Under The Dome: Key Committee Changes Offer Clues As To What The Assembly Will Do This Year

by Scott Kaufman, Legislative Director

In November, Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas announced his changes to the Standing Committees for the legislative session. The annual tradition is important because it usually portends the agenda for the upcoming year. But while state capitol watchers try to read the tea leaves on the new speaker’s committee appointments, it doesn’t take a crystal ball to figure out what’s going on.

Among the most notable changes, Rivas removed Mia Bonta as the Public Safety Budget chair. Bonta had received criticism for presiding over the office budget of her husband, Attorney General Rob Bonta. Her inability to explain away this seeming conflict of interest amid media scrutiny was an embarrassment to legislative Democrats last session.

Similarly, Reggie Jones-Sawyer is out as the Assembly Public Safety Committee chairman. Jones-Sawyer’s soft-on-crime approach led him to stop a set of fentanyl-related public safety bills and one that would classify child sex trafficking as a serious felony. Intense scrutiny from the media, legislative leaders and even Gov. Gavin Newsom made him reverse course on many of them but seemingly not before causing enough embarrassment to get him removed.

Perhaps the most shocking change is that Isaac Bryan is no longer majority leader. He was a Rivas stalwart, but media reports suggest he may have overplayed his influence with the speaker. Rivas’ office said that had nothing to do with the decision, but politics is a popularity contest and there had to be a reason for such a stunning demotion.

As for the new chairs, these appointments are nothing more than spoils of war to regime loyalists who backed Rivas during a contentious speaker battle last session. The chairmanship of a powerful committee gives members leverage over their colleagues and influence with powerful donors, but nothing really changes.

That’s because there are no threats to their control. The Democrats have a super-majority, and few legislative districts are competitive beyond intraparty squabbling. That’s why they answer only to themselves and the special interests that could mount a primary challenge against them if crossed.

So, what to expect this year? Much of the same. You don’t need to look at committee assignments to know what’s on the menu. It’s you, the taxpayer. It’s always you.

Cecilia Aguiar-Curry was promoted to majority leader. She’s the author of Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1. That’s a direct attack on Proposition 13 that would remove the taxpayer protection of the two-thirds vote of the electorate required to pass local special taxes.

Buffy Wicks is the new chair of appropriations. The appropriations committee is one of the most powerful positions in the Legislature. Any bill that has an associated cost comes through it and, as CalMatters notes, the chair “has virtually unchecked power to pass, gut or kill bills.”

She authored Assembly Bill 1319 that, according to the Bay Area Association of Governments, “will ensure the Bay Area can capitalize on future voter-approved funds” and “[t]ake advantage of the lower vote threshold for regional bonds and special taxes if voters pass ACA 1 (Aguiar-Curry) next November.” A $10 billion to $20 billion bond measure is already in the works.

Chris Ward, author of Assembly Constitutional Amendment 13, a devious attempt to stop the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act from passing when it’s on the ballot in November 2024, is now the chair of the powerful housing committee.

He also, according to Cal-Matters, “introduced a strikingly ambitious bill that would have prioritized dense urban development while putting a cap on sprawl across the state.” Watch out for that coming back with force.

Jesse Gabriel authored Assembly Bill 28 that imposes an excise tax in the amount of 11% of the gross receipts from the retail sale in this state of a firearm, firearm precursor part, and ammunition. He now controls the taxpayers’ purse strings as chair of the budget committee.

Liz Ortega is the new chair of labor and employment. Politico reports that she “previously served as the statewide political director for AFSCME Local 3299, the University of California’s largest employee union.” I think we can guess where her loyalties lie.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Although, in an amusing aside when the dust settled, one chairmanship sat vacant. It was the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. How fitting.