Gavin Newsom on September 30 finished this legislative session’s bill signings and vetoes. Based on numbers compiled by Sacramento lobbyist Chris Micheli, the governor signed 1,040 bills and vetoed a relatively low 10%. The elephant in the room this year is the looming national political situation, with the more-contentious-than-usual November midterms only a month away — and the governor clearly eyeing a run for the presidency.
We’ve given Newsom kudos for exerting some necessary fiscal discipline, as he vetoed two unconscionable, bipartisan bills that threatened the state’s (and local governments’) long-term financial situation. Assembly Bill 1383 would have gutted Gov. Jerry Brown’s modest 2012 pension reforms that slightly lowered retirement formulas; Assembly Bill 1054 would have allowed public employees to walk away with large lump sums in addition to their pensions.
Newsom tried to make it up elsewhere to his union allies. As CalMatters explained, the governor “gives labor most of what it demanded” by signing seven of nine bills related to Artificial Intelligence. He signed Senate Bill 947, which bans employers from using AI to fire or discipline workers. Other bills he signed require healthcare workers to make patient decisions rather than AI, and put limits on the use of AI for surveilling employees. None of these limits strike us as unreasonable.
However, we’re disappointed Newsom signed 13 child-protection AI-related bills that will create endless lawsuits over the definition of “harm” — and could impede the state’s national leadership in this industry. He also abandoned his slow-going approach toward data-center regulation by approving a package of laws that mandate myriad disclosures. This was good politics, given the national backlash against these facilities that power the AI revolution, but bad public policy.
Regarding the state’s insurance challenges, Newsom signed Senate Bill 876. Although we aren’t thrilled with mandates on private companies, this one makes sense given California’s underinsurance problems. One post-wildfire reality: Homeowners have too little insurance to rebuild. This would simply require insurers to offer “extended replacement cost coverage” to mitigate this gap.
The governor couldn’t resist his Nanny State impulses. He signed a bill banning disposable nicotine vaping devices. We still can’t fathom why the state continues to crack down on products that are much safer than combustible cigarettes.
Newsom signed 10 gun-control laws, some of which may raise Second Amendment challenges. The most onerous: Senate Bill 948 imposes an additional four-hour safety-training requirement on many gun purchasers — and imposes new restrictions on gun owners who move to California from other states. It could, as the National Firearm Industry Trade Association explains, turn “otherwise lawful gun owners into criminals without even knowing it.”
Newsom also signed one of the worst measures this session. Assembly Bill 1776 amends California’s antitrust law to allow for lawsuits against single companies that engage in nebulously defined anti-competitive practices. The amended version strips away the nefarious private right of legal action, but it still poses a threat to businesses simply by virtue of being successful.
On the housing front, Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1751, by Assembly member Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, that creates by right development approvals for townhouses. That’s a good measure that expands housing exemptions for market-rate projects.
As usual, the session was mixed. It could have been worse, but it certainly could have been better.