| | | | |  | | By Sarah Grace Taylor | | Presented by |  | | | |  Protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza shut down southbound traffic on Highway 880 in Oakland. | Bronte Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP |
BOWING OUT — San Francisco, Sacramento and other cities across the country have spent months passing symbolic proclamations that call for varying degrees of a cease-fire in Gaza.
But amid heated public comment sessions, protests, arrests and other moments of tension, some Democratic city leaders would like to move on from foreign policy. “We need to focus on doing the job we were elected to do and the job we actually have the ability to influence or have an impact on,” said Joel Engardio, a Democratic member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which adopted a hard-fought compromise resolution in January that condemned Hamas along with the Israeli government. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said she struggled with whether to veto the resolution, which she said had prompted an outpouring of “real and dangerous” antisemitism. Last month, with emotions still raw, Engardio proposed legislation that would limit future non-binding resolutions about foreign policy — a bold move in the famously liberal and engaged city. In other more progressive cities, moderate Democrats are also trying to sidestep divisive and toothless resolutions, like a November resolution that divided the Seattle City Council and took two iterations and a slew of amendments to pass. “Foreign policy is not my job and I’m not going to tell members of our congressional delegation how to do their jobs,” Seattle City Councilmember Sara Nelson, a Democrat, said as she and two other members abstained from a cease-fire resolution after a five-hour public hearing. Though cities may not have direct influence on foreign policy, impassioned calls for resolutions began soon after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and they have continued through the Israeli response. Activists have packed public hearings, trading accusations of antisemitism and Islamophobia, as local leaders painstakingly debate the language of resolutions that carry no force of law. In Sacramento, a resolution by the city council spurred hours-long protests in March which concluded with 12 arrests and the resolution passing 6-1. The debate has been particularly tense in college towns, including Berkeley, the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement, where Mayor Jesse Arreguín has repeatedly blocked a Gaza cease-fire resolution in recent months. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for a city government to take a position on international issues where there’s not agreement, where there’s not broad consensus,” Arreguín told POLITICO. “I think this is an area where there are deep divisions.” While Engardio’s proposal would not prevent San Francisco from making proclamations on international issues, it would direct the board to “prioritize municipal affairs.” Still, he notes that the public is likely to go through local government to feel heard. “The average resident doesn’t have access to Gov. Newsom or Nancy Pelosi but they do have access to us,” Engardio said. Read more from our colleagues Ben Fox and Jeremy B. White here.
| | | | A message from Chamber of Progress: SB 1490 is not the right way forward. We commend the CA legislature for adjusting the bill, but this well-intentioned legislation still has unintended consequences. Learn how this bill hurts more than helps. | | | |  | WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY | | SUPREME SKEPTICS — Conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices voiced great skepticism today about whether banning public sleeping violates the Constitution, further signaling their alignment with Gov. Gavin Newsom on the topic. As Playbook reported this morning, Republicans and Newsom have found common ground in the case before the high court, which reviews a lower court decision that blocked an ordinance in Oregon and has prohibited the removal of homeless encampments in several cities. “Municipalities have competing priorities. I mean, what if there [are] lead pipes in the water? Do you build the homeless shelter, or [do] you take care of the lead pipes? What if there isn't enough fire protection? Which one do you prioritize?” Chief Justice John Roberts asked during oral arguments today. “Why would you think that these nine people are the best people to judge and weigh those policy judgments?” The increasing prevalence of encampments, lived-in vehicles and people sleeping on sidewalks in California has prompted Newsom, many Democratic mayors and House Republicans to call for the lower court decision to be reversed. Newsom filed a friend-of-the-court brief in March urging the Supreme Court to allow cities and counties to restrict public sleeping and camping. “Encampments are dangerous — period … however, our best efforts are being blocked because of sweeping injunctions that delay progress and fail to provide any consistent guidance for local authorities to abide by,” Newsom, whose office declined to comment on today’s arguments, wrote in March. Read more from our colleague Josh Gerstein here.
| | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | | | ON THE BEATS | | |  California State Sen. Janet Nguyen introduces a bipartisan animal welfare package flanked by rescue dogs (left to right) Haley, Snip, Sly, Sammie and Bruno. | Ariel Gans for POLITICO | BI-PAW-TISAN BILLS — Republican state Sen. Janet Nguyen and Democratic state Sen. Josh Newman today introduced a pair of bipartisan animal welfare bills that they say will offer better support for furry friends at shelters. Flanked by seven rescue dogs on the Capitol Lawn this morning, including a Golden Retriever named Sammie and a French Bulldog named Bruno, they said the legislation will standardize care and medical treatment at shelters as well as institute reporting requirements for the largest facilities. Nguyen told POLITICO that current laws against animal abandonment make it unclear whether programs to trap, sterilize and release cats are legal. Her bill SB 1459 aims to change that, allowing shelters to operate those programs without doubts and offering an alternative to euthanasia. “We're rescuing them and releasing them back to their environment that they came from, versus right now they’re just left out there and the population continues to increase, which is not healthy either,” she said. But that bill is already making opponents howl: Critics like Sharon Logan, founder of a non-profit dog rescue program, argued the wording is too broad and could lead to “horrific unintended consequences.” Nevertheless, the bills passed today unanimously in the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee and will move to the Appropriations Committee. — Ariel Gans | | | | A message from Chamber of Progress:   | | |
BUDGET BLUES — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass unveiled her proposed $12.8 billion city budget today, which includes a substantial spending decline on her single biggest policy priority: combatting homelessness.
Bass proposed spending $900 million on addressing the crisis, roughly a quarter less than what was earmarked in the previous year’s budget. She’s calling for putting $185 million toward her signature program, Inside Safe, which focuses on moving people off of sidewalks and into temporary housing such as motel rooms — a drop from the $250 million allocated last year. The spending constraints reflect all the other budget pressures bearing down on the city right now — including expensive pay hikes for police and other city employees and lagging revenues. Now, Bass will have to convince the City Council and Angelenos that fewer dollars spent on homelessness this year won’t derail efforts to curb the issue. “We plan to — and we will — strengthen services for the people we have now in interim housing,” Bass told reporters at a news conference this morning. “And we believe that we will continue to move forward in reducing street homelessness, as well as moving people from interim housing to permanent housing.” — Melanie Mason BUDGET BLUES, PART II — California revenues are now $5.8 billion below the projections that went into a $38 billion deficit estimate, according to data released by the Department of Finance today. The numbers show a $243 million revenue shortfall for March alone, and they represent the last official revenue figures that will be published before Gov. Gavin Newsom releases an updated estimate of the deficit in May. But don’t expect the estimated deficit to grow. Newsom and legislative leaders have already agreed to $17.3 billion in cost savings that will essentially lower the size of the deficit. And though $14 billion of those measures won’t be approved by the Legislature until it takes up the state’s main budget bills, Newsom can count the full $17.3 billion against the shortfall figure under legislation he signed last week. He’ll present an updated budget proposal, alongside the new deficit estimate, next month in the so-called May Revision. — Blake Jones | | | | GROWING IN THE GOLDEN STATE: POLITICO California is growing, reinforcing our role as the indispensable insider source for reporting on politics, policy and power. From the corridors of power in Sacramento and Los Angeles to the players and innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, we're your go-to for navigating the political landscape across the state. Exclusive scoops, essential daily newsletters, unmatched policy reporting and insights — POLITICO California is your key to unlocking Golden State politics. LEARN MORE. | | | | | | | WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY | | — Anti-abortion activists rallied today at the state Capitol to oppose California being a sanctuary state for those seeking abortions. (Sacramento Bee) — Newsom celebrated Earth Day by setting an opening date for the first new California state park in a decade. (SF Gate)
| | | | A message from Chamber of Progress: Overly broad language and ill-defined provisions are at the heart of SB 1490’s problems. Wanting to protect restaurants is admirable, but this bill actually makes it more difficult for platforms to offer new services and may threaten the ones restaurants already value.
The bill also mandates protections for bad-faith third parties, calling into question who this bill is intended to help.
Learn more about how this bill backs the wrong group. | | | | | AROUND THE STATE | | — In a sign of the economic divide in Los Angeles, a group of unhoused immigrants have built a DIY house in gentrifying Highland Park. (Los Angeles Times) — A federal judge found “strong evidence” that prosecutors in Alameda County intentionally kept Black and Jewish people from serving on juries in multiple death penalty convictions. (Mercury News) — San Francisco has recently prioritized building middle-income housing to address affordability, but 80 percent of the more than 200 new units are vacant. (San Francisco Chronicle) | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
