Gavin Newsom delivered his State of the State address Tuesday in just under 18 minutes.

March 11, 2022
VIEW IN YOUR BROWSER ([link removed])
[link removed]

Dear John,

Gavin Newsom delivered his State of the State address Tuesday in just under 18 minutes. It was weird optics for a governor facing a deluge of crises, especially coming from a guy known for his Fidel Castro-style multi-hour oratories when presenting his annual budget — just as long, but without the cigars, magnificent beard and fatigues.

With more than half of California voters (54 percent) convinced ([link removed]) the state is on the wrong track, he owed it to them to take the address seriously. Like so much else in state government, that debt remains unpaid.

Newsom’s unusual brevity had one advantage. His vision for the future was revealed as myopic — all platitudes, social-justice signifiers and huge gaps revealed reality was missing.

From the looks of it, he’s got one plan — to run for president — and a slogan to go with it: throughout the speech, he referenced “The California Way.” He’s apparently oblivious to what that means in the Rest of America, where national progressives (consider Orange County’s own, Ezra Klein ([link removed]) ) worry that Newsom & Co. have governed so badly that they’ve damaged the progressive brand.
Support the California Policy Center. Donate Today. ([link removed])

Here’s a closer look at the governor’s key points, and why he’s wrong on every one of them.

The Homeless Crisis
* California’s out-of-control homeless problem and epic crime wave have both surged on Newsom’s watch. Two-thirds of nearly 9,000 voters polled ([link removed]) said Newsom is doing a “poor” or “very poor” job addressing homelessness, up 12 points from 2020. And 51% of voters said the governor was doing a poor job on crime and public safety, up 16 points from 2020.
* Newsom knew that his numbers were in the tank and admitted ([link removed]) that, “Just a few years ago, California lacked any comprehensive strategy. No accountability, and no meaningful state resources to solve the problem.” That’s all changed under his leadership, Newsom claimed. But of course, everyone who lives in California knows the only change is that everything’s much worse. That’s because progressives believe homelessness is a housing issue – one driven by gentrification and capitalist excess – rather than a mental health and drug addiction problem. So Newsom has thrown billions of dollars at “homelessness,” which has been a cash-cow ([link removed]) for counties and housing developers charging half a million dollars per unit of “supportive housing,” but it has not made a dent in the crisis.
* Now grasping that, Newsom has a new proposal: “CARE Courts ([link removed]) .” Like so many of his previous plans, it is more bluster than substance and repackages other similar plans almost as a branding exercise. California already has a program that uses the “black robe” effect of judges to compel assisted outpatient treatment. It’s called Laura’s Law and in 2020 Newsom signed the bill ([link removed]) requiring all counties to have these kinds of mandated assisted outpatient treatment programs unless they opted out. Like San Francisco’s catastrophically failed “Linkage Centers,” ([link removed]) ridiculed as open-air drug markets, this, too, looks destined for failure. Newsom staffers are choosing their words carefully to
suggest that the program will be a magical combination of guidance programs for the severely mentally ill and addicted. But without fundamental reform of our mental health laws, which Newsom promised to pursue in January, enforcement of such a program will be as effective as previous attempts unless and until he has the guts to stand up to progressive groups like the ACLU that oppose any real effort to compel care.

California’s Epic Crime Wave
* Soaring crime rates? Everyone (but Newsom apparently) knows the cause of the crime increase: Prop 47 has gutted penalties for crimes, prosecutors in major cities are refusing to prosecute criminals in the name of “social justice,” and politicians are defanging and defunding law enforcement.
* Newsom’s solution? The governor admitted ([link removed]) his approach is to not “revert to heavy-handed policies that have marked the failures of the past.” “Heavy-handed” seems to be his euphemism for “prosecuting crime.” And Newsom’s big idea, drum roll please, “we’re also investing hundreds of millions of dollars in new programs to tackle the root cause of crime, doubling down on proven violence prevention programs.”
* Newsflash: the root cause of the crime surge in California is that the criminals know they can get away with crime because police departments and prosecutors have had their hands tied by progressive politicians. The best violence prevention program is prosecuting criminals.


The Nation’s Highest Gas Prices
* When it comes to climate change policy, “California has no peers,” Newsom said. Fact Check: True! When it comes to enacting reckless “green initiatives” that have no basis in reality but destroy the state in easily demonstrable ways, California has no match. The average consumer in California already pays 80 percent more ([link removed]) for electricity than the national average and pays the highest gas prices ([link removed]) in the nation. That’s a genuine hardship for most Californians.
* Newsom conveniently blamed the war in Ukraine and post-pandemic inflation for the rising gas prices. But he could single-handedly lower gas prices and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil if he would allow drilling in California. Newsom focuses on greenhouse gases as the only byproduct; we’d point out that others include good jobs, lower fuel prices, and general prosperity. Don’t tell that to the governor. He says drilling would only lead to “even more extreme weather, more extreme drought, and more wildfire.” See how that works? Newsom ignores proven solutions for fire prevention (forest management) and water recycling and storage (because environmentalists object), thenblames capitalism and climate change ([link removed]) for his failures and casts himself as a “green solutions” hero.
* Newsom said he’s not “naive” that drivers are struggling to afford the high price of gasoline. His response? Get rich and buy electric. “Daily life still demands too much fossil fuel,” Newsom said. But who’s being naive? His mandate that all new vehicles sold in the state be electric by 2035 would radically increase electricity demand in a state that can’t even keep the lights on now.


Jobs, the Economy and California vs. Texas and Florida
* “When it comes to the economy, California is unmatched. We dominate,” Newsom said Tuesday, pointing to “new” job growth in the state, but – fun trick! – he’s counting the jobs he destroyed with pandemic lockdowns that are only now coming back. The truth is California has one of the worst unemployment rates ([link removed]) of any state, and workers and businesses are fleeing ([link removed]) the state. And while Newsom spent part of his speech trolling his Republican counterparts in Texas and Florida, the latest U-Haul report ([link removed]) ranks those states first and second respectively for places people are moving to, and California ranks dead last. On the contrary, California was “top state for out-migration” last year, an exodus so vast that U-Haul “simply ran out of inventory to meet customer demand.”


Failed Schools
* Nearly one-third of California voters gave ([link removed]) California schools a “D” or “F” after Newsom kept schools locked down during the pandemic far longer than other states at the behest of the state’s teacher’s unions. The shutdowns led to historic student absenteeism, devastating learning loss on top of already dismal achievement scores in reading and math, and a serious mental health crisis for California kids. Newsom disgracefully ignored all of that in his “State of the State,” and instead pushed the absurd notion that “real transformation of our public education system” includes trapping kids in failing government schools at an even earlier age through “universal pre-kindergarten.”


Democracy the “California Way”
* In an outrageous comparison, Newsom compared Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to what he called “authoritarian and illiberal impulses” also “echoing here are home,” dragging out the usual right-wing boogeymen who he warned are “agents of a national anger machine … scapegoating vulnerable minorities.”
* But the real authoritarian has been Gov. Newsom, who shut down schools, restaurants and businesses during the pandemic — and kept them closed far longer than necessary. The real anger machine is the governor who, facing a recall, dismissed his critics as supporters of January 6. The Governor seems oblivious to the fact that low-income minorities are most vulnerable when they can’t work because businesses are shut down and their children can’t get an education because schools are closed. What’s “authoritarian and illiberal” is Newsom’s refusal to give up his COVID emergency powers despite the fact that Omicron is waning.

If you missed Gov. Newsom’s State of the State, be sure to check out this round-up ([link removed]) of CPC staff’s live-tweets during the address or view the full conversation on Twitter at #GovGavGab.
Support the California Policy Center. Donate Today. ([link removed])

Quote of the Week

“... the picture forming in our California brains is of a feckless state regulator driving CalCare at high speed into a concrete freeway embankment, igniting a massive orange and black fireball, and stranding half a million drivers on their way to work — every day for the rest of our lives.” — CPC president Will Swaim in his latest National Review article ([link removed]) on single-payer healthcare in California

More from CPC
* National Review: California State Health Care: Unions Learn Wrong Lessons ([link removed]) — CPC president Will Swaim explains how progressives use CA’s political dysfunction to advance their national progressive agenda and single-payer healthcare.
* National Review’s Radio Free California Podcast: A Blob of Orwellian Vomit ([link removed]) : Don’t miss CPC president Will Swaim and CPC board member David Bahnsen’s in-depth discussion about CA’s reckless energy policies.
* CalMatters: Restricting natural gas in California is a recipe for blackouts ([link removed]) : Lance Christensen, CPC VP of Education Policy & Government Affairs, lays out why efforts to restrict natural gas in California ignore reality.

CPC and allies in the news
* 'The California Way' isn't as rosy as Gov. Newsom touted in State of the State: ([link removed]) CPC staff live-tweet throughout Gov. Newsom’s State of the State with wit and wisdom.
* CA’s drivers pay high gas taxes and prices for roads and bridges in poor condition ([link removed])

Classroom headlines
* S.F. public schools will lift mask mandate, reversing earlier stance ([link removed])
* LAUSD: As COVID unmasking advances, hard part remains for district – building consensus ([link removed])
* San Diego Unified will make masks optional April 4 ([link removed])
* Enrollment falls in Sacramento, Elk Grove school districts ([link removed])

Union news
* SEIU Local 1000 members occupy HQ building ([link removed])
* SEIU Local 1000 takes legal action over CA union HQ takeover ([link removed])
* Newsom, unions eye $50k bonuses for juvenile prison workers ([link removed])

Other things we’re reading
* CA poverty: How governments make it worse ([link removed])
* ‘San Fransicko’ author to challenge Newsom in governor’s race ([link removed])
* The right to work without a license to do so ([link removed])


** ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER
------------------------------------------------------------

The California Policy Center promotes prosperity for all Californians through limited government and individual liberty.

Learn more at CaliforniaPolicyCenter.org.
Support the California Policy Center. Donate Today. ([link removed])
[link removed]
FACEBOOK ([link removed])
[link removed]
TWITTER ([link removed])
[link removed]
WEBSITE ([link removed])

============================================================

** MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO THE CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER ([link removed])

The California Policy Center is a 501c3 non-profit
CA Corp. #3295222. Federal EIN 27-2870463.
Copyright © California Policy Center 2016.
All rights reserved.

This email was sent to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
why did I get this? ([link removed]) unsubscribe from this list ([link removed]) update subscription preferences ([link removed])
California Policy Center . 18002 Irvine Blvd Ste 108 . Tustin, CA 92780-3321 . USA