Issue #205: Let's act like the nation-state we are!
ICI brings you this week's news highlights
Now that the election is over, we’re moving full-speed ahead with our second Independent California Poll. This time, we’re focusing on what California’s elected officials can do to protect Californians and win greater autonomy for California.
It costs $12 to poll one random Californian. Please donate what you can!
And a huge thank you to all the people who’ve donated so far!
Nation-state California needs allies to combat Trump attack
We’re still assessing the risks, but moving ahead anyway
We keep saying: Now is the time to talk about California independence!
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CALIFORNIA LEADING TRUMP RESISTANCE
Round 2 will be harder
ReisThebault, Washington Post
“Trump has pledged to take on a dizzying range of California policies, from its water management to its laws prohibiting voter-identification requirements. The president-elect has also chafed at Newsom’s “Trump-proof” precautions, which shifted into full gear almost immediately after Election Day.
The special session will convene Dec. 2, bringing lawmakers back to Sacramento to discuss legislation that would pour more money into California’s Justice Department as it prepares to file a flurry of lawsuits against the Trump administration. Newsom said he’s especially worried about the incoming administration trying to roll back clean energy measures and abortion rights.
“The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle,” Newsom said, announcing the move.
During Trump’s first term, California sued his administration more than 120 times, and it won many of the suits. Since then, Trump has transformed the federal judiciary in a way that goes far beyond the three conservatives he nominated to the Supreme Court to harden its majority.”
Californians can’t beat the Trump administration all by ourselves. We need global allies
Joe Mathews, SF Chronicle
“Our anti-Trump effort can’t be confined to the U.S., much of which doesn’t seem to care that its next president has vowed to be a dictator and wanted to “terminate” the Constitution. Instead, we should adopt the wisdom of General-President Dwight Eisenhower: When you can’t solve a big problem, make it bigger.
To protect our democracy and our way of life, California needs its local officials and locally engaged citizens to connect to their counterparts around the world — and build a planet-wide coalition of local governments, provinces and organizations that also face attacks from right-wing national governments.
Such a global defense coalition isn’t a far-out idea. Prominent right-wing leaders already have their own network. Trump has hosted Hungarian strongman Victor Orban at Mar-a-Lago, talked regularly with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, endorsed Brazilian right-winger Jair Bolsonaro’s reelection coup and maintained a warm friendship with India’s authoritarian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
The states, cities and communities that suffer under such leaders could benefit from their own coalition.
The benefits would go beyond moral support. Local partners worldwide and in California could provide mutual aid, in the form of money, personnel or expertise, when crises arise. This will be especially important to California if Trump denies us emergency funding after natural disasters.”
And click here to hear Joe Mathews’ interview on the Caliornia Sun podcast.
Leveraging the money power
Robert Kuttner, American Prospect
“Public pension funds hold about $5.85 trillion in assets to finance worker retirement. These amount to America’s largest pools of public capital. They are subject to a variety of federal fiduciary rules under the IRS as well as state laws. The prime duty of pension fund trustees is to serve current and future pensioners by optimizing the rate of return, consistent with prudence. However, as long as they do not depart from that investment imperative, they have wide latitude to serve other social goals.
Among those are conditioning pension fund investments on good labor practices; affirmatively investing in housing and other social goods; and serving broader goals often known as ESG, which stands for environmental, social, and governance. Several state and local pension funds, like the California retirement funds for public employees (CalPERS) and teachers (CalSTRS), have long used ESG criteria in directing their investments. CalPERS’s latest labor standards, which apply to its entire portfolio, include freedom of association and the right to collectively bargain; a ban on forced labor, child labor, and discrimination; and provisions on a safe, healthy work environment.”
We can’t say it too much: It’s time to talk about California independence
Some of us have been understandably shy about talking with our friends, family, and co-workers about California independence.
Now is the time to be brave and bring it up in conversation. Would California be better off as an independent question? Does California deserve more autonomy than other states? Is it okay that the federal government controls 45% of our land and about half the water we use?
Poll results show that most Californians already hold pro-independence views, but by and large, we don’t feel comfortable talking about it. It’s time for that to change.
Especially, right now, Californians are looking for answers on what to do in response to a second Trump administration. And you have part of the answer!
Please, please encourage anyone you know to subscribe to this newsletter and donate to our next poll. The next four years are going to be tremendously challenging for California, and we need to organize as many Californians as we can to fight back.
How big is California, really?
California is just one state (for now), but even many Californians don’t fully realize how big and important California really is. Check out this overlay of California if it were on the east coast:
Did you know that California is bigger than the entire UK?
Yes, we know that Texas is bigger, but let’s put that in perspective:
California is big. And this is just its physical size. Next week, we look at its economy.
LET’S TALK SPECIFIC ISSUES
Editorial: How California leaders can protect the environment from another Trump administration
LA Times Editorial Board
“California officials can’t just play defense. They should use the state’s power and influence to mount a pro-environment offense, counteracting as much of the impending damage as possible.
With Trump’s team expected to kill President Biden’s electric vehicle tax credit, among other reversals, California can cement its reputation for consistently committing to its climate policies. A federal retreat from those policies will make the United States less competitive by ceding leadership on clean energy technology to China, Europe and other rivals. The strength and stability of the world’s fifth-largest economy, meanwhile, makes it an attractive innovation and investment partner while the federal government seesaws chaotically. That worked in California’s favor in 2019, when Ford, Honda and other automakers sidestepped the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken emissions standards and made a deal with California, citing the need for “regulatory certainty.”
“It wasn’t that they hated Trump,” said Mary Nichols, who chaired the California Air Resources Board at the time. “They wanted relief, but they wanted to have the discussion with people driven by science and data, not ideology.”
Also bolstering California’s position is a climate and energy landscape that has shifted dramatically in eight years, putting Trump’s agenda at odds with economic realities.
Electric vehicles are surging globally. One in five new cars sold are now battery-powered, with 1.7 million electric vehicles expected to be sold in the U.S. this year, more than eight times more than at the start of Trump’s first term. More than 40% of the nation’s electricity now comes from carbon-free sources, twice as much as in 2016.”
Trump is likely to gut these tax credits, so take advantage now
Jessica Roy, SF Chronicle
”If you’re an oil or gas company executive and you’re reading this, your tax cuts and incentives are probably safe (whew!). If you’re not, read on to find out which credits you may want to get in on now — in case Trump gets rids of them.”
Workers will likely lose rights under Trump
Farida Jhabvaia Romero, KQED
“The incoming Trump administration will likely impact federal workplace enforcement priorities in California and other states and unwind the Biden administration’s efforts to extend employee protections to millions more people in the U.S., according to several experts.
California has the country’s largest undocumented workforce, with about 1.4 million people primarily working in the construction, agriculture and service industries as of 2022, according to the Pew Research Center. Nationwide, an estimated 8.3 million workers were unauthorized immigrants that year, about 5% of the total workforce.
New leadership, especially a more pro-business one, will likely move to rescind or weaken some of the department’s recent regulations facing legal challenges from industry groups. One rule will make an estimated 4.3 million more salaried employees eligible to receive extra overtime pay after it goes fully into effect next year. Another makes it harder for employers to classify workers as independent contractors, who are often cheaper because they are not covered by minimum wage and workplace safety requirements, among other laws.”
What will happen to Social Security after Trump takes office?
Tara Siegel Bernard, NY Times
“The trust fund that pays retiree benefits is projected to be depleted in 2033. At that point, tax revenue will be enough to pay 79 percent of scheduled benefits. If nothing is done, beneficiaries would see their checks shrink 21 percent.
Potential fixes include raising revenue (by increasing taxes), trimming benefits or employing some combination therein, all of which require congressional approval.
But Mr. Trump’s campaign proposals thus far would put the program’s finances on even shakier ground, and “dramatically worsen” the program’s finances, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan policy group.
Mr. Trump has proposed cutting various taxes that help pay for the program, including ending taxes on overtime pay and tips. He also wants to end the taxation of Social Security benefits — a move that would put more money into retirees’ pockets but eliminate another revenue source.”
US states urged to find new ways to block Trump’s mass deportation plan
Sam Levin, The Guardian
“California, home to the largest immigrant population in the US, is bracing for Donald Trump’s plan to enact the “largest deportation operation in American history”, with advocates pushing state leaders to find new and creative ways to disrupt his agenda.
The Golden state led the fight against Trump’s first term, shielding many non-citizen residents from removal by restricting local cooperation with federal immigration authorities. But the threat this time, immigrant rights groups say, is more extreme, and blue states across the US are facing pressure to mount an aggressive, multipronged response.
“Communities that will be involved in mutual aid and self-defense are prepared,” said Chris Newman, general counsel for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, a California-based group that supports immigrants. “I think many lawmakers, frankly, are not. They were primarily focused on supporting Kamala Harris, and people’s hope for the best got in the way of their preparation for the worst.’”
How will Trump change health care? California braces for fights over insurance and abortion
Kristen Hwang, CalMatters
“Democratic lawmakers and health care advocates say they are better prepared than the first time Trump took office — though they expect the new administration to put California’s new laws to the test.
Eliminating the health insurance marketplace, which is also known as Obamacare, has grown deeply politically unpopular even among Republican constituents. Since Trump’s first term, the number of people enrolled has grown by more than 9 million nationally. That political leverage is something that California advocates believe will help protect the program.
But in many ways the state’s Achilles heel is federal funding. Federal spending on California health care programs is more than three times greater than the state’s share. That’s more than $117 billion from the federal government to support Medi-Cal and the Affordable Care Act compared to $35 billion from California’s general fund for all state health spending, which includes public health, state hospitals and social services.
And much of California’s policies can only be fully realized with sufficient money in the bank.”
We love to hear from readers like you! Please reply to this email with suggestions for the next issue.
Covered California starts offering health care to DACA immigrants. Will Trump’s win deter them?
Ana B. Ibarra, CalMatters
“For the first time since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children can purchase subsidized health plans through Covered California, the state’s insurance marketplace.
This move is expected to provide relief to thousands of so-called Dreamers, especially those who are freelancers, self-employed or have no other means of health coverage.
But the expansion is coming at an uncertain time both because of Donald Trump’s election as president and because of an ongoing lawsuit that contests the move to allow certain undocumented immigrants to buy health insurance through Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Trump in his first administration unsuccessfully tried to undo both the Affordable Care Act and the Obama-era policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that protects certain undocumented immigrants.
Covered California officials and immigration attorneys say that while it is difficult to predict what will happen in the coming months, those eligible should take the opportunity and get health insurance as soon as possible.”
How California keeps transgender student athletes on the court as bans unfold across the country
Desmond Meagley and Amy Elisabeth Moore, CalMatters
“Since AB 1266 took effect in 2014, California students from K-12 to collegiate levels have had the right to “participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”
The onus is on public colleges and universities, and not athletics associations, to adhere to California’s protections for transgender student athletes. However, the mounting pressure against athletics associations is affecting California college athletes nonetheless.“
California’s protections for transgender care could be tested under Trump
Emily Alpert Reyes, LA Times
“California leaders have sought to protect access to such procedures for transgender people. Health plans licensed by the state must provide transgender enrollees with medically necessary gender-affirming care. Doctors who provide such care in California are legally shielded from laws criminalizing it in other states.
But experts and advocates said that even in California, access to gender-affirming care could be undermined by federal action as Trump takes office for a second time, pledging to stop “left-wing gender insanity” and calling gender transition for minors a form of child abuse. State lawmakers have pledged to push back against efforts to obstruct gender-affirming care, which could tee up future battles in court.”
MEANWHILE, IN CALIFORNIA
California will rename places to remove racist term for a Native American woman
AP staff
“California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022 signed a bill into law that bans use of the word “squaw” in future place names and ordered the agency rename all places that used the slur, including on streets, bridges, public buildings and cemeteries, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
New names have been selected in consultation with California’s Native American tribes for over 30 locations in 15 counties. The California Advisory Committee on Geographic Names will work to implement approved replacement names by Jan. 1.”
AI tool helps find racist housing covenants in California property records
Jessica Flores, SF Chronicle
“In 2021, California legislators passed a law requiring all counties to find and remove racist and discriminatory covenants from millions of property records — creating an enormous workload for county recorder offices.
A new artificial intelligence model seeks to make this process easier.
Released last month by Stanford University’s Regulation, Evaluation, and Governance Lab, aka RegLab, and Princeton University assistant professor Peter Henderson, the AI language model was able to detect around 7,500 racist covenants in 5.2 million deed records from 1902 to 1980 — the period when discriminatory deeds were most common — in Santa Clara County in just a week, said Ho, a Stanford law professor and director of its RegLab.”
Here’s how a host of new housing laws will change California in 2025
New laws in 2024 refine and extend sweeping 2023 legislation
Alfred Twu, SF Chronicle
“In California, 2023 was a blockbuster year for housing legislation with bills that streamlined approvals in most major cities, doubled the affordable housing density bonus, created more options for townhouses, condos and ADUs, and allowed religious organizations to build affordable housing on their land, regardless of zoning.
This year’s housing bills were less sweeping. Instead, they built on previous work to make existing laws easier to use.
Commercial zones continued to be the primary target areas to accommodate new housing. Shopping centers and office parks are large enough to benefit from economies of scale and are typically near jobs, shops and transit. Redeveloping these sites also has less impact on nearby residents. A single mall has enough land for dozens of apartment buildings, allowing work to take place in phases. Parking lots can be replaced by housing above garages. Sometimes, the mall itself is also replaced one piece at a time with housing above shops. This was the original plan when malls were first proposed in the 1950s — a cluster of businesses that would then be surrounded by apartments, offices and public services.“
S.F. hospital uses cutting-edge AI tool to help doctors identify stroke risks earlier
Chase DiFeliciantonio, SF Chronicle
“The San Francisco Department of Public Health acknowledged in an email last month that S.F. General has used an AI system since 2018 “that reviews CT scans and provides diagnostic support to clinical providers who are evaluating patients that may be experiencing a stroke.”
It did not make a physician available to discuss the use of the software. It also did not comment this week on its use of RapidAI or whether it’s the same software the hospital has been using since 2018.
RapidAI was previously called iSchemaView Inc. before changing its name in 2020. City records show DPH had not previously done business with the company.
In a statement, the company said its software “automates scan information that clinicians would otherwise need to manually find or calculate and socializes all patient pathway communication in one location to expedite care.” It added, “the insights and efficiency enabled by the technology aims to support care teams at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and the communities it serves.”
One study from earlier this year found that clinicians with experience reading stroke imaging are still able to diagnose occlusions “with higher accuracy than RapidAI software in a real‐world setting.” The tool is used by practitioners to supplement — not replace — their expertise.
Other forms of AI-assisted image processing are under development and in advanced research phases.”
Nevada just banned ‘slavery and involuntary servitude’ in prisons. Why didn’t California?
Anabel Sosa, LA Times
“A progressive prison reform that was on the ballot in California and Nevada this month met drastically different outcomes after the votes were counted:
In California, voters chose to keep the status quo, allowing “involuntary servitude” to remain legal in prisons. On the other side of the state line, Nevada voters overwhelmingly passed a measure to ban “slavery and involuntary servitude.”
These diverging results in two neighboring states raised questions about whether Nevada voters, a majority of whom supported Donald Trump‘s successful bid to return to the White House, are more liberal on criminal justice issues than voters in deep-blue California, where Vice President Kamala Harris won.”
How the shared heritage of Harris, Haley, and Khanna shapes their politics
These Indian American leaders live the legacy of a historic struggle for independence
Moira Shourie, Zócalo Public Square
“Freedom and democracy are not distant concepts to this generation of Indian American politicians, but a living legacy passed down by loved ones who sowed the seeds with their own hands. Harris, Haley, and Khanna understand that a striking kite stands out in a crowded sky. They also understand that a good kite flier must be sharp and ready to cut their losses, must be resilient and able to try and try again, must be able to maneuver around other kites, and must adapt to changing conditions. Much like a good politician.
Harris, Haley, and Khanna are an inter-generational string—manja—giving flight to their versions of these principles of democracy. They should fly their kite not only in celebration but as a banner of freedom, soaring through unknowable skies.”
CALIFORNIA: TAKING THE GOOD WITH THE BAD
See 15 stunning photos of California that showcase the Golden State’s majestic beauty
Remember this: California offers lovely beaches, forests, deserts, mountains and more
Tracy Scott Forson and Allison Scates, Smithsonian Magazine
“The third largest U.S. state, California is No. 1 when it comes to giant redwood and sequoia trees, the Pacific Ocean and national parks, with nine total. Let’s not forget its mountain ranges; agriculture; landmarks, like the Golden Gate Bridge; and unmatched sunsets.” [See photos that look from a different angle.]
'Extraordinary' bomb cyclone to bring up to 8 inches of rain to California
Katie Dowd, SFGate
“As the atmospheric river pushes toward the California coast, it is expected to bring heavy rain and gusts of up to 40 mph along ridgetops and the coast. Beginning Tuesday afternoon, rain will likely start falling in earnest first in the North Bay, which could see up to 8 inches of rain in the coastal ranges from Tuesday through Thursday. The rest of the North Bay is forecast to get 2 to 4 inches of rain during that span. By Wednesday morning, rain should reach the Golden Gate, and San Francisco is expected to see 1 to 2 inches. Other parts of the Bay Area should see a bit less — anywhere from 0.5 to 1 inch. ”
More rain is expected to pass through the region Friday through Saturday, Canepa said. The weather service expects an additional 2 to 3 inches of rain in the North Bay during that time, making for a very soggy foreseeable future.”
Chronicle Building turns 100
Historic photo album documents build’s early days
Peter Hartlaub, SF Chronicle
“Exactly 100 years ago this week, on Nov. 13, 1924, the Chronicle opened to the public in a grand new building at 901 Mission St. that remains its current home.
Knowing that date is important. It allows us to celebrate a birthday, and makes us the only major metropolitan newspaper in its current headquarters for more than a century.
The photos, taken for a special section trumpeting the Chronicle’s new location, reveal an ancient-looking newspaper life in the 1920s, with fire poles to a sub-basement printing press, information transmitted by pneumatic tubes and a clock tower with a view of San Francisco’s future. At first glance, there are few hints of the newsroom today.
But with a closer look, similarities appear. The Chronicle still covers a rapidly changing city that needs good journalism as much as ever.”