and a direct contradiction of his apology and promises of reconciliation.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Her government, like other tribes, can sue or lodge formal objections to state water projects, she said, but those steps don’t guarantee an outcome. The final language of the bill would have added a mediation process that paused an agency’s action while the state and affected tribe discussed a resolution. Tayaba said \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/tribal_affairs/policy_project.html\">the status quo\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/08/california-water-agency-investigation-discrimination/\">excludes\u003c/a> her tribe from meaningful consultation on water projects in its ancestral lands and contributes to “a decimation” in salmon runs. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Her government, like other tribes, can sue or lodge formal objections to state water projects, she said, but those steps don’t guarantee an outcome. The final language of the bill would have added a mediation process that paused an agency’s action while the state and affected tribe discussed a resolution. Tayaba said \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/tribal_affairs/policy_project.html\">the status quo\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/08/california-water-agency-investigation-discrimination/\">excludes\u003c/a> her tribe from meaningful consultation on water projects in its ancestral lands and contributes to “a decimation” in salmon runs. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12046548\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Trinity River flows through the Hoopa Valley in Northern California.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Mark McKenna for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Under the vetoed bill, the State Water Board would have had to consult with any tribe whose ancestral territory included a water body at issue in a water-rights investigation. It also would have required agencies to offer financial assistance to tribes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The bill represented a step toward building a more meaningful relationship between California and tribal nations,” Tayaba said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Association of California Water Agencies opposed the bill, saying it created a “new and poorly defined standard under the Water Code” and that the mediation process would be inadequate because it would not be binding. Under the rejected bill, a tribe could have withdrawn at any point, according to a legislative analysis — including if the tribe believed the state was not acting in good faith. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We cannot say with certainty how this bill will be implemented and what its impacts will be on water supply,” Andrea Abergel, an advocate for the California Municipal Utilities Association, testified before the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality in July. The organization, which represents more than 80 public utility agencies across the state, opposed the bill. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ramos said the sacred sites bill, sponsored by Indigenous Justice, an advocacy group, would have afforded Native Americans greater protections to practice their faith.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Tribal members are routinely questioned or harassed for wearing regalia or carrying ceremonial items in public places,” Ramos told the Senate Judiciary Committee in July. “We have the right to assemble and practice our customs and traditions in a state whose ancestral lands are traditional lands of Indian people.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1.jpg\" alt=\"Helen Gaddie (L) stands inside the dance circle during the Sierra Mono Museum's 45th annual powwow on August 6, 2016.\" class=\"wp-image-11049382\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-400x259.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-800x519.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-1180x765.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-960x623.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Helen Gaddie, left, wears regalia and stands inside the dance circle during the Sierra Mono Museum’s 45th annual powwow on Aug. 6, 2016.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Vanessa Rancano/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, a Democrat from Cupertino and a co-author of the bill, criticized the veto. “The least we can do as a government is allow Native Americans unburdened access to state lands to honor their heritage,” he said in a statement to CalMatters and ICT.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Supporters say the bill was needed because harm to sacred sites is a direct result of state and federal policies. Landmark Supreme Court cases such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-291_5i26.pdf\">Apache Stronghold v. United States\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/485/439/\">Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association\u003c/a> have allowed federal projects to go forward on sacred lands despite tribes’ religious-freedom claims. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Supporters say the bill was needed because harm to sacred sites is a direct result of state and federal policies. Landmark Supreme Court cases such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-291_5i26.pdf\">Apache Stronghold v. United States\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/485/439/\">Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association\u003c/a> have allowed federal projects to go forward on sacred lands despite tribes’ religious-freedom claims. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>An Assembly analysis of the bill also notes state law restricts severe damage to sacred sites on public property unless there is a clear and convincing showing that the public interest requires it — but tribes have criticized state agencies for \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-22/caltrans-indigenous-burial-site\">failing\u003c/a> to prevent damage.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the bill’s findings, authors emphasize that Native American religions are land-based, meaning their practices are often inextricably linked to specific geographic locations.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The California Chamber of Commerce applauded both vetoes. The bills “would have created serious legal barriers” to building water storage and infrastructure, wrote John Myers, spokesman for the chamber. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Kristopher Anderson, a policy adviser for the California Chamber of Commerce, testified in July against the sacred sites bill. “This bill is about much more than access,” he said. “It is about the way land and water are managed — and the consequences of this bill would have severe ramifications for the water supply reliability of communities and local economies throughout the state.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Kristopher Anderson, a policy adviser for the California Chamber of Commerce, testified in July against the sacred sites bill. “This bill is about much more than access,” he said. “It is about the way land and water are managed — and the consequences of this bill would have severe ramifications for the water supply reliability of communities and local economies throughout the state.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Newsom declared \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/30/governor-newsom-proclaims-a-day-of-remembrance-for-indian-boarding-schools/\">Sept. 30\u003c/a> a Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools, which Tayaba called “ironic” considering he rejected bills that would have expanded tribal power the same day. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Newsom declared \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/30/governor-newsom-proclaims-a-day-of-remembrance-for-indian-boarding-schools/\">Sept. 30\u003c/a> a Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools, which Tayaba called “ironic” considering he rejected bills that would have expanded tribal power the same day. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California was home to 13 federal Indian boarding schools between 1892 and 1974 that forcibly removed thousands of Native children from their families. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>California was home to 13 federal Indian boarding schools between 1892 and 1974 that forcibly removed thousands of Native children from their families. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In June 2019, Newsom signed an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/6.18.19-Executive-Order.pdf\">executive order\u003c/a> apologizing on behalf of the state to California Native Americans and creating a Truth and Healing Council, \u003ca href=\"https://colorlines.com/articles/california-governor-apologizes-native-americans-genocide\">saying\u003c/a> they “suffered violence, discrimination and exploitation sanctioned by (the) state government.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In June 2019, Newsom signed an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/6.18.19-Executive-Order.pdf\">executive order\u003c/a> apologizing on behalf of the state to California Native Americans and creating a Truth and Healing Council, \u003ca href=\"https://colorlines.com/articles/california-governor-apologizes-native-americans-genocide\">saying\u003c/a> they “suffered violence, discrimination and exploitation sanctioned by (the) state government.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Sept. 25, Newsom signed \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2115\">AB 2115\u003c/a> into law, formalizing an apology to California Native peoples for harms experienced as a result of state policy.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Sept. 25, Newsom signed \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2115\">AB 2115\u003c/a> into law, formalizing an apology to California Native peoples for harms experienced as a result of state policy.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Newsom acknowledges the state’s historical violence against California’s Indigenous People, but when given the chance to rectify those harms and finalize the bills … he disappointed us and failed to follow through,” said Kasil Willie, policy director of the environmental group Save California Salmon. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Newsom acknowledges the state’s historical violence against California’s Indigenous People, but when given the chance to rectify those harms and finalize the bills … he disappointed us and failed to follow through,” said Kasil Willie, policy director of the environmental group Save California Salmon. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Newsom, who is not eligible for re-election, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/25/governor-newsom-signs-legislation-supporting-california-native-americansgovernor-newsom-signs-legislation-supporting-california-native-americans/\">signed\u003c/a> a package of tribal bills, including making Native American Day a paid state holiday and making the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs permanent. His office says the state has returned more than 100,000 acres to tribes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Newsom, who is not eligible for re-election, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/25/governor-newsom-signs-legislation-supporting-california-native-americansgovernor-newsom-signs-legislation-supporting-california-native-americans/\">signed\u003c/a> a package of tribal bills, including making Native American Day a paid state holiday and making the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs permanent. His office says the state has returned more than 100,000 acres to tribes. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Still, tribal leaders including Tayaba from Shingle Springs said they plan to continue their efforts to boost tribal consultation and co-stewardship.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Still, tribal leaders including Tayaba from Shingle Springs said they plan to continue their efforts to boost tribal consultation and co-stewardship.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“His apology, what does it really mean?” Tayaba said. “Man, did he really hurt us on his way out.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“His apology, what does it really mean?” Tayaba said. “Man, did he really hurt us on his way out.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is co-published by CalMatters and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is co-published by CalMatters and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/07/newsom-uc-cal-state-billion-dollars-more/\">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",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed two bills that would’ve given tribal governments a greater voice in water projects and in preventing the destruction of sacred Indigenous religious sites on state land.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\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\n\n\n\u003cp>Five days after signing a law formalizing a state apology for “harms and atrocities” against California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/indigenous\">Native peoples\u003c/a>, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed two additional bills that California tribes had championed, one on water and the other on sacred sites.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tribal leaders say the vetoes leave them shut out of decisions about their ancestral waters and sacred places.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of Newsom’s vetoes struck down a measure that would have compelled state agencies to address water shortages faced by tribes. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2218\">Assembly Bill 2218\u003c/a> by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/ash-kalra-100938\">Ash Kalra\u003c/a>, a Santa Clara County Democrat, would have established a state policy to address water-related inequities and would have required a dispute between a tribe and any state water agency over water projects in the tribe’s ancestral territory to go through a mediation process, run by the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs. The Karuk Tribe and the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians co-sponsored the legislation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12036066\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/GavinNewsom1AP-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses his revised 2024-25 state budget during a news conference in Sacramento, California, on May 10, 2024. Newsom vetoed a number of bills that would have given tribal leaders more power. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom also rejected a bill that would have barred state agencies from significantly interfering with tribal religious practices on state land unless the state showed a compelling reason and chose the approach that interfered least. Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/james-ramos-149649\">James Ramos\u003c/a>, a Democrat from San Bernardino and the Legislature’s only Native American member, authored \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1881\">AB 1881\u003c/a>, which was called the California Indian Freedom Act of 2026.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Only tribes could sue to enforce Ramos’ bill. Agencies would also have had to seek and document a tribe’s written consent before significantly changing a site they know is sacred, though an agency could ask for consultation if a tribe objected. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ramos is a member of the Serrano/Cahuilla tribe and is a former chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Neither bill drew a “no” vote in the Assembly, though 23 members did not vote on the water bill and 15 on the sacred-sites bill, many Republican. Not voting counts the same as a no vote, and lawmakers are known to skip votes that might offend their supporters and donors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In his veto message for the water bill, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VETO-msg-AB-2218.pdf\">wrote\u003c/a> that the bill was “not sufficiently clear about how its new policy will be implemented” and that “adding new sources of uncertainty will delay our urgent fight to secure Californians’ water supplies.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>About Ramos’ bill, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VETO-msg-AB-1881.pdf\">wrote\u003c/a> that he was “sympathetic to the goals of this measure” but that it could have “far-reaching impacts” on state government operations and management of state property, and that “this uncertainty calls for further discussion and review.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The governor’s office referred to Newsom’s veto messages in response to a request for comment on this article.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tribes-criticize-water-bill-veto\">Tribes criticize water bill veto\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Tribes need to be at the table when decisions are being made, not brought in after the important decisions have already been made,” said Russell “Buster” Attebery, chairman of the Karuk Tribe.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Shingle Springs Vice Chair Malissa Tayaba called the veto of the water bill a “backhanded betrayal of California tribes and a direct contradiction of his apology and promises of reconciliation.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Her government, like other tribes, can sue or lodge formal objections to state water projects, she said, but those steps don’t guarantee an outcome. The final language of the bill would have added a mediation process that paused an agency’s action while the state and affected tribe discussed a resolution. Tayaba said \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/tribal_affairs/policy_project.html\">the status quo\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/08/california-water-agency-investigation-discrimination/\">excludes\u003c/a> her tribe from meaningful consultation on water projects in its ancestral lands and contributes to “a decimation” in salmon runs. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12046548\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/25_06_25_TRIBE_FOOD_CUTS_MM_26.DSC_7866-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Trinity River flows through the Hoopa Valley in Northern California. (Mark McKenna for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Under the vetoed bill, the State Water Board would have had to consult with any tribe whose ancestral territory included a water body at issue in a water-rights investigation. It also would have required agencies to offer financial assistance to tribes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The bill represented a step toward building a more meaningful relationship between California and tribal nations,” Tayaba said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Association of California Water Agencies opposed the bill, saying it created a “new and poorly defined standard under the Water Code” and that the mediation process would be inadequate because it would not be binding. Under the rejected bill, a tribe could have withdrawn at any point, according to a legislative analysis — including if the tribe believed the state was not acting in good faith. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We cannot say with certainty how this bill will be implemented and what its impacts will be on water supply,” Andrea Abergel, an advocate for the California Municipal Utilities Association, testified before the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality in July. The organization, which represents more than 80 public utility agencies across the state, opposed the bill. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"current-law-doesn-t-prevent-sacred-site-destruction\">Current law doesn’t prevent sacred site destruction\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ramos said the sacred sites bill, sponsored by Indigenous Justice, an advocacy group, would have afforded Native Americans greater protections to practice their faith.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Tribal members are routinely questioned or harassed for wearing regalia or carrying ceremonial items in public places,” Ramos told the Senate Judiciary Committee in July. “We have the right to assemble and practice our customs and traditions in a state whose ancestral lands are traditional lands of Indian people.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The bill would also have treated restrictions on regalia and other ceremonial items at state buildings as a burden on religious practice, requiring that the items be allowed in and inspected by hand when possible.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1245\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1.jpg\" alt=\"Helen Gaddie (L) stands inside the dance circle during the Sierra Mono Museum's 45th annual powwow on August 6, 2016.\" class=\"wp-image-11049382\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-400x259.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-800x519.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-1180x765.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2016/08/Powwow1-960x623.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Helen Gaddie, left, wears regalia and stands inside the dance circle during the Sierra Mono Museum’s 45th annual powwow on Aug. 6, 2016. (Vanessa Rancano/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens, a Democrat from Cupertino and a co-author of the bill, criticized the veto. “The least we can do as a government is allow Native Americans unburdened access to state lands to honor their heritage,” he said in a statement to CalMatters and ICT.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Supporters say the bill was needed because harm to sacred sites is a direct result of state and federal policies. Landmark Supreme Court cases such as \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-291_5i26.pdf\">Apache Stronghold v. United States\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/485/439/\">Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association\u003c/a> have allowed federal projects to go forward on sacred lands despite tribes’ religious-freedom claims. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>An Assembly analysis of the bill also notes state law restricts severe damage to sacred sites on public property unless there is a clear and convincing showing that the public interest requires it — but tribes have criticized state agencies for \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-22/caltrans-indigenous-burial-site\">failing\u003c/a> to prevent damage.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the bill’s findings, authors emphasize that Native American religions are land-based, meaning their practices are often inextricably linked to specific geographic locations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The California Chamber of Commerce applauded both vetoes. The bills “would have created serious legal barriers” to building water storage and infrastructure, wrote John Myers, spokesman for the chamber. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Kristopher Anderson, a policy adviser for the California Chamber of Commerce, testified in July against the sacred sites bill. “This bill is about much more than access,” he said. “It is about the way land and water are managed — and the consequences of this bill would have severe ramifications for the water supply reliability of communities and local economies throughout the state.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"apology-and-the-vetoes\">Apology and the vetoes\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom declared \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/30/governor-newsom-proclaims-a-day-of-remembrance-for-indian-boarding-schools/\">Sept. 30\u003c/a> a Day of Remembrance for Indian Boarding Schools, which Tayaba called “ironic” considering he rejected bills that would have expanded tribal power the same day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California was home to 13 federal Indian boarding schools between 1892 and 1974 that forcibly removed thousands of Native children from their families. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In June 2019, Newsom signed an \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/6.18.19-Executive-Order.pdf\">executive order\u003c/a> apologizing on behalf of the state to California Native Americans and creating a Truth and Healing Council, \u003ca href=\"https://colorlines.com/articles/california-governor-apologizes-native-americans-genocide\">saying\u003c/a> they “suffered violence, discrimination and exploitation sanctioned by (the) state government.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Sept. 25, Newsom signed \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2115\">AB 2115\u003c/a> into law, formalizing an apology to California Native peoples for harms experienced as a result of state policy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Newsom acknowledges the state’s historical violence against California’s Indigenous People, but when given the chance to rectify those harms and finalize the bills … he disappointed us and failed to follow through,” said Kasil Willie, policy director of the environmental group Save California Salmon. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom, who is not eligible for re-election, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/25/governor-newsom-signs-legislation-supporting-california-native-americansgovernor-newsom-signs-legislation-supporting-california-native-americans/\">signed\u003c/a> a package of tribal bills, including making Native American Day a paid state holiday and making the Governor’s Office of Tribal Affairs permanent. His office says the state has returned more than 100,000 acres to tribes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Still, tribal leaders including Tayaba from Shingle Springs said they plan to continue their efforts to boost tribal consultation and co-stewardship.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“His apology, what does it really mean?” Tayaba said. “Man, did he really hurt us on his way out.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is co-published by CalMatters and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2026/07/newsom-uc-cal-state-billion-dollars-more/\">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\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "bay-area-officials-immigration-advocates-brace-for-ice-surge-after-central-valley-arrests",
"title": "Bay Area Officials, Immigration Advocates Brace for ICE Surge After Central Valley Arrests",
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"headTitle": "Bay Area Officials, Immigration Advocates Brace for ICE Surge After Central Valley Arrests | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Bay Area \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/immigration\">immigration advocates\u003c/a> are bracing for a possible increase in ICE activity after more than 100 farmworkers and others were arrested in the Central Valley in recent days. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested farmworkers heading to work in the morning and people out running errands in the San Joaquin Valley. Local officials said ICE does not appear to have warrants or be targeting individuals with criminal backgrounds or final deportation orders.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Although local rapid response agencies said Friday that they hadn’t yet seen increased ICE activity, there have been rumors and fears that the preelection surge could extend to Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are definitely on the alert and preparing in case of increased ICE activity or large-scale raids in our region,” said Lourdes Martinez, co-director of the Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership, the county’s rapid response network. “We have not been able to verify any specifics, so we are monitoring the situation.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250718-RidealongRapidResponse-02-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12052237\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250718-RidealongRapidResponse-02-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250718-RidealongRapidResponse-02-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250718-RidealongRapidResponse-02-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A dispatcher for the Rapid Response Network gathers supplies at the group’s office in San José on July 21, 2025. The Rapid Response Network operates a hotline to mobilize volunteers and support immigrant families during ICE actions. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that “for operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or discuss law enforcement operations.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country including in California,” a spokesperson wrote via email.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Martinez said lawyers are preparing in case of large-scale raids in the Bay Area, and outreach workers are sharing an \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ACILEP-Safety-Planning-Checklist-for-Families-2026-9a7f4962.pdf\">“Emergency Planning Checklist for Families” \u003c/a>to help immigrants prepare in case a family member is arrested. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Milli Atkinson, director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the San Francisco Bar Association, said the city is similarly monitoring ICE activity in the Central Valley but hasn’t seen any uptick in arrests so far.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Just anxiety from the community,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The United Farmworkers Foundation said Wednesday that it believes the raids “intensified” on Tuesday and continued later in the week. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Some arrests occurred near commercial centers that include Walmart, Vallarta Market and Home Depot,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>State Sen. Anna Caballero, who represents parts of Fresno and Merced, said she had heard of an estimated 60 arrests this week within the communities she represents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There are over 60 detainees, and the facility in downtown Fresno is having trouble processing,” Caballero’s spokesperson Elisa Rivera wrote to KQED. “Legal observers are having little success gaining access.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We also had a young person call our office after both of his parents were picked up,” Caballero said. “He did not know where to turn or what he was supposed to do.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In Fresno County’s city of Kerman alone, Mayor Maria Pacheco said eight residents were detained between Wednesday and Thursday. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These are people with families, jobs and lives here in Kerman,” she said. “As Mayor, I refuse to accept that residents should be afraid to carry out the most ordinary parts of their day.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Pacheco said she has been aiding affected families to locate their detained relatives and get legal assistance. She added that Kerman police do not work with ICE on immigration enforcement operations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Our local police officers have a different responsibility. They serve our residents, protect our community and work to keep Kerman safe,” she said. “What we are witnessing from ICE does the opposite.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1760\" height=\"1320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12016800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92.jpg 1760w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1760px) 100vw, 1760px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Maria Pacheco, mayor of Kerman, California, speaks at a press conference in Fresno calling for the protection of undocumented immigrants following President-elect Donald Trump’s win. (Esther Quintanilla/KVPR)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Four men were detained while getting pan dulce and coffee on their way to work,” Pacheco continued. “How does that make Kerman safer? …. Fear is not public safety.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>East Bay Rep. Lateefah Simon said in a statement that local elected leaders and community organizations will “stand by our communities and continue to be fully opposed to the Trump administration’s unwanted, unwarranted, and illegal immigration enforcement actions.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said she believes Trump is trying to “intimidate, terrorize and tear apart immigrant families” before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Trump claimed without proof that the DHS had identified more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/07/31/nx-s1-5906708/trump-claim-noncitizens-midterms-election-interference-voter-rolls\">250,000 non-U.S. citizens\u003c/a> on voter rolls between four states, including California, reigniting fears about whether the administration will interfere with vote-counting.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“My office has resources for immigrant communities to ensure everyone knows their rights and can assist in immigration casework,” she said in a statement. “We know what Republicans are trying to do — intimidate Latino citizens so they stay at home and don’t exercise their right to vote, and we will not stand for it.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Since Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested farmworkers heading to work in the morning and people out running errands in the San Joaquin Valley. Local officials said ICE does not appear to have warrants or be targeting individuals with criminal backgrounds or final deportation orders.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Although local rapid response agencies said Friday that they hadn’t yet seen increased ICE activity, there have been rumors and fears that the preelection surge could extend to Northern California.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We are definitely on the alert and preparing in case of increased ICE activity or large-scale raids in our region,” said Lourdes Martinez, co-director of the Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership, the county’s rapid response network. “We have not been able to verify any specifics, so we are monitoring the situation.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that “for operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or discuss law enforcement operations.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country including in California,” a spokesperson wrote via email.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Martinez said lawyers are preparing in case of large-scale raids in the Bay Area, and outreach workers are sharing an \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ACILEP-Safety-Planning-Checklist-for-Families-2026-9a7f4962.pdf\">“Emergency Planning Checklist for Families” \u003c/a>to help immigrants prepare in case a family member is arrested. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Martinez said lawyers are preparing in case of large-scale raids in the Bay Area, and outreach workers are sharing an \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ACILEP-Safety-Planning-Checklist-for-Families-2026-9a7f4962.pdf\">“Emergency Planning Checklist for Families” \u003c/a>to help immigrants prepare in case a family member is arrested. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Milli Atkinson, director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the San Francisco Bar Association, said the city is similarly monitoring ICE activity in the Central Valley but hasn’t seen any uptick in arrests so far.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Milli Atkinson, director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the San Francisco Bar Association, said the city is similarly monitoring ICE activity in the Central Valley but hasn’t seen any uptick in arrests so far.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Just anxiety from the community,” she said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The United Farmworkers Foundation said Wednesday that it believes the raids “intensified” on Tuesday and continued later in the week. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Some arrests occurred near commercial centers that include Walmart, Vallarta Market and Home Depot,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>State Sen. Anna Caballero, who represents parts of Fresno and Merced, said she had heard of an estimated 60 arrests this week within the communities she represents.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>State Sen. Anna Caballero, who represents parts of Fresno and Merced, said she had heard of an estimated 60 arrests this week within the communities she represents.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There are over 60 detainees, and the facility in downtown Fresno is having trouble processing,” Caballero’s spokesperson Elisa Rivera wrote to KQED. “Legal observers are having little success gaining access.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“There are over 60 detainees, and the facility in downtown Fresno is having trouble processing,” Caballero’s spokesperson Elisa Rivera wrote to KQED. “Legal observers are having little success gaining access.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We also had a young person call our office after both of his parents were picked up,” Caballero said. “He did not know where to turn or what he was supposed to do.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We also had a young person call our office after both of his parents were picked up,” Caballero said. “He did not know where to turn or what he was supposed to do.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In Fresno County’s city of Kerman alone, Mayor Maria Pacheco said eight residents were detained between Wednesday and Thursday. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In Fresno County’s city of Kerman alone, Mayor Maria Pacheco said eight residents were detained between Wednesday and Thursday. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“These are people with families, jobs and lives here in Kerman,” she said. “As Mayor, I refuse to accept that residents should be afraid to carry out the most ordinary parts of their day.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“These are people with families, jobs and lives here in Kerman,” she said. “As Mayor, I refuse to accept that residents should be afraid to carry out the most ordinary parts of their day.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Pacheco said she has been aiding affected families to locate their detained relatives and get legal assistance. She added that Kerman police do not work with ICE on immigration enforcement operations. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Pacheco said she has been aiding affected families to locate their detained relatives and get legal assistance. She added that Kerman police do not work with ICE on immigration enforcement operations. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Our local police officers have a different responsibility. They serve our residents, protect our community and work to keep Kerman safe,” she said. “What we are witnessing from ICE does the opposite.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Our local police officers have a different responsibility. They serve our residents, protect our community and work to keep Kerman safe,” she said. “What we are witnessing from ICE does the opposite.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12016800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92.jpg 1760w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Maria Pacheco, mayor of Kerman, California, speaks at a press conference in Fresno calling for the protection of undocumented immigrants following President-elect Donald Trump’s win.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Esther Quintanilla/KVPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12016800\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Maria Pacheco, mayor of Kerman, California, speaks at a press conference in Fresno calling for the protection of undocumented immigrants following President-elect Donald Trump’s win.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Esther Quintanilla/KVPR)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Four men were detained while getting pan dulce and coffee on their way to work,” Pacheco continued. “How does that make Kerman safer? …. Fear is not public safety.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Four men were detained while getting pan dulce and coffee on their way to work,” Pacheco continued. “How does that make Kerman safer? …. Fear is not public safety.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>East Bay Rep. Lateefah Simon said in a statement that local elected leaders and community organizations will “stand by our communities and continue to be fully opposed to the Trump administration’s unwanted, unwarranted, and illegal immigration enforcement actions.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>East Bay Rep. Lateefah Simon said in a statement that local elected leaders and community organizations will “stand by our communities and continue to be fully opposed to the Trump administration’s unwanted, unwarranted, and illegal immigration enforcement actions.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>She said she believes Trump is trying to “intimidate, terrorize and tear apart immigrant families” before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Trump claimed without proof that the DHS had identified more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/07/31/nx-s1-5906708/trump-claim-noncitizens-midterms-election-interference-voter-rolls\">250,000 non-U.S. citizens\u003c/a> on voter rolls between four states, including California, reigniting fears about whether the administration will interfere with vote-counting.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Trump claimed without proof that the DHS had identified more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/07/31/nx-s1-5906708/trump-claim-noncitizens-midterms-election-interference-voter-rolls\">250,000 non-U.S. citizens\u003c/a> on voter rolls between four states, including California, reigniting fears about whether the administration will interfere with vote-counting.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“My office has resources for immigrant communities to ensure everyone knows their rights and can assist in immigration casework,” she said in a statement. “We know what Republicans are trying to do — intimidate Latino citizens so they stay at home and don’t exercise their right to vote, and we will not stand for it.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“My office has resources for immigrant communities to ensure everyone knows their rights and can assist in immigration casework,” she said in a statement. “We know what Republicans are trying to do — intimidate Latino citizens so they stay at home and don’t exercise their right to vote, and we will not stand for it.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "After a recent wave of ICE arrests in the Central Valley, Bay Area rapid response networks and lawmakers are closely monitoring the federal agency’s activity across counties.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Bay Area \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/immigration\">immigration advocates\u003c/a> are bracing for a possible increase in ICE activity after more than 100 farmworkers and others were arrested in the Central Valley in recent days. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Since Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested farmworkers heading to work in the morning and people out running errands in the San Joaquin Valley. Local officials said ICE does not appear to have warrants or be targeting individuals with criminal backgrounds or final deportation orders.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Although local rapid response agencies said Friday that they hadn’t yet seen increased ICE activity, there have been rumors and fears that the preelection surge could extend to Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are definitely on the alert and preparing in case of increased ICE activity or large-scale raids in our region,” said Lourdes Martinez, co-director of the Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership, the county’s rapid response network. “We have not been able to verify any specifics, so we are monitoring the situation.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250718-RidealongRapidResponse-02-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12052237\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250718-RidealongRapidResponse-02-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250718-RidealongRapidResponse-02-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250718-RidealongRapidResponse-02-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A dispatcher for the Rapid Response Network gathers supplies at the group’s office in San José on July 21, 2025. The Rapid Response Network operates a hotline to mobilize volunteers and support immigrant families during ICE actions. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that “for operational security and the safety of our officers, ICE will not disclose or discuss law enforcement operations.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country including in California,” a spokesperson wrote via email.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Martinez said lawyers are preparing in case of large-scale raids in the Bay Area, and outreach workers are sharing an \u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/ACILEP-Safety-Planning-Checklist-for-Families-2026-9a7f4962.pdf\">“Emergency Planning Checklist for Families” \u003c/a>to help immigrants prepare in case a family member is arrested. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Milli Atkinson, director of the Immigrant Legal Defense Program at the San Francisco Bar Association, said the city is similarly monitoring ICE activity in the Central Valley but hasn’t seen any uptick in arrests so far.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Just anxiety from the community,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The United Farmworkers Foundation said Wednesday that it believes the raids “intensified” on Tuesday and continued later in the week. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Some arrests occurred near commercial centers that include Walmart, Vallarta Market and Home Depot,” the statement said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>State Sen. Anna Caballero, who represents parts of Fresno and Merced, said she had heard of an estimated 60 arrests this week within the communities she represents.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There are over 60 detainees, and the facility in downtown Fresno is having trouble processing,” Caballero’s spokesperson Elisa Rivera wrote to KQED. “Legal observers are having little success gaining access.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We also had a young person call our office after both of his parents were picked up,” Caballero said. “He did not know where to turn or what he was supposed to do.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In Fresno County’s city of Kerman alone, Mayor Maria Pacheco said eight residents were detained between Wednesday and Thursday. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These are people with families, jobs and lives here in Kerman,” she said. “As Mayor, I refuse to accept that residents should be afraid to carry out the most ordinary parts of their day.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Pacheco said she has been aiding affected families to locate their detained relatives and get legal assistance. She added that Kerman police do not work with ICE on immigration enforcement operations. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Our local police officers have a different responsibility. They serve our residents, protect our community and work to keep Kerman safe,” she said. “What we are witnessing from ICE does the opposite.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1760\" height=\"1320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12016800\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92.jpg 1760w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/12/immigrants-central-valley-6751c0512ec92-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1760px) 100vw, 1760px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Maria Pacheco, mayor of Kerman, California, speaks at a press conference in Fresno calling for the protection of undocumented immigrants following President-elect Donald Trump’s win. (Esther Quintanilla/KVPR)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Four men were detained while getting pan dulce and coffee on their way to work,” Pacheco continued. “How does that make Kerman safer? …. Fear is not public safety.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>East Bay Rep. Lateefah Simon said in a statement that local elected leaders and community organizations will “stand by our communities and continue to be fully opposed to the Trump administration’s unwanted, unwarranted, and illegal immigration enforcement actions.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>She said she believes Trump is trying to “intimidate, terrorize and tear apart immigrant families” before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Earlier this year, Trump claimed without proof that the DHS had identified more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/07/31/nx-s1-5906708/trump-claim-noncitizens-midterms-election-interference-voter-rolls\">250,000 non-U.S. citizens\u003c/a> on voter rolls between four states, including California, reigniting fears about whether the administration will interfere with vote-counting.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“My office has resources for immigrant communities to ensure everyone knows their rights and can assist in immigration casework,” she said in a statement. “We know what Republicans are trying to do — intimidate Latino citizens so they stay at home and don’t exercise their right to vote, and we will not stand for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California’s Largest State-Workers Union Set to Strike Later This Month",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>’s largest state-workers union is set to strike later this month, in a conflict escalation aiming to pressure the Newsom administration to reach a contract deal soon.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The announcement comes after a vote, open to the roughly 100,000 state employees the union represents, resulted Wednesday in overwhelming support for a walkout if negotiations keep stalling, according to Service Employees International Union Local 1000 representatives. Office workers, cooks, custodians, nurses and others statewide plan to go on strike on Oct. 21.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“State workers are prepared to hold the line and, if necessary, go on strike to say, there is no California without state workers keeping it running,” union President Anica Walls said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are demanding a fair contract that recognizes the work that we do, and that makes it possible for us to live in the communities that we work in,” said Walls, a disability evaluation analyst with the Department of Social Services since 2006.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-scaled-e1791490590125.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12080557\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Caltrans worker adjusts construction cones as traffic comes to a slow on I-80 eastbound in San Francisco on April 18, 2026. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Union-represented employees at libraries, hospitals and agencies such as Caltrans, CalFire and the Department of Motor Vehicles have never walked out of their jobs before, though SEIU Local 1000 members first authorized a strike that was averted by a last-minute deal a decade ago.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This time, Walls argued that a work stoppage may be necessary because the administration has failed to bargain in good faith since earlier this year on worker priorities. The union has proposed a 20% across-the-board wage increase over three years, lower-cost healthcare benefits and more flexible telework requirements, bids that were summarily rejected.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There wasn’t a real negotiation,” she said, adding that the two parties remain far apart with no future bargaining dates on the calendar yet. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The strike authorization vote comes as the California Public Employment Relations Board has appointed a mediator to help the administration and SEIU Local 1000 resolve their dispute. Last week, the agency determined the existence of an impasse after the union filed unfair labor practice charges against the administration in July.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement, a spokesperson with the California Department of Human Resources said the state remains open to negotiation and is prepared to move into mediation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Our focus is on reaching a fair and responsible agreement, and we continue to be available at the bargaining table,” said Angela Musallam, a spokesperson for CalHR.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of the biggest sticking points has been Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order requiring most employees to return to the office at least four days a week, which went into effect in July after a one-year delay. The mandate upended previous in-person work expectations adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SEIU Local 1000 and other unions pushed back, including by sponsoring \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1729\">a bill\u003c/a> that would have required state agencies to develop their own remote-work policies and provide detailed justification to employees when in-office work was required. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A state auditor’s report found that savings from broader telework could reach $225 million. The California legislature approved AB 1729, but Newsom vetoed the proposed legislation last month.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A previous version of this story incorrectly characterized SEIU Local 1000. It is the largest state-workers union, not the largest public-sector union.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>’s largest state-workers union is set to strike later this month, in a conflict escalation aiming to pressure the Newsom administration to reach a contract deal soon.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The announcement comes after a vote, open to the roughly 100,000 state employees the union represents, resulted Wednesday in overwhelming support for a walkout if negotiations keep stalling, according to Service Employees International Union Local 1000 representatives. Office workers, cooks, custodians, nurses and others statewide plan to go on strike on Oct. 21.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“State workers are prepared to hold the line and, if necessary, go on strike to say, there is no California without state workers keeping it running,” union President Anica Walls said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We are demanding a fair contract that recognizes the work that we do, and that makes it possible for us to live in the communities that we work in,” said Walls, a disability evaluation analyst with the Department of Social Services since 2006.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We are demanding a fair contract that recognizes the work that we do, and that makes it possible for us to live in the communities that we work in,” said Walls, a disability evaluation analyst with the Department of Social Services since 2006.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Union-represented employees at libraries, hospitals and agencies such as Caltrans, CalFire and the Department of Motor Vehicles have never walked out of their jobs before, though SEIU Local 1000 members first authorized a strike that was averted by a last-minute deal a decade ago.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This time, Walls argued that a work stoppage may be necessary because the administration has failed to bargain in good faith since earlier this year on worker priorities. The union has proposed a 20% across-the-board wage increase over three years, lower-cost healthcare benefits and more flexible telework requirements, bids that were summarily rejected.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There wasn’t a real negotiation,” she said, adding that the two parties remain far apart with no future bargaining dates on the calendar yet. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The strike authorization vote comes as the California Public Employment Relations Board has appointed a mediator to help the administration and SEIU Local 1000 resolve their dispute. Last week, the agency determined the existence of an impasse after the union filed unfair labor practice charges against the administration in July.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a statement, a spokesperson with the California Department of Human Resources said the state remains open to negotiation and is prepared to move into mediation.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Our focus is on reaching a fair and responsible agreement, and we continue to be available at the bargaining table,” said Angela Musallam, a spokesperson for CalHR.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One of the biggest sticking points has been Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order requiring most employees to return to the office at least four days a week, which went into effect in July after a one-year delay. The mandate upended previous in-person work expectations adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>SEIU Local 1000 and other unions pushed back, including by sponsoring \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1729\">a bill\u003c/a> that would have required state agencies to develop their own remote-work policies and provide detailed justification to employees when in-office work was required. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A state auditor’s report found that savings from broader telework could reach $225 million. The California legislature approved AB 1729, but Newsom vetoed the proposed legislation last month.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A previous version of this story incorrectly characterized SEIU Local 1000. It is the largest state-workers union, not the largest public-sector union.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>’s largest state-workers union is set to strike later this month, in a conflict escalation aiming to pressure the Newsom administration to reach a contract deal soon.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The announcement comes after a vote, open to the roughly 100,000 state employees the union represents, resulted Wednesday in overwhelming support for a walkout if negotiations keep stalling, according to Service Employees International Union Local 1000 representatives. Office workers, cooks, custodians, nurses and others statewide plan to go on strike on Oct. 21.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“State workers are prepared to hold the line and, if necessary, go on strike to say, there is no California without state workers keeping it running,” union President Anica Walls said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We are demanding a fair contract that recognizes the work that we do, and that makes it possible for us to live in the communities that we work in,” said Walls, a disability evaluation analyst with the Department of Social Services since 2006.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041826-I80Closure-JY-11-scaled-e1791490590125.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12080557\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Caltrans worker adjusts construction cones as traffic comes to a slow on I-80 eastbound in San Francisco on April 18, 2026. (Juliana Yamada for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Union-represented employees at libraries, hospitals and agencies such as Caltrans, CalFire and the Department of Motor Vehicles have never walked out of their jobs before, though SEIU Local 1000 members first authorized a strike that was averted by a last-minute deal a decade ago.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>This time, Walls argued that a work stoppage may be necessary because the administration has failed to bargain in good faith since earlier this year on worker priorities. The union has proposed a 20% across-the-board wage increase over three years, lower-cost healthcare benefits and more flexible telework requirements, bids that were summarily rejected.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“There wasn’t a real negotiation,” she said, adding that the two parties remain far apart with no future bargaining dates on the calendar yet. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The strike authorization vote comes as the California Public Employment Relations Board has appointed a mediator to help the administration and SEIU Local 1000 resolve their dispute. Last week, the agency determined the existence of an impasse after the union filed unfair labor practice charges against the administration in July.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement, a spokesperson with the California Department of Human Resources said the state remains open to negotiation and is prepared to move into mediation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Our focus is on reaching a fair and responsible agreement, and we continue to be available at the bargaining table,” said Angela Musallam, a spokesperson for CalHR.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of the biggest sticking points has been Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order requiring most employees to return to the office at least four days a week, which went into effect in July after a one-year delay. The mandate upended previous in-person work expectations adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SEIU Local 1000 and other unions pushed back, including by sponsoring \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1729\">a bill\u003c/a> that would have required state agencies to develop their own remote-work policies and provide detailed justification to employees when in-office work was required. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A state auditor’s report found that savings from broader telework could reach $225 million. The California legislature approved AB 1729, but Newsom vetoed the proposed legislation last month.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>A previous version of this story incorrectly characterized SEIU Local 1000. It is the largest state-workers union, not the largest public-sector union.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "3-california-residents-sue-ice-officers-under-new-no-kings-law",
"title": "3 California Residents Sue ICE Officers Under New ‘No Kings’ Law",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Three citizens have sued federal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/immigration\">immigration \u003c/a>agents for violating their constitutional rights through wrongful arrests and detentions, in the first tests of California’s new No Kings Act.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The law — which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Tuesday as part of a package of bills meant to push back on the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement — aims to create a pathway for residents to seek accountability from the officers carrying out that agenda. Legal experts warn, however, that the law and the lawsuits relying on it face unlikely odds in federal court.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>All three plaintiffs had preexisting lawsuits against the government and amended those complaints this week after the law’s signing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That includes Javier Ramirez, who was arrested on June 12, 2025, amid roving immigration raids in the Los Angeles area and less than a week after President Donald Trump sent more than 2,000 National Guardsmen and U.S. Marines into the region. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://youtu.be/KXHFkYjpoeg\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ramirez, who exports cars to Mexico and splits his time between Los Angeles and Tijuana, was at his family’s car lot in Montebello when agents drove up and walked in through a gate, left slightly open, according to security footage of the incident. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ramirez told KQED the agents ignored posted signs saying “No Trespassing” and “Private Property.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“One of them points me out and yells, ‘Hey, just get him, he’s Mexican,’” Ramirez said, recounting the arrest. “That’s when they threw me down to the ground. I yelled at them, I’m telling them, ‘You know what, I have my passport. I was born here.’ They didn’t care. They didn’t care. They didn’t even check out my wallet or anything like that.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the video, shared by his lawyer, agents can be seen wrestling Ramirez to the ground and kneeling on his back while an agent stands with another detained man nearby. Ramirez can be heard in the recordings telling agents he’s a citizen. His brother offered to give the officers Ramirez’ diabetes medication, according to his lawsuit, but they declined to take it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He spent four days in a federal detention facility. There, he fainted due to lack of medical care before he was released, he said. The case against him was later dropped. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He’s now suing the U.S. and 20 agents who were involved in his arrest and detention for various rights violations, including unlawful detention, denial of due process and excessive use of force. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I want justice,” Ramirez said. “I have kids as well, and as a proud Latino I also teach my kids to speak Spanish, and I don’t want them to, in the near future, just by looking Hispanic or them talking Spanish, have this happen to them.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Maria Garcia Baldizzone, an attorney representing Ramirez and the two other cases amended after the No Kings Act was signed, said all three cases involve U.S. citizens being wrongfully and violently detained, seemingly just for “looking Latino.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Our clients have been beaten by ICE agents or Border Patrol agents, they’ve been thrown to the ground,” Garcia Baldizzone said. “One of the other ones we filed [Tuesday] was Cary Lopez. She was nine months pregnant, and they had twisted her arm and pressed her body and her pregnant belly against their cars.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://youtu.be/cqGkGxKNSHQ\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The third case involved a man named Angel Piña who said he was with his wife when he witnessed federal agents harassing three minors. Piña’s wife called 911, and soon after, an agent tackled him to the ground and two others piled on top. He was arrested and taken by ambulance to the hospital after suffering injuries to his head, ankle and shoulder. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://youtu.be/lV77pDgNLlM\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Garcia Baldizzone said all three cases are seeking compensatory damages for the suffering that the plaintiffs endured and punitive damages from the individual agents for these violations of rights. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’m hoping to hold these agents accountable for what they’ve done to our clients, what they have done to other people and to show them that it’s not right, that what they’re doing is not right,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Whether the cases will succeed, however, remains to be seen. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Although Congress has passed laws establishing a right to sue local and state officials for violating constitutional rights, the Legislature has never done the same for federal officials, said Kevin Johnson, a distinguished professor of law emeritus at the UC Davis School of Law.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a man named Webster Bivens in 1971 who sued six agents for violating his constitutional rights. Cases in later years seeking accountability from federal officials cited the Bivens ruling, but Johnson said two rulings in the past decade have significantly limited the ability to bring such suits, called Bivens actions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The No Kings Act, introduced by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener, aims to establish that right in state law, where none exists in federal legislation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ICE and Border Patrol have escaped that accountability for far too long due to a loophole in the law,” Wiener said in a statement following Newsom’s signing. “The No Kings Act provides long overdue accountability to end the impunity powering ICE and Border Patrol’s terror campaign, and put Cary, Javier, Angel, and thousands of others on the pathway to justice.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Regulating the federal government with state law, however, is not that simple, Johnson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Here you have a complicated situation where you have the state passing a law that seeks to restrict or at least provide the possibility of an action against a federal officer conducting a federal business,” Johnson said. “And so the question will be, can a state regulate a federal law enforcement officer?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Johnson answered his own question in no uncertain terms. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I think the suits will probably be dismissed for conflicting with federal law … so I don’t see these actions going anywhere. They could end up on appeal, perhaps,” Johnson said. “I’m sympathetic with the concept of providing a right to relief, but I don’t see how the state government can regulate the federal law enforcement functions.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California follows New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts, which passed similar laws earlier this year meant to create a cause of action in their respective states for suing federal officials, according to \u003ca href=\"https://protectdemocracy.org/work/protect-democracy-applauds-california-legislatures-passage-of-the-no-kings-act/\">Protecting Democracy\u003c/a>, a co-sponsor of the No Kings Act. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Time will tell whether the ensuing lawsuits are able to withstand legal scrutiny and secure the compensation plaintiffs are seeking. But Johnson said that regardless of their ultimate success, the No Kings Act and other recently signed laws send a message. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“All these laws — there’s 21 signed in one day by the governor — they’re sending a strong message to the federal government that California is not just going to roll over and play dead when it comes to the immigration enforcement operations,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That includes Javier Ramirez, who was arrested on June 12, 2025, amid roving immigration raids in the Los Angeles area and less than a week after President Donald Trump sent more than 2,000 National Guardsmen and U.S. Marines into the region. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ramirez, who exports cars to Mexico and splits his time between Los Angeles and Tijuana, was at his family’s car lot in Montebello when agents drove up and walked in through a gate, left slightly open, according to security footage of the incident. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“One of them points me out and yells, ‘Hey, just get him, he’s Mexican,’” Ramirez said, recounting the arrest. “That’s when they threw me down to the ground. I yelled at them, I’m telling them, ‘You know what, I have my passport. I was born here.’ They didn’t care. They didn’t care. They didn’t even check out my wallet or anything like that.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I want justice,” Ramirez said. “I have kids as well, and as a proud Latino I also teach my kids to speak Spanish, and I don’t want them to, in the near future, just by looking Hispanic or them talking Spanish, have this happen to them.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The third case involved a man named Angel Piña who said he was with his wife when he witnessed federal agents harassing three minors. Piña’s wife called 911, and soon after, an agent tackled him to the ground and two others piled on top. He was arrested and taken by ambulance to the hospital after suffering injuries to his head, ankle and shoulder. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Garcia Baldizzone said all three cases are seeking compensatory damages for the suffering that the plaintiffs endured and punitive damages from the individual agents for these violations of rights. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I’m hoping to hold these agents accountable for what they’ve done to our clients, what they have done to other people and to show them that it’s not right, that what they’re doing is not right,” she said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I’m hoping to hold these agents accountable for what they’ve done to our clients, what they have done to other people and to show them that it’s not right, that what they’re doing is not right,” she said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Whether the cases will succeed, however, remains to be seen. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Although Congress has passed laws establishing a right to sue local and state officials for violating constitutional rights, the Legislature has never done the same for federal officials, said Kevin Johnson, a distinguished professor of law emeritus at the UC Davis School of Law.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Although Congress has passed laws establishing a right to sue local and state officials for violating constitutional rights, the Legislature has never done the same for federal officials, said Kevin Johnson, a distinguished professor of law emeritus at the UC Davis School of Law.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a man named Webster Bivens in 1971 who sued six agents for violating his constitutional rights. Cases in later years seeking accountability from federal officials cited the Bivens ruling, but Johnson said two rulings in the past decade have significantly limited the ability to bring such suits, called Bivens actions. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a man named Webster Bivens in 1971 who sued six agents for violating his constitutional rights. Cases in later years seeking accountability from federal officials cited the Bivens ruling, but Johnson said two rulings in the past decade have significantly limited the ability to bring such suits, called Bivens actions. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The No Kings Act, introduced by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener, aims to establish that right in state law, where none exists in federal legislation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ICE and Border Patrol have escaped that accountability for far too long due to a loophole in the law,” Wiener said in a statement following Newsom’s signing. “The No Kings Act provides long overdue accountability to end the impunity powering ICE and Border Patrol’s terror campaign, and put Cary, Javier, Angel, and thousands of others on the pathway to justice.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Regulating the federal government with state law, however, is not that simple, Johnson said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Here you have a complicated situation where you have the state passing a law that seeks to restrict or at least provide the possibility of an action against a federal officer conducting a federal business,” Johnson said. “And so the question will be, can a state regulate a federal law enforcement officer?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Here you have a complicated situation where you have the state passing a law that seeks to restrict or at least provide the possibility of an action against a federal officer conducting a federal business,” Johnson said. “And so the question will be, can a state regulate a federal law enforcement officer?”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Johnson answered his own question in no uncertain terms. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I think the suits will probably be dismissed for conflicting with federal law … so I don’t see these actions going anywhere. They could end up on appeal, perhaps,” Johnson said. “I’m sympathetic with the concept of providing a right to relief, but I don’t see how the state government can regulate the federal law enforcement functions.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California follows New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts, which passed similar laws earlier this year meant to create a cause of action in their respective states for suing federal officials, according to \u003ca href=\"https://protectdemocracy.org/work/protect-democracy-applauds-california-legislatures-passage-of-the-no-kings-act/\">Protecting Democracy\u003c/a>, a co-sponsor of the No Kings Act. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>California follows New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts, which passed similar laws earlier this year meant to create a cause of action in their respective states for suing federal officials, according to \u003ca href=\"https://protectdemocracy.org/work/protect-democracy-applauds-california-legislatures-passage-of-the-no-kings-act/\">Protecting Democracy\u003c/a>, a co-sponsor of the No Kings Act. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Time will tell whether the ensuing lawsuits are able to withstand legal scrutiny and secure the compensation plaintiffs are seeking. But Johnson said that regardless of their ultimate success, the No Kings Act and other recently signed laws send a message. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Time will tell whether the ensuing lawsuits are able to withstand legal scrutiny and secure the compensation plaintiffs are seeking. But Johnson said that regardless of their ultimate success, the No Kings Act and other recently signed laws send a message. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“All these laws — there’s 21 signed in one day by the governor — they’re sending a strong message to the federal government that California is not just going to roll over and play dead when it comes to the immigration enforcement operations,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The suits were amended after Gov. Gavin Newsom passed a new law creating legal mechanisms to sue federal immigration officers.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Three citizens have sued federal \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/immigration\">immigration \u003c/a>agents for violating their constitutional rights through wrongful arrests and detentions, in the first tests of California’s new No Kings Act.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The law — which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Tuesday as part of a package of bills meant to push back on the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement — aims to create a pathway for residents to seek accountability from the officers carrying out that agenda. Legal experts warn, however, that the law and the lawsuits relying on it face unlikely odds in federal court.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>All three plaintiffs had preexisting lawsuits against the government and amended those complaints this week after the law’s signing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That includes Javier Ramirez, who was arrested on June 12, 2025, amid roving immigration raids in the Los Angeles area and less than a week after President Donald Trump sent more than 2,000 National Guardsmen and U.S. Marines into the region. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/KXHFkYjpoeg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/KXHFkYjpoeg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ramirez, who exports cars to Mexico and splits his time between Los Angeles and Tijuana, was at his family’s car lot in Montebello when agents drove up and walked in through a gate, left slightly open, according to security footage of the incident. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Ramirez told KQED the agents ignored posted signs saying “No Trespassing” and “Private Property.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“One of them points me out and yells, ‘Hey, just get him, he’s Mexican,’” Ramirez said, recounting the arrest. “That’s when they threw me down to the ground. I yelled at them, I’m telling them, ‘You know what, I have my passport. I was born here.’ They didn’t care. They didn’t care. They didn’t even check out my wallet or anything like that.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the video, shared by his lawyer, agents can be seen wrestling Ramirez to the ground and kneeling on his back while an agent stands with another detained man nearby. Ramirez can be heard in the recordings telling agents he’s a citizen. His brother offered to give the officers Ramirez’ diabetes medication, according to his lawsuit, but they declined to take it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He spent four days in a federal detention facility. There, he fainted due to lack of medical care before he was released, he said. The case against him was later dropped. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He’s now suing the U.S. and 20 agents who were involved in his arrest and detention for various rights violations, including unlawful detention, denial of due process and excessive use of force. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I want justice,” Ramirez said. “I have kids as well, and as a proud Latino I also teach my kids to speak Spanish, and I don’t want them to, in the near future, just by looking Hispanic or them talking Spanish, have this happen to them.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Maria Garcia Baldizzone, an attorney representing Ramirez and the two other cases amended after the No Kings Act was signed, said all three cases involve U.S. citizens being wrongfully and violently detained, seemingly just for “looking Latino.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Our clients have been beaten by ICE agents or Border Patrol agents, they’ve been thrown to the ground,” Garcia Baldizzone said. “One of the other ones we filed [Tuesday] was Cary Lopez. She was nine months pregnant, and they had twisted her arm and pressed her body and her pregnant belly against their cars.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/cqGkGxKNSHQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/cqGkGxKNSHQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The third case involved a man named Angel Piña who said he was with his wife when he witnessed federal agents harassing three minors. Piña’s wife called 911, and soon after, an agent tackled him to the ground and two others piled on top. He was arrested and taken by ambulance to the hospital after suffering injuries to his head, ankle and shoulder. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/lV77pDgNLlM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/lV77pDgNLlM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Garcia Baldizzone said all three cases are seeking compensatory damages for the suffering that the plaintiffs endured and punitive damages from the individual agents for these violations of rights. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I’m hoping to hold these agents accountable for what they’ve done to our clients, what they have done to other people and to show them that it’s not right, that what they’re doing is not right,” she said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Whether the cases will succeed, however, remains to be seen. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Although Congress has passed laws establishing a right to sue local and state officials for violating constitutional rights, the Legislature has never done the same for federal officials, said Kevin Johnson, a distinguished professor of law emeritus at the UC Davis School of Law.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a man named Webster Bivens in 1971 who sued six agents for violating his constitutional rights. Cases in later years seeking accountability from federal officials cited the Bivens ruling, but Johnson said two rulings in the past decade have significantly limited the ability to bring such suits, called Bivens actions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The No Kings Act, introduced by San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener, aims to establish that right in state law, where none exists in federal legislation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ICE and Border Patrol have escaped that accountability for far too long due to a loophole in the law,” Wiener said in a statement following Newsom’s signing. “The No Kings Act provides long overdue accountability to end the impunity powering ICE and Border Patrol’s terror campaign, and put Cary, Javier, Angel, and thousands of others on the pathway to justice.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Regulating the federal government with state law, however, is not that simple, Johnson said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Here you have a complicated situation where you have the state passing a law that seeks to restrict or at least provide the possibility of an action against a federal officer conducting a federal business,” Johnson said. “And so the question will be, can a state regulate a federal law enforcement officer?”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Johnson answered his own question in no uncertain terms. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I think the suits will probably be dismissed for conflicting with federal law … so I don’t see these actions going anywhere. They could end up on appeal, perhaps,” Johnson said. “I’m sympathetic with the concept of providing a right to relief, but I don’t see how the state government can regulate the federal law enforcement functions.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California follows New York, Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts, which passed similar laws earlier this year meant to create a cause of action in their respective states for suing federal officials, according to \u003ca href=\"https://protectdemocracy.org/work/protect-democracy-applauds-california-legislatures-passage-of-the-no-kings-act/\">Protecting Democracy\u003c/a>, a co-sponsor of the No Kings Act. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Time will tell whether the ensuing lawsuits are able to withstand legal scrutiny and secure the compensation plaintiffs are seeking. But Johnson said that regardless of their ultimate success, the No Kings Act and other recently signed laws send a message. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“All these laws — there’s 21 signed in one day by the governor — they’re sending a strong message to the federal government that California is not just going to roll over and play dead when it comes to the immigration enforcement operations,” Johnson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "newsom-signs-bill-to-boost-local-newsrooms-calling-out-trumps-restrictions-on-press",
"title": "Newsom Signs Bill to Boost Local Newsrooms, Calling Out Trump’s Restrictions on Press",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>In a bid to boost a news industry buffeted by financial turmoil and hostility from the federal government, Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> signed a new law on Wednesday designed to give local newsrooms thousands of dollars in tax breaks for each journalist they employ.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Sitting in his Sacramento office surrounded by members of California’s Capitol press corps, Newsom recalled witnessing the “hollowing out” of local newsrooms in the years since he served as a San Francisco county supervisor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He told reporters the refundable tax credits — ranging from $7,500 to $20,000 apiece — would empower local newsrooms to continue pursuing political stories.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s journalists that need to report those stories and local journalists that need to uncover and sort of peel back the facade if democracy is going to survive, let alone thrive,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Starting next year, print, digital and broadcast media organizations can claim $20,000 tax credits for each of the first five journalists they employ and $15,000 for every additional reporter. The \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2222\">new law\u003c/a> also establishes a $7,500 tax credit for part-time journalist positions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12087658\" 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-element-caption\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom (left), looks on during an election night gathering at California Democratic headquarters in Sacramento on Nov. 4, 2025. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom’s signing comes after the Trump administration tried to restrict press access to the White House for multiple national media outlets, including CNN, MS NOW and Politico, a move Newsom sharply criticized.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>However, the Democratic governor expressed concern that the tax breaks as written in the law he signed would also support larger news outlets that don’t require state intervention to stay afloat, including those owned by hedge funds and billionaires.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I could’ve vetoed it, but that would’ve been — at this moment of anxiety and stress and everything that Donald Trump is trying to do, I couldn’t do that,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, one of the lawmakers who authored the bill, celebrated the signing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“AB 2222 puts real resources behind keeping journalists on the job, strengthening local newsrooms, and making sure communities have the reporting they need to stay informed and hold people in power accountable,” Wicks said in a statement. “I’m grateful to Governor Newsom for recognizing what’s at stake and signing this bill into law.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The new tax breaks come at a trying time for local newsrooms in California. The California-based news organization McClatchy, which owns multiple outlets including \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Fresno Bee\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Modesto Bee\u003c/em>, laid off around 30% of its unionized workforce in September.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Public broadcasting stations have also rushed to fill a budget gap after losing funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/01/06/nx-s1-5668292/the-corporation-for-public-broadcasting-votes-to-end-operations\">dissolved this year\u003c/a> following the elimination of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044021/house-votes-to-claw-back-1-1-billion-from-public-media\">federal funding\u003c/a> by the Trump administration and Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Broadcasters chose this business because we want to serve our community. We understand the importance of unbiased access to information,” Jeffrey Knox, a broadcaster and SAG-AFTRA union board member, said during testimony in a committee hearing at the state Capitol in April. “And sadly, the corporate-dominated media space is becoming increasingly hostile to local journalists and our ability to keep our communities informed and our livelihood sustained.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom’s administration also established the California Civic Media Program through legislation in 2025. The local journalism grant program is a $20 million public-private partnership equally funded through California’s state budget and matching funds from Google. It launched this year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Note: KQED’s news reporters are represented by SAG-AFTRA (\u003c/em>\u003cem>Screen Actors Guild\u003c/em>\u003cem> – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists\u003c/em>\u003cem>).\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“AB 2222 puts real resources behind keeping journalists on the job, strengthening local newsrooms, and making sure communities have the reporting they need to stay informed and hold people in power accountable,” Wicks said in a statement. “I’m grateful to Governor Newsom for recognizing what’s at stake and signing this bill into law.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Broadcasters chose this business because we want to serve our community. We understand the importance of unbiased access to information,” Jeffrey Knox, a broadcaster and SAG-AFTRA union board member, said during testimony in a committee hearing at the state Capitol in April. “And sadly, the corporate-dominated media space is becoming increasingly hostile to local journalists and our ability to keep our communities informed and our livelihood sustained.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>In a bid to boost a news industry buffeted by financial turmoil and hostility from the federal government, Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> signed a new law on Wednesday designed to give local newsrooms thousands of dollars in tax breaks for each journalist they employ.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Sitting in his Sacramento office surrounded by members of California’s Capitol press corps, Newsom recalled witnessing the “hollowing out” of local newsrooms in the years since he served as a San Francisco county supervisor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He told reporters the refundable tax credits — ranging from $7,500 to $20,000 apiece — would empower local newsrooms to continue pursuing political stories.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It’s journalists that need to report those stories and local journalists that need to uncover and sort of peel back the facade if democracy is going to survive, let alone thrive,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Starting next year, print, digital and broadcast media organizations can claim $20,000 tax credits for each of the first five journalists they employ and $15,000 for every additional reporter. The \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2222\">new law\u003c/a> also establishes a $7,500 tax credit for part-time journalist positions.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GavinJenniferNewsomGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12087658\" 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-element-caption\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom (left), looks on during an election night gathering at California Democratic headquarters in Sacramento on Nov. 4, 2025. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom’s signing comes after the Trump administration tried to restrict press access to the White House for multiple national media outlets, including CNN, MS NOW and Politico, a move Newsom sharply criticized.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>However, the Democratic governor expressed concern that the tax breaks as written in the law he signed would also support larger news outlets that don’t require state intervention to stay afloat, including those owned by hedge funds and billionaires.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“I could’ve vetoed it, but that would’ve been — at this moment of anxiety and stress and everything that Donald Trump is trying to do, I couldn’t do that,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, one of the lawmakers who authored the bill, celebrated the signing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“AB 2222 puts real resources behind keeping journalists on the job, strengthening local newsrooms, and making sure communities have the reporting they need to stay informed and hold people in power accountable,” Wicks said in a statement. “I’m grateful to Governor Newsom for recognizing what’s at stake and signing this bill into law.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The new tax breaks come at a trying time for local newsrooms in California. The California-based news organization McClatchy, which owns multiple outlets including \u003cem>The Sacramento Bee\u003c/em>, \u003cem>The Fresno Bee\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Modesto Bee\u003c/em>, laid off around 30% of its unionized workforce in September.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Public broadcasting stations have also rushed to fill a budget gap after losing funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/01/06/nx-s1-5668292/the-corporation-for-public-broadcasting-votes-to-end-operations\">dissolved this year\u003c/a> following the elimination of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044021/house-votes-to-claw-back-1-1-billion-from-public-media\">federal funding\u003c/a> by the Trump administration and Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Broadcasters chose this business because we want to serve our community. We understand the importance of unbiased access to information,” Jeffrey Knox, a broadcaster and SAG-AFTRA union board member, said during testimony in a committee hearing at the state Capitol in April. “And sadly, the corporate-dominated media space is becoming increasingly hostile to local journalists and our ability to keep our communities informed and our livelihood sustained.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom’s administration also established the California Civic Media Program through legislation in 2025. The local journalism grant program is a $20 million public-private partnership equally funded through California’s state budget and matching funds from Google. It launched this year.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Note: KQED’s news reporters are represented by SAG-AFTRA (\u003c/em>\u003cem>Screen Actors Guild\u003c/em>\u003cem> – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists\u003c/em>\u003cem>).\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three laws on Wednesday aimed at addressing some of the most pressing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050242/marin-moves-forward-with-ban-on-some-e-bikes-for-youth-as-research-into-safety-continues\">safety concerns\u003c/a> surrounding e-bikes, as the devices’ popularity continues to rise in California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SB 1167 prohibits any electric device capable of traveling faster than 20 mph with a throttle or 28 mph with a pedal assist — California’s existing speed limits for e-bikes — from being sold or advertised as an e-bike. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The new law groups those devices into the “moped” or “motor-driven cycle” category in the state’s vehicle code, depending on their maximum speed and requires riders to have the necessary vehicle registration and license to operate them. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Regulating those faster devices was a top legislative priority for Streets for All, a California transportation and land use advocacy organization, said Marc Vukcevich, the group’s director of state policy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12051115\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A young person rides an e-bike through Mill Valley on July 24, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“While legal e-bikes themselves may not be perfect, the thing we know we need to address are these illegal devices that are making e-bikes and e-bike riders look really bad,” Vukcevich said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A December 2025 \u003ca href=\"https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/2423-Agrawal-Electric-Bicycle-Safety-Data-Policy.pdf\">report \u003c/a>by San José State University’s Mineta Transportation Institute found it was highly likely that many injury crashes thought to involve e-bikes actually involve e-motorcycles and e-mopeds. The report also found that data on specifically which kinds of bikes are involved in crashes is commonly incomplete, making data-based policymaking more difficult. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, SB 1167’s author, said the legislation “ensures that consumers know if they are buying an e-bike or something else that goes much faster and carries greater risk.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, requires manufacturers, importers and sellers of devices faster than e-bikes to provide a disclosure informing consumers that the device is in fact, considered a motor vehicle in California. It also beefs up reporting requirements on specifically what types of devices are involved in a crash. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>E-bikes in California are regulated as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070694/these-bay-area-researchers-say-the-e-bike-problem-may-be-an-e-moto-problem\">Class I, Class II or Class III devices\u003c/a>, depending on the maximum speed a motor provides assistance and how the motor assists the rider. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The devices are an increasingly popular way for Californians to navigate a variety of environments, from suburban sprawl to dense urban cores. E-bike sales accounted for 7% of the U.S. bike market — or nearly a million sales — in 2024, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/e-bike-market-bigger-than-numbers-show\">People for Bikes\u003c/a>, the trade organization for the U.S. bicycle industry. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the rise in popularity in California has also brought a jump in serious crashes, especially involving youth. A July \u003ca href=\"https://today.ucsd.edu/story/uc-san-diego-study-finds-an-exponential-increase-in-e-bike-injuries-in-california\">study\u003c/a> from UC San Diego found that California recorded just two e-bike injuries in 2018, a number that jumped to just over 1,500 in 2024. The study found that e-bike riders with moderate to severe injuries were more likely to be children ages 14 and younger. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In enacting legislation, lawmakers and advocates have tried to walk a tightrope between promoting e-bikes, an active transportation mode that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and traffic, while responding to health risks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12036523\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A bicyclist rides on the Valencia Street center running bike lane in San Francisco’s Mission District on Aug. 23, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Another e-bike bill signed by Newsom allows municipalities in San Mateo County to prohibit children under 12 from riding a class I or II e-bike, which have a maximum assisted speed of 20 mph, until Jan. 1, 2031. The bill mirrors similar pilot programs previously approved by the Legislature in Marin and San Diego counties, which also set minimum age requirements for certain classes of e-bikes. State law already prohibits children under 16 from riding a class III e-bike.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The bill gives each local authority in San Mateo County the option to enact the pilot in its jurisdiction. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Foster City Councilmember Stacy Jimenez said she was looking forward to “bringing this tool to Foster City.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Success doesn’t mean fewer kids riding bikes — it means more kids riding and riding safely, and AB 2595 will help cities and our county do that,” Jimenez said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Marin has reported a \u003ca href=\"https://www.marincounty.gov/news-releases/e-bike-safety-remains-forefront-marin\">reduction\u003c/a> in youth e-bike crashes since enacting its pilot, which bans children under 16 from riding class II e-bikes. But the county said the e-bike accident rate for children aged 10-15 remains nearly four times higher than other age groups. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Noelia Corzo, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, said there were “valid concerns in terms of public health and street safety,” but she wouldn’t support enacting the pilot in the county’s unincorporated areas. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Corzo said she thought the right solutions were to invest more in safe street infrastructure to help prevent collisions with cars and other vehicles. She also expressed concern about how the law would be enforced. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“How is a police officer going to know if someone is younger than 12?” she said. “The only way is to stop children and ask them, and that’s not an action I feel comfortable with taking place en masse.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The pilot would authorize police officers to issue a fine of $25 to any underage riders 60 days after the law comes into effect.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom also signed AB 2346, from state Assemblymembers Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, and Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, which requires Class II e-bikes sold after Jan. 1, 2029, to be equipped with a speedometer. The bill also sets a 10 mph speed limit for sidewalk riding. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement, Dr. René Bravo, president of the California Medical Association, thanked Berman and Wilson for “listening to the physicians and other experts who have raised these concerns and putting evidence-based safety measures into law to make e-bikes safer for young riders, pedestrians and everyone on the road.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>SB 1167 prohibits any electric device capable of traveling faster than 20 mph with a throttle or 28 mph with a pedal assist — California’s existing speed limits for e-bikes — from being sold or advertised as an e-bike. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The new law groups those devices into the “moped” or “motor-driven cycle” category in the state’s vehicle code, depending on their maximum speed and requires riders to have the necessary vehicle registration and license to operate them. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Regulating those faster devices was a top legislative priority for Streets for All, a California transportation and land use advocacy organization, said Marc Vukcevich, the group’s director of state policy.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12051115\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A young person rides an e-bike through Mill Valley on July 24, 2025.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“While legal e-bikes themselves may not be perfect, the thing we know we need to address are these illegal devices that are making e-bikes and e-bike riders look really bad,” Vukcevich said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“While legal e-bikes themselves may not be perfect, the thing we know we need to address are these illegal devices that are making e-bikes and e-bike riders look really bad,” Vukcevich said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A December 2025 \u003ca href=\"https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/2423-Agrawal-Electric-Bicycle-Safety-Data-Policy.pdf\">report \u003c/a>by San José State University’s Mineta Transportation Institute found it was highly likely that many injury crashes thought to involve e-bikes actually involve e-motorcycles and e-mopeds. The report also found that data on specifically which kinds of bikes are involved in crashes is commonly incomplete, making data-based policymaking more difficult. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A December 2025 \u003ca href=\"https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/2423-Agrawal-Electric-Bicycle-Safety-Data-Policy.pdf\">report \u003c/a>by San José State University’s Mineta Transportation Institute found it was highly likely that many injury crashes thought to involve e-bikes actually involve e-motorcycles and e-mopeds. The report also found that data on specifically which kinds of bikes are involved in crashes is commonly incomplete, making data-based policymaking more difficult. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, SB 1167’s author, said the legislation “ensures that consumers know if they are buying an e-bike or something else that goes much faster and carries greater risk.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, SB 1167’s author, said the legislation “ensures that consumers know if they are buying an e-bike or something else that goes much faster and carries greater risk.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, requires manufacturers, importers and sellers of devices faster than e-bikes to provide a disclosure informing consumers that the device is in fact, considered a motor vehicle in California. It also beefs up reporting requirements on specifically what types of devices are involved in a crash. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, requires manufacturers, importers and sellers of devices faster than e-bikes to provide a disclosure informing consumers that the device is in fact, considered a motor vehicle in California. It also beefs up reporting requirements on specifically what types of devices are involved in a crash. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>E-bikes in California are regulated as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070694/these-bay-area-researchers-say-the-e-bike-problem-may-be-an-e-moto-problem\">Class I, Class II or Class III devices\u003c/a>, depending on the maximum speed a motor provides assistance and how the motor assists the rider. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>E-bikes in California are regulated as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070694/these-bay-area-researchers-say-the-e-bike-problem-may-be-an-e-moto-problem\">Class I, Class II or Class III devices\u003c/a>, depending on the maximum speed a motor provides assistance and how the motor assists the rider. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The devices are an increasingly popular way for Californians to navigate a variety of environments, from suburban sprawl to dense urban cores. E-bike sales accounted for 7% of the U.S. bike market — or nearly a million sales — in 2024, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/e-bike-market-bigger-than-numbers-show\">People for Bikes\u003c/a>, the trade organization for the U.S. bicycle industry. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The devices are an increasingly popular way for Californians to navigate a variety of environments, from suburban sprawl to dense urban cores. E-bike sales accounted for 7% of the U.S. bike market — or nearly a million sales — in 2024, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/e-bike-market-bigger-than-numbers-show\">People for Bikes\u003c/a>, the trade organization for the U.S. bicycle industry. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But the rise in popularity in California has also brought a jump in serious crashes, especially involving youth. A July \u003ca href=\"https://today.ucsd.edu/story/uc-san-diego-study-finds-an-exponential-increase-in-e-bike-injuries-in-california\">study\u003c/a> from UC San Diego found that California recorded just two e-bike injuries in 2018, a number that jumped to just over 1,500 in 2024. The study found that e-bike riders with moderate to severe injuries were more likely to be children ages 14 and younger. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But the rise in popularity in California has also brought a jump in serious crashes, especially involving youth. A July \u003ca href=\"https://today.ucsd.edu/story/uc-san-diego-study-finds-an-exponential-increase-in-e-bike-injuries-in-california\">study\u003c/a> from UC San Diego found that California recorded just two e-bike injuries in 2018, a number that jumped to just over 1,500 in 2024. The study found that e-bike riders with moderate to severe injuries were more likely to be children ages 14 and younger. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In enacting legislation, lawmakers and advocates have tried to walk a tightrope between promoting e-bikes, an active transportation mode that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and traffic, while responding to health risks. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In enacting legislation, lawmakers and advocates have tried to walk a tightrope between promoting e-bikes, an active transportation mode that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and traffic, while responding to health risks. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Another e-bike bill signed by Newsom allows municipalities in San Mateo County to prohibit children under 12 from riding a class I or II e-bike, which have a maximum assisted speed of 20 mph, until Jan. 1, 2031. The bill mirrors similar pilot programs previously approved by the Legislature in Marin and San Diego counties, which also set minimum age requirements for certain classes of e-bikes. State law already prohibits children under 16 from riding a class III e-bike.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Another e-bike bill signed by Newsom allows municipalities in San Mateo County to prohibit children under 12 from riding a class I or II e-bike, which have a maximum assisted speed of 20 mph, until Jan. 1, 2031. The bill mirrors similar pilot programs previously approved by the Legislature in Marin and San Diego counties, which also set minimum age requirements for certain classes of e-bikes. State law already prohibits children under 16 from riding a class III e-bike.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The bill gives each local authority in San Mateo County the option to enact the pilot in its jurisdiction. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Foster City Councilmember Stacy Jimenez said she was looking forward to “bringing this tool to Foster City.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Success doesn’t mean fewer kids riding bikes — it means more kids riding and riding safely, and AB 2595 will help cities and our county do that,” Jimenez said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Success doesn’t mean fewer kids riding bikes — it means more kids riding and riding safely, and AB 2595 will help cities and our county do that,” Jimenez said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Marin has reported a \u003ca href=\"https://www.marincounty.gov/news-releases/e-bike-safety-remains-forefront-marin\">reduction\u003c/a> in youth e-bike crashes since enacting its pilot, which bans children under 16 from riding class II e-bikes. But the county said the e-bike accident rate for children aged 10-15 remains nearly four times higher than other age groups. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Marin has reported a \u003ca href=\"https://www.marincounty.gov/news-releases/e-bike-safety-remains-forefront-marin\">reduction\u003c/a> in youth e-bike crashes since enacting its pilot, which bans children under 16 from riding class II e-bikes. But the county said the e-bike accident rate for children aged 10-15 remains nearly four times higher than other age groups. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Noelia Corzo, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, said there were “valid concerns in terms of public health and street safety,” but she wouldn’t support enacting the pilot in the county’s unincorporated areas. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Noelia Corzo, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, said there were “valid concerns in terms of public health and street safety,” but she wouldn’t support enacting the pilot in the county’s unincorporated areas. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Corzo said she thought the right solutions were to invest more in safe street infrastructure to help prevent collisions with cars and other vehicles. She also expressed concern about how the law would be enforced. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“How is a police officer going to know if someone is younger than 12?” she said. “The only way is to stop children and ask them, and that’s not an action I feel comfortable with taking place en masse.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“How is a police officer going to know if someone is younger than 12?” she said. “The only way is to stop children and ask them, and that’s not an action I feel comfortable with taking place en masse.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The pilot would authorize police officers to issue a fine of $25 to any underage riders 60 days after the law comes into effect.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Newsom also signed AB 2346, from state Assemblymembers Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, and Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, which requires Class II e-bikes sold after Jan. 1, 2029, to be equipped with a speedometer. The bill also sets a 10 mph speed limit for sidewalk riding. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Newsom also signed AB 2346, from state Assemblymembers Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, and Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, which requires Class II e-bikes sold after Jan. 1, 2029, to be equipped with a speedometer. The bill also sets a 10 mph speed limit for sidewalk riding. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a statement, Dr. René Bravo, president of the California Medical Association, thanked Berman and Wilson for “listening to the physicians and other experts who have raised these concerns and putting evidence-based safety measures into law to make e-bikes safer for young riders, pedestrians and everyone on the road.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a statement, Dr. René Bravo, president of the California Medical Association, thanked Berman and Wilson for “listening to the physicians and other experts who have raised these concerns and putting evidence-based safety measures into law to make e-bikes safer for young riders, pedestrians and everyone on the road.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills regulating the most dangerous devices and allowing a pilot ban on youth e-bike riding in San Mateo County.",
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"title": "California Cracks Down on E-Motos, Youth E-Bike Riders With New Laws | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed three laws on Wednesday aimed at addressing some of the most pressing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050242/marin-moves-forward-with-ban-on-some-e-bikes-for-youth-as-research-into-safety-continues\">safety concerns\u003c/a> surrounding e-bikes, as the devices’ popularity continues to rise in California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SB 1167 prohibits any electric device capable of traveling faster than 20 mph with a throttle or 28 mph with a pedal assist — California’s existing speed limits for e-bikes — from being sold or advertised as an e-bike. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The new law groups those devices into the “moped” or “motor-driven cycle” category in the state’s vehicle code, depending on their maximum speed and requires riders to have the necessary vehicle registration and license to operate them. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Regulating those faster devices was a top legislative priority for Streets for All, a California transportation and land use advocacy organization, said Marc Vukcevich, the group’s director of state policy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12051115\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/250724-MARIN-EBIKES-MD-01-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A young person rides an e-bike through Mill Valley on July 24, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“While legal e-bikes themselves may not be perfect, the thing we know we need to address are these illegal devices that are making e-bikes and e-bike riders look really bad,” Vukcevich said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A December 2025 \u003ca href=\"https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/2423-Agrawal-Electric-Bicycle-Safety-Data-Policy.pdf\">report \u003c/a>by San José State University’s Mineta Transportation Institute found it was highly likely that many injury crashes thought to involve e-bikes actually involve e-motorcycles and e-mopeds. The report also found that data on specifically which kinds of bikes are involved in crashes is commonly incomplete, making data-based policymaking more difficult. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, SB 1167’s author, said the legislation “ensures that consumers know if they are buying an e-bike or something else that goes much faster and carries greater risk.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2027, requires manufacturers, importers and sellers of devices faster than e-bikes to provide a disclosure informing consumers that the device is in fact, considered a motor vehicle in California. It also beefs up reporting requirements on specifically what types of devices are involved in a crash. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>E-bikes in California are regulated as \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070694/these-bay-area-researchers-say-the-e-bike-problem-may-be-an-e-moto-problem\">Class I, Class II or Class III devices\u003c/a>, depending on the maximum speed a motor provides assistance and how the motor assists the rider. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The devices are an increasingly popular way for Californians to navigate a variety of environments, from suburban sprawl to dense urban cores. E-bike sales accounted for 7% of the U.S. bike market — or nearly a million sales — in 2024, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/e-bike-market-bigger-than-numbers-show\">People for Bikes\u003c/a>, the trade organization for the U.S. bicycle industry. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the rise in popularity in California has also brought a jump in serious crashes, especially involving youth. A July \u003ca href=\"https://today.ucsd.edu/story/uc-san-diego-study-finds-an-exponential-increase-in-e-bike-injuries-in-california\">study\u003c/a> from UC San Diego found that California recorded just two e-bike injuries in 2018, a number that jumped to just over 1,500 in 2024. The study found that e-bike riders with moderate to severe injuries were more likely to be children ages 14 and younger. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In enacting legislation, lawmakers and advocates have tried to walk a tightrope between promoting e-bikes, an active transportation mode that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and traffic, while responding to health risks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12036523\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/240823-ValenciaTelegraphBikeLanes-33-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A bicyclist rides on the Valencia Street center running bike lane in San Francisco’s Mission District on Aug. 23, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Another e-bike bill signed by Newsom allows municipalities in San Mateo County to prohibit children under 12 from riding a class I or II e-bike, which have a maximum assisted speed of 20 mph, until Jan. 1, 2031. The bill mirrors similar pilot programs previously approved by the Legislature in Marin and San Diego counties, which also set minimum age requirements for certain classes of e-bikes. State law already prohibits children under 16 from riding a class III e-bike.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The bill gives each local authority in San Mateo County the option to enact the pilot in its jurisdiction. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Foster City Councilmember Stacy Jimenez said she was looking forward to “bringing this tool to Foster City.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Success doesn’t mean fewer kids riding bikes — it means more kids riding and riding safely, and AB 2595 will help cities and our county do that,” Jimenez said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Marin has reported a \u003ca href=\"https://www.marincounty.gov/news-releases/e-bike-safety-remains-forefront-marin\">reduction\u003c/a> in youth e-bike crashes since enacting its pilot, which bans children under 16 from riding class II e-bikes. But the county said the e-bike accident rate for children aged 10-15 remains nearly four times higher than other age groups. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Noelia Corzo, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, said there were “valid concerns in terms of public health and street safety,” but she wouldn’t support enacting the pilot in the county’s unincorporated areas. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Corzo said she thought the right solutions were to invest more in safe street infrastructure to help prevent collisions with cars and other vehicles. She also expressed concern about how the law would be enforced. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“How is a police officer going to know if someone is younger than 12?” she said. “The only way is to stop children and ask them, and that’s not an action I feel comfortable with taking place en masse.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The pilot would authorize police officers to issue a fine of $25 to any underage riders 60 days after the law comes into effect.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom also signed AB 2346, from state Assemblymembers Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, and Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, which requires Class II e-bikes sold after Jan. 1, 2029, to be equipped with a speedometer. The bill also sets a 10 mph speed limit for sidewalk riding. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a statement, Dr. René Bravo, president of the California Medical Association, thanked Berman and Wilson for “listening to the physicians and other experts who have raised these concerns and putting evidence-based safety measures into law to make e-bikes safer for young riders, pedestrians and everyone on the road.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "newsom-signs-slate-of-ai-workplace-laws-barring-robo-bosses-and-surveillance",
"title": "Newsom Signs Slate of AI Workplace Laws, Barring ‘Robo Bosses’ and Surveillance",
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"headTitle": "Newsom Signs Slate of AI Workplace Laws, Barring ‘Robo Bosses’ and Surveillance | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bevy of laws on Wednesday aimed at protecting California workers from the threats of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/category/technology\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> in the workplace, guarding against automated job loss and surveillance.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The laws prohibit employers from using automated systems to fire or discipline employees — so-called “robo bosses” — as well as from monitoring employees in restrooms. They also restrict the use of AI to read workers’ emotions or collect their neural data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Democratic governor, who has hinted at a presidential run in 2028, also signed an executive order requiring state agencies to continue to refer to the technology as “artificial intelligence” — instead of “Super Intelligence,” the term President Donald Trump recently ordered federal officials to use.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“AI should expand opportunity — not come at the expense of workers and families,” Newsom said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/30/californias-nation-leading-ai-framework-just-got-stronger-governor-newsom-signs-more-first-in-the-nation-worker-protections-and-more/\">statement\u003c/a>. “As this technology reshapes the workplace, California is putting people at the center.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Labor unions sounded a triumphant note.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12030646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie speaks at the opening of the new OpenAI headquarters in Mission Bay in San Francisco on March 10, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Governor Newsom has shown the country how we can begin to put guardrails on AI at work to ensure human control over this technology, limit surveillance, and put workers first,” said Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, in a statement. “California’s workers and our unions have changed the national narrative on how Americans can fight back and win against AI taking over our jobs and workplaces.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nurses also celebrated the enactment of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1979\">AB 1979\u003c/a>, a law that bars health care entities from using AI to replace the clinical judgment of licensed professionals.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We stood up and said that A.I. must support, not replace, the clinical judgement of the nurses and other health care professionals who care for our patients,” wrote Sandy Reding, RN and president of California Nurses Association in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/nurses-celebrate-historic-victory-as-gov-newsom-signs-landmark-ai-protection-into-law\">press release\u003c/a>. The law also limits AI to an advisory role and extends medical confidentiality protections to health chatbots.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After vetoing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097632/chatbots-data-centers-and-surveillance-5-silicon-valley-bills-land-on-newsoms-desk\">a previous version\u003c/a> of the “robo bosses” legislation last year, Newsom signed a narrower version in \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB947\">SB 947\u003c/a>, which takes effect in July of 2027. Meant to counter the “boss-ware” software surging in popularity, the law requires a human to corroborate firing or disciplinary decisions, and workers must be told when such a system was used.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We need to put a floor and put a marker out there that AI systems really shouldn’t be controlling human society. And this is the one way that it can happen,” said state Sen. Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, the bill’s author. “Nobody wants to be fired by a machine.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Notably left out of the SB 947 party: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094475/uber-lyft-drivers-prepared-to-form-union\">rideshare drivers\u003c/a>, who are classified as independent contractors under Proposition 22. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Rideshare drivers have been living with AI and algorithmic management long before most workers ever heard those terms,” wrote Nicole Moore, president of Rideshare Drivers United. “An algorithm decides what work we get, what we are paid, how our performance is judged, and too often whether we can work at all.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Looking ahead to the day when autonomous vehicles replace human drivers, Moore said, “Our skills and experience have been turned into data that is now helping power autonomous vehicle technology, without drivers being compensated for the value we helped create or having any meaningful say over how that data is used.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED reached out to Uber, Lyft and the California Chamber of Commerce, but did not hear back by publication time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The laws were signed as the Federal Trade Commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ftc-opens-investigation-of-anthropic-and-openai-a317b617\">investigates\u003c/a> San Francisco-based Anthropic and OpenAI to determine whether they misled consumers about potential harms from their technology, according to the \u003cem>Wall Street Journal\u003c/em>. An FTC spokesperson confirmed the investigation but declined to provide details.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled-e1764810192572.jpg\" alt=\"A close-up shot of a black vehicle with a pink Lyft sticker and a black-and-white Uber sticker on the left side of its windshield. The vehicle sits idle, waiting to pick up a customer.\" class=\"wp-image-11944379\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A rideshare vehicle with Uber and Lyft stickers displayed on its windshield. (Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the larger context suggests federal lawmakers and the White House have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102152/experts-urge-federal-lawmakers-to-regulate-ai-will-anyone-heed-their-alarm\">ceded the field\u003c/a> of regulation to Silicon Valley companies: Congress has not passed comprehensive federal AI regulations at a time when industry leaders are warning about the technology’s risks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the start of the president’s second term, DOGE — the short-lived initiative run by Elon Musk — explicitly used algorithmic tools to identify and terminate employees. Probationary workers were fired via identical template letters generated without individual review.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And on Tuesday, Trump announced that top tech leaders signed a voluntary accord to “self-police” AI development. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom criticized Trump’s industry-friendly inaction at an hourlong event with reporters on Wednesday, the governor’s last day to sign or veto bills before he terms out in January.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He also had harsh words specifically for Trump’s self-regulation accord. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That should scare the hell out of everybody,” \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/2105377762823573954?s=20\">Newsom said\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">AI in the workplace: Signed Sept. 30\u003c/h3>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>SB 947\u003c/strong> (McNerney): employers can’t rely solely on an automated decision system to discipline or fire workers. A human has to corroborate the decision, and workers have to be told. Takes effect July 1, 2027.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>SB 951\u003c/strong> (Reyes): employers must give notice when AI causes a mass layoff, relocation or termination. The Transparency Coalition reports a 60-day notice when 25% or more of a workforce is displaced. It also directs the EDD to study AI’s effect on hiring and the workforce.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>AB 1331\u003c/strong> (Elhawary): bans workplace surveillance tools in workplace bathrooms.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>AB 1883\u003c/strong> (Bryan): restricts AI-powered workplace surveillance, including tools that infer workers’ emotional states or collect neural data.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>AB 1979\u003c/strong> (Bonta): AI can’t replace the clinical judgment of licensed health care professionals and stays advisory. It also extends medical confidentiality to health chatbots.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">AI in the workplace: Vetoed Sept. 30\u003c/h3>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>AB 2656\u003c/strong> (Petrie-Norris): would have required notice to public employees when AI performs work within the scope of their jobs. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>AB 2575\u003c/strong> (Ortega): would have barred health care employers from retaliating against nurses and other workers who override AI recommendations they judge unsafe and would have kept AI developers and health care entities from shifting liability for harm caused by their tools onto those workers.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Signed earlier\u003c/h3>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SB 1050: disclosure of AI-generated performers\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SB 928: AI can’t replace CSU faculty\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>AB 2148: public school staff must be people\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>AB 1609: a good-faith effort to connect customers to a human within 15 minutes\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The laws prohibit employers from using automated systems to fire or discipline employees — so-called “robo bosses” — as well as from monitoring employees in restrooms. They also restrict the use of AI to read workers’ emotions or collect their neural data.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The laws prohibit employers from using automated systems to fire or discipline employees — so-called “robo bosses” — as well as from monitoring employees in restrooms. They also restrict the use of AI to read workers’ emotions or collect their neural data.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Democratic governor, who has hinted at a presidential run in 2028, also signed an executive order requiring state agencies to continue to refer to the technology as “artificial intelligence” — instead of “Super Intelligence,” the term President Donald Trump recently ordered federal officials to use.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Democratic governor, who has hinted at a presidential run in 2028, also signed an executive order requiring state agencies to continue to refer to the technology as “artificial intelligence” — instead of “Super Intelligence,” the term President Donald Trump recently ordered federal officials to use.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“AI should expand opportunity — not come at the expense of workers and families,” Newsom said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/30/californias-nation-leading-ai-framework-just-got-stronger-governor-newsom-signs-more-first-in-the-nation-worker-protections-and-more/\">statement\u003c/a>. “As this technology reshapes the workplace, California is putting people at the center.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“AI should expand opportunity — not come at the expense of workers and families,” Newsom said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/30/californias-nation-leading-ai-framework-just-got-stronger-governor-newsom-signs-more-first-in-the-nation-worker-protections-and-more/\">statement\u003c/a>. “As this technology reshapes the workplace, California is putting people at the center.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Governor Newsom has shown the country how we can begin to put guardrails on AI at work to ensure human control over this technology, limit surveillance, and put workers first,” said Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, in a statement. “California’s workers and our unions have changed the national narrative on how Americans can fight back and win against AI taking over our jobs and workplaces.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nurses also celebrated the enactment of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1979\">AB 1979\u003c/a>, a law that bars health care entities from using AI to replace the clinical judgment of licensed professionals.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nurses also celebrated the enactment of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1979\">AB 1979\u003c/a>, a law that bars health care entities from using AI to replace the clinical judgment of licensed professionals.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We stood up and said that A.I. must support, not replace, the clinical judgement of the nurses and other health care professionals who care for our patients,” wrote Sandy Reding, RN and president of California Nurses Association in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/nurses-celebrate-historic-victory-as-gov-newsom-signs-landmark-ai-protection-into-law\">press release\u003c/a>. The law also limits AI to an advisory role and extends medical confidentiality protections to health chatbots.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We stood up and said that A.I. must support, not replace, the clinical judgement of the nurses and other health care professionals who care for our patients,” wrote Sandy Reding, RN and president of California Nurses Association in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/nurses-celebrate-historic-victory-as-gov-newsom-signs-landmark-ai-protection-into-law\">press release\u003c/a>. The law also limits AI to an advisory role and extends medical confidentiality protections to health chatbots.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After vetoing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097632/chatbots-data-centers-and-surveillance-5-silicon-valley-bills-land-on-newsoms-desk\">a previous version\u003c/a> of the “robo bosses” legislation last year, Newsom signed a narrower version in \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB947\">SB 947\u003c/a>, which takes effect in July of 2027. Meant to counter the “boss-ware” software surging in popularity, the law requires a human to corroborate firing or disciplinary decisions, and workers must be told when such a system was used.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>After vetoing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097632/chatbots-data-centers-and-surveillance-5-silicon-valley-bills-land-on-newsoms-desk\">a previous version\u003c/a> of the “robo bosses” legislation last year, Newsom signed a narrower version in \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB947\">SB 947\u003c/a>, which takes effect in July of 2027. Meant to counter the “boss-ware” software surging in popularity, the law requires a human to corroborate firing or disciplinary decisions, and workers must be told when such a system was used.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We need to put a floor and put a marker out there that AI systems really shouldn’t be controlling human society. And this is the one way that it can happen,” said state Sen. Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, the bill’s author. “Nobody wants to be fired by a machine.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Notably left out of the SB 947 party: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094475/uber-lyft-drivers-prepared-to-form-union\">rideshare drivers\u003c/a>, who are classified as independent contractors under Proposition 22. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Notably left out of the SB 947 party: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094475/uber-lyft-drivers-prepared-to-form-union\">rideshare drivers\u003c/a>, who are classified as independent contractors under Proposition 22. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Rideshare drivers have been living with AI and algorithmic management long before most workers ever heard those terms,” wrote Nicole Moore, president of Rideshare Drivers United. “An algorithm decides what work we get, what we are paid, how our performance is judged, and too often whether we can work at all.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Rideshare drivers have been living with AI and algorithmic management long before most workers ever heard those terms,” wrote Nicole Moore, president of Rideshare Drivers United. “An algorithm decides what work we get, what we are paid, how our performance is judged, and too often whether we can work at all.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Looking ahead to the day when autonomous vehicles replace human drivers, Moore said, “Our skills and experience have been turned into data that is now helping power autonomous vehicle technology, without drivers being compensated for the value we helped create or having any meaningful say over how that data is used.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Looking ahead to the day when autonomous vehicles replace human drivers, Moore said, “Our skills and experience have been turned into data that is now helping power autonomous vehicle technology, without drivers being compensated for the value we helped create or having any meaningful say over how that data is used.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED reached out to Uber, Lyft and the California Chamber of Commerce, but did not hear back by publication time.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The laws were signed as the Federal Trade Commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ftc-opens-investigation-of-anthropic-and-openai-a317b617\">investigates\u003c/a> San Francisco-based Anthropic and OpenAI to determine whether they misled consumers about potential harms from their technology, according to the \u003cem>Wall Street Journal\u003c/em>. An FTC spokesperson confirmed the investigation but declined to provide details.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The laws were signed as the Federal Trade Commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ftc-opens-investigation-of-anthropic-and-openai-a317b617\">investigates\u003c/a> San Francisco-based Anthropic and OpenAI to determine whether they misled consumers about potential harms from their technology, according to the \u003cem>Wall Street Journal\u003c/em>. An FTC spokesperson confirmed the investigation but declined to provide details.\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "The package of new labor-backed California laws limits how employers use AI and strengthens worker protections. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bevy of laws on Wednesday aimed at protecting California workers from the threats of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/category/technology\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> in the workplace, guarding against automated job loss and surveillance.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The laws prohibit employers from using automated systems to fire or discipline employees — so-called “robo bosses” — as well as from monitoring employees in restrooms. They also restrict the use of AI to read workers’ emotions or collect their neural data.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Democratic governor, who has hinted at a presidential run in 2028, also signed an executive order requiring state agencies to continue to refer to the technology as “artificial intelligence” — instead of “Super Intelligence,” the term President Donald Trump recently ordered federal officials to use.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“AI should expand opportunity — not come at the expense of workers and families,” Newsom said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/30/californias-nation-leading-ai-framework-just-got-stronger-governor-newsom-signs-more-first-in-the-nation-worker-protections-and-more/\">statement\u003c/a>. “As this technology reshapes the workplace, California is putting people at the center.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Labor unions sounded a triumphant note.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12030646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/250310-TRUMP-SF-MD-06-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie speaks at the opening of the new OpenAI headquarters in Mission Bay in San Francisco on March 10, 2025. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Governor Newsom has shown the country how we can begin to put guardrails on AI at work to ensure human control over this technology, limit surveillance, and put workers first,” said Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, in a statement. “California’s workers and our unions have changed the national narrative on how Americans can fight back and win against AI taking over our jobs and workplaces.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nurses also celebrated the enactment of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1979\">AB 1979\u003c/a>, a law that bars health care entities from using AI to replace the clinical judgment of licensed professionals.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We stood up and said that A.I. must support, not replace, the clinical judgement of the nurses and other health care professionals who care for our patients,” wrote Sandy Reding, RN and president of California Nurses Association in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/nurses-celebrate-historic-victory-as-gov-newsom-signs-landmark-ai-protection-into-law\">press release\u003c/a>. The law also limits AI to an advisory role and extends medical confidentiality protections to health chatbots.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>After vetoing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097632/chatbots-data-centers-and-surveillance-5-silicon-valley-bills-land-on-newsoms-desk\">a previous version\u003c/a> of the “robo bosses” legislation last year, Newsom signed a narrower version in \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB947\">SB 947\u003c/a>, which takes effect in July of 2027. Meant to counter the “boss-ware” software surging in popularity, the law requires a human to corroborate firing or disciplinary decisions, and workers must be told when such a system was used.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We need to put a floor and put a marker out there that AI systems really shouldn’t be controlling human society. And this is the one way that it can happen,” said state Sen. Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, the bill’s author. “Nobody wants to be fired by a machine.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Notably left out of the SB 947 party: \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12094475/uber-lyft-drivers-prepared-to-form-union\">rideshare drivers\u003c/a>, who are classified as independent contractors under Proposition 22. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Rideshare drivers have been living with AI and algorithmic management long before most workers ever heard those terms,” wrote Nicole Moore, president of Rideshare Drivers United. “An algorithm decides what work we get, what we are paid, how our performance is judged, and too often whether we can work at all.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Looking ahead to the day when autonomous vehicles replace human drivers, Moore said, “Our skills and experience have been turned into data that is now helping power autonomous vehicle technology, without drivers being compensated for the value we helped create or having any meaningful say over how that data is used.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED reached out to Uber, Lyft and the California Chamber of Commerce, but did not hear back by publication time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The laws were signed as the Federal Trade Commission \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ftc-opens-investigation-of-anthropic-and-openai-a317b617\">investigates\u003c/a> San Francisco-based Anthropic and OpenAI to determine whether they misled consumers about potential harms from their technology, according to the \u003cem>Wall Street Journal\u003c/em>. An FTC spokesperson confirmed the investigation but declined to provide details.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled-e1764810192572.jpg\" alt=\"A close-up shot of a black vehicle with a pink Lyft sticker and a black-and-white Uber sticker on the left side of its windshield. The vehicle sits idle, waiting to pick up a customer.\" class=\"wp-image-11944379\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A rideshare vehicle with Uber and Lyft stickers displayed on its windshield. (Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>But the larger context suggests federal lawmakers and the White House have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102152/experts-urge-federal-lawmakers-to-regulate-ai-will-anyone-heed-their-alarm\">ceded the field\u003c/a> of regulation to Silicon Valley companies: Congress has not passed comprehensive federal AI regulations at a time when industry leaders are warning about the technology’s risks. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At the start of the president’s second term, DOGE — the short-lived initiative run by Elon Musk — explicitly used algorithmic tools to identify and terminate employees. Probationary workers were fired via identical template letters generated without individual review.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And on Tuesday, Trump announced that top tech leaders signed a voluntary accord to “self-police” AI development. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom criticized Trump’s industry-friendly inaction at an hourlong event with reporters on Wednesday, the governor’s last day to sign or veto bills before he terms out in January.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He also had harsh words specifically for Trump’s self-regulation accord. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That should scare the hell out of everybody,” \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/GovPressOffice/status/2105377762823573954?s=20\">Newsom said\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">AI in the workplace: Signed Sept. 30\u003c/h3>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>SB 947\u003c/strong> (McNerney): employers can’t rely solely on an automated decision system to discipline or fire workers. A human has to corroborate the decision, and workers have to be told. Takes effect July 1, 2027.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>SB 951\u003c/strong> (Reyes): employers must give notice when AI causes a mass layoff, relocation or termination. The Transparency Coalition reports a 60-day notice when 25% or more of a workforce is displaced. It also directs the EDD to study AI’s effect on hiring and the workforce.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>AB 1331\u003c/strong> (Elhawary): bans workplace surveillance tools in workplace bathrooms.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>AB 1883\u003c/strong> (Bryan): restricts AI-powered workplace surveillance, including tools that infer workers’ emotional states or collect neural data.\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>AB 1979\u003c/strong> (Bonta): AI can’t replace the clinical judgment of licensed health care professionals and stays advisory. It also extends medical confidentiality to health chatbots.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">AI in the workplace: Vetoed Sept. 30\u003c/h3>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>AB 2656\u003c/strong> (Petrie-Norris): would have required notice to public employees when AI performs work within the scope of their jobs. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>AB 2575\u003c/strong> (Ortega): would have barred health care employers from retaliating against nurses and other workers who override AI recommendations they judge unsafe and would have kept AI developers and health care entities from shifting liability for harm caused by their tools onto those workers.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Signed earlier\u003c/h3>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SB 1050: disclosure of AI-generated performers\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>SB 928: AI can’t replace CSU faculty\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>AB 2148: public school staff must be people\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>AB 1609: a good-faith effort to connect customers to a human within 15 minutes\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "newsom-signs-bills-to-rein-in-trump-immigration-efforts",
"title": "Newsom Signs Bills to Rein In Trump Immigration Efforts",
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"headTitle": "Newsom Signs Bills to Rein In Trump Immigration Efforts | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a slate of 21 bills on Tuesday \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097637/lawmakers-send-immigration-detention-bills-to-gov-newsom\">aimed at increasing oversight\u003c/a> of federal immigration detention and reining in what he called the “Orwellian” tactics of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The enactment of the new laws comes as immigration arrests have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097313/northern-california-ice-arrests-surged-this-summer\">soared to new levels\u003c/a>, with nearly 50,000 arrests nationwide in July. California had the third-highest number of those arrests, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has recently expanded detention capacity in the state as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to achieve “mass deportation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/29/governor-newsom-signs-bills-to-push-back-on-trumps-orwellian-immigration-tactics-to-protect-immigrant-communities/\">wide-ranging laws\u003c/a>, authored by Democrats from across the state, included measures to restrict law enforcement use of electroshock gloves, masks and flash-bang grenades, enable individuals to sue federal officials in state court over rights violations and require local agencies to release 911 call records originating from ICE facilities.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Several bills focused on expanding the state’s power to enforce health and safety standards in immigration detention, restrict construction of new detention centers and tax private detention facilities.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101938\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026. (Blake Fagan/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>In his signing statement, Newsom noted that the underlying authority for immigration enforcement lies with the federal government. But he insisted that facilities in California are subject to the state’s standards and oversight. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Trump has put his political interests above the health, safety and livelihood of American families,” Newsom said. “California is taking action to strengthen transparency, accountability, and oversight around immigration enforcement in our state. This is about stepping up where the federal government has failed our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At a time when the number of people who died in ICE custody hit a two-decade high last year and continues to surge, legal watchdogs are raising alarms about the conditions inside the eight immigration jails in California. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of the new laws, SB 942, authored by Central Valley Sen. Ana Caballero, creates a bill of rights for people in all forms of civil custody in California, including immigration detention. It establishes minimum standards for medical care, food, water, sanitation, religious practice, contact with family and access to legal counsel. And it gives the state attorney general new powers to enforce those standards.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hamid Yazdan Panah, co-director of Immigrant Defense Advocates, called it a “first of its kind” law.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“California in many ways is leading the nation when it comes to pushing the envelope in terms of protecting the health and safety of immigrants in detention,” he said. “For years, we’ve passed bills that have been the first of their kind in the entire country and other states have followed suit and taken inspiration from those bills. This year is no different.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Attorney General Rob Bonta co-sponsored that bill with Immigrant Defense Advocates in conjunction with another bill that extends existing state inspections of ICE facilities. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Here in California, we know our diversity is our strength. There is no room in California for President Trump’s hateful mass deportation and detention agenda,” Bonta said in a statement. “We will continue to fight to provide immigrants with the rights, necessities, and respect that they deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Neither Core Civic nor GEO Group, the largest private prison companies operating ICE detention in California, responded to KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Advocates who work with California immigrant families applauded the legislature and the governor for backing new legal protections at a time when fear is coursing through immigrant communities — even for individuals who have lawful status or have lived in the U.S. for decades.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Todd Benson, executive director of the multi-denominational community organization Faith in Action East Bay, credited the grassroots efforts of his members and others, who met with lawmakers and wrote letters to the governor, for the passage of the bills.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’ve all seen examples of the brutality of ICE agents. This goes against our faith values,” he said. “We believe that all human beings have dignity and should be treated with dignity and respect.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said increasing ICE arrests unnecessarily separate families and traumatize California children, and inhumane conditions in detention appear to be a “deliberate effort to get people to self deport.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A bill from San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney will impose a 25% tax on the gross income of for-profit companies that operate immigration detention facilities — and put the money into a state fund to support immigration services.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12027566\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Assemblymember Matt Haney speaks during a press conference announcing legislation to increase nightlife in Downtown San Francisco to help the recovery of the neighborhood, in Union Square, San Francisco, on Feb. 18, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Masih Fouladi, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, called it a win for accountability. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“No one should profit from tearing families apart,” Fouladi said. “Private detention corporations make hundreds of millions of dollars every year in California by separating parents from their children and locking up our neighbors in inhumane conditions. AB 1633 makes them pay for the trauma and suffering they inflict.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He urged the governor to also sign a companion bill, AB 2465, that would bar private detention contractors from receiving state grants or loans.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The move to halt the use of electric shock gloves came as \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ice-electric-shock-gloves-immigration-680c6f8a96736f46529287178c57b44b\">ICE awarded a nearly $17 million contract\u003c/a> last month to purchase 6,000 pairs. California sheriffs and other law enforcement groups \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/08/california-ice-electric-shock-gloves/\">opposed the ban\u003c/a>, which they consider a “less lethal” de-escalation tool. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener celebrated the signing of his bill to bar law enforcement officers from wearing masks, as well as another, dubbed the “No Kings Act,” to allow people to sue in state court over allegations that immigration agents have violated their civil rights. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101942\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California State Senator Scott Weiner in Sacramento on May 15, 2017. (Bert Johnson/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>He said that’s needed because of cases across the country where immigration agents have violently pulled people from their cars and homes, and have fatally shot both immigrants and U.S. citizens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ICE and Border Patrol have terrorized California communities with impunity. That ends today,” Wiener said. “When federal agents act lawlessly, they should be held accountable the same as any other lawbreaker.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener’s office said they expect a few individuals to file suit shortly under the new law, which takes effect immediately and applies to incidents going back to March 2025. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, legal analysts expect the Trump administration to challenge a number of the new laws in court. Kevin Johnson, an emeritus professor at the UC Davis School of Law, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-gloves-shock-law-newsom-bill-91b68ae4fbd44065256fb5e6b06891ad\">told the Associated Press\u003c/a> that courts are likely to rule that the state cannot bar federal officers from wearing shock gloves or face coverings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The state has very limited, if any, powers in dictating to the federal government how its officers are armed,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A few measures passed by the legislature were not among the 21 bills signed. They included a bill — vetoed by Newsom on Sunday night — that would have fortified a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101563/newsom-vetoes-bill-to-fund-immigration-attorneys-in-rural-california\">pipeline of new immigration lawyers\u003c/a> to work in rural parts of California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Also not signed were bills to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb941\">cap at 35% the markup private facilities can charge \u003c/a>detainees for commissary items, and the one to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2465\">bar private detention contractors\u003c/a> from receiving state grants. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom has until midnight on Sep. 30 to act on the remaining bills on his desk, in his last year as California’s governor.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a slate of 21 bills on Tuesday \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097637/lawmakers-send-immigration-detention-bills-to-gov-newsom\">aimed at increasing oversight\u003c/a> of federal immigration detention and reining in what he called the “Orwellian” tactics of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The enactment of the new laws comes as immigration arrests have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097313/northern-california-ice-arrests-surged-this-summer\">soared to new levels\u003c/a>, with nearly 50,000 arrests nationwide in July. California had the third-highest number of those arrests, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has recently expanded detention capacity in the state as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to achieve “mass deportation.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/29/governor-newsom-signs-bills-to-push-back-on-trumps-orwellian-immigration-tactics-to-protect-immigrant-communities/\">wide-ranging laws\u003c/a>, authored by Democrats from across the state, included measures to restrict law enforcement use of electroshock gloves, masks and flash-bang grenades, enable individuals to sue federal officials in state court over rights violations and require local agencies to release 911 call records originating from ICE facilities.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/29/governor-newsom-signs-bills-to-push-back-on-trumps-orwellian-immigration-tactics-to-protect-immigrant-communities/\">wide-ranging laws\u003c/a>, authored by Democrats from across the state, included measures to restrict law enforcement use of electroshock gloves, masks and flash-bang grenades, enable individuals to sue federal officials in state court over rights violations and require local agencies to release 911 call records originating from ICE facilities.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Several bills focused on expanding the state’s power to enforce health and safety standards in immigration detention, restrict construction of new detention centers and tax private detention facilities.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Several bills focused on expanding the state’s power to enforce health and safety standards in immigration detention, restrict construction of new detention centers and tax private detention facilities.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101938\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Blake Fagan/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101938\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Blake Fagan/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In his signing statement, Newsom noted that the underlying authority for immigration enforcement lies with the federal government. But he insisted that facilities in California are subject to the state’s standards and oversight. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Trump has put his political interests above the health, safety and livelihood of American families,” Newsom said. “California is taking action to strengthen transparency, accountability, and oversight around immigration enforcement in our state. This is about stepping up where the federal government has failed our communities.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Trump has put his political interests above the health, safety and livelihood of American families,” Newsom said. “California is taking action to strengthen transparency, accountability, and oversight around immigration enforcement in our state. This is about stepping up where the federal government has failed our communities.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At a time when the number of people who died in ICE custody hit a two-decade high last year and continues to surge, legal watchdogs are raising alarms about the conditions inside the eight immigration jails in California. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At a time when the number of people who died in ICE custody hit a two-decade high last year and continues to surge, legal watchdogs are raising alarms about the conditions inside the eight immigration jails in California. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One of the new laws, SB 942, authored by Central Valley Sen. Ana Caballero, creates a bill of rights for people in all forms of civil custody in California, including immigration detention. It establishes minimum standards for medical care, food, water, sanitation, religious practice, contact with family and access to legal counsel. And it gives the state attorney general new powers to enforce those standards.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Hamid Yazdan Panah, co-director of Immigrant Defense Advocates, called it a “first of its kind” law.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“California in many ways is leading the nation when it comes to pushing the envelope in terms of protecting the health and safety of immigrants in detention,” he said. “For years, we’ve passed bills that have been the first of their kind in the entire country and other states have followed suit and taken inspiration from those bills. This year is no different.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“California in many ways is leading the nation when it comes to pushing the envelope in terms of protecting the health and safety of immigrants in detention,” he said. “For years, we’ve passed bills that have been the first of their kind in the entire country and other states have followed suit and taken inspiration from those bills. This year is no different.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Attorney General Rob Bonta co-sponsored that bill with Immigrant Defense Advocates in conjunction with another bill that extends existing state inspections of ICE facilities. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Here in California, we know our diversity is our strength. There is no room in California for President Trump’s hateful mass deportation and detention agenda,” Bonta said in a statement. “We will continue to fight to provide immigrants with the rights, necessities, and respect that they deserve.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Here in California, we know our diversity is our strength. There is no room in California for President Trump’s hateful mass deportation and detention agenda,” Bonta said in a statement. “We will continue to fight to provide immigrants with the rights, necessities, and respect that they deserve.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Neither Core Civic nor GEO Group, the largest private prison companies operating ICE detention in California, responded to KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Neither Core Civic nor GEO Group, the largest private prison companies operating ICE detention in California, responded to KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Advocates who work with California immigrant families applauded the legislature and the governor for backing new legal protections at a time when fear is coursing through immigrant communities — even for individuals who have lawful status or have lived in the U.S. for decades.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Todd Benson, executive director of the multi-denominational community organization Faith in Action East Bay, credited the grassroots efforts of his members and others, who met with lawmakers and wrote letters to the governor, for the passage of the bills.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We’ve all seen examples of the brutality of ICE agents. This goes against our faith values,” he said. “We believe that all human beings have dignity and should be treated with dignity and respect.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We’ve all seen examples of the brutality of ICE agents. This goes against our faith values,” he said. “We believe that all human beings have dignity and should be treated with dignity and respect.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He said increasing ICE arrests unnecessarily separate families and traumatize California children, and inhumane conditions in detention appear to be a “deliberate effort to get people to self deport.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A bill from San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney will impose a 25% tax on the gross income of for-profit companies that operate immigration detention facilities — and put the money into a state fund to support immigration services.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A bill from San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney will impose a 25% tax on the gross income of for-profit companies that operate immigration detention facilities — and put the money into a state fund to support immigration services.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12027566\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Assemblymember Matt Haney speaks during a press conference announcing legislation to increase nightlife in Downtown San Francisco to help the recovery of the neighborhood, in Union Square, San Francisco, on Feb. 18, 2025.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Masih Fouladi, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, called it a win for accountability. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“No one should profit from tearing families apart,” Fouladi said. “Private detention corporations make hundreds of millions of dollars every year in California by separating parents from their children and locking up our neighbors in inhumane conditions. AB 1633 makes them pay for the trauma and suffering they inflict.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“No one should profit from tearing families apart,” Fouladi said. “Private detention corporations make hundreds of millions of dollars every year in California by separating parents from their children and locking up our neighbors in inhumane conditions. AB 1633 makes them pay for the trauma and suffering they inflict.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He urged the governor to also sign a companion bill, AB 2465, that would bar private detention contractors from receiving state grants or loans.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The move to halt the use of electric shock gloves came as \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ice-electric-shock-gloves-immigration-680c6f8a96736f46529287178c57b44b\">ICE awarded a nearly $17 million contract\u003c/a> last month to purchase 6,000 pairs. California sheriffs and other law enforcement groups \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/08/california-ice-electric-shock-gloves/\">opposed the ban\u003c/a>, which they consider a “less lethal” de-escalation tool. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The move to halt the use of electric shock gloves came as \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ice-electric-shock-gloves-immigration-680c6f8a96736f46529287178c57b44b\">ICE awarded a nearly $17 million contract\u003c/a> last month to purchase 6,000 pairs. California sheriffs and other law enforcement groups \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/08/california-ice-electric-shock-gloves/\">opposed the ban\u003c/a>, which they consider a “less lethal” de-escalation tool. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener celebrated the signing of his bill to bar law enforcement officers from wearing masks, as well as another, dubbed the “No Kings Act,” to allow people to sue in state court over allegations that immigration agents have violated their civil rights. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener celebrated the signing of his bill to bar law enforcement officers from wearing masks, as well as another, dubbed the “No Kings Act,” to allow people to sue in state court over allegations that immigration agents have violated their civil rights. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101942\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California State Senator Scott Weiner in Sacramento on May 15, 2017.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Bert Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He said that’s needed because of cases across the country where immigration agents have violently pulled people from their cars and homes, and have fatally shot both immigrants and U.S. citizens.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“ICE and Border Patrol have terrorized California communities with impunity. That ends today,” Wiener said. “When federal agents act lawlessly, they should be held accountable the same as any other lawbreaker.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“ICE and Border Patrol have terrorized California communities with impunity. That ends today,” Wiener said. “When federal agents act lawlessly, they should be held accountable the same as any other lawbreaker.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Wiener’s office said they expect a few individuals to file suit shortly under the new law, which takes effect immediately and applies to incidents going back to March 2025. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, legal analysts expect the Trump administration to challenge a number of the new laws in court. Kevin Johnson, an emeritus professor at the UC Davis School of Law, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-gloves-shock-law-newsom-bill-91b68ae4fbd44065256fb5e6b06891ad\">told the Associated Press\u003c/a> that courts are likely to rule that the state cannot bar federal officers from wearing shock gloves or face coverings.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, legal analysts expect the Trump administration to challenge a number of the new laws in court. Kevin Johnson, an emeritus professor at the UC Davis School of Law, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-gloves-shock-law-newsom-bill-91b68ae4fbd44065256fb5e6b06891ad\">told the Associated Press\u003c/a> that courts are likely to rule that the state cannot bar federal officers from wearing shock gloves or face coverings.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The state has very limited, if any, powers in dictating to the federal government how its officers are armed,” he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A few measures passed by the legislature were not among the 21 bills signed. They included a bill — vetoed by Newsom on Sunday night — that would have fortified a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101563/newsom-vetoes-bill-to-fund-immigration-attorneys-in-rural-california\">pipeline of new immigration lawyers\u003c/a> to work in rural parts of California.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A few measures passed by the legislature were not among the 21 bills signed. They included a bill — vetoed by Newsom on Sunday night — that would have fortified a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101563/newsom-vetoes-bill-to-fund-immigration-attorneys-in-rural-california\">pipeline of new immigration lawyers\u003c/a> to work in rural parts of California.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Also not signed were bills to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb941\">cap at 35% the markup private facilities can charge \u003c/a>detainees for commissary items, and the one to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2465\">bar private detention contractors\u003c/a> from receiving state grants. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Also not signed were bills to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb941\">cap at 35% the markup private facilities can charge \u003c/a>detainees for commissary items, and the one to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2465\">bar private detention contractors\u003c/a> from receiving state grants. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Newsom has until midnight on Sep. 30 to act on the remaining bills on his desk, in his last year as California’s governor.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The governor signed more than 20 bills related to immigration.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a slate of 21 bills on Tuesday \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097637/lawmakers-send-immigration-detention-bills-to-gov-newsom\">aimed at increasing oversight\u003c/a> of federal immigration detention and reining in what he called the “Orwellian” tactics of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The enactment of the new laws comes as immigration arrests have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12097313/northern-california-ice-arrests-surged-this-summer\">soared to new levels\u003c/a>, with nearly 50,000 arrests nationwide in July. California had the third-highest number of those arrests, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has recently expanded detention capacity in the state as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to achieve “mass deportation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/09/29/governor-newsom-signs-bills-to-push-back-on-trumps-orwellian-immigration-tactics-to-protect-immigrant-communities/\">wide-ranging laws\u003c/a>, authored by Democrats from across the state, included measures to restrict law enforcement use of electroshock gloves, masks and flash-bang grenades, enable individuals to sue federal officials in state court over rights violations and require local agencies to release 911 call records originating from ICE facilities.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Several bills focused on expanding the state’s power to enforce health and safety standards in immigration detention, restrict construction of new detention centers and tax private detention facilities.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1706\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101938\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-2000x1333.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/GettyImages-2287296637-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, California, on July 27, 2026. (Blake Fagan/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>In his signing statement, Newsom noted that the underlying authority for immigration enforcement lies with the federal government. But he insisted that facilities in California are subject to the state’s standards and oversight. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Trump has put his political interests above the health, safety and livelihood of American families,” Newsom said. “California is taking action to strengthen transparency, accountability, and oversight around immigration enforcement in our state. This is about stepping up where the federal government has failed our communities.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>At a time when the number of people who died in ICE custody hit a two-decade high last year and continues to surge, legal watchdogs are raising alarms about the conditions inside the eight immigration jails in California. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>One of the new laws, SB 942, authored by Central Valley Sen. Ana Caballero, creates a bill of rights for people in all forms of civil custody in California, including immigration detention. It establishes minimum standards for medical care, food, water, sanitation, religious practice, contact with family and access to legal counsel. And it gives the state attorney general new powers to enforce those standards.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hamid Yazdan Panah, co-director of Immigrant Defense Advocates, called it a “first of its kind” law.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“California in many ways is leading the nation when it comes to pushing the envelope in terms of protecting the health and safety of immigrants in detention,” he said. “For years, we’ve passed bills that have been the first of their kind in the entire country and other states have followed suit and taken inspiration from those bills. This year is no different.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Attorney General Rob Bonta co-sponsored that bill with Immigrant Defense Advocates in conjunction with another bill that extends existing state inspections of ICE facilities. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Here in California, we know our diversity is our strength. There is no room in California for President Trump’s hateful mass deportation and detention agenda,” Bonta said in a statement. “We will continue to fight to provide immigrants with the rights, necessities, and respect that they deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Neither Core Civic nor GEO Group, the largest private prison companies operating ICE detention in California, responded to KQED’s request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Advocates who work with California immigrant families applauded the legislature and the governor for backing new legal protections at a time when fear is coursing through immigrant communities — even for individuals who have lawful status or have lived in the U.S. for decades.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Todd Benson, executive director of the multi-denominational community organization Faith in Action East Bay, credited the grassroots efforts of his members and others, who met with lawmakers and wrote letters to the governor, for the passage of the bills.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“We’ve all seen examples of the brutality of ICE agents. This goes against our faith values,” he said. “We believe that all human beings have dignity and should be treated with dignity and respect.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He said increasing ICE arrests unnecessarily separate families and traumatize California children, and inhumane conditions in detention appear to be a “deliberate effort to get people to self deport.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A bill from San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney will impose a 25% tax on the gross income of for-profit companies that operate immigration detention facilities — and put the money into a state fund to support immigration services.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12027566\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/250218-SFDowntown-14-BL-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Assemblymember Matt Haney speaks during a press conference announcing legislation to increase nightlife in Downtown San Francisco to help the recovery of the neighborhood, in Union Square, San Francisco, on Feb. 18, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Masih Fouladi, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, called it a win for accountability. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“No one should profit from tearing families apart,” Fouladi said. “Private detention corporations make hundreds of millions of dollars every year in California by separating parents from their children and locking up our neighbors in inhumane conditions. AB 1633 makes them pay for the trauma and suffering they inflict.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>He urged the governor to also sign a companion bill, AB 2465, that would bar private detention contractors from receiving state grants or loans.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The move to halt the use of electric shock gloves came as \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ice-electric-shock-gloves-immigration-680c6f8a96736f46529287178c57b44b\">ICE awarded a nearly $17 million contract\u003c/a> last month to purchase 6,000 pairs. California sheriffs and other law enforcement groups \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/08/california-ice-electric-shock-gloves/\">opposed the ban\u003c/a>, which they consider a “less lethal” de-escalation tool. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener celebrated the signing of his bill to bar law enforcement officers from wearing masks, as well as another, dubbed the “No Kings Act,” to allow people to sue in state court over allegations that immigration agents have violated their civil rights. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12101942\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/09/20170515_StateCapitol_Sen_ScottWeiner_credit_BertJohnson-2_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California State Senator Scott Weiner in Sacramento on May 15, 2017. (Bert Johnson/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp>He said that’s needed because of cases across the country where immigration agents have violently pulled people from their cars and homes, and have fatally shot both immigrants and U.S. citizens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“ICE and Border Patrol have terrorized California communities with impunity. That ends today,” Wiener said. “When federal agents act lawlessly, they should be held accountable the same as any other lawbreaker.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener’s office said they expect a few individuals to file suit shortly under the new law, which takes effect immediately and applies to incidents going back to March 2025. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, legal analysts expect the Trump administration to challenge a number of the new laws in court. Kevin Johnson, an emeritus professor at the UC Davis School of Law, \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-gloves-shock-law-newsom-bill-91b68ae4fbd44065256fb5e6b06891ad\">told the Associated Press\u003c/a> that courts are likely to rule that the state cannot bar federal officers from wearing shock gloves or face coverings.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“The state has very limited, if any, powers in dictating to the federal government how its officers are armed,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A few measures passed by the legislature were not among the 21 bills signed. They included a bill — vetoed by Newsom on Sunday night — that would have fortified a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101563/newsom-vetoes-bill-to-fund-immigration-attorneys-in-rural-california\">pipeline of new immigration lawyers\u003c/a> to work in rural parts of California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Also not signed were bills to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb941\">cap at 35% the markup private facilities can charge \u003c/a>detainees for commissary items, and the one to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab2465\">bar private detention contractors\u003c/a> from receiving state grants. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Newsom has until midnight on Sep. 30 to act on the remaining bills on his desk, in his last year as California’s governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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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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"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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"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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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"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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"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.",
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"radiolab": {
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"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": {
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"science-friday": {
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