Gov. Gavin Newsom; President-elect Joe Biden. Photos by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters; Gage Skidmore via Flickr
What a difference a day makes.
On Tuesday, California was still wrangling with the Trump administration, as evidenced by nine final-hour lawsuits filed by Attorney General Xavier Becerra — bringing his four-year total to a staggering 122 lawsuits.
Today, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in as president and vice president of the United States, ushering in what many California Democrats hope will be a new era of less contention and more collaboration. Hours later, Harris is expected to swear in Alex Padilla as California’s first Latino senator. (For more on what Padilla hopes to accomplish, check out his interview with CalMatters’ Laurel Rosenhall.) And the Golden State could gain yet another powerful ally in Washington if the Senate confirms Becerra as Health and Human Services secretary.
In a Tuesday letter to Biden, Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed California’s eagerness “to support your bold agenda by sharing our experiences implementing progressive policy on everything from workers’ rights to climate change.” But even as Newsom depicted California as a model for national programs, he hinted at numerous challenges facing the state. Here’s a breakdown of key requests Newsom made of the Biden-Harris administration:
- Funding for California’s beleaguered high-speed rail project, which is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget.
- Funding to sustain programs like Project Homekey, an effort to permanently house homeless Californians in hotels and motels.
- Authority for California to set its own emissions standards, the subject of protracted legal battles with the Trump administration.
- Emergency funding for state and local governments, which wasn’t included in the December stimulus package.
Newsom also asked Biden to postpone the date by which California must begin repaying, with interest, the money it’s borrowed from the federal government to pay unemployment claims. California’s unemployment insurance fund deficit was around $21.5 billion at the end of 2020 and is expected to reach $48.3 billion this year. Under current law, California would need to make its first interest payment by Sept. 30 — but Newsom wants that deadline extended through 2023.
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The coronavirus bottom line: As of Tuesday, California had 2,996,968 confirmed cases (+0.8% from previous day) and 33,739 deaths (+0.4% from previous day), according to a CalMatters tracker.
CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.
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