By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer
Gov. Gavin Newsom opened his State of the State address June 25 with an ominous warning that democracy is under attack from far-right Republicans.
Newsom said economic prosperity, health, safety, and freedom are under assault.
California’s values and way of life, Newsom said, are the antidote to the “poisonous populist” ways of the right.
“California, we won’t bend,” Newsom said.
In a prerecorded speech, the governor proclaimed the state’s support for women’s rights and its commitment to improving public safety, education and homelessness.
Newsom hammered Republicans in California and across the country for their stances on everything from gun control and public safety to women’s rights and homelessness.
The governor touted the state’s proactivity in protecting women’s health. “We will never turn our backs on women or threaten their freedom to travel,” he said, calling California’s pro-women’s health measures the nation’s strongest.
The state has made major strides to address homelessness, clearing more than 9,300 homeless encampments, helping tens of thousands of people move from tents and under freeways into shelter or housing, Newsom asserted.
Project Room Key, established in March 2020, has provided more than 15,000 housing units and helped shelter more than 71,000 people, Newsom said.
“While the causes of homelessness are complex, the solution is rather simple: housing and supportive services,” the governor said.
Newsom also pointed to the establishment of Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment Court, or CARE Court, and the passage of Proposition 1 as other examples of reinforced commitment to combating the homeless crisis. “This is critical to help exhausted and financially stressed families who have been trying to help relatives stuck in the dark, suffering so often alone.”
CARE Court began operating in eight counties last year and will be in every county by the end of this year.
Newsom said California has taken on the fentanyl epidemic by seizing the drug at points of entry and employing the National Guard to aid in these efforts. California seized more than 30 tons of fentanyl last year.
Newsom challenged conservative assertions that crime is highest in cities run by Democrats, claiming that eight of the 10 states with the highest murder rates are Republican-led.
Newsom did say California must get tougher on professional theft rings. It likely was a reference to a package of bills addressing retail crime, which has risen dramatically since COVID-19, and attempts by retailers and district attorneys to scale back Proposition 47, a decade-old law that reduced penalties for some drug and property crimes.
“We look forward to advancing this package of reforms this year,” Newsom said.
The governor also touted a gun homicide rate 33% below the national average. “That’s because of our gun safety laws.” California’s gun homicide rate was 50% above the national average in the 1990s, Newsom said.
Newsom boasted that California is the leader in innovation, climate change, and freedom for all. “This is the future California is creating now,” he said. “Anyone who really knows California, knows that our state of the state is strong.”