California Policy and Politics Wednesday

Did the Trump administration just prove that voter fraud in California is a non-factor? -- “The arrest of 28 people for potentially registering or voting while noncitizens is tiny compared to the 23 million California voters,” UCLA Law School professor Rick Hasen, director of his school’s Safeguarding Democracy Project, wrote on his blog Monday. Raheem Hosseini in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/21/26

‘Borders on the absurd.’ California fights Trump lawsuit to set aside 20,000 ballots -- In a court filing Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles, Attorney General Rob Bonta said the lawsuit the Trump administration filed last week “borders on the absurd.” Ryan Sabalow Calmatters -- 10/21/26

DOJ’s suspected non-citizens list includes ‘high percentage’ of those born in US, LA officials say -- The justice department’s list of suspected non-citizens in California includes a “high percentage” of people born in the United States, Los Angeles election officials said on Tuesday. Sam Levine in The Guardian -- 10/21/26

Walters: Trump’s crackdown on immigrant voting in California is a ploy to influence election -- The federal crackdown on voting by non-citizens in California is obviously aimed more at having a political impact than combating serious crime. Dan Walters Calmatters -- 10/21/26

Thousands of California voters got duplicate vote-by-mail ballots. Here’s what happened -- Thousands of voters in a Central Valley town received two ballots in the mail. The county registrar said it was a printing error. Hailey Branson-Potts in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/21/26

 

Becerra’s time in Washington: Steady rise with a bumpy final ascent -- Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor, was part of a wave of young Latino lawmakers entering Congress in the 1990s and won a place on the influential Ways and Means Committee. He drew criticism on multiple fronts during his time as President Biden’s Health and Human Services secretary. Ben Wieder in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/21/26

Poll: Voters tiring of Newsom, yet may not really want change -- Most California voters rate Gavin Newsom’s tenure governing California as “poor” or “fair” and want his successor to take the state in a different direction, according to a new Citrin-POLITICO poll. Yet Xavier Becerra, another mainstream Democrat who was among the gubernatorial candidates to most effusively praise Newsom during the primary, is on track to beat Republican Steve Hilton by a 20-point margin, according to the survey. Blake Jones Politico -- 10/21/26

Garofoli: rop 45 would make major changes to CEQA. But many CEQA reformers don’t support it -- Some California leaders who have spent years spearheading changes to California’s landmark environmental protection law either haven’t taken a position on or are opposing Proposition 45, which would take even bigger chunks out of the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA. Joe Garofoli in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/21/26

Barabak: With a foot out the door, Nancy Pelosi tries one last flex -- The retiring speaker emerita has aggressively waded into the Democratic dogfight to choose her successor Is it resentment, sisterhood or the act of an operator schooled in machine politics? Mark Barabak in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/21/26

Rick Caruso has ‘extreme concern’ over Raman, but declines to endorse in mayor’s race -- Former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso declined once again to endorse either incumbent Mayor Karen Bass or challenger Nithya Raman in the Nov. 3 runoff election, but expressed what he called “extreme concern” about Raman’s plans to remove Police Chief Jim McDonnell. Itzel Luna in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/21/26

Newsom’s death row mulling has support — though tempered — in California Legislature -- As Gov. Gavin Newsom mulls commuting the sentences of more than 500 people on California’s death row, he faces support — although not completely full-throated — from leaders in the Legislature. One of his firm backers is Assemblymember Nick Schultz, D-Burbank, who chairs the body’s public safety committee. Stephen Hobbs in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 10/21/26

The shadow contest between California’s three big 2028 hopefuls is well underway -- The next presidential election is still two years away, but this year’s midterms are providing a backdrop for the shadow campaigns of California’s biggest presidential contenders-in-waiting. Sophia Bollag in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/21/26

Workplace

‘Our strike is moving forward.’ SEIU Local 1000 doesn’t make last-minute deal -- A last-minute deal between the largest state worker union and the California Department of Human Resources didn’t come to fruition. Now thousands of state employees are expected to go on strike Wednesday. It’s slated to be the largest strike in state history. Corey Schmidt in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 10/21/26

Why are California state workers so mad at Gavin Newsom? Spoiler alert: Pay cuts -- The state workers who are planning the first-ever statewide walkout in 44 years this week once were on much better terms with their boss, Gov. Gavin Newsom. Adam Ashton Calmatters -- 10/21/26

AI

Why Anthropic’s draft bill sets $1 billion threshold for AI risk -- The artificial intelligence company’s proposed threshold mirrors a California law — but repurposes it to decide when the government could block an advanced AI model. Owen Dahlkamp Politico -- 10/21/26

AI Just Found a Bug That Puts Up to 70% of the World’s Websites at Risk -- AI tools helped find one of the most severe online bugs ever. Cyber experts are racing to patch it before hackers use AI to exploit it. Robert McMillan in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 10/21/26

Why AI’s Deepest Mind Believes the World Is About to Change Radically -- From childhood prodigy to AI pioneer to Nobel Prize winner, Demis Hassabis has always had a simple plan. Step one, solve intelligence. Step two, solve everything else. Ben Cohen, Jonas Unger in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 10/21/26

ICE

ICE vehicle appears to strike person in Woodland, videos show. Police investigating -- Police are investigating after a vehicle driven by a federal immigration agent appeared to strike a person in a Woodland neighborhood Tuesday morning, the Woodland Police Department said, in an incident that has drawn condemnation from immigrants’ rights advocates and elected officials. Darrell Smith and Rosalio Ahumada in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 10/21/26

Climate

Major loss of California beaches predicted in latest climate forecast -- As ocean levels rise, waves crash farther inland and the coast continues to crumble, Southern California is on track to lose 30 to 70% of its beaches over the next several decades. Almost half of all beach cliffs are likely to retreat by 30 to 80 feet by 2100. Blanca Begert in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/21/26

‘It’s quite shocking’: Waves are destroying Long Beach’s peninsula. It’s about to get worse -- Repeated tropical storms and powerful waves have torn apart homes and Long Beach’s historic boardwalk, overwhelming years of sand replenishment along the peninsula. Fedor Zarkhin in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/21/26

Where are California’s dead trees going? A forest advocate turned detective to find out -- Forest advocates suspect that trees killed in a wildfire in Sequoia National Forest are being turned into wood chips and burned to generate electricity, a process they say is dirtier than burning coal. Doug Smith, Tomas Ovalle in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 10/21/26

California’s rainy season to arrive with flood threat, tornado risk and Sierra snow -- California’s wet season is starting off with a bang. The first significant storm of the season is forecast to bring heavy rain to vulnerable burn scars near Big Sur, coastal tornado risk to the Los Angeles area, and a half-foot of snow or more to high-elevation areas in the Sierra. Greg Porter, Anthony Edwards in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/21/26

Wildfire

FEMA tells states to handle disasters on their own -- The Trump administration plans to cut disaster aid in as few as six months and shift responsibility to states, FEMA's administrator said in remarks obtained by Politico. Thomas Frank Politico -- 10/21/26

Californians Are Warding Off Wildfires by Trading Lush Lawns for Stone and Steel -- A proposed state mandate and shrinking insurance options are pushing homeowners to turn a critical 5-foot zone around their homes into a fire buffer. Jessica Flint and Libertina Brandt in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 10/21/26

Also

She Braved Sharks and Storms to Swim the Length of California -- “It feels surreal being done, this has been my entire life for nearly four months,” said Catherine Breed, who finished her historic journey near the Mexico border on Monday. Nick Romeo, Gabriela Bhaskar in the New York Times$ -- 10/21/26

California’s ‘death discount’ puts a clock on this 89-year-old’s lawsuit -- An 89-year-old San Francisco woman who fell from her wheelchair in a city paratransit van and suffered multiple fractures is suing the city. But if Libby Thaler, a retired schoolteacher, dies before her trial ends, any damages a jury might award her family will be substantially limited by what her lawyers call California’s “death discount.” Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 10/21/26

 

POTUS 47

Musk Ordered Starlink Slowdown That Blindsided Ukraine -- Musk and Trump discussed the Starlink decision in a call soon after the slowdown became public, while the president was campaigning last week, two of the people said. One of the people also claimed Musk and Trump discussed the matter prior to the decision to throttle Starlink. Alexander Ward, Natalie Andrews and Josh Dawsey in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 10/21/26

A Billionaire Wanted a Trump Pardon. His Family Gave Alina Habba a $50 Million Deal -- Julio Herrera Velutini, a prominent Venezuelan, was seeking clemency. He got it not long after his daughter gave Ms. Habba, a lawyer close to President Trump, an extraordinarily lucrative job. Tyler Pager in the New York Times$ -- 10/21/26

Trump Pushes to Evict the Press From the White House -- President Trump has talked about replacing the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room with an indoor swimming pool. Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan in the New York Times$ -- 10/21/26

Trump Says Data Centers Must Provide Their Own Electricity -- President Trump said he is requiring companies that build large data centers in the U.S. to provide their own electricity and suggested they pay communities hosting facilities a dividend, his latest steps to address widespread opposition to the artificial-intelligence boom ahead of the midterm elections. Gareth Vipers and Amrith Ramkumar in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 10/21/26