A remarkably ordinary session

THE BUZZ — WELCOME BACK: There was plenty of celebration to go around yesterday as newly-minted lawmakers and their families crowded into Capitol halls for the first day of session.

Actual action, however, was scant. While the Legislature did convene the special session called by Gov. Gavin Newsom to address skyrocketing gas prices, no bills were read and no votes were taken. Details of the gas windfall profits penalty, which lawmakers had been eager to see for weeks, weren’t even publicized until the afternoon — well after the swearings-in and adjournments in both chambers.

Newsom initially proposed a windfall tax as a way for Californians “claw back” some of their money from oil companies, but the first draft of the proposal, released Monday, describes a law that would appear to focus more on preventing price gouging from happening in the first place.

Under the proposal, which will be carried by Senate Budget Chair Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), the state would make it unlawful for oil companies to charge excessive profits, punishable by a civil penalty from the California Energy Commission. Profit margins and penalty amounts will need to be determined vis-a-vis the legislative process, and any money collected would go into a “Price Gouging Penalty Fund” to be given back to Californians, the governor’s office said.

The Legislature will also consider measures to increase oversight of the oil industry — something that has been a frequent roadblock for energy experts seeking to better understand how companies determine their costs.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a plan Monday to penalize oil companies that raise “excess profits” through high gasoline prices. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) | AP

The governor appeared confident when he addressed reporters in the afternoon, vowing to enact safeguards that would deter oil companies from price gouging. Whether lawmakers actually get on board, however, is another question.

Legislative leaders have offered cautious support for the spirit of Newsom’s proposal, but haven’t committed to anything. Even though the bill is now being framed as a penalty rather than a tax (which allows it to pass with an easier majority) it could still be difficult to convince even the state’s Democratic supermajority to level such a serious blow at the oil industry.

Newsom historically has had little patience for the moderate members of the Legislature that he sees as being in the pocket of the oil industry. Recall how, after passing climate bills this summer, he lamented having to “jam” them through his own Democratic Legislature.

Alas, any vote whipping will likely be delayed until January. For now, the new class of lawmakers are heading back to their districts for the holidays before returning to continue the special session in the new year.

BUENOS DÍAS, good Tuesday morning. The committee to recall Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón goes to court today seeking access to records held by the LA County Registrar of Voters, including a review of the petition’s invalidated signatures. Read the complaint here.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Every American has a moral obligation to fight against hate speech. There are many ways to do that, large and small. Here’s one way: Quit Twitter. ” Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen announcing his office would quit the social media platform in light of the “proliferation of extremist posts” that has occurred under the rule of Elon Musk. 

BONUS QOTD: “One common form of ethical avoidance around here is what I call delayed morality. Delayed morality sounds something like this: ‘I’m not going to do the right thing on this bill because it’s politically precarious, and I need to get re-elected. That way I’ll do the right thing in the future.’ But ethical avoidance becomes easier and easier to do until you find yourself ignoring questions of right and wrong entirely.” Newly-reelected Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) after lawmakers voted to name Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) the next speaker. 

TWEET OF THE DAY:

Today’s Tweet of the Day | Twitter

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

INTO THIN AIR — “Fresno District Attorney dismisses criminal case against city council president,” by the Fresno Bee’s Brianna Vaccari: “The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office on Monday motioned to dismiss the misdemeanor attempted extortion case against Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza.”

— “Avenatti sentenced to 14 years in California fraud case,” by the AP’s Amy Taxin: “It is the last of three major federal criminal cases to wrap up against the 51-year-old Californian, who rose to fame as he represented porn actor Stormy Daniels during her legal battles with Donald Trump and became one of the former president’s leading adversaries.”

FTX FALLOUT — “Disgraced crypto exec Sam Bankman-Fried spent big in two SoCal Congress races,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Laura J. Nelson: “Before his business empire imploded, Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and the second-biggest donor to Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections. He gave $27 million to the Protect Our Future political action committee and also contributed to the Guarding Against Pandemics group, run by his younger brother.”

— “What Prop. 28 funding will mean for arts education in California,” by EdSource’s Carolyn Jones: “We talked to former Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Austin Beutner, a chief backer of Proposition 28, about what students, families and schools can expect when the measure goes into effect in 2023.”

THE HIGHEST HOPES — “Local air regulators say it’s impossible to meet smog standards without federal help,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Tony Briscoe: “Southern California air regulators have approved a sweeping plan to reduce pollution in the nation’s smoggiest region within the next two decades, but say they cannot meet national air quality standards without federal action.”

MURKY WATERS — “Newsom paused $1 billion in homeless funds for cities, then restarted it. Did anything change?” by the Sacramento Bee’s Maggie Angst: “In a tweet on Thursday, Newsom wrote that after ‘honest and robust’ conversations with local leaders, ‘progress’ had been made… But what exactly are those ‘higher goals’ and what does Newsom consider ‘progress?’”

— “Supreme Court redistricting case could allow Democrats to gerrymander California,” Opines Paul Mitchell for CalMatters: “A win in this case would give legislatures more control over laws around voter registration and election administration, allowing them to wreak havoc in a number of voting issues. But it would come at the immediate expense of their congressional majority as, given the pen, California would create a Democratic gerrymander which alone would flip the House back to Democratic control.”

TAKE NOTE — “Here are 14 new laws Californians must start following in 2023,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Dustin Gardiner and Sophie Bollag: “Hundreds of new laws passed by the California Legislature will take effect in the new year, from legalizing jaywalking in many scenarios to a higher minimum wage for more workers. Most of them take effect on Jan. 1. Here are 14 new laws coming to California in 2023.”

— “‘When they took the foundation, everything started crumbling’: California group fights eminent domain, racism,” by CalMatters’ Lil Kalish: “For decades Black families have borne the brunt of these land grabs, with many like Moore saying they had little or no recourse. Eminent domain still poses barriers to Black homeownership today, contributing to the wealth gap.”

REFERENDUM AGENDUM — “​​Restaurant Groups Push to Overturn California Fast-Food Wage Law,” by the Wall Street Journal’s Heather Haddon: “Restaurant and trade groups said they have submitted enough voter signatures for a ballot measure to try to halt the implementation of a new California law that would set minimum hourly wages for fast-food workers in the state starting next year.”

— “AG Rob Bonta asks California Supreme Court to restore worker protection law rolled back by SCOTUS,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bob Egelko: “Nearly six months after the U.S. Supreme Court rolled back most of a unique California law allowing workers to join one another and sue their employer for violating labor laws, Attorney General Rob Bonta is asking California’s high court to take another look at the law and restore it.”

EXIT TASKS — “How Nancy Pelosi can right a historic wrong before she steps down as speaker,” Opines Chuck Hoskin Jr. for the San Francisco Chronicle: “For nearly two centuries, the United States has not honored a key promise it made — the seating of a delegate from the Cherokee Nation in the U.S. House of Representatives. Pelosi should do her part to help honor that promise before the year is out and her tenure as speaker expires.”

— Conservative justices show sympathy for case that could undercut LGBTQ rights, by POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Kelly Hooper: The Supreme Court’ s conservative majority seemed to be searching Monday for a way to allow religious business owners to opt out of providing certain kinds of services to same-sex couples, while avoiding overturning decades of precedents that prohibit discrimination among customers based on factors like race or gender.

CHANGING TIDES — Senate GOP leaders turn on Trump over suspend-the-Constitution talk, by POLITICO’s Burgess Everett and Marianne Levine: Top Senate Republicans are distancing themselves from Donald Trump in growing numbers after the former president’s call to suspend the Constitution — though there’s no sign it will lead them to actively oppose his 2024 presidential campaign.

— Interior sets new steps to boost solar on public lands in West, by POLITICO’s Kelsey Tamborrino: BLM will update its solar programmatic environmental impact statement, originally finalized in 2012 to guide utility-scale solar development and permitting across Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah.

SLASHING SILICON — “Bay Area tech workers react to layoff axes with shock, and ‘more pain’ is coming,” by the Mercury News’ Ethan Baron: “The ax fell suddenly and out of the blue for technology worker Nitesh Donti. Less than a year ago on the networking platform LinkedIn, he’d expressed excitement over his new job as an engineering manager at robot-vehicle company Nuro. Then last month, Nuro laid off Donti and around 300 others as it slashed 20% of its workforce.”

— “Weed Shops Switch to Cash After Cashless ATM Crackdown,” by Bloomberg’s Tiffany Kary: “Marijuana shops across the US are rushing to find alternative ways for customers to pay after networks that supported a popular workaround to the banking system began to shut down last week.”

DINNER IS SERVED — “Michelin adds 18 new stars to its California guide, including eight restaurants in L.A.,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Stephanie Breijo.

— “Virgen de Guadalupe procession replaces car floats with hand-carried shrines,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Andrew J. Campa.

— “The Missing Mammal That May Have Shaped California’s Kelp Forests,” by the New York Times’ Oliver Whang.

— “A Sacramento program aims to transition gas-reliant homes to greener energy,” by CapRadio’s Manola Secaira.

— “California senior citizens are hit hard as COVID-19 surges this winter,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Rong-Gong Lin II.

— Yogananda Pittman, the interim chief who helped guide the recovery of the U.S. Capitol Police after the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, will be the next police chief at the University of California, Berkeley starting in February.

Dana Brisbane 

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