Clean California effort fills thousands of trucks with trash
Happy Friday and welcome to the A.M. Alert! I’m Amelia, the Bee’s state workers intern.
A CLEAN CALIFORNIA
Via Amelia Wu…
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that Caltrans and partners in the Clean California effort removed the equivalent of 136,000 full garbage trucks of litter cleared from state highways and communities in the past four years.
The news comes after Newsom launched a statewide task force last week to prioritize homelessness, remove encampments and bring services in California’s largest cities.
Led by Caltrans, the $1.2 billion Clean California effort also has 314 beautification projects that include public art installations and new parks.
“From Siskiyou County in the north to Imperial County in the south and Kern County in the Central Valley — Clean California is restoring pride and creating spaces where communities thrive,” said California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin in a statement.
Since its launch in July 2021, the trash collected by Clean California includes 15,500 mattresses and 57,000 tires.
The effort also includes designations of Clean California communities, with 30 agreeing to long-term commitments to zero litter and community beautification.
“Yes, we’ve removed hundreds of thousands of garbage trucks worth of trash from our roads and highways, but it’s more than that— we’ve invested in communities all across our state with public art projects and parks, creating thousands of jobs and lifting up countless neighborhoods in need,” Newsom said in a statement.
MCCARTY ENDORSES RENDON FOR SUPERINTENDENT
Via Nicole Nixon...
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty is endorsing his former Assembly colleague and Speaker Anthony Rendon to be the next leader of California’s public school system.
During his time in the Legislature, McCarty spent nearly a decade shaping state school spending as chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance.
In a statement shared exclusively with The Bee, the Democratic mayor praised Rendon as someone ready to fight the Trump administration’s efforts to gut the U.S. Department of Education and use school funding as political leverage.
“Our next Superintendent of Public Instruction must be someone with both an unwavering commitment to providing every child with a high-quality education and the courage to stand strong in the face of a hostile federal government,” McCarty said. “Having served alongside Anthony Rendon in the Assembly, I witnessed his tireless dedication to students, teachers and families. I can say with absolute confidence: There is no one more prepared — or more deserving — to take on this responsibility.”
Rendon, the Assembly’s second-longest-serving Speaker, announced his campaign for state superintendent in July. Also running for the (technically nonpartisan) position are Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, former Sen. Josh Newman, Chino Hills school board president and parents’ rights activist Sonja Shaw, and a handful of local school officials from Los Angeles and San Diego.
ANTI-REDISTRICTING GROUP ACCUSED OF NOT FILING REPORTS
Via Lia Russell…
The campaign urging voters to approve new state congressional boundaries in November has accused an opposing campaign of hiding how much money it has spent on ads opposing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting initiative.
Yes on Prop. 50 attorney Andrew Wesbrock submitted a complaint to the Fair Political Practices Commission, claiming that Right Path California has failed to file mandatory reports disclosing how much it has spent on mailers opposing redistricting. Both sides have rolled out ads advocating for their positions ahead of the Nov. 4 special election, which experts anticipate will cost over $200 million.
The FPPC is the state’s nonpartisan political watchdog.
Right Path California has sent voters mailers urging them to oppose gerrymandering and defend the Citizen Redistricting Commission; the mailers do not mention Prop. 50. Right Path has not filed anything related to its anti-redistricting activities, even though the communications would have cost well over the $50,000 mandated-disclosure amount, according to state campaign finance filings.
Jessica Millan Patterson, the former state Republican Party chair who is overseeing an anti-Prop. 50 campaign with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is listed as Right Path’s president and chief executive officer on its website. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment via a spokesperson.
“Because the communications do not contain the appropriate disclosure language, and because of Right Path California’s utter failure to file disclosure reports, there is no way of knowing who is funding the communications by Right Path California,” Wesbrock wrote in his FPPC complaint. “Amid a high-profile and consequential campaign, it is critical that groups seeking to influence the measure accurately inform the public about their sources of financial support. We respectfully request the Commission take immediate action to help ensure public transparency is upheld and to prevent untold sums of dark money from influencing California elections.”
Republican mega donor Charles Munger Jr., is spearheading another anti-Prop. 50 campaign, but he has distanced himself from Patterson and McCarthy’s effort. Still, Newsom’s camp has tried to link the three by highlighting Munger’s past donations via his CNC Foundation to pregnancy crisis centers, Campus Crusade for Christ and the Christian Legal Society, whose attorneys advocated for overturning Roe v. Wade.
“The NO campaign is actively working to illegally hide their Trump donors and trick Californians. Kevin McCarthy, Charlie Munger Jr., and the MAGA faithful are teaming up because they want to help Donald Trump rig the next election and keep Republicans in total control of the federal government,” said Yes on 50 spokesperson Hannah Milgrom. “Californians will see through their lies and lawbreaking.”
MCCLINTOCK AMONG FEW REPUBLICANS OPPOSING WATER, ENERGY BILL
Via David Lightman...
Rep. Tom McClintock was one of four Republicans who Thursday voted against a GOP-authored bill to fund energy and water projects in the next fiscal year, calling it a “stinker” that was “chock full of subsidies, giveaways and earmarks.”
The Elk Grove Republican has long protested what he regards as excessive, irresponsible federal spending.
The energy and water spending bill, which funds programs starting October 1, passed the House 214 to 213, as all Democrats voting, including all 41 California Democrats who voted, were against the measure.
McClintock listed several problems with the bill.
He cited spending on earmarks, or specific local projects, that he said “bypass the competitive process that awards funding based on merit and not political deals.” Members of Congress place requests for such projects with budget writers, who can then add them to spending bills.
McClintock also objected to billions of dollars he said were “taken from taxpayers of one community to pay for local water projects that exclusively benefit some other community.”
And he criticized billions he said would “subsidize favored energy companies and interests.”
He said, “energy and water projects should be paid for by their beneficiaries.”
Local projects that exclusively benefit one community should not be funded by others that receive no benefit,” the congressman said, “and all projects should be funded on their merit.
“This bill makes a mockery of these fundamental principles of responsible fiscal management and illustrates how this Congress is still not taking its responsibility seriously.”
Democrats had their own objections. They estimated that California could lose an estimated $78 million, or a 57% cut, from the federal Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy program. The program includes weatherization funding for lower income households, with the aim of reducing their energy bills.
The bill is one of 12 spending bills to fund the federal government in fiscal 2026, which begins October 1. It now goes to the Senate, which is expected to be somewhat more generous to the energy and water programs.
There’s little optimism, though, that the House and Senate will be able to write a single bill that can pass this month. Congressional leaders have been discussing how to fund the government after October 1.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This dangerous moment requires all of us to stand up, speak out, and hold the president and his administration accountable to laws and democratic values he swore to uphold. California is proud to stand with D.C. in this fight.”
— Attorney General Rob Bonta, on Washington, D.C.’s lawsuit challenging National Guard deployment
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