Homelessness, rehabilitation and health care: What to know about California Gov. Newsom’s legacy tour
Gov. Gavin Newsom likes to talk about “the California way.” And as he barnstormed the state with sweeping plans to transform its approach to homelessness, criminal justice and health care, he laid out his ideas for what that “way” means — and his legacy.
Throughout his State of the State tour, the governor was often joking and jovial. But on Sunday, the fourth and final day, he took on a more somber tone, standing behind the lectern of a makeshift event space that was once a nine-bed emergency room to talk about improving mental health care.
He emphasized the far-reaching consequences of inadequate care and shared his own experiences, losing someone he’d attended his high school prom with, as well as his grandfather, a veteran, to suicide.
“We own this. We own this moment,” he said. “But we have now the tools and the capacity to turn this ship around.”
As he dives into his second term, Newsom chose the tour in place of the traditional speech to a joint session of the Legislature. In many ways, the events echoed the priorities that he was focused on at this same point in his first term four years ago — before unexpected crises, a recall effort and a seemingly inescapable pandemic scrambled his agenda.
In his first act as governor, shortly after he took the oath of office in January 2019, Newsom signed an executive order aimed at lowering prescription drug costs by directing state agencies to negotiate collectively with pharmaceutical companies for better prices.
On Saturday, he finally announced that California will partner with Utah-based generic drug company Civica to manufacture its own insulin, available for $30 a vial. The $50 million deal is the first major development in a plan Newsom has pursued for the past three years to create a generic label that can challenge an industry he has criticized for charging far too much for life-saving medications.
Two months into his first term, in March 2019, Newsom enacted a moratorium on executions and dismantled the lethal injection chamber at San Quentin State Prison. His decision stunned the political world by quickly reversing a campaign pledge to respect the will of California voters who have repeatedly upheld capital punishment.
On Friday, nearly four years to the day after that order, the governor was back at San Quentin touting his vision to transform California’s oldest correctional facility from the home of condemned inmates to a center for rehabilitation and training before offenders are released back into society.
In public poll after public poll, these issues are not what Californians identify as the most pressing problems in the state. Yet by regularly resurfacing them, steadily chipping away at breakthroughs on his own terms, Newsom suggests that’s what they represent to him — the issues most fundamental to his platform, those with which he seeks to build his legacy.
Governors don’t always get to define their own legacies, however.
Growing public anger over California’s ever more visible homelessness crisis has made this seemingly intractable problem the inescapable force of Newsom’s tenure. He recognized it back in 2020, devoting his entire State of the State speech to the topic, and COVID aside, no other issue has consumed more of his time and political capital since, a stark departure from his predecessor. For opponents — from those who unsuccessfully sought to recall him from office in 2021 to those already seeking to knee-cap any presidential ambitions he may possess — it is perhaps his greatest liability.
That was reflected in the central role that homelessness played in Newsom’s statewide tour, underlying his major announcements on two separate days.
The kick-off event, in Sacramento on Thursday, touted the governor’s successful push to get local officials to adopt more aggressive targets for reducing the number of people living on the streets in their communities.
The final stop, in San Diego on Sunday, launched a campaign to ask California voters to approve a $3 billion bond measure in 2024 for mental health housing and treatment beds. It builds on Newsom’s signature policy achievement from last year: A new court system aimed at compelling people with several mental illnesses, who often languish on the streets, into housing and treatment.
Wrapping up the tour, Newsom noted that the issues he discussed were connected, but especially housing and homelessness.
“I think those two issues truly do represent the twin challenges of this state — our fate and future,” he said Sunday in answer to a CalMatters question. “They’re connected to more of our challenges than any other two issues, and that’s really the thrust of this multi-day effort.”
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