SUSPENSE POST-MORTEM: High-profile efforts to regulate artificial intelligence, ban plastic grocery bags and make tech companies pay for journalism survived the appropriations committees’ suspense hearings this afternoon. Not so lucky were bills to map wildfire hazard areas, study solitary confinement and restrict access to xylazine. Lobbyist Chris Micheli said Assembly Appropriations rejected about 32 percent of the bills on the agenda, and the Senate side held about 34 percent, up from the historic hold rate of 23 percent to 25 percent. Here’s our rundown — AI and tech bills hang on: A billion-dollar price tag put Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan’s algorithmic bias ban in amend-or-die territory. Sure enough, the committee truncated Assembly Bill 2930 so it only applies to employment decisions, doesn’t cover state and local agencies and won’t be enforced by the attorney general. A bid to penalize social media companies for negligently harming kids was softened today under industry pressure. Amendments to Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal’s Assembly Bill 3172 specify platforms had to have “knowingly or willfully” abdicated their responsibilities — a higher legal standard that would be harder to prove in court. Legacy admissions ban makes the cut: An effort to ban legacy admissions at private colleges and universities escaped the suspense day guillotine, passing with only Republican opposition and minor amendments. California would be the first state to financially penalize institutions that give preference to the children of alumni and donors in admissions. This is the closest an effort to outlaw the practice has ever come to passing in California. Past legislation from the same author, San Francisco Assemblymember Phil Ting, didn’t get through its house of origin before it was watered down. Lawmaker tries again on free condoms: Gov. Gavin Newsom last year vetoed a bill to make free condoms available in schools. But this year, armed with a $5 million outlay already written into the budget, state Sen. Caroline Menjivar’s bill made it out of Appropriations. With the money in hand, she may have a better chance of getting the governor’s signature this time around. Xylazine regulations go down again: Senate Appropriations killed a bill from Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains restricting access to the tranquilizer drug xylazine at the state level once the federal government takes similar action. The Assembly Public Safety Committee amended Bains’ bill to add the federal caveat. But Sen. Angelique Ashby did not accept that amendment for her own similar, narrower bill. In July, the committee held Ashby’s bill, drawing a rebuke from Newsom, who had requested action on the drug. Setting the course on solitary confinement: The Legislature may be gearing up to send Newsom a narrowly-tailored solitary confinement bill that would allow the governor a chance to claim a win on the issue after he previously rejected a broader effort from Assemblymember Chris Holden in 2022. Holden last year parked a very similar bill regulating the practice on the Assembly floor. The Assembly Appropriations Committee held a bill from state Sen. Steve Glazer to study inmate isolation that advocates have attacked as a cop-out that avoids the larger-scale action they want. But senators advanced legislation from Bauer-Kahan that would restrict solitary confinement use for pregnant inmates with amendments that would narrow its scope. More time for self-checkout, journalism bills: Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas’ bill regulating retail self-checkout stations advanced from Appropriations, but it heads next to the Rules Committee instead of the Assembly floor. Assembly Appropriations Committee Chair Buffy Wicks said members wanted to give the bill more time for negotiations “in a deliberate way.” Wicks’ own bill requiring tech companies to pay for news articles also moved to the Rules Committee. When asked why, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Anna Caballero said the decision was “above my pay grade” and mentioned Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire’s involvement. (More on Wicks’ bill below.) — with help from Jeremy B. White, Blake Jones, Rachel Bluth and Lara Korte STAYING RESOLUTE: As if they were delaying the inevitable pain of suspense hearings today, lawmakers presented resolution after resolution during Senate and Assembly floor sessions. Some highlights included resolutions recognizing Intellectual Property Awareness Month, the 250th anniversary of the First Continental Congress, California Pickleball Day, Italian American Heritage Month and California Life Sciences Month. IT’S THURSDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to lholden@politico.com.
| 
