Pollak: 13 Things the Next California Governor Can Do After Newsom Recall

Imagine that California voters recall Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) next month.

It’s certainly possible; two polls show the “yes” vote within the margin of error, and one has Newsom losing by a wide margin.

If Newsom is recalled, it is likely he will be replaced by a Republican — probably conservative radio host Larry Elder, who would also become the first black governor of California. (The only other candidate to lead a poll is real estate investor and YouTuber Kevin Paffrath, a Democrat.)

Regardless, the next governor will face severe constraints. First of all, the legislature will still be run by Democrats, who have a supermajority in both chambers, and who are dominated by the far-left. Second, the new governor will only serve the remainder of Newsom’s term before facing re-election in 2022, when Democrats are likely to turn out in greater force. So a new governor will have limited ability, and a short window, to make an impact.

Here are 13 things that can be done:

1. Reverse the state mask and vaccine mandates. Californians are willing to take the coronavirus vaccine without being forced to do so. While individual employers can be allowed to impose mandates if they wish, the state government should stick to providing incentives, rather than enforcing mandates that could result in the loss of health care workers, or public safety employees, in a time of need. (Local governments could still be allowed to set their own policies; it is a big state.)

2. Deploy the California National Guard to protect the border. In 2018, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) deployed the California National Guard to assist federal authorities in handling a surge of migrants at the southern border. Today, with the crisis far, far worse, California — a border state — can join Florida and Texas in assisting with the ongoing influx of migrants. The state’s interests are at stake, since many illegal aliens make their way to California to use public funds and public services.

3. Declare a major disaster on homelessness. The governor should declare a major disaster for the purposes of requesting assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in relocating the homeless to temporary facilities on federal land. Those requiring immediate medical attention should be treated; those requiring mental health care should have it provided; those suffering economic hardship should be placed in temporary housing, and taken off the city streets.

4. Declare an emergency on wildfires and waive the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to allow forest clearing. Wildfires are caused by heat and drought, but they are also caused by poor forest management. The state should waive environmental regulations for forests, and invite timber companies to help clear any excess vegetation, create access roads, and trim vegetation from around power lines. (There is no need for California to import lumber from Canada.)

5. Declare an emergency on water and waive CEQA for the purpose of building and raising reservoirs, and adding desalination plants. California could relieve much of its chronic water scarcity by raising the height of the Shasta Dam, and building the Sites Reservoir and the Temperance Reservoir. In addition, it could expand upon efforts in San Diego to use desalination technology to provide drinking water in coastal regions, as well as to process wastewater into fresh water.

6. Halt the decommissioning of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. The state’s only remaining nuclear power plant is scheduled to be shut down in 2024. But given the state’s growing power shortages, and the supposed urgency of climate change, California should be expanding, not eliminating, nuclear power. Diablo Canyon should remain online, and the state should convene an expert panel to recommend a healthier energy mix than premature reliance on solar and wind power.

7. Call a special session of the legislature to deal with crime. The state’s permissive criminal justice “reforms” have led to a crime wave that has made many communities unlivable. The new governor can use the power to call the legislature back to Sacramento to overturn parts of bad laws like Proposition 47, which makes it harder to prosecute petty theft and other crimes; and to reinstate cash bail, which voters did not want to repeal but which the state court partially tossed out.

8. Stop the closure of the California Correctional Center. California should be arresting and incarcerating criminals, not turning them loose in the middle of a crime wave. The state prison in Susanville not only houses thousands of inmates, but also provides jobs in rural California. The new governor should also halt a policy that requires the state to house inmates based on their chosen gender, a policy that is likely being abused by biological males, placing female inmates in danger.

9. Create California “opportunity scholarships” for school choice. Using the governor’s power over discretionary grants, the new administration could set aside grant money for students rather than districts, creating a pilot program providing school vouchers to qualifies disadvantaged students to attend private schools of their choice. The success and popularity of the program will create additional public pressure on state legislators to expand school choice in California.

10. Direct the state department of education to eliminate Critical Race Theory from public school curricula. The state should not permit students to be instructed in values that not only falsify the country’s history, but which also break with the spirit of the state’s constitution, which outlaws racial discrimination. The governor should halt the implementation of the state’s new “model” ethnic studies curriculum until it can be reviewed for compliance with this no-CRT policy.

11. Replace the leadership of the dysfunctional Employment Development Department (EDD). The state department responsible for handling unemployment benefits and maternity leave has been plagued by fraud and mismanagement. A new leadership team appointed last year has failed to solve the problems, which hit the poor hardest. A new governor should replace the leadership at the EDD and invite Silicon Valley’s tech companies to fix the system within six months.

12. Cancel the existing high-speed rail contracts and use the money for better infrastructure projects.  There is no demand for a high-speed rail system between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The money should be used to widen and fix existing roads. The state could consider high-speed rail where there is private interest in such a project — such as L.A. to Las Vegas — and could invite pilot proposals to develop new technologies, such as the Hyperloop or underground tunnels.

13. Simplify the state budget and give local governments more money and discretion. The new governor should present a pared-down budget that any resident of the state can understand, rather than burying budget mandates and loopholes in an indecipherable, unmanageable plan. The budget should also send funding down to the local level through black grants rather than having Sacramento controlling the purse strings for every project, or dictating unfunded mandates.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.