Updating . .

California Policy and Politics Tuesday

Ballot proposal to pave the way for noncitizen voting in L.A. is pulled at the last minute -- The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to pull a measure from the Nov. 3 ballot that would have created a pathway to allow noncitizens to vote in local elections. The council, on a unanimous vote, sent the draft ballot language to a committee for additional study after several councilmembers said it had not been properly vetted. Melissa Gomez and David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/30/26

Supreme Court will decide a gun-rights challenge to blue-state bans on assault weapons -- Before leaving for the summer recess, the justices issued orders on new cases that will be heard in the fall. The new 2nd Amendment case figures to be a major test of what kinds of firearms and ammunition are off-limits to state or federal regulation. David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times$ Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/30/26

 

Supreme Court upholds birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump’s proposed limits -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship, rejecting President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that children born to people who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not American citizens. Mark Sherman Associated Press David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times$ Josh Gerstein Politico James Romoser in the Wall Street Journal$ Abbie VanSickle in the New York Times$ Justin Jouvenal in the Washington Post$ Rachel Leingang in The Guardian -- 6/30/26

States can ban transgender athletes from competing, Supreme Court rules -- The court did not bar California and 22 other states from allowing transgender athletes to take part in their chosen sports programs, as their laws provide. But the ruling may help President Donald Trump carry out his plan to withhold $8 billion in federal education funds from California unless it changes its policies. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/30/26

 

California lawmakers pass $351.7B budget deal. Here’s what it does -- California lawmakers approved a $351.7 billion state budget Monday that increases some business and health care taxes and bolsters the state’s reserve funds. The budget bills lawmakers passed will enact the plan they negotiated with Gov. Gavin Newsom. It will be his final state budget as governor. He is expected to sign it soon. Sophia Bollag in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Andrew Graham and Stephen Hobbs in the Sacramento Bee$ Taryn Luna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/30/26

California budget deal includes $29M to speed up vote-counting -- The California budget deal between Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers allocates $40 million to election offices to “safeguard” and “speed up” ballot counting, following weeks of Republican criticism over the state’s election system following the June 2 primary. Sara DiNatale in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/30/26

Walters: Newsom and California legislators claim the budget is balanced. They need a reality check -- In reality, the $351 billion budget and its $251 billion general fund would spend as much as $20 billion more than the state expects to receive in revenues during the fiscal year. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 6/30/26

 

California Dems keep their distance from LA noncitizen voting proposal -- Even in deep-blue Los Angeles, many Democrats are keeping their distance from a proposal to allow noncitizens to vote in city and school board elections — the latest sign of how fraught voting rights and immigration have become in the Trump era. Marisa Guerra Echeverria Politico -- 6/30/26

California to share driver license data despite fears it could expose unauthorized immigrants -- The new state budget that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed includes $55 million for the DMV to build a data-sharing system, a program meant to bring the state in compliance with the federal REAL ID law. Khari Johnson, Wendy Fry and Yue Stella Yu Calmatters -- 6/30/26

Gavin Newsom signs law limiting mental health diversion for people accused of crimes -- Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed into law a change to criminal sentencing practices that gives judges more discretion to decide whether someone accused of a crime merits a mental health diversion. The bill overwhelmingly passed both chambers of the Legislature this year. Nigel Duara Calmatters -- 6/30/26

Californians will vote on 14 ballot measures in November. Here’s an early look -- California voters will have 14 ballot measures to consider in November, including the wildly controversial one-time billionaire tax, three bond measures, and other proposals tackling elections, taxes, housing and health. Kathryn Palmer in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/30/26

Marketplace

Comcast’s NBCUniversal Spinoff Gives Hollywood Its Next Major Deal Target -- While Comcast executives say the spun-off NBCUniversal entity will have the wherewithal to thrive on its own and invest in the business, much of Wall Street thinks it will become an acquisition target before long. Joe Flint in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 6/30/26

Wartime Price Gouging Act would give California attorney general new powers -- As the war with Iran drags into its fourth month, state Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park) and Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) have introduced a bill to expand the state attorney general’s power to investigate price gouging on essential consumer goods, including gasoline, when the United States is engaged in a military conflict. Grace Hase in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/30/26

Wildfire

‘They don’t have the goods’: Residents criticize plans to retry Palisades fire arson case -- A jury voted 10 to 2 in favor of acquitting Jonathan Rinderknecht, the 30-year-old Uber driver accused of starting the Palisades fire. Some observers say a retrial would be a waste of time and prosecutors should walk away from the case altogether. Alene Tchekmedyian in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/30/26

Education

California school libraries blindsided by ‘catastrophic’ budget cut -- California librarians were stunned when a last-minute budget change stripped K-12 schools of a trove of research materials, potentially leaving thousands of students without resources to do reports, projects or homework assignments. Carolyn Jones Calmatters -- 6/30/26

Street

Supreme Court limits police use of cellphone data to find crime suspects -- In a 6-3 decision, the justices said this location information showing where a cellphone user has traveled is personal and private and subject to the protection of the 4th Amendment’s ban on unreasonable searches. David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/30/26

L.A. homeless agency sues the Trump administration to stop cutoff of federal funds -- The authority said in its Monday filing that cutting off the funds would put more than 11,000 people — 1,900 of them children — at risk of losing housing or other services. David Zahniser in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/30/26

California revives $900 million homelessness program after Newsom reverses course -- It’s a shift for Newsom, who has slammed cities and counties for not making enough progress on homelessness and threatened to withhold funds. Grant Stringer in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/30/26

Also

Conservative think tank sues Oakland over $1 million fine for property owners who cut down 38 trees -- In May, the Oakland City Council approved a $915,000 fine against a couple who cut down 38 mature trees across their property and their neighbors’, violating the city’s tree ordinance. But the city may not be out of the woods yet. Kate Talerico in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/30/26

Skid Row’s only post office has closed because of safety concerns -- In January, the only post office serving Skid Row abruptly closed. Postal officials said the reason was criminal activity. One advocate said the city has surrendered to crime. Melissa Gomez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/30/26

POTUS 47

Supreme Court loosens campaign finance laws, opening up flood of midterm cash -- The change is likely to benefit Republicans, who brought the case and rely more on large donors. Jessica Piper and Josh Gerstein Politico James Romoser and Lydia Wheeler in the Wall Street Journal$ Abbie VanSickle and Adam Liptak in the New York Times$ -- 6/30/26

Supreme Court says Fed’s Cook can keep her job for now, but it upholds other Trump firings -- The Supreme Court on Monday dramatically expanded presidential power, upholding President Donald Trump’s firings of the heads of independent federal agencies with one important exception: the Federal Reserve. Mark Sherman Associated Press -- 6/30/26

Supreme Court rejects Trump’s push to toss $5 million verdict in E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse case -- The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a push by President Donald Trump to throw out a jury’s $5 million finding that he sexually abused the writer E. Jean Carroll at a New York City department store in the mid-1990s and later defamed her. Lindsay Whitehurst Associated Press -- 6/30/26

Supreme Court Mail Ballot Ruling Deals New Blow to Trump’s Election Plans -- The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that state laws allowing ballots to arrive after Election Day are legal. The decision is the latest in a series of setbacks for President Trump’s efforts to regulate elections. Emily Davies and Nick Corasaniti in the New York Times$ -- 6/30/26

 

California Policy and Politics Monday

California leaders cheer Supreme Court ballot ruling while eyeing other ways to speed count -- California officials cheered a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday that allows states to continue counting mail ballots postmarked by election day but received in the days after — calling it a win for voter participation and access, including in the upcoming November midterm. Kevin Rector in the Los Angeles Times$ Blake Jones, Marisa Guerra Echeverria and Lindsey Holden Politico -- 6/29/26

Supreme Court allows late-arriving mail ballots, leaving California’s system unaffected -- California may continue to count mail ballots arriving a week after election day. Roberts and Barrett sided with the three liberal justices in rejecting a Republican challenge. David G. Savage in the Los Angeles Times$ Josh Gerstein Politico Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Mark Sherman Associated Press -- 6/29/26

 

Newsom, Anthropic ink deal to expand government use -- Gov. Gavin Newsom's new deal with Anthropic would make Claude the first AI tool available to all California agencies and local governments. Christine Mui Politico -- 6/29/26

UC Berkeley is establishing the Nancy Pelosi Institute to address democracy’s challenges -- Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pointing to a busy retirement next year. She and the University of California, Berkeley, are partnering to form a new nonpartisan academic institute they say will be dedicated to strengthening democracy. Kevin Freking Associated Press Jaweed Kaleem in the Los Angeles Times$ Dustin Gardiner Politico Nanette Asimov in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/29/26

 

Sacramento immigration courts now have more than 100 cases a day. That likely means more deportations -- The federal government has argued the strategy is intended to move cases through the immigration system more quickly and reduce court backlogs. But immigration lawyers and advocates say the practice reduces opportunities for individualized review and increases the likelihood that immigrants will miss hearings, often leading to more deportation orders. Mathew Miranda in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 6/29/26

Workplace

Tech firms ax hundreds of Bay Area jobs as cuts this year outpace 2025 -- The latest layoffs are poised to erase 600 Bay Area tech jobs, WARN notices posted by the state Employment Development Department show. George Avalos in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/29/26

California hospitals say new nursing rules are closing psychiatric beds -- New nurse-to-patient ratios are intended to make psychiatric hospitals safer. They’re driving workforce transformations and closing some psych units. Grant Stringer in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/29/26

SpaceX IPO sparks race for luxury housing in Southern California -- SpaceX’s record-shattering IPO has minted thousands of new millionaires, unleashing a wave of high-end home shoppers poised to reshape Southern California’s already tight coastal housing markets. Roger Vincent, Lily Wright and Laurence Darmiento in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/29/26

Aiming to boost government efficiency, San Jose trains its 1,000th worker on AI tools -- As California becomes the first state in the nation to track AI-related job losses, San Jose is aggressively training its workforce to use artificial intelligence tools to increase local government efficiency — a move expected to help employees preserve their jobs. Ryan Macasero in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/29/26

 

Massive cleanup looms as firefight draws to close at Boyle Heights warehouse -- Firefighters managed to save half of the nearly 500,000-square-foot facility although the entire structure suffered extensive smoke and water damage, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The half of the building impacted directly by the fire was largely dismantled during the firefight, and will likely be torn down in its entirety, fire officials said. The item is in the LA Daily News -- 6/29/26

Could a fertilizer breakthrough at Lawrence Livermore Lab spark the next Green Revolution? -- Next to seemingly endless rows of bell peppers, sweet corn and leafy greens at B & T Farms stand thousand-gallon drums of nitrogen fertilizer, the cost of which has increased 125% since 2020 amid supply shocks and wars around the world. Chase Hunter in the San Jose Mercury$ -- 6/29/26

Also

Bill Maher and a Trump Impressionist Walk Into the Kennedy Center … The late-night host leaned into his spat with President Trump while receiving a top comedy award at the institution that once bore the president’s name. Julia Jacobs in the New York Times$ -- 6/29/26

‘Resistance in Action’: S.F.’s LGBTQ Pride Parade draws hundreds of thousands -- In a rite of summer that is part party, part political rally and full-on spectacle, hundreds of thousands of people crowded Market Street for blocks Sunday morning for the 56th annual San Francisco Pride Parade. Maggie Angst, Sam Whiting, Warren Pederson in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/29/26

Garofoli: ‘You stopped being queer’: The attempt to humiliate Scott Wiener was a gift to MAGA -- One of the most disturbing aspects of the viral video circulating of a small group of activists confronting state senator and House candidate Scott Wiener on Friday as he attempted to participate in San Francisco’s Trans March was when one voice in the crowd told Wiener, “You stopped being queer the moment you started supporting Israel.” Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 6/29/26

 

Skelton: California pushes for affordable housing while Trump plays games -- President Trump was handed a golden opportunity to upstage Gov. Gavin Newsom in Newsom’s own state on an issue of critical importance to Americans everywhere. But Trump naturally blew it. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/29/26

POTUS 47

Supreme Court won’t save Trump from paying E. Jean Carroll $5M -- The Supreme Court's decision not to intervene means Trump will have to pay E. Jean Carroll a $5 million judgment. Erica Orden Politico Lindsay Whitehurst Associated Press -- 6/29/26

Supreme Court expands Trump’s power over the federal bureaucracy -- The justices struck down a longtime precedent that has allowed Congress to insulate agencies from political influence. Justin Jouvenal in the Washington Post$ -- 6/29/26

Trump says his renovation plans for a golf course will have Washington hosting a ‘major’ tournament -- President Donald Trump on Sunday surveyed several of his construction projects around the nation’s capital, suggesting afterward that his redevelopment of the East Potomac Golf Links would enable it to host a premier tournament. Josh Boak Associated Press Alyssa Lukpat in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 6/29/26

Costs of Iran war will linger despite conflict’s end, experts say -- The effects of the war and other factors driving inflation are likely to stick around for months, experts say, presenting an ongoing challenge to American households — and to Trump’s party as it seeks to retain control of Congress in November’s midterm elections. Justine McDaniel and Michael Wilner in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 6/29/26

We’re over halfway through primary season. Here’s what the battlegrounds tell us -- Two-thirds of the way through primary season, results from dozens of hotly contested battlegrounds across the country reveal a Republican Party that remains fully captured by President Donald Trump, even in swing districts that have at times rejected his brand, and a Democratic Party that is still consumed by factional infighting over how to win. Liz Crampton and Erin Doherty Politico -- 6/29/26

Trump Cut a Billion-Dollar Mining Deal. His Sons Stand to Profit -- An agreement between the U.S. and Kazakhstan has given a group of American investors with ties to the president and the commerce secretary access to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of tungsten. Paul Sonne and Eric Lipton in the New York Times$ -- 6/29/26

Trump-backed ‘Freedom Trucks’ tell a sanitized story of the country’s founding -- The long fight for women’s suffrage is mentioned only briefly. There’s no discussion of the taking of Native American lives and land. Visitors learn inspiring stories of enslaved people who overcame odds, but not about those who, as was typically the case, endured violent and inhumane conditions. Laura Meckler in the Washington Post$ -- 6/29/26