Kounalakis heads to Mexico + Newsom’s take on Ukraine + What to do with unclaimed money?

Happy Monday, California!

SOUTHERN PARTNER

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis is leading a delegation to Mexico City for a slew of meetings this week, where members will sign a handful of memorandums of understanding that includes the launching of a California trade and services desk in Mexico.

“Mexico is our most important foreign partner,” Kounalakis said. “Not just in trade, but in our shared cultural makeup. There are a couple of very natural areas of cooperation.”

The delegation is the first sent from Sacramento under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration, Kounalakis told The Sacramento Bee, continuing that the week will serve as a “formal re-commitment” to the Mexico-California relationship.

Who — Kounalakis; state Sen. Susan Rubio, D-Baldwin Park; Assemblyman Ian Calderon, D-Whittier; Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks; Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross; Office of Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci

What — Mexico and California will sign five MoUs, including one that sets up a desk in Mexico for an Americas trade and investment specialist from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. Others will emphasize clean energy, risk prevention and disaster management, trade and sustainable agriculture agreements.

This is right up Kounalakis’ alley, a point she emphasized when asked how the governor leverages her experience as the former U.S. ambassador to Hungary to now serve California’s foreign interests.

“The experience and expertise that my office brings to the table around international affairs, coupled with our agencies, including GoBiz, so far it’s turning out to be a very strong team,” Kounalakis said. “I think the governor likes to put people to work. He saw capacity in my office to be able to help support priorities of the state. He was willing to give me the opportunity to help.”

‘SMALL BALL’

Ukraine isn’t the big story here, according to Newsom.

After speaking at the annual Native American Day at the Capitol on Friday, the governor told a gaggle of reporters that he’s not so interested in the phone call President Donald Trump had with Ukraine’s president as he is on the “completely unlawful” actions out of the White House to combat California on clean car rules.

“Ukraine is small ball when it comes to what he’s doing to the state of California,” Newsom said. “He’s threatening billions of dollars for this state, putting the health and safety of millions of people at risk. I don’t think that has gotten the kind of attention it deserves.”

Back it up — Newsom and Trump are at war over an agreement California made this summer with four automakers that would allow them an extra year to build more fuel efficient and cleaner cars. Trump, in comparison, wanted to roll back regulations against carbon emissions.

In the ensuing tit-for-tat, the Trump administration revoked California’s decades-long ability to set its own carbon emissions standards. California sued, again. Trump clapped back with a scathing letter from his Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Andrew Wheeler this week.

That letter claimed California wasn’t actually doing enough to reduce air pollution, and Wheeler threatened to withhold highway and transportation funds unless the state got in line with Trump’s plan.

“I had to read it three or four times,” Newsom said. “I get all the eyes have gone to Ukraine. But I think that more attention needs to go to what the president of the United States is doing to American citizens who happen to live in the state of California.”

Newsom said he has to decide still on his response, or whether he’ll have one, by the Oct. 10 deadline issued by the administration.

CLAIM IT

State Controller Betty T. Yee has taken to catchy “claim it” messages to capture the attention of Californians who might have forgotten money in her department’s possession.

February’s note — “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Claim the Property that Belongs to You”

March’s alert — “Find Your ‘Pot of Gold’”

April’s reminder — “Hop, Mop, or Mow Your Way to Claimit.ca.gov”

All that money has totaled $9.3 billion, according to the department’s January estimates.

Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, introduced a bipartisan-backed measure this year to allow the controller’s office to reallocate the unclaimed cash to local and state agencies when it’s in that entity’s name. The legislation breezed through the Legislature with near-unanimous support.

Newsom signed the bill into law on Sept. 20.

The dollars are stashed away in abandoned bank accounts, stocks, bonds, uncashed checks, insurance benefits and wages, according to the bill analysis.

When there’s a lack of activity for around three years, that limbo currency gets reported and submitted to the controller’s office. If no person is found to have entitlement to the property, i.e. the owner has died, the money gets transferred to the state.

The state controller’s office estimates the office holds about 293,000 government-owned properties that are worth more than $30 million.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The magnitude of the lobbying is rather extraordinary. I anticipated it. But it’s rather remarkable the amount of folks who get your cell phone, your personal email, track you down at events to express points of view. That’s the most interesting part of this first session process for me. I anticipated it. But not at this level.” — Newsom on his first-year, bill signing experience

Best of The Bee:

• No more ‘cowboys and Indians’: Newsom wants Californians to learn Native American history by Hannah Wiley
• Conservative group to pressure Republicans to call out Trump over Ukraine by Lesley Clark
• Tenants could work with landlords to take in homeless people under new California law by Sophia Bollag and Theresa Clift