How many California bills did Gavin Newsom veto? How many became law? Here’s a rundown
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
MICHELI LEGISLATIVE RUNDOWN
Need a recap of this legislative session? California lobbyist Chris Micheli has you covered.
According to his notes, Gov. Gavin Newsom — who finished signing and vetoing bills on Friday, one day before his deadline — signed 890 bills this session and vetoed 156. That’s fewer than in 2022, when the governor signed 997 and vetoed 169. However, the veto rate stayed nearly the same, at just over 14%.
So how about those bills?
Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of those signed (83%) were authored by Democrats, the party to which Newsom belongs. A majority (63%) of the bills came from the Assembly.
As for those bills that were vetoed, 67% came from the Assembly and more than 88% of those were authored by Democrats. As for the other 33% of vetoed bills, they came from the Senate and 94% of them were authored by Newsom’s own party.
Micheli also compiled information about the disposition of Senate and Assembly bills this year.
There were 891 Senate bills introduced in 2023, 330 became law and 51 were vetoed. There were 1,771 Assembly bills this year, 560 of those became law and 105 of them were vetoed.
NEW STATE FIRE MARSHAL
Auburn City Council member Daniel Berlant will soon have a new title: State Fire Marshal.
Newsom announced that he was appointing Berlant to the post last week. He previously served as deputy director of Cal Fire since 2022 and has held several positions at the agency since 2001.
Berlant, who has no party preference, will be paid $203,564 for the position.
“Serving my hometown for nearly a decade has been such an honor and truly a privilege. When I ran for City Council, I was laser focused on addressing fire department staffing concerns, along with increasing wildfire risk to our entire community. I am pleased to look back and know that not only did we make major expansions in Auburn’s public safety, but we tackled a long list of varying important issues,” Berlant said in a farewell column posted online.
Sunday marked Berlant’s last day on the City Council.
The position must still be confirmed by the Senate.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“What’s going on are crimes against humanity, pure and simple. So you have every single member of the human race out here because there is no way to justify what’s going on.”
— Tawfiq Morrar, speaking to The Bee at a pro-Palestine protest on Saturday.
Best of The Bee:
Hundreds of people gathered Saturday afternoon in downtown Sacramento to call for a free Palestine and to protest the occupation of the Gaza Strip as fighting between Hamas and Israel intensified, via Mathew Miranda.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed a bill that will make California college costs cheaper for hundreds of Mexican students who cross the border daily, via Mathew Miranda.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday legalized lowriding cruising across California, ending years of discrimination against a pastime many people regard as an outlet for individuality and innovation, via Mathew Miranda.
An extremely wet winter may have freed California from its most recent years-long drought, but the state is still looking to clamp down on water use. Under a new law signed by Gavin Newsom on Friday, public agencies, restaurants, corporate campuses industrial parks and certain other property owners will be prohibited from watering “nonfunctional turf” using potable water. The law does not apply to residential lawns, apartment complexes, sports fields or cemeteries, via Maggie Angst.
Hundreds of thousands of health care workers in California are set to earn a new minimum wage of $25 an hour, via Maya Miller.