California Policy and Politics Wednesday

National Guard troops were quietly withdrawn from some U.S. cities -- The deployments encountered repeated legal setbacks that stymied President Donald Trump’s show of force in Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Oregon. Tara Copp and Alex Horton in the Washington Post$ -- 2/11/26

 

Six L.A. power players who found themselves in the Epstein files -- The head of the L.A. 2028 Olympics committee. A director of big Hollywood hits. An NFL owner. A celebrity chef. They are among the boldface names from Los Angeles who have emerged in the latest dump from the Epstein files. Clara Harter, Stephanie Breijo and Stacy Perman in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/11/26

Rampant post-fire price gouging went unpunished, report alleges -- When the Palisades and Eaton fires displaced thousands of tenants last year, landlords across L.A. jacked up rental prices while the flames were still burning. Officials were quick to respond, vowing crackdowns on price gouging. A new report asserts that many of those threats were toothless. Jack Flemming in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/11/26

3,000 Kaiser pharmacists, lab workers will end their strike this week -- The bulk of 31,000 striking registered nurses and healthcare workers remain on Kaiser picket lines in open-ended strike. Pat Maio in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/11/26

New California platform uses AI to help campaigns better reach voters -- It’s said that all politics is local, and that’s the idea behind a new tool meant to help California campaigns really get to know the people they are trying to reach — powered by artificial intelligence. Kaitlyn Schallhorn in the Orange County Register$ -- 2/11/26

 

Bay Area groups targeted for massive cuts as Trump pulls health funding from blue states -- The Trump administration is planning to rescind tens of millions of dollars in grants already disbursed this year across California, including to Bay Area public health systems and nonprofits, according to documents reviewed by the Chronicle. Sara DiNatale in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/11/26

L.A. County officials push new sales tax to offset Trump administration healthcare cuts -- L.A. County voters will be asked this June to increase the sales tax by a half-cent. County officials say they expect the tax to generate $1 billion per year for healthcare services that have been slashed by the Trump administration. Rebecca Ellis in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/11/26

$600 million in Trump administration health cuts will hit California HIV programs -- Public health experts warned Tuesday that $600 million in cuts to federal public health funding announced by the Trump administration would endanger one of California’s main early-warning systems for HIV outbreaks, leaving communities vulnerable to undetected disease spread. Gavin J. Quinton and Ana Ceballos in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/11/26

 

LAPD to train their body cameras on immigration agents, under mayor’s directive -- Los Angeles police officers must turn on their body cameras at the scene of federal immigration enforcement operations and preserve the footage, according to an executive directive issued by Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday. Melissa Gomez, Libor Jany and David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/11/26

ICE reportedly leases office spaces in Irvine and Santa Ana -- ‘This suggests more than a temporary presence is coming here in Orange County,’ Irvine’s mayor says. Victoria Le and Kaitlyn Schallhorn in the Orange County Register$ -- 2/11/26

 

Garofoli: Tom Steyer wants to convince Californians he’s the ultimate unicorn: A billionaire populist -- Tom Steyer has a steep hill to climb in his quest to become California’s next governor: He has never held elected office, and has relatively low name recognition. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/11/26

Walters: Two ads during Super Bowl hint at a high-dollar ballot battle in California next fall -- Two ads among the many aired during Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast didn’t sell beer, cars, fast food or cell phone services; rather they were opening salvos of what could be one of the year’s most expensive ballot measure duels. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 2/11/26

California's blockbuster housing legislation faces rocky rollout -- State Sen. Scott Wiener, the author of Senate Bill 79, has not ruled out postponing the July 1 implementation date for the new law because of widespread confusion over what it requires. Liam Dillon Politico -- 2/11/26

CA seniors could choose to opt out of property taxes under proposed initiative -- If you’re a Californian who is at least 60 years old, Rishi Kumar thinks you should be able to choose whether to pay property taxes. The former city councilmember in the San Jose area is hoping enough voters will agree so he can place a measure calling for that change on the November ballot. Stephen Hobbs in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/11/26

Tribe buys 10,000 acres north of Lake Tahoe from city of Santa Clara in historic land deal -- Sale of Loyalton Ranch comes 175 years after Washoe people were forced from lands during Gold Rush. Paul Rogers in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 2/11/26

Newsom heads to Munich conference to challenge Trump’s vision for U.S. -- Gov. Gavin Newsom is heading to a conference of world leaders in Germany later this week as part of his ongoing effort to use the global stage to urge investment in California’s climate-related initiatives and challenge President Trump’s isolationist policies. Dakota Smith in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 2/11/26

Gov. Gavin Newsom supports crackdown on businesses charging veterans illegal fees -- Gov. Gavin Newsom announced an effort to crack down on fraud targeting California military veterans as the White House has singled out Democratic states for allegedly allowing waste and abuse to run rampant. Lia Russell in the Sacramento Bee$ Adam Ashton Calmatters -- 2/11/26

 

Newsom’s budget shrinks climate and natural resources funding -- Overall funding for key climate and resource programs would drop sharply under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed 2026‑27 budget, the Legislative Analyst’s Office’s new analysis found. Chaewon Chung in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/11/26

As EVs rise, California’s gas tax crumbles — and lawmakers flinch -- The problem is particularly acute in California, which has aggressively pushed EV adoption as a response to climate change. The state’s independent legislative analyst estimated in a 2023 report that California could lose $5 billion each year by 2035 if EV adoption continues to grow. Alex Nieves Politico -- 2/11/26

Fed request spending information about California’s delayed Next Gen 911 system -- In a Tuesday letter addressed to Gov. Gavin Newsom, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said California had wasted hundreds of millions of public dollars to build out its Next Generation 911 system, which state leaders decided to redesign after facing obstacles that they deemed too difficult to surmount. William Melhado in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/11/26

 

Understanding SFUSD’s $1.4B budget: How teachers and the district come up with different numbers -- The San Francisco school district and the union have traded claims about the $1.4 billion budget, with arguments based on complicated calculations, misinformation and confusing explanations. Jill Tucker in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/11/26

Teachers union files for Thursday afternoon ‘strike rally’ permit -- As of Tuesday night, the school district and union are in negotiations that have dragged on since last March. Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez San Francisco Standard -- 02/11/26

Measles outbreak in Northern California is state’s first in half a decade -- An outbreak of eight measles cases in Shasta County is prompting state health officials to urge all residents to check their vaccination status. Catherine Ho in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Darrell Smith in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 2/11/26

BART

This data shows just how bad BART’s doomsday scenario would be for riders -- One in eight BART rides ended last year at stations that would close under the transit agency’s “Phase 2” cost-cutting scenario. Rachel Swan, Danielle Echeverria in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/11/26

Education

One of UC’s most popular majors sees declines for first time since dot-com bust -- For the first time since the dot-com bust in the early 2000s, undergraduate computer science enrollment across the UC system declined in 2025, data show. Danielle Echeverria, Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/11/26

Also

The Bay Area’s most unlikely landmark: A 125-year-old lightbulb that’s still burning -- A typical lightbulb can last about a year. The one hanging from the ceiling at Fire Station No. 6 in Livermore has lasted more than a century. Sarah Ravani in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 2/11/26

POTUS 47

Job growth in January beats expectations, keeping Fed on hold -- One downside for the president: An improving labor market likely ratifies the Federal Reserve’s posture of holding interest rates steady for now. Victoria Guida and Sam Sutton Politico Te-Ping Chen in the Wall Street Journal$ Lydia DePillis in the New York Times$ -- 2/11/26

US debt forecast to hit $64T in a decade as Trump policies widen deficit -- The U.S. national debt is on track to reach $64 trillion within a decade as the federal government continues its trend of red-ink balances under President Donald Trump and Republican control of Congress. Jennifer Scholtes Politico Richard Rubin in the Wall Street Journal$ Andrew Duehren in the New York Times$ -- 2/11/26

Grand Jury Declines to Indict Democrats Who Told Troops to Disobey Illegal Orders -- A grand jury refused to sign off on criminal charges for several Democratic lawmakers who in a November video told military servicemembers they could refuse to obey illegal orders, people familiar with the matter said. Sadie Gurman and C. Ryan Barber in the Wall Street Journal$ Alan Feuer, Glenn Thrush and Michael S. Schmidt in the New York Times$ Perry Stein and Salvador Rizzo in the Washington Post$ Dani Anguiano in the Guardian -- 2/11/26

House Defeats Republican Bid to Block Votes on Trump’s Tariffs -- Three Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting a bid by G.O.P. leaders to continue skirting a law that requires the House to vote promptly on measures challenging President Trump’s tariffs. Robert Jimison in the New York Times$ -- 2/11/26

Big Tech Companies Prepare to Skirt Trump’s $100,000 H-1B Fee -- The world’s biggest technology companies are looking to skirt President Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee, potentially leaving the brunt of the new policy to hit smaller startups. Amrith Ramkumar in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 2/11/26

Georgia Ballot Inquiry Originated With Election Denier in Trump White House -- A newly unsealed affidavit showed that a criminal investigation into the 2020 election in Fulton County, Ga., relied heavily on claims about ballots that have been widely debunked. Devlin Barrett, Nick Corasaniti and Richard Fausset in the New York Times$ Jeremy Roebuck and Patrick Marley in the Washington Post$ -- 2/11/26