What a decade-old law could do

A specter is haunting California’s prosperous suburbs and beachside communities: The “builder’s remedy.”

Let’s again up. 

In California, the state units housing targets for native governments. Under a decade-old law, cities and counties that fail to fulfill these targets or submit their plans on time have to permit any housing anyplace at any top or density, so long as 20% of the brand new models are deemed “affordable.”

This “builder’s remedy” coverage spent most of its statutory life gathering mud. But in the previous few years, the Legislature has handed a series of laws to present it tooth, and the state’s housing company has hired a team of new enforcers. 

According to a tally by the Los Angeles Times, 124 cities throughout southern California are at the moment out of compliance with state law. The deadline for northern California is January.

That has cities across the Bay Area scrambling to write housing plans — although not all of them are notably credible. Wealthy enclaves have not too long ago “allowed” new housing in an energetic creek mattress, on the website of an unsuspecting enterprise and at its personal metropolis corridor.

But some locals are getting the message.

• Piedmont Mayor Teddy Gray King: “I’m not going to tell our city attorney to try to fight these allocations, because we would lose…That’s totally irresponsible. And it’s a lousy way to behave.”

Time to vote: Find out every thing it’s good to find out about voting earlier than California’s election ends Nov. 8 within the CalMatters Voter Guide, which incorporates information on races, candidates and propositions, in addition to movies, interactives and marketing campaign finance knowledge. And if you happen to missed final week’s CalMatters occasion on the seven poll measures, you can watch it here.

Other Stories You Should Know

1
Newsom’s different marketing campaign

Gov. Gavin Newsom has mentioned over and again and again: He has no plans to run for president.

But for a man with “sub-zero” curiosity in occupying the White House, he definitely has spent a lot of time this yr on the nationwide stage.

He’s aired TV spots in Florida, paid for newspaper adverts in Texas, put up billboards in Ohio and reworked himself into a “a voice for frustrated liberals who wanted their leaders to stand up more forcefully against Republicans,” CalMatters political reporter Alexei Koseff notes in his newest article that tries to make sense of the governor’s political plans and ambitions.

One clarification: He’s laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential run.

Another, supplied by Newsom himself: Last yr’s unsuccessful recall effort, which grew to become a nationwide headline-grabbing spectacle, sparked an earnest need to push again in opposition to the nationwide GOP.

• Newsom: “I understand the toxicity of the national discourse…I think it’s incredibly important to assert ourselves and to push back and to meet this moment head-on and not be naive about how ruthless the other side is.”

In different election-related news, take into account the California Supreme Court.

Yes, that does depend as election-related news. Check your poll, if you happen to don’t imagine me. You’ll discover the names of four justices on the state’s highest court up for a retention vote. 

Who are these individuals? And why is that so few Californians know who they’re or what they do? 

Check out CalMatters’ justice reporter Byrhonda Lyons on “one of the most diverse, consequential — and unrecognizable — branches of California government.”

2
A check rating bonanza

If you’ve been seeing a flurry of check score-related headlines that appear to contradict each other, you might have each proper to be confused.

Monday, the state launched its long-awaited and long-delayed 2021 check scores, providing schooling coverage consultants their greatest look but on the educational toll the pandemic took on California’s college students. 

Hours earlier, the federal authorities launched its personal test-score knowledge.

Taken all collectively, there was good news and there was bad news. 

The unhealthy news, which many, together with CalMatters’ Joe Hong, predicted:

• The state knowledge confirmed that California college students assembly state math requirements fell by 7 proportion factors.
• The share assembly studying and writing requirements fell by 4 proportion factors.
• These declines successfully wiped away all of the progress made since California revamped its schooling funding system eight years in the past.

The good (or a minimum of, not so unhealthy) news:

• The state’s persistent racial and socioeconomic hole in check efficiency really narrowed.
• The nationwide knowledge, primarily based on a smaller variety of college students on completely different exams, confirmed that whereas efficiency declined throughout the board, California fared higher than most states.

The statistical blended bag fascinated simple political spin from either side. Newsom pressured the nationwide numbers, which confirmed that California’s concentrate on “keeping kids safe during the pandemic” didn’t come at an particularly steep schooling value.

Legislative Republicans pointed to the state numbers to make the case that California’s public faculties are floundering.

But averages could be deceptive. How did college students in your college district do? Check out the handy search tool from CalMatters data reporter Erica Yee.

3
We’re quantity 4?

California might not but be “über alles,” as the Dead Kennedy’s once notably alleged. But we’re above all however three international locations. Soon. Maybe.

According to an analysis by Bloomberg columnist Matthew Winkler, the California financial system is on monitor — and based on one forecast, already is — bigger than Germany’s. That would imply the full worth of the almonds, apps, homes, Hollywood films and each different good and repair produced by the Golden State’s financial engine dwarfs that of each nation on the earth besides Japan, China and the United States as a complete.

Naturally, the Newsom administration trumpeted the news Monday by press release and by tweet. 

• Newsom: “While critics often say California’s best days are behind us, reality proves otherwise.”

The administration’s Department of Finance wasn’t in a position to verify this milestone. And if true, it appears to be as a lot a story of German financial stagnation as it’s Golden State success.

But California has been climbing the ranks for years now:

While with regards to California vs. Europe: The United Kingdom’s Conservative get together picked Rishi Sunak to become the country’s next prime minister on Monday. He little doubt hopes to stay it out longer than his predecessor — and, for that matter, a wilting head of lettuce. A practising Hindu born to Punjabi dad and mom who emigrated from Kenya, Sunak would be the first non-white and non-Christian Brit to hold the post, a truth noted by U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a Silicon Valley Democrat.

Sunak can also be more likely to be the primary PM who’s a California beachfront property proprietor. He and his spouse, dressmaker and heiress Akshata Murthy (they met at Stanford) own a condo in Santa Monica reportedly valued at round $7 million.

If any London-based journalists are studying this, please ask the brand new PM for his ideas on California’s “builder’s remedy” and report again.

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