California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he plans to call a special legislative session on December 5 to tackle California’s escalating gas prices.

Currently, California’s average gas price is consistently over $2 more than the national average.

Newsom has requested the Legislature to approve a new tax that would require oil companies to pay back excessive profits to consumers.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1439, expanding pay-to-play regulations.

The prohibition on agency officials accepting a contribution of more than $250 during and following a proceeding involving a license, permit, or other entitlement for use is extended by the bill from three months to 12 months following the final decision.

The bill removes the exception for elected local government officials, applying to them the same restrictions as state officials.

The bill also creates a duty for a party to a proceeding to disclose whether that party or the party’s agent has made a contribution of more than $250 in the 12 months before the proceeding.

This bill becomes effective January 1, 2023.

The California State Legislature has adjourned for the year, but not before passing several bills concerning lobbying, campaign finance, and procurement in the twilight hours of the session.

Among the bills currently awaiting signature by Gov. Gavin Newsom are Senate Bill 459 and Senate Bill 1360.

Senate Bill 459 requires lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers to include information in the quarterly reports that identifies each bill or administrative action lobbied.

Senate Bill 459 also requires lobbying firms to file additional disclosures for lobbying activity during the last 60 days of a scheduled legislative session and requires specified reports for issue lobbying advertisements if a person spends $5,000 or more in a calendar quarter.

Senate Bill 1360 requires certain political advertisements to identify the top contributors to the campaign committee paying for the advertisement without regard to any minimum contribution threshold.

The bill also makes additional changes to the disclosure requirements for political advertisements, including changes to the required form, content, and presentation of the disclosures depending on the medium in which the advertisement appears.

Patricia Guerro has been sworn in as one of the seven judges on the bench of the California Supreme Court.

Gov. Newsom appointed Guerro to the court after Justice Mariano-Florentine resigned to become president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Prior to her appointment, Guerro served as a judge for California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division One.

Gov. Newsom announced a special election to replace former Congressman Devin Nunes to be held on June 7, with the primary being held on April 5.

The election in Congressional District 22 will follow the old Congressional map.

The new map, approved late last year, will be used for the November 8 elections.

Nunes stepped down to take over as chief executive of former President Trump’s new media company, Trump Media & Technology Group.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a special election for state Assembly District 49.

Newsom appointed the current Assemblyman, Ed Chau, to the Los Angeles Superior Court bench.

The primary for the special election will be held on February 15, 2022, and the special election on April 19, 2022.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation declaring a special election for the 17^th Assembly District on April 19, 2022, with a special primary on February 15, 2022.

The former Assemblymember David Chiu vacated his seat after accepting a position as San Francisco’s city attorney in early November.

California Supreme Court Justice Mariano-Florentine Cuellar has resigned to become president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace after serving as a justice for seven years.

Gov. Newsom will be tasked with appointing a replacement.

To remain a justice, the appointee will have to stand for retention in an election during the next gubernatorial race.

Once an appointed judge wins their retention election, the judge will serve a 12-year term.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill extending automatic voting by mail and three bills increasing election transparency and integrity.

The marquee bill signed Monday, Assembly Bill 31, requires county elections officials to mail a ballot to every active registered voter for all elections.

The bill additionally extended the window for mail ballots to be sent to elections offices to seven days after the election.

California automatically sent ballots to voters the starting in early days of the pandemic.

During the 2020 presidential election, California saw a record-breaking 70% participation, the highest voter turnout since 1952.

Assembly Bill 319 forbids foreign governments or foreign principals from making a contribution, expenditure, or independent expenditure in connection with a state or local ballot measure or election.

Assembly Bill 1367 would make a person who uses campaign funds in a manner that violates the provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974 and results in an egregious personal benefit liable in an administrative or civil action brought by the commission for an amount of up to 2 times the amount of the unlawful expenditure.

Senate Bill 686 requires a limited liability company that qualified as a committee or a sponsor of a committee under the act, as specified, to file a statement of members with the Secretary of State.

The bill requires the statement to include a list of all persons who have a membership interest in the LLC of at least 10% or who have made a capital contribution of at least $10,000 to the LLC after it qualified as a committee or sponsor of a committee, or within the 12 months before it qualified.

These bills become effective January 1, 2022.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has defeated the recall effort utilizing a campaign focused on his pandemic efforts and threats of “Trumpism.”

Newsom had a large lead entering the final day of voting due to the enormous turnout of mail-in voters and Newsom’s unrestricted campaign fundraising.

In February, California passed a bill mandating all active registered voters be sent a ballot each election.

This increased voter turnout brought relief to many Democrats who feared voter apathy would allow Republican front-runner, Larry Elder, to win the governorship.

The recall election cost California roughly $300 million, a price tag officials are hoping to reduce by next year when Newsom faces reelection.

The California Legislature adjourned late last week, just in time for today’s recall election of Gov. Newsom.

The trifecta government passed close to 900 bills this year as Democratic lawmakers utilized a budget surplus to enact many progressive policies such as police reform, health care for undocumented immigrants, and climate change.

Assembly bills 319 and 1367 are on Newsom’s desk awaiting signature.

AB 319 prevents a foreign government or principal from making a contribution or expenditure to a candidate for state or local office.

While AB 1367, raises the penalty for a person who uses campaign funds that results in an egregious personal benefit to an amount up to three times the amount of the unlawful expenditure.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced the recall campaign against Gov. Gavin Newsom had enough signatures to move forward.

The recall effort was able to collect 1,719,900 signatures for the election.

The election will most likely take place in October or November 2021.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has expanded a ban on political consultants lobbying him and his administration to include unpaid advisers, based on recommendations from the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).

No consultant, whether paid or not, will be permitted to leverage their relationship with the governor to unduly benefit a client in connection with legislative or administrative actions.

Under the new rules, appointees with a high level of influence over administration policy decisions are prohibited from accepting gifts from lobbyists.

The rule applies to the governor, his wife, senior officials, policy advisers, and any equivalent position.

The new rules also prohibit influential appointees from working on specific bills in their first two years if they worked on substantially similar bills in the two years prior to joining the Newsom administration.

It will apply to appointees who joined the administration after March 1, 2021.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation declaring a special election for the 54th Assembly District on July 20.

The seat was vacated by Sydney Kamlager who was voted to Senate District 30.

The special primary election will be held on May 18.