California Assembly and Senate budget leaders announce a budget deal that includes stimulus checks, more in-state students at UC campuses and more money for public health and undocumented immigrants.
With a deluge of dollars flowing into California’s coffers from state taxpayers and Uncle Sam, Democratic leaders in the Legislature have agreed on a budget plan that would spend slightly less than what Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed, while still pouring billions of dollars into helping Californians recover from the pandemic.
The $267.1 billion plan the Assembly and Senate announced Tuesday largely mirrors the proposals Newsom laid out last month in his $267.8 billion budget. It embraces Newsom’s “Golden State Stimulus,” which will send at least $500 to every household that makes as much as $75,000 a year. It would pour even more into grants to help small businesses and into payments toward unemployment insurance. But it would launch fewer new social programs than the Democratic governor proposed.
California Assembly and Senate budget leaders announce a budget deal that includes stimulus checks, more in-state students at UC campuses and more money for public health and undocumented immigrants.
With a deluge of dollars flowing into California’s coffers from state taxpayers and Uncle Sam, Democratic leaders in the Legislature have agreed on a budget plan that would spend slightly less than what Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed, while still pouring billions of dollars into helping Californians recover from the pandemic.
The $267.1 billion plan the Assembly and Senate announced Tuesday largely mirrors the proposals Newsom laid out last month in his $267.8 billion budget. It embraces Newsom’s “Golden State Stimulus,” which will send at least $500 to every household that makes as much as $75,000 a year. It would pour even more into grants to help small businesses and into payments toward unemployment insurance. But it would launch fewer new social programs than the Democratic governor proposed.
Current Position: Governor since 2019 Affiliation: Democrat Candidate: 2022 Governor Former Position(s): Lt. Governor from 2010 – 2018; Mayor San Francisco from 2003 – 2010
Quotes:
The California Dream — the idea that every person can achieve a better life, regardless of where they start out — is central to who we are as Californians. Even in a time of economic growth and record employment, too many Californians are experiencing the squeeze of stagnant wages and the rising price of building-block necessities such as housing, health care, education, and child care. We can and must reanimate the California Dream, building a California for All.
Whether you’re walking your dog, going to the movies, or headed to the store—Californians should feel safe. We’re tackling organized retail crime head on, investing in public safety, and reducing gun violence—all while tackling the root causes of crime.
Featured Video: Gov. Gavin Newsom Has Opened Up California!
SACRAMENTO – Working to bolster the state’s response to the Caldor Fire, Governor Gavin Newsom today requested a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to assist wildfire response and recovery efforts in El Dorado County. The request follows the Presidential Emergency Declaration California secured last week to support the Caldor Fire response, and a previous Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to support counties impacted by the Dixie and River fires.
“We’re working around the clock in close coordination with our federal partners to ensure South Lake Tahoe communities impacted by the Caldor Fire have the resources and supports they need during this difficult time,” said Governor Newsom.
The Caldor Fire, which has burned 218,459 acres to date, is now the 15th largest and the 17th most destructive wildfire in state history.
If approved, a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration will help people in the impacted county through eligibility for programs and support that can include housing assistance, food aid, counseling, medical services and legal services. The request includes public assistance to help state, tribal and local governments with ongoing emergency response and recovery costs. The request also includes hazard mitigation, which helps state and local governments reduce the risks and impacts of future disasters.
The text of the Governor’s request for a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration can be found here.
Summary
Current Position: Governor since 2019 Affiliation: Democrat Candidate: 2022 Governor Former Position(s): Lt. Governor from 2010 – 2018; Mayor San Francisco from 2003 – 2010
Quotes:
The California Dream — the idea that every person can achieve a better life, regardless of where they start out — is central to who we are as Californians. Even in a time of economic growth and record employment, too many Californians are experiencing the squeeze of stagnant wages and the rising price of building-block necessities such as housing, health care, education, and child care. We can and must reanimate the California Dream, building a California for All.
Whether you’re walking your dog, going to the movies, or headed to the store—Californians should feel safe. We’re tackling organized retail crime head on, investing in public safety, and reducing gun violence—all while tackling the root causes of crime.
Featured Video: Gov. Gavin Newsom Has Opened Up California!
SACRAMENTO – Working to bolster the state’s response to the Caldor Fire, Governor Gavin Newsom today requested a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to assist wildfire response and recovery efforts in El Dorado County. The request follows the Presidential Emergency Declaration California secured last week to support the Caldor Fire response, and a previous Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to support counties impacted by the Dixie and River fires.
“We’re working around the clock in close coordination with our federal partners to ensure South Lake Tahoe communities impacted by the Caldor Fire have the resources and supports they need during this difficult time,” said Governor Newsom.
The Caldor Fire, which has burned 218,459 acres to date, is now the 15th largest and the 17th most destructive wildfire in state history.
If approved, a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration will help people in the impacted county through eligibility for programs and support that can include housing assistance, food aid, counseling, medical services and legal services. The request includes public assistance to help state, tribal and local governments with ongoing emergency response and recovery costs. The request also includes hazard mitigation, which helps state and local governments reduce the risks and impacts of future disasters.
Gavin Newsom is the Governor of California, formerly Lieutenant Governor of California and Mayor of San Francisco.
Governor Newsom is married to Jennifer Siebel Newsom. They have four children: Montana, Hunter, Brooklynn, and Dutch.
Governor Gavin Newsom is boldly leading California through an unprecedented series of crises, including devastating wildfires, an economic downturn and the worst pandemic in 100 years.
Gavin is working every day against difficult odds to keep Californians safe, distribute vaccines, protect families from eviction and provide billions in direct relief to individuals and struggling small businesses.
He first gained national recognition as a chief early advocate for marriage equality and marijuana decriminalization. Gavin is a champion for California values–from civil rights to immigration to environmental protection, education and expanding opportunity, and justice for all Californians.
Newsom attended Redwood High School and graduated from Santa Clara University. After graduation, he founded the PlumpJack wine store with family friend Gordon Getty as an investor. The PlumpJack Group grew to manage 23 businesses, including wineries, restaurants, and hotels. Newsom began his political career in 1996, when San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown appointed him to serve on the city’s Parking and Traffic Commission. Brown appointed Newsom to fill a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors the following year, and Newsom was later elected to the board in 1998, 2000, and 2002.[1]
In 2003, at the age of 36, Newsom was elected the 42nd mayor of San Francisco, becoming the city’s youngest mayor in a century.[2] Newsom was re-elected in 2007 with 72% of the vote.[3][4]
Newsom was elected lieutenant governor of California in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. He was elected governor in the 2018 election. Newsom faced criticism for his personal behavior[5] and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was followed by an unsuccessful attempt to recall him from office, in what would be the fourth gubernatorial recall election in United States history.[6][7] Newsom prevailed in the 2021 recall election, becoming the second incumbent U.S. governor to survive a recall election.[8]
Newsom hosted The Gavin Newsom Show on Current TV from 2012 to 2013 and wrote the 2013 book Citizenville, about using digital tools for democratic change.[9] Political science analysis has suggested he is moderate, relative to almost all Democratic legislators in California.[10]
Early life
Newsom was born in San Francisco, to Tessa Thomas (née Menzies) and William Alfred Newsom III, a state appeals court judge and attorney for Getty Oil. He is a fourth-generation San Franciscan. One of Newsom’s maternal great-grandfathers, Scotsman Thomas Addis, was a pioneer scientist in the field of nephrology and a professor of medicine at Stanford University. Newsom is the second cousin, twice removed, of musician Joanna Newsom.[11]
His father was an advocate for otters and the family had one as a pet.[12] Newsom’s parents divorced in 1972 when Gavin was five years old.[citation needed]
Newsom later said he had not had an easy childhood, partly due to dyslexia.[13] He attended kindergarten and first grade at Ecole Notre Dame Des Victoires, a French-American bilingual school in San Francisco, but eventually transferred out, due to the severe dyslexia that still affects him. It has challenged his abilities to write, spell, read, and work with numbers.[13] Throughout his schooling, Newsom had to rely on a combination of audiobooks, digests, and informal verbal instruction. To this day, he prefers to interpret documents and reports through audio.[14]
He attended third through fifth grades at Notre Dame des Victoires, where he was placed in remedial reading classes. In high school, Newsom played basketball and baseball and graduated from Redwood High School in 1985. Newsom was a shooting guard in basketball and an outfielder in baseball. His skills placed him on the cover of the Marin Independent Journal.[15]
Tessa Newsom worked three jobs to support Gavin and his sister Hilary Newsom Callan, the PlumpJack Group president, named after the opera Plump Jack composed by family friend Gordon Getty. In an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, his sister recalled the Christmas holidays when their mother told them they would not receive any gifts.[15] Tessa opened their home to foster children, instilling in Newsom the importance of public service.[15][16] His father’s finances were strapped in part because of his tendency to give away his earnings.[16] Newsom worked several jobs in high school to help support his family.[3]
Newsom attended Santa Clara University on a partial baseball scholarship, where he graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in political science. Newsom was a left-handed pitcher for Santa Clara, but he threw his arm out after two years and has not thrown a baseball since.[17] He lived in the Alameda Apartments, which he later compared to living in a hotel. He later reflected on his education fondly, crediting the Jesuit approach of Santa Clara with helping him become an independent thinker who questions orthodoxy. While in school, Newsom spent a semester studying abroad in Rome.[18]
Newsom and his investors created the company PlumpJack Associates L.P. on May 14, 1991. The group started the PlumpJack Winery in 1992 with the financial help[19] of his family friend Gordon Getty. PlumpJack was the name of an opera written by Getty, who invested in 10 of Newsom’s 11 businesses.[13] Getty told the San Francisco Chronicle that he treated Newsom like a son and invested in his first business venture because of that relationship. According to Getty, later business investments were because of “the success of the first”.[13]
One of Newsom’s early interactions with government occurred when Newsom resisted the San Francisco Health Department requirement to install a sink at his PlumpJack wine store. The Health Department argued that wine was a food and required the store to install a $27,000 sink in the carpeted wine shop on the grounds that the shop needed the sink for a mop. When Newsom was later appointed supervisor, he told the San Francisco Examiner: “That’s the kind of bureaucratic malaise I’m going to be working through.”[17]
The business grew to an enterprise with more than 700 employees.[15] The PlumpJack Cafe Partners L.P. opened the PlumpJack Café, also on Fillmore Street, in 1993. Between 1993 and 2000, Newsom and his investors opened several other businesses that included the PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn with a PlumpJack Café (1994), a winery in Napa Valley (1995), the Balboa Café Bar and Grill (1995), the PlumpJack Development Fund L.P. (1996), the MatrixFillmore Bar (1998), PlumpJack Wines shop Noe Valley branch (1999), PlumpJackSport retail clothing (2000), and a second Balboa Café at Squaw Valley (2000).[13] Newsom’s investments included five restaurants and two retail clothing stores.[15] Newsom’s annual income was greater than $429,000 from 1996 to 2001.[13] In 2002, his business holdings were valued at more than $6.9 million.[15] Newsom gave a monthly $50 gift certificate to PlumpJack employees whose business ideas failed, because in his view, “There can be no success without failure.”[17]
Newsom sold his share of his San Francisco businesses when he became mayor in 2004. He maintained his ownership in the PlumpJack companies outside San Francisco, including the PlumpJack Winery in Oakville, California, new PlumpJack-owned Cade Winery in Angwin, California, and the PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn. He is the president in absentia of Airelle Wines Inc., which is connected to the PlumpJack Winery in Napa County. Newsom earned between $141,000 and $251,000 in 2007 from his business interests.[20] In February 2006, he paid $2,350,000 for his residence in the Russian Hill neighborhood, which he put on the market in April 2009 for $3,000,000.[21]
Early political career
Newsom in 1999
Newsom’s first political experience came when he volunteered for Willie Brown‘s successful campaign for mayor in 1995. Newsom hosted a private fundraiser at his PlumpJack Café.[13] Brown appointed Newsom to a vacant seat on the Parking and Traffic Commission in 1996, and he was later elected president of the commission. Brown appointed him to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors seat vacated by Kevin Shelley in 1997. At the time, he was the youngest member of San Francisco’s board of supervisors.[22][23][24]
Newsom was sworn in by his father and pledged to bring his business experience to the board.[23] Brown called Newsom “part of the future generation of leaders of this great city”.[23] Newsom described himself as a “social liberal and a fiscal watchdog”.[23][24] He was subsequently elected to a full four-year term to the board in 1998. San Francisco voters chose to abandon at-large elections to the board for the previous district system in 1999. Newsom was re-elected in 2000 and 2002 to represent the second district, which includes Pacific Heights, the Marina, Cow Hollow, Sea Cliff and Laurel Heights, which had the highest income level and the highest Republican registration in San Francisco.[1] Newsom paid $500 to the San Francisco Republican Party to appear on the party’s endorsement slate in 2000. He faced no opposition in his 2002 re-election bid.
As a San Francisco Supervisor, Newsom gained public attention for his role in advocating reform of the city’s municipal railway (Muni).[25] He was one of two supervisors endorsed by Rescue Muni, a transit riders group, in his 1998 re-election. He sponsored Proposition B to require Muni and other city departments to develop detailed customer service plans.[13][26] The measure passed with 56.6% of the vote.[27] Newsom sponsored a ballot measure from Rescue Muni; a version of the measure was approved by voters in November 1999.[25]
He also supported allowing restaurants to serve alcohol at their outdoor tables, banning tobacco advertisements visible from the streets, stiffer penalties for landlords who run afoul of rent-control laws, and a resolution, which was defeated, to commend Colin Powell for raising money for youth programs.[25] Newsom’s support for business interests at times strained his relationship with labor leaders.[25]
During Newsom’s time as supervisor, he supported housing projects through public-private partnerships to increase homeownership and affordable housing in San Francisco.[28] He supported HOPE, a failed local ballot measure that would have allowed an increased condo-conversion rate if a certain percentage of tenants within a building were buying their units. As a candidate for mayor, he supported building 10,000 new housing units to create 15,000 new construction jobs.[28] As governor, he also signed into law SB-7, which expedites the environmental review process for new multifamily developments worth at least $15,000,000. To participate, developers must apply directly through the governor’s office.[29]
Newsom’s signature achievement as a supervisor was a voter initiative called Care Not Cash (Measure N), which offered care, supportive housing, drug treatment, and help from behavioral health specialists for the homeless in lieu of direct cash aid from the state’s general assistance program.[28] Many homeless rights advocates protested against the initiative. “Progressives and Democrats, nuns and priests, homeless advocates and homeless people were furious,” according to Newsom.[30] The successfully passed ballot measure raised his political profile and provided the volunteers, donors, and campaign staff that helped make him a leading contender for the mayorship in 2003.[13][31][32] In a city audit conducted four years after the inception of program and released in 2008, the program was evaluated as largely successful.[33]
Newsom placed first in the November 4, 2003, general election in a nine-person field. He received 41.9% of the vote to Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez‘s 19.6% in the first round of balloting, but he faced a closer race in the December 9 run-off when many of the city’s progressive groups coalesced around Gonzalez.[31] The race was partisan with attacks against Gonzalez for his support of Ralph Nader in the 2000 presidential election, and attacks against Newsom for contributing $500 to a Republican slate mailer in 2000 that endorsed issues Newsom supported.[34][35] Democratic leadership felt that they needed to reinforce San Francisco as a Democratic stronghold after losing the 2000 presidential election and the 2003 gubernatorial recall election to Arnold Schwarzenegger.[35] National figures from the Democratic Party, including Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Jesse Jackson, campaigned on Newsom’s behalf.[35][36] Five supervisors endorsed Gonzalez, while Willie Brown endorsed Newsom.[31][32]
Newsom won the run-off race, capturing 53% of the vote to Gonzalez’s 47% and winning by 11,000 votes.[31] He ran as a business-friendly centrist Democrat and a moderate in San Francisco politics; some of his opponents called him conservative.[31][35] Newsom claimed he was a centrist in the Dianne Feinstein mold.[28][37] He ran on the slogan “great cities, great ideas”, and presented over 21 policy papers.[32] He pledged to continue working on San Francisco’s homelessness issue.[31]
Newsom was sworn in as mayor on January 3, 2004. He called for unity among the city’s political factions, and promised to address the issues of public schools, potholes and affordable housing.[38] Newsom said he was “a different kind of leader” who “isn’t afraid to solve even the toughest problems”.[39]
San Francisco’s progressive community tried to field a candidate to run a strong campaign against Newsom. Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Chris Daly considered running against Newsom, but both declined. Matt Gonzalez also decided not to rechallenge Newsom.[40]
When the August 10, 2007, filing deadline passed, San Francisco’s discussion shifted to talk about Newsom’s second term. He was challenged in the election by 13 candidates that included George Davis, a nudist activist, and Michael Powers, owner of the Power Exchange sex club.[41] Conservative former supervisor Tony Hall withdrew by early September due to lack of support.[42]
The San Francisco Chronicle declared in August 2007 that Newsom faced no “serious threat to his re-election bid”, having raised $1.6 million for his re-election campaign by early August.[43] He won re-election on November 6, 2007, with over 72% of the vote.[4] Upon taking office for a second term, Newsom promised to focus on the environment, homelessness, health care, education, housing, and rebuilding San Francisco General Hospital.[44][45]
He gained national attention in 2004 when he directed the San Francisco city–county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, violating the state law passed in 2000.[46] Implementation of Care Not Cash, the initiative he had sponsored as a supervisor, began on July 1, 2004. As part of the initiative, 5,000 more homeless people were given permanent shelter in the city. About 2,000 people had been placed into permanent housing with support by 2007. Other programs initiated by Newsom to end chronic homelessness included the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team (SF HOT) and Project Homeless Connect (PHC) that placed 2,000 homeless into permanent housing and provided 5,000 additional affordable rental units in the city.[47]
During a strike by hotel workers against a dozen San Francisco hotels, Newsom joined UNITE HERE union members on a picket line in front of the Westin St. Francis Hotel on October 27, 2004. He vowed that the city would boycott the hotels by not sponsoring city events at them until they agreed to a contract with workers. The contract dispute was settled in September 2006.[48]
In 2005, Newsom pushed for a state law to allow communities in California to create policy restricting certain breeds of dogs.[49]
Newsom came under attack from the San Francisco Democratic Party in 2009 for his failure to implement the City of San Francisco’s sanctuary city rule, under which the city was to not assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.[50]
The same year, Newsom received the Leadership for Healthy Communities Award, along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and three other public officials, for his commitment to making healthful food and physical activity options more accessible to children and families.[51] He hosted the Urban-Rural Roundtable in 2008 to explore ways to promote regional food development and increased access to healthy, affordable food.[52] Newsom secured $8 million in federal and local funds for the Better Streets program,[53] which ensures that public health perspectives are fully integrated into urban planning processes. He signed a menu-labeling bill into law, requiring that chain restaurants print nutrition information on their menus.[54]
Newsom was named “America’s Most Social Mayor” in 2010 by Same point, based on analysis of the social media profiles of mayors from the 100 largest cities in the United States.[55]
Same-sex marriage
Newsom gained national attention in 2004 when he directed the San Francisco city–county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, violating state law.[46] In August 2004, the Supreme Court of California annulled the marriages that Newsom had authorized, as they conflicted with state law. Still, Newsom’s unexpected move brought national attention to the issue of same-sex marriage, solidifying political support for Newsom in San Francisco and in the LGBTQ+ community.[3][16][56]
During the 2008 election, Newsom opposed Proposition 8, the ballot initiative to reverse the California Supreme Court ruling that there was a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.[57] Proposition 8 supporters released a commercial featuring footage of Newsom saying the following in a speech regarding same-sex marriage: “This door’s wide open now. It’s going to happen, whether you like it or not.”[58] Some observers noted that polls shifted in favor of Proposition 8 following the release of the commercial; this, in turn, led to speculation that Newsom had inadvertently played a role in the passage of the amendment.[58][59][60][61]
In April 2009, Newsom announced his intention to run for Governor of California in the 2010 election. He received the endorsement of former President Bill Clinton in September 2009. During the campaign, Newsom remarked that, if elected, he would like to be known as “The Gavinator” (a reference to the nickname of incumbent Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, “The Governator”). Throughout the campaign, however, Newsom suffered low poll numbers, trailing Democratic frontrunner Jerry Brown by more than 20 points in most polls.[62][63][64] Newsom dropped out of the gubernatorial race in October 2009.[65][66][67]
Newsom filed initial paperwork to run for lieutenant governor in February 2010,[68] and officially announced his candidacy in March.[69] He received the Democratic nomination in June[70] and won the election on November 2, 2010.[71] Newsom was sworn in as lieutenant governor on January 10, 2011, and served under Governor Jerry Brown. The one-week delay was to ensure that a successor as mayor of San Francisco was chosen before he left office. Edwin M. Lee, the city administrator, took office the day after Newsom was sworn in as lieutenant governor. He debuted on Current TV as the host of The Gavin Newsom Show in May 2012. That same month, Newsom drew criticism for negative comments about Sacramento, referring to the state capital as “dull” and commenting that he was only there once a week, saying “there’s no reason” to be there otherwise.[72]
Newsom was re-elected as Lieutenant Governor of California on November 4, 2014, defeating Republican Ron Nehring with 57.2% of the vote. His second term began on January 5, 2015.[73]
Capital punishment
Newsom supported a failed measure in 2012 that sought to end capital punishment in California. He claimed the initiative would save California millions of dollars, citing statistics that California had spent $5 billion since 1978 to execute just 13 people.[74]
Newsom also supported the failed Proposition 62 in 2016, which also would have repealed the death penalty in California.[75] He argued that Prop. 62 would get rid of a system “that is administered with troubling racial disparities.” He also stated that the death penalty was fundamentally immoral and did not deter crime.[74]
Criminal justice and cannabis legalization
In 2014, Newsom was the only statewide politician to endorse California Proposition 47, a piece of legislation that recategorized certain non-violent offenses like drug and property crimes as misdemeanors as opposed to felonies. Voters passed the measure in the state of California on November 4, 2014.[75]
In July 2015, Newsom released the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy’s final report, which he had convened with the American Civil Liberties Union of California in 2013. The report’s recommendations to regulate marijuana were intended to inform a legalization measure on the November 2016 ballot.[76] Newsom supported the resulting measure, Proposition 64, which legalized cannabis use and cultivation for California state residents who are 21 or older.[77]
In response to pro-enforcement statements made by White House Press SecretarySean Spicer, Newsom sent a letter on February 24, 2017, to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and President Donald Trump, urging them not to increase federal enforcement against recreational cannabis firms opening in California.[77] He wrote: “The government must not strip the legal and publicly supported industry of its business and hand it back to drug cartels and criminals … Dealers don’t card kids. I urge you and your administration to work in partnership with California and the other eight states that have legalized recreational marijuana for adult use in a way that will let us enforce our state laws that protect the public and our children while targeting the bad actors.” Newsom responded to comments by Spicer, which compared cannabis to opioids: “Unlike marijuana, opioids represent an addictive and harmful substance, and I would welcome your administration’s focused efforts on tackling this particular public health crisis.”[77]
Education
Newsom joined Long Beach City College Superintendent Eloy Oakley in a November 2015 op-ed calling for the creation of the California College Promise, which would create partnerships between public schools, public universities, and employers and offer a free community college education.[78] Throughout 2016, he joined Oakland mayorLibby Schaaf at the launch of the Oakland Promise and Second LadyJill Biden and Los Angeles mayorEric Garcetti at the launch of the LA Promise.[79][80] In June 2016, Newsom helped secure $15 million in the state budget to support the creation of promise programs throughout the state.[81]
In December 2015, Newsom called on the University of California to reclassify computer science courses as a core academic class to incentivize more high schools to offer computer science curriculum.[82][83] He sponsored successful legislation signed by Governor Brown in September 2016, that began the planning process for expanding computer science education to all state students, beginning as early as kindergarten.[84]
In 2016, Newsom passed a series of reforms at the University of California to provide student-athletes with additional academic and injury-related support, and to ensure that contracts for athletic directors and coaches emphasized academic progress. This came in response to several athletics programs, including the University of California – Berkeley’s football team, which garnered the lowest graduation rates in the country.[85][86]
In 2015, Newsom partnered with the Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy at California Polytechnic State University to launch Digital Democracy, an online tool that uses facial and voice recognition to enable users to navigate California legislative proceedings.[91]
Governor of California (2019–present)
Elections
2018
Results of the 2018 California gubernatorial election; Newsom won the counties in blue
On February 11, 2015, Newsom announced that he was opening a campaign account for governor in the 2018 elections, allowing him to raise funds for a campaign to succeed Jerry Brown as Governor of California.[92] On June 5, 2018, he finished in the top two of the nonpartisan blanket primary, and defeated RepublicanJohn H. Cox by a landslide in the gubernatorial election on November 6.[93]
Newsom was sworn in on January 7, 2019.
2021 recall
Results of the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election; No on recall won the counties in khaki
Several recall attempts were launched against Newsom early in his tenure, though they failed to gain much traction. On February 21, 2020, a recall petition was introduced by Orrin Heatlie, a deputy sheriff in Yolo County. The petition mentioned Newsom’s sanctuary state policy and said laws he endorsed favored “foreign nationals, in our country illegally”; said that California had high homelessness, high taxes, and low quality of life; and described other grievances.[94] It was approved for circulation on June 10, 2020, by the California secretary of state.[95]
Forcing the gubernatorial recall election required a total of 1,495,709 verified signatures.[94] By August 2020, 55,000 signatures were submitted and then verified by the secretary of state, and a total of 890 new valid signatures were submitted by October 2020.[96] The petition was initially given a signature deadline of November 17, 2020, but it was extended to March 17, 2021, after a ruling by Judge James P. Arguelles said petitioners would have more time given pandemic circumstances.[97] Newsom’s attendance at a party at The French Laundry in November 2020, despite his public health measures;[98] voter anger over lockdowns, job losses, school and business closures;[99] and a $31 billion fraud scandal at the state unemployment agency,[100] were credited for the recall’s growing support.[99] The French Laundry event took place on November 6, 2020[101] and between November 5, 2020, and December 7, 2020, over 442,000 new signatures were submitted and verified; 1,664,010 verified signatures, representing roughly 98 percent of the final verified total of 1,719,900, would be submitted from November 2020 to the new March 17, 2021 deadline.[96][102]
On September 14, 2021, the Associated Press announced the failure of the recall election to obtain the majority of votes required to remove Newsom.[103][104]
On March 13, 2019, three years after voters narrowly rejected its repeal,[111] Newsom declared a moratorium on the state’s death penalty, preventing any execution in the state as long as he remained governor. The move also led to the withdrawal of the state’s current lethal injection protocol and the execution chamber’s closure at San Quentin State Prison.[112] In a CBS This Morning interview, Newsom said that the death penalty is “a racist system … that is perpetuating inequality. It’s a system that I cannot in good conscience support.”[113] The moratorium granted a temporary reprieve for all 737 inmates on California’s death row, then the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere.[114]
In January 2022, Newsom directed the state to begin dismantling its death row in San Quentin, to be transformed into a “space for rehabilitation programs”,[115] as all the condemned inmates are moving to other prisons that have maximum security facilities. The state’s voters upheld capital punishment in 2012 and 2016, with the latter measure agreeing to move the condemned to other prisons.[116] Though a 2021 poll by the UC BerkeleyInstitute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times suggested declining support for the death penalty among California’s voters,[115][117] Newsom’s moves to halt capital punishment in California were criticized by Republican opponents as defiance of the will of voters, and by capital punishment advocates as denial of closure for murder victims’ families.[115]
Clemency
In response to the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants with criminal records, he gave heightened consideration to people in this situation.[118] A pardon can eliminate the grounds for deportation of immigrants who would otherwise be legal permanent residents. Pardon requests from people facing deportation are provided with an expedited review by the state Board of Parole Hearings per a 2018 California law.[118] In his first acts of clemency as governor, he pardoned seven formerly incarcerated people in May 2019, including two Cambodian refugees facing deportation.[119] He pardoned three men who were attempting to avoid being deported to Cambodia or Vietnam in November 2019. They had separately committed crimes when they were each 19 years old.[120] He granted parole to a Cambodian refugee in December 2019 who had been held in a California prison due to a murder case. Although immigrant rights groups wanted Newsom to end policies allowing the transfer to federal agents, he was turned over for possible deportation upon release.[121]
Newsom denied parole to Sirhan Sirhan on January 13, 2022, the 1968 assassin of Robert F. Kennedy who had been recommended for parole by a parole board following Sirhan serving 53 years in prison for the murder.[122] Newsom wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, saying Sirhan “still lacks the insight that would prevent him from making the kind of dangerous and destructive decisions he made in the past. The most glaring proof of Sirhan’s deficient insight is his shifting narrative about his assassination of Kennedy, and his current refusal to accept responsibility for it.”[123]
Police tactics
Newsom has spoken in favor of Assembly Bill 1196, which would ban carotid artery restraints and choke holds in California. He has claimed that there is no longer a place for a policing tactic “that literally is designed to stop people’s blood from flowing into their brain, that has no place any longer in 21st-century practices.”[124][125]
Transgender prisoners
In September 2020, Newsom signed into law a bill allowing California transgender inmates to be placed in prisons that correspond with their gender identity.[126][127]
Disasters and emergencies
COVID-19 pandemic
Newsom meets with health officials on the COVID-19 pandemic, March 2020
Newsom declared a state of emergency on March 4, 2020, after the first death in California attributable to the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus disease (COVID-19).[128][129] His stated intention was to help California prepare for and contain the spread of COVID-19.[130] The emergency declaration allowed state agencies to more easily procure equipment and services, share information on patients and alleviated restrictions on the use of state-owned properties and facilities. Newsom also announced that mitigation policies for the state’s estimated 108,000 unsheltered homeless people would be prioritized with a significant push to move them indoors.[131]
Newsom issued an executive order that allowed the state to commandeer hotels and medical facilities to treat COVID-19 patients, and permitted government officials to hold teleconferences in private without violating open meeting laws.[132] He also directed local school districts to make their own decisions on school closures, but used an executive order to ensure students’ needs would be met whether or not their school was physically open. The Newsom administration’s request was approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to offer meal service during school closures, which included families being able to pick up those meals at libraries, parks, or other off-campus locations. Roughly 80% of students at California’s public schools receive free or reduced-price meals. This executive order included continued funding for remote learning opportunities and child care options during workday hours.[133]
As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state continued to rise, on March 15, he urged people 65 and older and those with chronic health conditions to isolate themselves from others. He also called on bars, and brewery and winery tasting rooms statewide, to close their doors to patrons. Some local jurisdictions had mandatory closures.[134] The closures were extended to movie theaters and health clubs. He asked restaurants to stop serving meals inside their establishments and offer take-out meals only.[135] His statewide order to stay at home became mandatory on March 19. While it allowed movement outside the home for necessities or recreation, people were required to maintain a safe distance apart.[136] Activity “needed to maintain continuity of operation of the federal critical infrastructure sectors, critical government services, schools, childcare, and construction” was excluded from the order. Essential services such as grocery stores and pharmacies remained open. Newsom provided state funds to pay for protective measures such as hotel room lodging for hospital and other essential workers fearing returning home and infecting family members.[137] By April 26, he had issued thirty executive orders under the state of emergency while the legislature had not been in session.[138]
On April 28, Newsom, along with the governors of Oregon and Washington, announced a “shared approach” for reopening their economies.[139][140] His administration outlined key indicators for altering his stay-at-home mandate, including the ability to closely monitor and track potential cases, prevent infection of high-risk people, increase surge capacity at hospitals, develop therapeutics, ensure physical distancing at schools, businesses, and child-care facilities, and develop guidelines for restoring isolation orders if the virus surges.[141] The plan to end the shutdown consisted of four phases.[142] Newsom emphasized that easing restrictions would be based on data, not dates, stating “We will base reopening plans on facts and data, not on ideology. Not what we want. Not what we hope.”[143] Regarding a return of Major League Baseball and the NFL, he said, “I would move very cautiously in that expectation.”[144]
In early May, he announced that certain retailers could reopen for pickup. While the majority of Californians approved of the governor’s handling of the crisis and were more concerned about reopening too early than too late, there were demonstrations and protests against these policies.[145] Under pressure, Newsom delegated more decision-making for reopening down to the local level.[146] That same month, Newsom announced a plan for registered voters to have the option to vote by mail in the November election.[147] California was the first state in the country to commit to sending mail-in ballots to all registered voters for the November general election.[148]
As the state opened up, an analysis by the Los Angeles Times found that new coronavirus hospitalizations in California began accelerating around June 15 at a rate not seen since early April, immediately after the coronavirus began rapidly spreading throughout the state.[149] On June 18, he made face-coverings mandatory for all Californians in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19.[150][151] Enforcement would be up to business owners, as local law enforcement agencies view non-compliance as a minor infraction.[152] By the end of June, he had ordered seven counties to close bars and nightspots, and recommended eight other counties take action on their own to close those businesses due to a surge of coronavirus cases in some parts of the state.[153] In a regular press conference on July 13 as he was ordering the reinstatement of the shutdown of bars and indoor dining in restaurants, he said, “We’re seeing an increase in the spread of the virus, so that’s why it’s incumbent upon all of us to recognize soberly that COVID-19 is not going away any time soon until there is a vaccine or an effective therapy”.[149]
Newsom oversaw a sluggish initial rollout of vaccines; California had one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country by January 2021,[154] and California had only used about 30% of the vaccines it had at its disposal, a far lower rate than other states, by January 20.[155] After reaching high approval ratings, specifically 64% in September 2020, a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll from February 2021 showed that Newsom’s approval rate was down to 46%, with 48% disapproval, the highest of his tenure. The Los Angeles Times attributed this decline to public sentiment around his management during the COVID-19 pandemic.[156] The vaccination rate increased since January, with over half the population fully vaccinated as of September 2021,[157] the percentage ranking #16 out of the 50 states.
Despite Newsom’s administration enacting some of the country’s toughest pandemic restrictions, California ultimately had the 29th-highest death rate out of all 50 states by May 2021. Monica Gandhi, a leading COVID-19 expert from UCSF, said that California’s restrictive approach “did not lead to better health outcomes”, and criticized California’s delay in implementing new CDC recommendations absolving the fully vaccinated from most indoor mask requirements, while saying the decision lacked scientific rationale and could cause “collateral damage”.[158][159]
Pandemic unemployment fraud and debt
In January 2021, the Los Angeles Times reported that Newsom’s administration had mismanaged $11.4 billion by disbursing unemployment benefits to ineligible claimants, especially those paid through the federally funded Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program.[160] Another $19 billion in claims remained under investigation for fraud.[161] At the same time, legitimate claimants faced lengthy delays in receiving benefits.[162] The state’s unemployment system had been overseen by California Labor Secretary Julie Su, a Newsom appointee, who was later appointed by President Joe Biden to serve as deputy secretary of Labor in February 2021.[162]
Political opponents attributed the crisis to the Newsom administration’s failure to heed multiple warnings by federal officials of the potential for fraud, while Newsom’s administration said the Trump administration’s failure to provide appropriate guidance for the new federally funded program contributed to the fraud.[163] Experts said much of the fraud appeared to originate from international criminal gangs in 20 countries.[164][165][166] A report by California State Auditor Elaine Howle said $810 million was disbursed to claimants who had fraudulently filed on behalf of inmates in the state’s prison system.[167]
According to The Sacramento Bee, by the summer of 2021, California owed $23 billion to the federal government for unemployment benefits paid out during the pandemic, which was 43% of all unemployment debt, owed by 13 states at the time, to the federal government.[168] Most of this debt was unrelated to the federally-funded pandemic unemployment programs that had experienced most of the fraud, and instead was due to longstanding underfunding and California’s high rate of unemployment during the COVID-19 pandemic.[169]
Due to a mass die-off of trees throughout the state which potentially could increase the risk of wildfires, Newsom declared a state of emergency on March 22, 2020, in preparation for the 2020 wildfire season.[170] After declaring a state of emergency on August 18, Newsom reported that the state was battling 367 known fires, many sparked by intense thunderstorms on August 16–17.[171] His request for assistance via issuance of a federal disaster declaration in the wake of six major wildfires was rejected by the Trump administration and reversed after a call to Trump from Newsom.[172]
On June 23, 2021, the NPR station, CapRadio, reported that Newsom and Cal Fire had falsely claimed in January 2020 that 90,000 acres (36,000 ha) of land at risk for wildfires had been treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns, when the actual treated area was 11,399 acres (4,613 ha), an overstatement of 690 percent.[173][174] According to CapRadio, the fuel breaks of the 35 “priority projects” Newsom had touted, which were meant to ensure the quick evacuation of residents while preventing traffic jams and a repeat of events in the 2018 fire which destroyed the town of Paradise, where at least eight evacuees burned to death in their vehicles, were struggling to mitigate fire spread in almost every instance while failing to prevent evacuation traffic jams.[174] The same day CapRadio revealed the oversight, leaked emails showed Gavin Newsom’s handpicked Cal Fire chief had ordered the removal of the original statement.[175] In another report in April 2022, CapRadio found a program, hailed in 2020 by the Newsom administration to fast-track environmental reviews on high priority fire prevention projects, had failed to make progress.[176]
KXTV in Sacramento released a series of reports chronicling PG&E‘s liabilities after committing 91 felonies in the Santa Rosa and Paradise fires. Newsom was accused of accepting campaign donations from PG&E in order to change the CPUC‘s ruling on PG&E’s safety license. The rating change allowed PG&E to avoid billions of dollars in extra fees. Newsom was also accused of setting up the Wildfire Insurance Fund via AB 1054, using ratepayer fees, so PG&E could avoid financial losses[177][178] and pass the liability costs to ratepayers and taxpayers.[179][180]
Donations to spouse’s nonprofit organization
Jennifer Siebel Newsom‘s non-profit organization, The Representation Project, was reported by The Sacramento Bee to have received upwards of $800,000 in donations from corporations that had lobbied the state government in recent years, including PG&E, AT&T, Comcast, and Kaiser Permanente. Siebel Newsom received $2.3 million in salary from the non-profit since launching it in 2011. In 2021, Governor Newsom said that he saw no conflict in his wife’s nonprofit accepting donations from companies that lobby his administration.[181]
Newsom vetoed SB 1 in September 2019 which would have preserved environmental protections at the state level that were set to roll back nationally under the Trump administration’s environmental policy.[182] The Newsom administration intends to sue federal agencies over the rollbacks to protect imperiled fish in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta in 2019.[183]
Newsom attended the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit, where he spoke of California as a climate leader due to the actions of Republicans and Democrats who held the office before him.[184][182] In August 2020, Gavin Newsom addressed the 2020 Democratic National Convention. His speech made mentions of climate change and the wildfires prevalent in California at the time.[185] On September 23, 2020, Newsom signed an executive order to phase out sales of gasoline-powered vehicles and require all new passenger vehicles sold in the state to be zero-emission by 2035.[186] Bills he signed in September with an environmental focus included a commission to study lithium extraction around the Salton Sea.[187]
Newsom pledged during his 2018 campaign to tighten state oversight of fracking and oil extraction.[188] Early in his governorship, his administration approved new oil and gas leases on public lands at about twice the rate of the prior year.[189][190][191] When asked about this development, Newsom said he was unaware of the rate of approvals and he later fired the head of the Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources.[188] He imposed a moratorium in November 2019 on approval of new hydraulic fracturing and steam-injected oil drilling in the state until the permits for those projects can be reviewed by an independent panel of scientists.[192] State agencies resumed issuing new hydraulic fracturing permits in April 2020.[193] In 2021, the Center for Biological Diversity sued the Newsom administration over the continued sale of oil and gas leases and Consumer Watchdog called for the end of their sale.[194][195][196] In April 2021, Newsom committed to ending the sale of gas leases by 2024 and ending oil extraction by 2045.[197] In October 2021, Newsom proposed a 3,200-foot (980 m) buffer between new fossil fuel extraction sites and densely populated areas.[198]
Executive authority and actions
Overall, Newsom has vetoed legislation at a rate comparable to that of his predecessors. From 2019 to 2021, he vetoed 12.7% of the bills passed by the legislature on average.[199] The rate declined over the course of the three legislative sessions.[199][200] Newsom’s vetoes have included bills to allow ranked-choice voting, require an ethnic studies class as a high school graduation requirement, and reduce penalties for jaywalking.[201][202][203]
Newsom used a larger than normal number of executive orders during the 2020 legislative session.[204][205]
As lieutenant governor in 2016, Newsom was the official proponent of Proposition 63. The ballot measure required a background check and California Department of Justice authorization to purchase ammunition among other gun control regulations. In response to the 2019 mass shooting in Virginia Beach, he called for nationwide background checks on people purchasing ammunition.[206] Later that year, he responded to the Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting by stating his support for the 2nd Amendment and saying he would like national cooperation controlling “weapons of goddamned mass destruction”.[207] He also commented that “These shootings overwhelmingly, almost exclusively, are males, boys, ‘men’ — I put in loose quotes, I do think that is missing in the national conversation.”[208]
On June 10, 2021, Newsom called federal Judge Roger Benitez “a stone cold ideologue” and “a wholly owned subsidiary of the gun lobby of the National Rifle Association” after his ruling that struck down California’s statewide ban on assault weapons.[209] While California’s ban remained in place as the state appealed the ruling, Newsom proposed legislation that would empower private citizens to enforce California’s ban on assault weapons after the United States Supreme Court declined to strike down the Texas Heartbeat Act (which similarly empowers private citizens to report unauthorized abortions).[210]
Reducing the cost of healthcare and increasing access in California were issues that Newsom campaigned on. He also indicated his support for creating a universal healthcare system in California.[211] The budget passed in June 2019 expanded eligibility for Medi-Cal from solely undocumented minor children to undocumented young adults from ages 19 to 25.[211] In 2021, legislation signed by Newsom expanded Medi-Cal eligibility to undocumented residents over the age of 50.[212][213]
In December 2021, Newsom announced his intention to make California a “sanctuary” for abortion, which included possibly paying for procedures, travel, and lodging for out-of-state abortion seekers, if the procedure is banned in Republican-led states.[214] In March 2022, Newsom signed a bill that would require all private health insurance plans in the state to fully cover abortion procedures, by eliminating associated co-pays and deductibles, and increasing insurance premiums.[215]
Newsom was criticized in early 2022 for walking back from his support for universal healthcare and not supporting Assembly Bill 1400 in 2022 which would have instituted single-payer healthcare in California; critics suggested that opposition from business interests, which had donated large sums to the governor and to his party, had swayed his opinion.[216][217]
In his February 2019 State of the State address, Newsom announced that, while work would continue on the 171-mile (275 km)[218] Central Valley segment from Bakersfield to Merced, the rest of the system would be indefinitely postponed, citing cost overruns and delays.[219] This and other actions created tension with the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, a labor union representing 450,000 members.[220]
A poll found that California voters thought the most important issue for the governor and state Legislature to work on in 2020 was homelessness.[221] In his first week of office, Newsom threatened to withhold state funding for infrastructure to communities that failed to take actions to alleviate California’s housing shortage.[222][223] In late January 2019, he announced that he would sue Huntington Beach for preventing the construction of affordable housing.[224] A year later, the city acted to settle the lawsuit by the state.[225] Newsom is an opponent of NIMBY (not-in-my-back-yard) sentiment, declaring in 2022 that “NIMBYism is destroying the state”.[226][227][228][229] In 2021, Newsom signed a pair of bills into law that made zoning regulations for housing less restrictive, allowing for the construction of duplexes and fourplexes in lots that were previously zoned exclusively for single-family homes.[230]
Newsom supports a series of tentative water-sharing agreements that would bring an end to the dispute between farmers, cities, fishers, and environmentalists over how much water should be left in the state’s two most important rivers, the Sacramento and San Joaquin, which flow into the Delta.[231]
In a speech before representatives of Native Americans in June 2019, Newsom apologized for the genocide of Native Americans approved and abetted by the California state government upon statehood in the late 19th century. By one estimate, at least 4,500 Native Californians were killed between 1849 and 1870.[232] Newsom said, “That’s what it was, a genocide. No other way to describe it. And that’s the way it needs to be described in the history books.”[233]
He chose El Salvador as his first international trip as governor.[234] With nearly 680,000 Salvadoran immigrants living in California, he felt that the “state’s relationship with Central America is key to California’s future”.[235] He was also concerned about the tens of thousands of Salvadorans that were fleeing the smallest country in Central America for the U.S. each year.[236] As governor of a state impacted by the debate of illegal immigration, he went to see first-hand the factors driving it and to build business and tourism partnerships between California and Central America. He said he wanted to “ignite a more enlightened engagement and dialogue.”[237]
Newsom was baptized and raised in his father’s Catholic faith. He describes himself as an “Irish Catholic rebel […] in some respects, but one that still has tremendous admiration for the Church and very strong faith”. When asked about the current state of the Catholic Church in 2008, he said the church was in crisis.[18] He said he stays with the Church because of his “strong connection to a greater purpose, and […] higher being […]” Newsom identifies himself as a practicing Catholic,[238] stating that he has a “strong sense of faith that is perennial: day in and day out”.[18] He is the godfather of designer and model Nats Getty.[239]
In January 2007, it was revealed that Newsom had an affair in mid-2005 with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the wife of his then-campaign manager and former deputy chief of staff, Alex Tourk.[243][244] Tourk filed for divorce shortly after the revelation and left Newsom’s campaign and administration.[245]
Newsom began dating film director Jennifer Siebel in September 2006. He announced he would seek treatment for alcohol use disorder in February 2007.[246] The couple announced their engagement in December 2007,[247][248] and they were married in Stevensville, Montana, in July 2008.[249] They have four children: daughter Montana Tessa Newsom,[250] son Hunter Siebel Newsom, daughter Brooklynn,[251] and son Dutch.[252]
Newsom and his family moved from San Francisco to a house they bought in Kentfield in Marin County in 2012.[253]
After his election as governor, Newsom and his family moved into the California Governor’s Mansion in Downtown Sacramento and thereafter settled in Fair Oaks.[254] In May 2019, The Sacramento Bee reported that Newsom’s recent $3.7 million purchase of a 12,000 square foot home in Fair Oaks was the most expensive private residence sold in the Sacramento region since the year began.[255]
In August 2021, Newsom sold a Marin County home for $5.9 million in an off-market transaction. He had originally put the property up for sale in early 2019 for $5.895 million, but removed the property from the market after a price reduction to $5.695 million. The property then sold off-market in August 2021.[256]
^ abcCarol Lloyd (December 21, 2003). “See how they ran”. The San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on March 4, 2008. Retrieved March 10, 2008.
^Bollag, Sophia (May 22, 2022). Written at Sacramento. “‘NIMBYism is destroying the state.’ Gavin Newsom ups pressure on cities to build more housing”. San Fransisco Chronicle. San Fransisco. Retrieved June 6, 2022. “NIMBYism is destroying the state,” [Newsome] told the editorial board in an interview seeking the paper’s endorsement in his upcoming re-election bid. “We’re gonna demand more from our cities and counties.”
^Garchik, Leah (August 5, 2004). “Leah Garchik column”. San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved March 10, 2008.
^Laura Locke (February 2, 2007). “The Scandal of San Francisco”. Time. Archived from the original on October 9, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2017. Alex Tourk, Newsom’s buddy and campaign manager, abruptly quit after confronting the mayor about having an illicit affair with his wife, who once worked as an appointment secretary to Newsom.
The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legislature convene at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The California state legislature is one of just ten full-time state legislatures in the United States.
The Democratic Party currently holds veto-proof supermajorities in both houses of the California State Legislature. The Assembly consists of 60 Democrats and 19 Republicans, with one independent, while the Senate is composed of 30 Democrats and 9 Republicans, also with one vacancy. Except for a brief period from 1995 to 1996, the Assembly has been in Democratic hands since the 1970 election. The Senate has been under continuous Democratic control since 1970.
California Assembly and Senate budget leaders announce a budget deal that includes stimulus checks, more in-state students at UC campuses and more money for public health and undocumented immigrants.
With a deluge of dollars flowing into California’s coffers from state taxpayers and Uncle Sam, Democratic leaders in the Legislature have agreed on a budget plan that would spend slightly less than what Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed, while still pouring billions of dollars into helping Californians recover from the pandemic.
The $267.1 billion plan the Assembly and Senate announced Tuesday largely mirrors the proposals Newsom laid out last month in his $267.8 billion budget. It embraces Newsom’s “Golden State Stimulus,” which will send at least $500 to every household that makes as much as $75,000 a year. It would pour even more into grants to help small businesses and into payments toward unemployment insurance. But it would launch fewer new social programs than the Democratic governor proposed.
Summary
The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legislature convene at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The California state legislature is one of just ten full-time state legislatures in the United States.
The Democratic Party currently holds veto-proof supermajorities in both houses of the California State Legislature. The Assembly consists of 60 Democrats and 19 Republicans, with one independent, while the Senate is composed of 30 Democrats and 9 Republicans, also with one vacancy. Except for a brief period from 1995 to 1996, the Assembly has been in Democratic hands since the 1970 election. The Senate has been under continuous Democratic control since 1970.
California Assembly and Senate budget leaders announce a budget deal that includes stimulus checks, more in-state students at UC campuses and more money for public health and undocumented immigrants.
With a deluge of dollars flowing into California’s coffers from state taxpayers and Uncle Sam, Democratic leaders in the Legislature have agreed on a budget plan that would spend slightly less than what Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed, while still pouring billions of dollars into helping Californians recover from the pandemic.
The $267.1 billion plan the Assembly and Senate announced Tuesday largely mirrors the proposals Newsom laid out last month in his $267.8 billion budget. It embraces Newsom’s “Golden State Stimulus,” which will send at least $500 to every household that makes as much as $75,000 a year. It would pour even more into grants to help small businesses and into payments toward unemployment insurance. But it would launch fewer new social programs than the Democratic governor proposed.
New legislators convene each new two-year session, to organize, in the Assembly and Senate chambers, respectively, at noon on the first Monday in December following the election.
After the organizational meeting, both houses are in recess until the first Monday in January, except when the first Monday is January 1 or January 1 is a Sunday, in which case they meet the following Wednesday. Aside from the recess, the legislature is in session year-round.
State House
Since California was given official statehood by the U.S. on September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, the state capital was variously San Jose (1850–1851), Vallejo (1852–1853) and Benicia (1853–1854), until Sacramento was finally selected in 1854.
The first Californian State House was originally a hotel in San Jose owned by businessman Pierre “Don Pedro” Sainsevain and his associates.
Recordkeeping
The proceedings of the California State Legislature are briefly summarized in regularly published journals, which show votes and who proposed or withdrew what. Reports produced by California executive agencies, as well as the Legislature, were published in the Appendices to the Journals from 1849 to 1970. Since the 1990s, the legislature has provided a live video feed for its sessions, and has been broadcast statewide on the California Channel and local Public-access television cable TV. Due to the expense and the obvious political downside, California did not keep verbatim records of actual speeches made by members of the Assembly and Senate until the video feed began. As a result, reconstructing legislative intent outside of an act’s preamble is extremely difficult in California for legislation passed before the 1990s.
Since 1993, the Legislature has hosted a web or FTP site in one form or another. The current website contains the text of all statutes, all bills, the text of all versions of the bills, all the committee analyses of bills, all the votes on bills in committee or on the floor, and veto messages from the governor. Before then, committees occasionally published reports for significant bills, but most bills were not important enough to justify the expense of printing and distributing a report to archives and law libraries across the state. For bills lacking such a formal committee report, the only way to discover legislative intent is to access the state archives in Sacramento and manually review the files of relevant legislators, legislative committees, and the Governor’s Office from the relevant time period, in the hope of finding a statement of intent and evidence that the statement actually reflected the views of several of the legislators who voted for the bill (as opposed to just one).
Legislative committees
The most sought-after legislative committee appointments are to banking, agriculture and insurance. These are sometimes called “juice” committees, because membership in these committees often aids the campaign fundraising efforts of the committee members, because powerful lobbying groups want to donate to members of these committees.
Pocket veto The legislature can “pocket veto” laws by avoiding consideration and thus avoiding a vote. The Appropriations “Suspense File”, which was created in the mid-1980s, is a popular way to avoid a vote.
When a committee refuses to vote a bill out of committee, a discharge petition can typically be passed by the broader membership. In California, as of 2019 this was governed by Senate Rule 28 which requires 21 members and Assembly Rule 96(a) which requires 41 members; the procedure was notably used in 1998.
In 2019, a rule change in the Assembly allowed committee chairs to avoid considering bills, which effectively kills the proposal. A proposed amendment to the constitution (ACA-23) was proposed for the 2017–2018 session to require a vote.
Overview of legislative procedure
A bill is a proposal to change, repeal, or add to existing state law. An Assembly Bill (AB) is one introduced in the Assembly; a Senate Bill (SB), in the Senate.
Bills are designated by number, in the order of introduction in each house. For example, AB 16 refers to the 16th bill introduced in the Assembly. The numbering starts afresh each session. There may be one or more “extraordinary” sessions. The bill numbering starts again for each of these. For example, the third bill introduced in the Assembly for the second extraordinary session is ABX2 3. The name of the author, the legislator who introduced the bill, becomes part of the title of the bill.
The legislative procedure, is divided into distinct stages:
Drafting. The procedure begins when a Senator or Assembly Member decides to author a bill. A legislator sends the idea for the bill to the California Office of the Legislative Counsel, which drafts it into bill form and returns the draft to the legislator for introduction.
Introduction or First Reading. A legislator introduces a bill for the first time by reading or having read: the bill number, name of the author, and descriptive title on the floor of the house. The bill then goes to the Office of State Publishing. The legislator can’t act on a bill, except the Budget Bill, until 30 days after its introduction.
Committee hearing. After introduction, a bill goes to the rules committee of the house, which assigns it to the policy committee appropriate to the subject matter, for its first hearing. During the committee hearing, the author presents the bill to the committee, which may hear testimony in support of or opposition to the bill. The committee then votes on whether to pass the bill out of committee, or that it be passed as amended. Bills may be amended several times. It takes a majority vote of the committee membership to pass a bill and send it to the next committee or to the floor.
The Fiscal committee reviews the bill if it contains an appropriation or has financial implications for the state.
A second reading on the floor of the house happens when a bill is recommended for passage. Ordinarily there is little or no debate. If a bill is amended at this stage, it may be referred back for another committee hearing.
Floor vote. A roll call vote is taken. An ordinary bill needs a majority vote to pass . An urgency bill or a bill with tax increases requires a two-thirds vote. The California Constitution used to require a two-thirds vote of both houses on the yearly budget and on any bill that would increase taxes, but since the passage of California Proposition 25 (2010), the two-thirds vote is required only for tax increases. Before this change, the two-thirds vote requirement was faulted for much of what had been termed “legislative gridlock”, enabling a minority party to block approval of a budget before the previous one expired.
Second house. If it receives a favorable vote in the first house, a bill repeats the same steps in the other house. If the second house passes the bill without changing it, it is sent to the governor’s desk.
Resolution of Differences (concurrence or conference). If a measure is amended in the second house and passed, it is returned to the house of origin for consideration of amendments. The house of origin may concur with the amendments and send the bill to the governor or reject the amendments and submit it to a two-house conference committee. If either house rejects the conference report, a second (and even a third) conference committee can be formed. If both houses adopt the conference report, the bill is sent to the governor.
Governor’s action. Within 30 days after receiving a bill, the governor may sign it into law, allow it to become law without his/her signature, or veto it.
Overrides. A vetoed bill is returned to the house of origin, where a vote may be taken to override the governor’s veto; a two-thirds vote of both houses is required to override a veto. (There has been no override in the California Legislature since 1979.)
California Law and effective date. Each bill that is passed by the Legislature and approved by the Governor is assigned a chapter number by the Secretary of State. These chaptered bills are statutes, and ordinarily become part of the California Codes. Ordinarily a law passed during a regular session takes effect January 1 of the following year. A few statutes go into effect as soon as the governor signs them; these include acts calling for elections and urgency measures necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety.
Current Position: US Senator since 1992 Affiliation: Democrat Former Position(s): Mayor San Francisco from 1978 – 1988
Other Positions: Chair of Energy and Water Subcommittee under the Senate Committee on Appropriations, and Chair of the Human Rights and Law Subcommittee under the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Quotes: Today marks nine years since 12 innocent people were murdered and 70 more injured in a mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado. The shooter used an assault weapon with a 100-round drum enabling mass carnage. It’s long past time we get these weapons of war off our streets.
Last year, wildfires burned a record 4.4 million acres in California. Thirty-three people were killed and 10,000 structures were destroyed, including 5,500 homes.
As bad as last year was, this year’s severe drought conditions and early wildfire activity mean 2021 could be even worse. Already we’ve seen the Dixie fire scorch nearly half a million acres in Northern California, a huge fire for so early in the season.
Summary
Current Position: US Senator since 1992 Affiliation: Democrat Former Position(s): Mayor San Francisco from 1978 – 1988
Other Positions: Chair of Energy and Water Subcommittee under the Senate Committee on Appropriations, and Chair of the Human Rights and Law Subcommittee under the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Quotes: Today marks nine years since 12 innocent people were murdered and 70 more injured in a mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado. The shooter used an assault weapon with a 100-round drum enabling mass carnage. It’s long past time we get these weapons of war off our streets.
Last year, wildfires burned a record 4.4 million acres in California. Thirty-three people were killed and 10,000 structures were destroyed, including 5,500 homes.
As bad as last year was, this year’s severe drought conditions and early wildfire activity mean 2021 could be even worse. Already we’ve seen the Dixie fire scorch nearly half a million acres in Northern California, a huge fire for so early in the season.
As California’s senior Senator, Dianne Feinstein has built a reputation as an independent voice, working hard to find commonsense solutions to problems facing California and the nation.
Since her election to the Senate in 1992, Senator Feinstein has built a significant record of legislative achievements across a wide range of issues.
Senator Feinstein led a bipartisan group of senators in passing legislation to drastically increase the fuel efficiency of cars. She was a leading voice in the effort to legalize gay marriage and ensure rights for LGBT Americans. She’s a champion for the preservation of the Mojave Desert, Lake Tahoe and California’s forests. She helped create the nationwide AMBER Alert network, passed bills to criminalize border drug tunnels and has long focused on improving California’s water infrastructure and reducing the threat of wildfires. She also continues to advocate for commonsense gun laws.
Among her most notable achievements are the enactment of the federal Assault Weapons Ban in 1994, a law that prohibited the sale, manufacture and import of military-style assault weapons that expired in 2014 and the six-year review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program that culminated in the 2014 release of the report’s executive summary and passage of legislation ensuring that post-9/11 interrogation methods are never used again.
Senator Feinstein authored the first major cybersecurity bill to be signed into law in years. She’s an aggressive opponent of sex trafficking and authored legislation to help prevent sex abuse of amateur athletes. She’s an advocate for consumers, authoring bills to review chemicals in personal care products, ban chemicals in toys, crack down on rogue pharmacies and strengthen food safety.
In 2017, the senator became the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee – the first woman to assume that role – where she helped shape policy on criminal law, national security, immigration, civil rights and the courts. She stepped down from that position in January 2021.
Senator Feinstein was the first woman to chair the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a position she held for six years beginning in 2009. During her tenure as chairman, Senator Feinstein oversaw the passage of six intelligence authorization bills – after five years without a single bill – and the release of a key bipartisan report on the Benghazi attacks. She remains a senior member of the committee.
Senator Feinstein is a senior member of the Appropriations Committee where she serves as ranking member on the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. She has secured billions of dollars for California communities, including critical transportation, water supply and federal building projects. She has worked with members of both parties to secure and safeguard spent nuclear waste and has used her seniority to oppose the development of new nuclear weapons and hold down the rapidly increasing costs of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
Her fourth committee assignment is on the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which she chaired during the 110th Congress. In that capacity, Senator Feinstein was the first woman to chair the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and presided over the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009.
In addition to her committee assignments, Senator Feinstein is co-chairman of the National Security Working Group, co-chairman of the Senate Cancer Coalition and co-chairman of the Senate Women’s Caucus on Burma. Senator Feinstein also served as co-Chairman of the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control until 2021. She is also a member of the Anti-Meth Caucus, the Congressional Dairy Caucus and the Congressional Former Mayors Caucus. She has served as a member of the Aspen Strategy Group since 1997.
Among Senator Feinstein’s many legislative accomplishments:
Environment and natural resources
Fuel Economy Standards – Increasing fleetwide fuel economy standards for cars, trucks and SUVs by at least 10 miles per gallon over 10 years or from 25 mpg to 35 mpg by Model Year 2020 – the largest increase in more than two decades, and the first Congressional action on global warming. Her bipartisan legislation ultimately led the Obama administration to put in place a mandate for a fleetwide 54.5 miles-per-gallon requirement by model year 2020.
California Desert Protection – Protecting more than 7 million acres of pristine California desert, the largest such designation in the history of the continental United States. She was also a vocal champion for the creation of three new national monuments, safeguarding millions of additional acres.
Lake Tahoe Restoration – Passed two bills to preserve and restore this treasured natural resource, a total of $715 million in federal funds to match investments by California, Nevada and local authorities.
CALFED – Authorizing $395 million for a balanced program to increase California’s water supply, reliability and quality and help restore sensitive water ecosystems.
Healthy Forests – Reducing the risk of catastrophic fire in our forests by expediting the thinning of hazardous fuels and providing the first legal protection for old-growth forests in our nation’s history.
Headwaters Forest Agreement – Obtaining funding and brokering agreement to save the “Headwaters Forest,” a 7,500-acre national treasure and the largest privately held stand of uncut old-growth redwoods.
San Francisco Bay Wetlands Restoration – Negotiating public-private purchase of 16,500 acres of salt ponds along the San Francisco Bay – the largest such wetlands restoration project in California history.
National security
Revitalizing the Senate Intelligence Committee – After becoming chairman of the committee in 2009, Senator Feinstein oversaw the enactment of six consecutive intelligence authorization bills following a five-year drought. The committee also released a bipartisan review of the Benghazi attacks.
Reviewing CIA Use of Torture – Senator Feinstein oversaw a six-year review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program, culminating in the December 2014 release of the report’s executive summary.
FISA as the exclusive means for domestic electronic surveillance – Requiring the federal government to follow the requirements of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) when conducting electronic surveillance of American citizens for foreign intelligence purposes.
Border Security and Visa Entry Reform – Helping prevent terrorists from entering the United States through loopholes in our immigration system.
Criminalization of Border Tunnels – Closed a loophole in federal law by criminalizing the act of constructing or financing a tunnel or subterranean passage across an international border into the United States.
Protecting America’s Seaports – Securing our nation’s 361 seaports from terrorism and organized crime through the creation of new criminal offenses.
Crime and justice
Assault Weapons Ban – Prohibiting the manufacture and sale of 19 types of military-style assault weapons from 1994-2004.
Crime Victims’ Rights – Giving victims of violent crime a core set of procedural rights under federal law and ensuring that they have standing to assert their rights before a court.
Combat Meth Act – Giving law enforcement the tools needed to combat the spread of methamphetamine by restricting the sale of products necessary to cook methamphetamine and authorizing $585 million for enforcement, training, and research into meth treatment.
National AMBER Alert Network – Creating nationwide AMBER Alert communications network to help law enforcement find abducted children.
Health care
Phthalate Ban – Protecting children from harmful phthalates chemicals in toys using the precautionary principle.
Internet Pharmacies – Banning rogue Internet pharmacies from selling drugs without prescriptions.
Breast Cancer Research Stamp – Raising more than $81 million for breast cancer research.
Senator Feinstein’s career has been one of firsts. She was the first woman president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first woman mayor of San Francisco, the first woman elected Senator of California, the first woman member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the first woman to chair the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, the first woman to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee and the first woman to serve as ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
A native of San Francisco, Senator Feinstein served for nine years as a San Francisco County Supervisor, starting in 1969. She became mayor of San Francisco in 1978 following the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.
The following year she was elected to the first of two four-year terms. As mayor, Dianne Feinstein managed the city’s finances with a firm hand, balancing nine budgets in a row. In 1987, City and State Magazine named her the nation’s “Most Effective Mayor.”
As a senator, Dianne Feinstein has received a number of awards for her service including the 2017 Legislative Leadership Award from the Association of California Water Agencies, the 2016 Ansel Adams Award from The Wilderness Society, the 2014 Beacon Prize from Human Rights First, the 2012 Outstanding International Public Service Award from the World Affairs Council, the 2007 Legislator of the Year award from the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, the 2007 Charles Dick Medal of Merit from the California National Guard, the 2006 Grammy on the Hill Award from the Recording Academy, the 2006 Congressional Leader of the Year Award from the League of California Cities, the 2006 William Penn Mott Jr. Park Leadership Award from National Parks Conservation Association, the 2005 Outstanding Member of the U.S. Senate Award from the National Narcotic Officers Associations Coalition, the 2004 Funding Hero Award from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the 2004 Women of Achievement Award from the Century City Chamber of Commerce and the 2001 Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service.
One of the Senate’s original standing committees, the Senate Judiciary Committee has one of the broadest jurisdictions in the Senate, ranging from criminal justice to antitrust and intellectual property law. Senator Feinstein was the first female Senator appointed to serve as a member of this Committee.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, established in 1975, has oversight responsibility for the 16 civilian and military agencies and departments that make up the U.S. Intelligence Community.
The Senate Appropriations Committee writes the legislation that allocates federal funds to the numerous government agencies, departments, and organizations on an annual basis. Twelve subcommittees are tasked with drafting legislation to allocate funds to government agencies within their jurisdictions. The committee is also responsible for supplemental spending bills, which are sometimes needed in the middle of a fiscal year to compensate for emergency expenses.
The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration is responsible for issues that include election, campaign finance and ethics reform. The Committee provides oversight over such institutions as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and the National Zoo. It also oversees the standing rules of the Senate and administers the Congressional Office Buildings.
Sponsored Legislation
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After losing a race for governor in 1990, Feinstein won a 1992 special election to the U.S. Senate.[5] The special election was triggered by the resignation of Pete Wilson, who defeated her in the 1990 gubernatorial election. Despite being elected on the same ballot as her peer Barbara Boxer, Feinstein became California’s first female U.S. senator, as she was elected in a special election and sworn in before Boxer. She became California’s senior senator a few weeks later in 1993 when Alan Cranston retired. Feinstein has been reelected five times and in the 2012 election received 7.86 million votes – the most popular votes in any U.S. Senate election in history.[6][7]
At 88, Feinstein is the oldest sitting U.S. senator. In March 2021, Feinstein became the longest-serving U.S. senator from California, surpassing Hiram Johnson.[8] Upon the death of Don Young, she became the oldest sitting member of Congress. Upon Barbara Mikulski‘s retirement in January 2017, Feinstein became the longest-tenured female senator currently serving; should she serve through November 5, 2022, Feinstein will surpass Mikulski’s record as the longest-tenured female senator. In January 2021, Feinstein filed the initial Federal Election Commission paperwork needed to seek reelection in 2024, when she will be 91.[9] Her staff later clarified that this was due to election law technicalities, and did not indicate her intentions in 2024.[10] Because of her age and reports of mental decline, Feinstein has been a frequent subject of discussion regarding her mental acuity and fitness to serve.[11][12][13]
Early life and education
Feinstein was born Dianne Emiel Goldman[1] in San Francisco to Leon Goldman, a surgeon, and his wife Betty (née Rosenburg), a former model. Her paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Poland. Her maternal grandparents, the Rosenburgs, were from Saint Petersburg, Russia.[14] While they were of German-Jewish ancestry,[15] they practiced the Russian Orthodox (Christian) faith, as was required for Jews in Saint Petersburg.[14][16] Christianity was passed down to Feinstein’s mother, who insisted on her transferral from a Jewish day school to a prestigious local Catholic school, but Feinstein lists her religion as Judaism.[17] She graduated from Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in 1951 and from Stanford University in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts in history.[18]
Early political career
Feinstein in the late 1970s. (Future husband Richard C. Blum is standing behind her.)
Feinstein was a fellow at the Coro Foundation in San Francisco from 1955 to 1956.[19] Governor Pat Brown appointed her to the California Women’s Parole Board in 1960. She served on the board until 1966.[20]
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Feinstein was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969.[21][22] She remained on the board for nine years.
During her tenure on the Board of Supervisors, she unsuccessfully ran for mayor of San Francisco twice, in 1971 against Mayor Joseph Alioto, and in 1975, when she lost the contest for a runoff slot (against George Moscone) by one percentage point to Supervisor John Barbagelata.
Because of her position, Feinstein became a target of the New World Liberation Front, an anti-capitalist terrorist group that carried out bombings in California in the 1970s. In 1976 the NWLF placed a bomb on the windowsill of her home that failed to explode.[23] The group later shot out the windows of a beach house she owned.[24]
Feinstein was elected president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1978 with initial opposition from Quentin L. Kopp.
On November 27, 1978, Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by former supervisor Dan White. Feinstein became acting mayor as she was president of the Board of Supervisors.[25] Supervisors John Molinari, Ella Hill Hutch, Ron Pelosi, Robert Gonzales, and Gordon Lau endorsed Feinstein for an appointment as mayor by the Board of Supervisors. Gonzales initially ran to be appointed by the Board of Supervisors as mayor, but dropped out.[26] The Board of Supervisors voted six to two to appoint Feinstein as mayor.[27] She was inaugurated by Chief Justice Rose Bird of the Supreme Court of California on December 4, 1978, becoming San Francisco’s first female mayor.[28] Molinari was selected to replace Feinstein as president of the Board of Supervisors by a vote of eight to two.[29]
One of Feinstein’s first challenges as mayor was the state of the San Francisco cable car system, which was shut down for emergency repairs in 1979; an engineering study concluded that it needed comprehensive rebuilding at a cost of $60 million. Feinstein helped win federal funding for the bulk of the work. The system closed for rebuilding in 1982 and it was completed just in time for the 1984 Democratic National Convention.[30] Feinstein also oversaw policies to increase the number of high-rise buildings in San Francisco.[31]
Feinstein was seen as a relatively moderate Democrat in one of the country’s most liberal cities. As a supervisor, she was considered part of the centrist bloc that included White and generally opposed Moscone. As mayor, Feinstein angered the city’s large gay community by vetoing domestic partner legislation in 1982.[32] In the 1980 presidential election, while a majority of Bay Area Democrats continued to support Senator Ted Kennedy‘s primary challenge to President Jimmy Carter even after it was clear Kennedy could not win, Feinstein strongly supported the Carter–Mondale ticket. She was given a high-profile speaking role on the opening night of the August Democratic National Convention, urging delegates to reject the Kennedy delegates‘ proposal to “open” the convention, thereby allowing delegates to ignore their states’ popular vote, a proposal that was soundly defeated.
In the run-up to the 1984 Democratic National Convention, there was considerable media and public speculation that Mondale might pick Feinstein as his running mate. He chose Geraldine Ferraro instead. Also in 1984, Feinstein proposed banning handguns in San Francisco, and became subject to a recall attempt organized by the White Panther Party. She won the recall election and finished her second term as mayor on January 8, 1988.
Feinstein revealed sensitive details about the hunt for serial killerRichard Ramirez at a 1985 press conference, antagonizing detectives by publicizing details of his crimes known only to law enforcement, and thus jeopardizing their investigation.[33]
City and State magazine named Feinstein the nation’s “Most Effective Mayor” in 1987. She served on the Trilateral Commission during the 1980s.
Gubernatorial election
Feinstein made an unsuccessful bid for governor of California in 1990. She won the Democratic Party’s nomination, but lost the general election to Republican Senator Pete Wilson, who resigned from the Senate to assume the governorship. In 1992, Feinstein was fined $190,000 for failure to properly report campaign contributions and expenditures in that campaign.[34]
Feinstein won the November 3, 1992, special election to fill the Senate seat vacated a year earlier when Wilson resigned to take office as governor. In the primary, she had defeated California State ControllerGray Davis.
The special election was held at the same time as the general election for U.S. president and other offices. Barbara Boxer was elected at the same time to the Senate seat being vacated by Alan Cranston. Because Feinstein was elected to an unexpired term, she became a senator as soon as the election was certified in November, while Boxer did not take office until the expiration of Cranston’s term in January; thus Feinstein became California’s senior senator, even though she was elected at the same time as Boxer and Boxer had previous congressional service. Feinstein also became the first female Jewish senator in the United States, though Boxer is also Jewish.[35][36][37] Feinstein and Boxer were also the first female pair of U.S. senators to represent any state at the same time.[35] Feinstein was reelected in 1994, 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018. In 2012, she set the record for the most popular votes in any U.S. Senate election in history, with 7.75 million, making her the first Senate candidate to get 7 million votes in an election.[6] The record was previously held by Boxer, who received 6.96 million votes in her 2004 reelection; and before that by Feinstein in 2000 and 1992, when she became the first Democrat to get more than 5 million votes in a Senate race.
At 88, Feinstein is the oldest sitting U.S. senator. On March 28, 2021, Feinstein became the longest-serving U.S. senator from California, surpassing Hiram Johnson.[8] Upon Barbara Mikulski‘s retirement in January 2017, Feinstein became the longest-tenured female U.S. senator currently serving. Should she serve through November 5, 2022, Feinstein will become the longest-serving woman in U.S. Senate history.
In January 2021, Feinstein filed the initial Federal Election Commission paperwork needed to seek reelection in 2024, when she will be 91.[9]
According to the Los Angeles Times, Feinstein emphasized her centrism when she first ran for statewide offices in the 1990s, at a time when California was more conservative. Over time, she has moved left of center as California became one of the most Democratic states,[45][46][47] although she has never joined the ranks of progressives, and was once a member of the Senate’s moderate, now-defunct Senate New Democrat Coalition.[48]
While delivering the commencement address at Stanford Stadium on June 13, 1994, Feinstein said:
It is time for a rational plan for defense conversion instead of the random closing of bases and the piecemeal cancellation of defense contracts. Otherwise, we risk losing, for both state and nation, the greatest resources of scientific, technical and human capital ever gathered together in human history.[49]
In 2017, she criticized the banning of transgender enlistments in the military under the Trump administration.[50]
President Barack Obama signs the New START in the Oval Office, February 2, 2011. Feinstein is standing fourth from right.
Feinstein voted for the extension of the Patriot Act and the FISA provisions in 2012.[52]
Feinstein with President Donald Trump, John Cornyn, and Marco Rubio to discuss school and community safety in the Cabinet Room at the White House, February 28, 2018
Health care
Feinstein has supported the Affordable Care Act, repeatedly voting to defeat initiatives aimed against it.[53] She has voted to regulate tobacco as a drug; expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program; override the president’s veto of adding 2 to 4 million children to SCHIP eligibility; increase Medicaid rebate for producing generic drugs; negotiate bulk purchases for Medicare prescription drugs; allow re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada; allow patients to sue HMOs and collect punitive damages; cover prescription drugs under Medicare, and means-test Medicare. She has voted against the Paul RyanBudget‘s Medicare choice, tax and spending cuts; and allowing tribal Indians to opt out of federal healthcare.[54] Feinstein’s Congressional voting record was rated as 88% by the American Public Health Association (APHA), the figure ostensibly reflecting the percentage of time the representative voted the organization’s preferred position.[55]
At an April 2017 town hall meeting in San Francisco, Feinstein said, “[i]f single-payer health care is going to mean the complete takeover by the government of all health care, I am not there.”[56][57] During a news conference at the University of California, San Diego in July 2017, she estimated that Democratic opposition would prove sufficient to defeat Republican attempts to repeal the ACA.[58] Feinstein wrote in an August 2017 op-ed that Trump could secure health care reform if he compromised with Democrats: “We now know that such a closed process on a major issue like health care doesn’t work. The only path forward is a transparent process that allows every senator to bring their ideas to the table.”[59]
Capital punishment
When Feinstein first ran for statewide office in 1990, she favored capital punishment.[45] In 2004, she called for the death penalty in the case of San Francisco police officer Isaac Espinoza, who was killed while on duty.[60] By 2018, she opposed capital punishment.[45][46]
Feinstein co-sponsored (with Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn) an amendment through the Senate to the Economic Development Revitalization Act of 2011 that eliminated the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit. The Senate passed the amendment on June 16, 2011. Introduced in 2004, the subsidy provided a 45-cent-per-gallon credit on pure ethanol, and a 54-cent-per-gallon tariff on imported ethanol. These subsidies had resulted in an annual expenditure of $6 billion.[62][63]
Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown (left) with U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (middle) and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (right) in 2007
In February 2019, when youth associated with the Sunrise Movement confronted Feinstein about why she does not support the Green New Deal, she told them “there’s no way to pay for it” and that it could not pass a Republican-controlled Senate. In a tweet following the confrontation, Feinstein said that she remains committed “to enact real, meaningful climate change legislation.”[64]
Supreme Court nominations
In September 2005, Feinstein was one of five Democratic senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote against Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, saying that Roberts had “failed to state his positions on such social controversies as abortion and the right to die”.[65]
Feinstein stated that she would vote against Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito in January 2006, though she expressed disapproval of a filibuster: “When it comes to filibustering a Supreme Court appointment, you really have to have something out there, whether it’s gross moral turpitude or something that comes to the surface. This is a man I might disagree with, [but] that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be on the court.”[66]
On July 12, 2009, Feinstein stated her belief that the Senate would confirm Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, praising her for her experience and for overcoming “adversity and disadvantage”.[67]
After President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in March 2016, Feinstein met with Garland on April 6 and later called on Republicans to do “this institution the credit of sitting down and meeting with him”.[68]
In February 2017, Feinstein requested that Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch provide information on cases in which he had assisted with decision-making regarding either litigation or craft strategy. In mid-March, she sent Gorsuch a letter stating her request had not been met.[69] Feinstein formally announced her opposition to his nomination on April 3, citing Gorsuch’s “record at the Department of Justice, his tenure on the bench, his appearance before the Senate and his written questions for the record”.[70]
Following the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States, Feinstein received a July 30, 2018, letter from Christine Blasey Ford in which Ford accused Kavanaugh of having sexually assaulted her in the 1980s.[71] Ford requested that her allegation be kept confidential.[72] Feinstein did not refer the allegation to the FBI until September 14, 2018,[71] after the Senate Judiciary Committee had completed its hearings on Kavanaugh’s nomination and “after leaks to the media about [the Ford allegation] had reached a ‘fever pitch’”.[73][71] Feinstein faced “sharp scrutiny” for her decision to keep quiet about the Ford allegation for several weeks; she responded that she kept the letter and Ford’s identity confidential because Ford had requested it.[73] After an additional hearing and a supplemental FBI investigation, Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court on October 6, 2018.[74]
Feinstein announced she would step down from her position on the Judiciary Committee after pressure from progressives due to her performance at the Supreme Court nomination hearings of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in October 2020.[75] Articles in The New Yorker and The New York Times cited unnamed Democratic senators and aides expressing concern over her advancing age and ability to lead the committee.[11][76]
Weapons sales
Feinstein in 2010
In September 2016, Feinstein backed the Obama administration’s plan to sell more than $1.15 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia.[77]
Mass surveillance; citizens’ privacy
Feinstein co-sponsored PIPA on May 12, 2011.[78] She met with representatives of technology companies, including Google and Facebook, in January 2012. A Feinstein spokesperson said she “is doing all she can to ensure that the bill is balanced and protects the intellectual property concerns of the content community without unfairly burdening legitimate businesses such as Internet search engines”.[79]
Following her 2012 vote to extend the Patriot Act and the FISA provisions,[52] and after the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures involving the National Security Agency (NSA), Feinstein promoted and supported measures to continue the information collection programs. Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss also defended the NSA’s request to Verizon for all the metadata about phone calls made within the U.S. and from the U.S. to other countries. They said the information gathered by intelligence on the phone communications is used to connect phone lines to terrorists and that it did not contain the content of the phone calls or messages.[80]Foreign Policy wrote that she had a “reputation as a staunch defender of NSA practices and [of] the White House’s refusal to stand by collection activities targeting foreign leaders”.[81]
In October 2013, Feinstein criticized the NSA for monitoring telephone calls of foreign leaders friendly to the U.S.[82] In November 2013, she promoted the FISA Improvements Act bill, which included a “backdoor search provision” that allows intelligence agencies to continue certain warrantless searches as long as they are logged and “available for review” to various agencies.[83]
In June 2013, Feinstein called Edward Snowden a “traitor” after his leaks went public. In October 2013, she said she stood by that.[84]
While praising the NSA, Feinstein had accused the CIA of snooping and removing files through Congress members’ computers, saying, “[t]he CIA did not ask the committee or its staff if the committee had access to the internal review or how we obtained it. Instead, the CIA just went and searched the committee’s computer.”[85] She claimed the “CIA’s search may well have violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the United States Constitution”.[86][87]
After the 2016 FBI–Apple encryption dispute, Feinstein and Richard Burr sponsored a bill that would be likely to criminalize all forms of strong encryption in electronic communication between citizens.[88][89][90][91] The bill would require technology companies to design their encryption so that they can provide law enforcement with user data in an “intelligible format” when required to do so by court order.[88][89][90][91]
In 2020, Feinstein co sponsored the EARN IT act, which seeks to create a 19-member committee to decide a list of best practices websites must follow to be protected by section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.[92] The EARN IT act effectively outlaws end-to-end encryption, depriving the world of secure, private communications tools.[93]
Assault weapons ban
Feinstein introduced the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which became law in 1994 and expired in 2004.[94] In January 2013 – about a month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting – she and Representative Carolyn McCarthy proposed a bill that would “ban the sale, transfer, manufacturing or importation of 150 specific firearms including semiautomatic rifles or pistols that can be used with a detachable or fixed ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds and have specific military-style features, including pistol grips, grenade launchers or rocket launchers”. The bill would have exempted 900 models of guns used for sport and hunting.[94][95] Feinstein said of the bill, “The common thread in each of these shootings is the gunman used a semi-automatic assault weapon or large-capacity ammunition magazines. Military assault weapons only have one purpose, and in my opinion, it’s for the military.”[96] The bill failed on a Senate vote of 60 to 40.[97]
Marijuana legalization
Feinstein has opposed a number of reforms to cannabis laws at the state and federal level. In 2016 she opposed Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, to legalize recreational cannabis in California.[98] In 1996 she opposed Proposition 215 to legalize the medical use of cannabis in California.[99] In 2015 she was the only Democrat at a Senate hearing to vote against the Rohrabacher–Farr amendment, legislation that limits the enforcement of federal law in states that have legalized medical cannabis.[99] Feinstein cited her belief that cannabis is a gateway drug in voting against the amendment.[99]
In 2018, Feinstein softened her views on marijuana and cosponsored the STATES Act, legislation that would protect states from federal interference regarding both medical and recreational use.[98][100] She also supported legislation in 2015 to allow medical cannabis to be recommended to veterans in states where its use is legal.[99]
Immigration
In September 2017, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the rescinding of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, Feinstein admitted the legality of the program was questionable while citing this as a reason for why a law should be passed.[101] In her opening remarks at a January 2018 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, she said she was concerned the Trump administration’s decision to terminate temporary protected status might be racially motivated, based on comments Trump made denigrating African countries, Haiti, and El Salvador.[102]
Iran
Feinstein announced her support for the Iran nuclear deal framework in July 2015, tweeting that the deal would usher in “unprecedented & intrusive inspections to verify cooperation” on the part of Iran.[103]
On June 7, 2017, Feinstein and Senator Bernie Sanders issued dual statements urging the Senate to forgo a vote for sanctions on Iran in response to the Tehran attacks that occurred earlier in the day.[104]
Feinstein opposed Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, saying, “Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – or relocating our embassy to Jerusalem – will spark violence and embolden extremists on both sides of the debate.”[107]
North Korea
During a July 2017 appearance on Face the Nation after North Korea conducted a second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile, Feinstein said the country had proven itself a danger to the U.S. She also expressed her disappointment with China’s lack of response.[108]
Responding to reports that North Korea had achieved successful miniaturization of nuclear warheads, Feinstein issued an August 8, 2017, statement insisting isolation of North Korea had proven ineffective and Trump’s rhetoric was not helping resolve potential conflict. She also called for the U.S. to “quickly engage North Korea in a high-level dialogue without any preconditions”.[109]
In September 2017, after Trump’s first speech to the United Nations General Assembly in which he threatened North Korea, Feinstein released a statement disagreeing with his remarks: “Trump’s bombastic threat to destroy North Korea and his refusal to present any positive pathways forward on the many global challenges we face are severe disappointments.”[110]
China
Feinstein supports a conciliatory approach between China and Taiwan and fostered increased dialogue between high-level Chinese representatives and U.S. senators during her first term as senator.[111] When asked about her relation with Beijing, Feinstein said, “I sometimes say that in my last life maybe I was Chinese.”[111]
Feinstein has criticized Beijing’s missile tests near Taiwan and has called for dismantlement of missiles pointed at the island.[111][112] She promoted stronger business ties between China and Taiwan over confrontation, and suggested that the U.S. patiently “use two-way trade across Taiwan Strait as a platform for more political dialogue and closer ties”.[112]
She believes that deeper cross-strait economic integration “will one day lead to political integration and will ultimately provide the solution”[112] to the Taiwan issue.
On July 27, 2018, reports surfaced that a Chinese staff member who worked as Feinstein’s personal driver, gofer and liaison to the Asian-American community for 20 years, was caught reporting to China’s Ministry of State Security.[113][114] According to the reports, the FBI contacted Feinstein five years earlier warning her about the employee. The employee was later interviewed by authorities and forced to retire by Feinstein.[115] No criminal charges were filed against them.[113]
On January 9, 2018, Feinstein caused a stir when, as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she released a transcript[117] of its August 2017 interview with Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson about the dossier regarding connections between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government.[118] She did this unilaterally after the committee’s chairman, Chuck Grassley, refused to release the transcript.[119]
As a superdelegate in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, Feinstein said she would support Clinton for the nomination. But after Barack Obama became the presumptive nominee, she fully backed his candidacy. Days after Obama amassed enough delegates to win the nomination, Feinstein lent her Washington, D.C., home to Clinton and Obama for a private one-on-one meeting.[125] She did not attend the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver because she had fallen and broken her ankle earlier in the month.[126]
As the 2020 presidential election approached, Feinstein indicated her support for former Vice President Joe Biden. This came as a surprise to many pundits, due to the potential candidacy of fellow California senator Kamala Harris, of whom Feinstein said “I’m a big fan of Sen. Harris, and I work with her. But she’s brand-new here, so it takes a little bit of time to get to know somebody.”[130][131]
Feinstein has been married three times. She married Jack Berman (d. 2002), who was then working in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, in 1956. She and Berman divorced three years later. Their daughter, Katherine Feinstein Mariano (b. 1957), was the presiding judge of the San Francisco Superior Court for 12 years, through 2012.[136][137] In 1962, shortly after beginning her career in politics, Feinstein married her second husband, neurosurgeon Bertram Feinstein, who died of colon cancer in 1978. Feinstein was then married to investment banker Richard C. Blum from 1980 until his death from cancer in 2022.[138]
In 2003, Feinstein was ranked the fifth-wealthiest senator, with an estimated net worth of $26 million.[139] Her net worth increased to between $43 and $99 million by 2005.[140] Her 347-page financial-disclosure statement,[141] characterized by the San Francisco Chronicle as “nearly the size of a phone book”, claims to draw clear lines between her assets and her husband’s, with many of her assets in blind trusts.[142]
On April 14, 2022, the San Francisco Chronicle spoke to four senators, three former staffers, and a member of congress from California about Feinstein’s alleged cognitive decline. In the off-the-record interviews, legislators and others said that Feinstein’s memory is rapidly declining and it appears she can no longer fulfill her duties as a senator. They said Feinstein’s lapses are not constant and she is sometimes as sharp as she used to be, but there are times when she does not recognize longtime colleagues.[146] In response, Feinstein issued a statement asserting that “I’m still an effective representative for 40 million Californians.” She also spoke by phone to members of the Chronicle editorial board, saying, “I meet regularly with leaders. I’m not isolated. I see people. My attendance is good. I put in the hours. We represent a huge state. And so I’m rather puzzled by all of this.”[147] Colleagues including SpeakerNancy Pelosi defended her; Pelosi called the accusation “unconscionable” and “ridiculous”.[148][149]
^ abSlater, Elinor; Slater, Robert (1994). Great Jewish Women. Middle Village, New York: Jonathan David Publishers. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-8246-0370-0. Retrieved April 10, 2016. (The Pale of Settlement policy restricted Jews to living in specifically designated parts of Czarist Russia. They were excluded from living in the main Russian cities.)
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