| | | |  | | By Blake Jones and Dustin Gardiner | | Presented by |  | | | | 
Tony Hoang, Equality California executive director, at left. | Francis Specker/AP | THE BUZZ — FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: ‘GLOVES ARE OFF’ — Equality California, the state’s top lobbying force on LGBTQ+ issues, will this year confront President Donald Trump with an agenda heavily focused on buttressing transgender rights. The group will, in plans first reported here, push state lawmakers to require that courts more quickly allow transgender and nonbinary Californians to change the name and gender on their driver’s licenses. Its other priorities include making court records of people’s name and gender confidential and blocking law enforcement from accessing the state’s prescription drug database without a warrant — an attempt to prevent discrimination against Californians receiving gender-affirming care. The advocacy drive is a response to Trump’s rescission of several rights previously afforded to transgender Americans. They can no longer get passports that list their gender — rather than their sex assigned at birth — or indicate that they are nonbinary with an “X” in place of an “M” or “F” on the federal ID. The White House has also moved to bar transgender women and girls from playing on sports teams matching their gender, and banned federal employees from including their preferred gender pronouns in email signatures. "With Donald Trump and his extremist administration waging unprecedented attacks on LGBTQ+ people — especially transgender people — the gloves are off in California when it comes to protecting the safety and civil rights of our community,” Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang told Playbook in a statement. Equality California’s legislative agenda will likely play an important role in shaping California’s resistance to Trump on gender issues during his second term. The group’s bill package typically overlaps heavily with that of the Legislature’s LGBTQ Caucus, which is expected to unveil its own policy priorities in the coming days. Members of that caucus are carrying almost every proposal Equality California is sponsoring. They include:
- AB 1084 from the group’s former executive director, Assemblymember Rick Zbur. It would require courts to grant uncontested petitions for driver’s license changes within two weeks — and mandate that gender-related changes to birth and marriage certificates be issued within the same time frame.
- SB 59, Sen. Scott Wiener’s bill to make court records confidential.
- AB 82 from LGBTQ Caucus Chair Chris Ward, which would limit the sharing of transgender patients’ medical information.
- Zbur’s AB 715, which would shield attorneys from disciplinary action if they represent patients or medical providers receiving or offering gender-affirming care that is illegal in other states.
- SB 497, Wiener’s bill to require a warrant to access patients’ prescription histories.
- AB 554, from Assemblymember Mark González, to require insurers to cover PrEP, the HIV prevention medication, in more cases.
- AB 908, from Assemblymember José Luis Solache, which would make school districts further address LGBTQ+ students’ well-being in local accountability plans that they submit to the state.
- SB 450, from LGBTQ Caucus Vice Chair Caroline Menjivar, which asserts California’s ability to help same-sex couples adopt children living in California even if the couple lives in another state.
- SB 590, from Sen. María Elena Durazo, which would expand family leave benefits for workers who take time off to care for their “chosen” or extended family.
- AB 678, from Assemblymember Alex Lee, to require the Interagency Council on Homelessness to recommend policies to better support homeless LGBTQ+ Californians.
The package focuses on expanding state-controlled programs, potentially avoiding legal conflict with the federal government. The Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom have already in recent years shown willingness to expand some of the same services, establishing benefits for workers helping their chosen families and expanding PrEP access. “These bills are essential to ensuring California remains a national leader in LGBTQ+ equality while standing strong against the rising tide of hate and discrimination fueled by the Trump administration’s cruel policies attacking transgender and nonbinary Americans,” Hoang said. GOOD MORNING. Happy Monday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. You can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts. Or drop us a line at dgardiner@politico.com and bjones@politico.com, or on X — @dustingardiner and @jonesblakej. WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
| | | | A message from Amazon: Amazon has been investing in communities for 30 years. As of 2024, Amazon's investments in California have created 153,000 full- and part-time jobs. Amazon is committed to helping their employees and the communities where they operate thrive. That's why they offer comprehensive benefits, like healthcare starting on day one and free skills training to help employees move into higher paying roles. See the impact of Amazon's local investments. | | | |  | LOS ANGELES | | | 
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. | Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images | REFORM PURGATORY — It’s been more than six months, and LA Mayor Karen Bass still hasn’t appointed members to a commission charged with changing the city’s charter and preventing further corruption scandals at City Hall. “The inaction from the mayor’s office makes Bass the most conspicuous logjam in a process fraught with political tripwires, a reworking of the city’s balance of power certain to face backlash from those who enjoy tremendous sway under the status quo,” our colleague Melanie Mason writes in her latest report from southern California. The stalled reforms have already dashed confidence that sweeping changes will be made in wake of the leaked City Hall tapes that consumed the city’s politics. “The further we get from that moment of the tapes leaking, the harder it will be to … institute true reforms,” said city Councilmember Nithya Raman. “We may have already missed that moment, frankly.”
| | NEWSOMLAND | | GRAB YOUR RAKE — Newsom declared a state of emergency over wildfires on Saturday, suspending environmental rules to speed preventative brush clearing in what appeared to be an attempt to mollify a president who often instructs the state to rake its forests. The declaration, first reported by POLITICO, came as Newsom seeks nearly $40 billion in aid from Republicans in Washington to help LA recover from its deadly wildfires.
| | | | A message from Amazon:  
| | | | | STATE CAPITOL | | GETTING THE BOOT — Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas expelled some of the Legislature's most outspokenly critical Republicans from coveted committees and replaced them with moderate members of the GOP in a late Friday afternoon purge. Rivas kicked firebrand freshman Assemblymember Carl DeMaio and Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo off the chamber's Budget Committee. He also cut Elections Committee Vice Chair Bill Essayli from that panel. The shakeup moved several hardliners from plum committees to low-profile panels such as Water, Parks and Wildlife where it will be more difficult to garner attention online. DeMaio, in particular, was having success turning confrontational exchanges with Newsom administration staffers over budget issues into viral clips on X. "I think they lost their shit and realized, 'Oh my God, we've got to shut this guy down. We've got to shut him up. We can't have him asking these questions,'" DeMaio told Playbook. Moderate Republicans including Assemblymember Phillip Chen and Laurie Davies received new assignments, and the GOP gained one committee seat in the shuffle while Democrats’ maintained the same number. The changes appeared punitive, mostly targeting Republicans who had been more aggressive in their questioning of Democratic staffers during initial hearings. State Senate and Assembly leaders frequently use their unilateral power over committee assignments to reward key allies and punish members for behavior they find undesirable. Rivas’ camp didn’t cast the moves as retributive in a statement. “The Speaker routinely addresses committee needs throughout the year, and his goal is always to ensure members are in optimal roles to collaborate effectively and deliver for Californians," Rivas spokesperson Nick Miller said.
| | CLIMATE AND ENERGY | | THESE ARE THE BRAKES — Trump has California's electric vehicle mandate on the ropes — and California car dealers are joining in. Read Friday's California Climate for more on what their opposition might mean for the state's nation-leading rules.
| | | | A message from Amazon: As of 2024, Amazon's investments in California have created 153,000 jobs.
Amazon offers competitive pay and free skills training programs for full- and part-time roles, helping employees learn more and move into higher paying roles.
Discover more. | | | | | Top Talkers | | ERASING DEI — USC deleted its website for its university-wide Office of Inclusion and Diversity after the Trump administration told schools to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the LA Times reports. It also scrubbed several college and department-level DEI statements, renamed faculty positions and, in one case, removed online references to a scholarship for Black and Indigenous students amid the administration’s threats to withhold funding from institutions over DEI efforts. BASHING FROM BARSTOOL — Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy tore into Newsom over his new podcast in an interview with Fox News Digital, calling him “trash” and a “slick politician.” "They asked me to go on. I said, ‘No,’ because I just don't like the guy so much," Portnoy said.
| | AROUND THE STATE | | — Off-duty national park rangers held protests from Yosemite National Park to Muir Woods National Monument in protest of layoffs ordered by the Trump administration. (San Francisco Chronicle) — Huntington Park is the latest California city to be rocked by political corruption allegations. (Los Angeles Times) — Fresno swore in its first female chief of police, Mindy Casto. (Fresnoland)
| | PLAYBOOKERS | | PEOPLE MOVES — Jacob Regalado joins Street Level Strategy as a vice president leading the Sacramento office. Regalado most recently served was a principal consultant to the Assembly Democratic Caucus and senior strategic adviser to Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. BIRTHDAYS — Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis (favorite cake: vanilla with chocolate frosting) … former Rep. Paul Cook … Stacey Reardon of Change Craft LLC … BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Sunday): Assemblymember Rick Zbur … Nick Warshaw, associate attorney at Loeb & Loeb … Rep. Ami Bera … Sally Rosen Phillips … Levi Russell of Morgan Stanley … SF Chronicle’s Joe Garofoli … (was Saturday): Joshua Marin-Mora, field representative for Zbur … CalMatters reporter Nigel Duara … former LA City Councilmember Joel Wachs … former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner … Zev Garber, former president of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew … Mandalay Entertainment CEO Peter Guber. WANT A SHOUT-OUT FEATURED? — Send us a birthday, career move or another special occasion to include in POLITICO’s California Playbook. You can now submit a shout-out using this Google form. CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here. Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Lynn Fine to find out how: lfine@politico.com. | | | | 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 | | | |
