Expanded early childhood education programs, preserving health care programs, cutting prescription drug prices, and continuing to fight federal efforts to cut back on environmental protections. Those are some of the goals highlighted by Gavin Newsom as he was inaugurated as the state’s 40th governor.
Newsom says he will try to build on the legacy of Jerry Brown, who led a comeback on the state’s finances which were in shambles eight years ago.
The governor echoed the defiant tone he struck during his campaign towards President Trump and the federal government. Newsom says California will remain in the forefront of the efforts to protect immigrant rights, as well as the environment. But, he says the federal government isn’t posing the only challenges for the state, noting issues like the gun lobby and the cost of prescription drugs.
One of his initial initiatives is expected to be a big funding infusion for early childhood education program.
So, with Jerry Brown now officially retired, what is his legacy? Dr. Herb Gooch is an expert on state politics who recently retired from his post as a political science professor at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. He says Brown showed the state is governable, taking over at a time when the state was in huge financial and political disarray. Brown took a number of tough steps to help get the state not only on solid financial footing, but to build a rainy day fund.
But, Gooch says Brown leaves Newsom, who was his Lieutenant Governor, with a couple of political hot potatoes. One is the controversial twin tunnels project, to build two giant pipelines to divert water from the Sacramento River to the San Joaquin Valley. The other is even more controversial: The plan to build a high speed LA to San Francisco train. The cost continues to grow, with some estimates now approaching $100 billion dollars.
Gooch says one of the unresolved issues the state continues to face is over finances, from funding pension obligations to an unstable tax system: He says the ongoing limitations of Proposition 13 create an unstable tax environment.
Gooch says the new governor’s biggest challenge is proving that he’s not Jerry Brown 2.0.
