Gavin Newsom warns that dark forces are threatening California in Streamed State of State Address
State of the State and Reaction
Key Points from the Address:
1. California's values and approach are presented as a counterpoint to conservative policies, framing the state as a defender of progressive ideals.
2. The governor highlighted California's economic strength, citing its status as the world's fifth-largest economy and its leadership in various industries, particularly technology and clean energy.
3. Newsom addressed several key issues:
- Women's rights and reproductive freedom
- Immigration and border security
- Homelessness and mental health reforms
- Crime and public safety
- Gun control
- Economic policies and workers' rights
- Education reforms
- Environmental protection and clean energy initiatives
4. The speech emphasized California's efforts in areas like fentanyl seizures, clearing homeless encampments, and implementing mental health reforms like CARE Court.
5. Newsom contrasted California's approach to various issues with those of Republican-led states, often citing statistics to support his arguments.
6. The governor highlighted California's role in innovation, particularly in AI and clean technology.
Reactions and Analysis:
- Critics, particularly Republicans, condemned Newsom's approach of delivering a pre-recorded speech rather than addressing the legislature in person.
- Some analysts viewed the speech as having elements of a presidential campaign launch, noting its focus on national issues and criticism of Republican-led states.
- The speech was seen as a defense of California's progressive policies in the face of criticism and negative narratives about the state.
- Some commentators noted that while Newsom highlighted California's successes, he didn't address recommendations for improvement or acknowledge ongoing challenges in areas like homelessness.
- The timing and format of the speech (delivered in late June as a pre-recorded video) were seen as unusual and possibly strategic to minimize attention.
- Analysts noted that the speech was unlikely to significantly impact most Californians, who may not have been aware of the event.
- The address was viewed as an attempt to counter negative narratives about California while positioning the state (and potentially Newsom himself) as a leader in progressive governance.
Video Summary
- California's Commitment to Progressive Values
California Governor Newsom contrasts the state's commitment to progressive values with the conservative approach of other states, emphasizing the importance of social justice, inclusivity, and economic growth. He highlights California's strong economy, innovative spirit, and diversity as key factors in its success, and argues that the state's approach is under attack by conservative forces that seek to roll back social progress, undermine democracy, and promote chaos and division. - California's Progressive Approach to Addressing Socio-Economic Challenges
California's approach to addressing socio-economic challenges is fundamentally different from that of conservative states. While Republicans claim that high taxes and regulations stifle economic growth, California has achieved significant progress by valuing its workers, promoting affordable housing, and implementing policies that benefit working families. The state has passed the first-ever two-year balanced budget, ensuring a strong fiscal footing, and has introduced measures to reduce income inequality, such as the Young Child Tax Credit, expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, and five days of paid sick leave. California's focus on education, innovation, and environmental sustainability has also enabled it to attract businesses and talent from around the world, making it a hub for entrepreneurship and technological advancements
1. Historical context: The speech begins by referencing a 1939 warning about threats to democracy, drawing parallels to current challenges.
2. California's role: The governor portrays California as a beacon of progressive values, innovation, and economic success, contrasting it with more conservative states.
3. Here's a summary of the key issues addressed in the speech:
- California is presented as a defender of women's rights, particularly reproductive rights.
- The speaker criticizes other states for restricting abortion access.
- Mentions passing strong laws protecting women's health and medical providers.
2. Immigration and border security:
- Criticizes Republicans for not supporting border security measures.
- Highlights California's efforts to combat drug trafficking, particularly fentanyl.
- Mentions providing humanitarian assistance to migrants.
3. Homelessness and mental health:
- Discusses the state's efforts to address homelessness, including clearing encampments and providing housing.
- Highlights mental health reforms, including the CARE Court program and conservatorship reform.
- Mentions investments in youth mental health services.
4. Crime and public safety:
- Argues that California's crime rates are lower than many conservative states.
- Discusses funding for local police and efforts to combat retail theft.
- Emphasizes a problem-solving approach to public safety.
5. Gun control:
- Highlights California's strict gun laws and lower gun death rates compared to other states.
- Criticizes the Supreme Court's interpretation of the Second Amendment.
- Mentions efforts to ban bump stocks and other gun control measures.
6. Economic policies and workers' rights:
- Emphasizes California's approach to balancing economic growth with worker protections.
- Mentions policies like paid sick leave, family leave, and child tax credits.
- Highlights efforts to improve conditions for fast-food workers.
7. Education reforms:
- Discusses initiatives like universal pre-K, community schools, and literacy programs.
- Mentions investments in before and after school programs, and summer school.
- Highlights efforts to make higher education more accessible and affordable.
8. Environmental protection and clean energy:
- Discusses California's leadership in clean energy and zero-emission vehicles.
- Mentions efforts to hold oil companies accountable.
- Highlights the state's success in creating clean energy jobs.
These issues are presented as areas where California is taking a progressive approach, often in contrast to more conservative states or national policies.
4. Economic success: The speech highlights California's status as the world's fifth-largest economy, its job creation, and its leadership in various industries.
5. Innovation and technology: California is presented as a leader in AI, clean energy, and other cutting-edge technologies.
6. Social programs: The governor discusses various initiatives in education, community service, and social support.
7. Challenges to California: The speech acknowledges and rebuts criticisms from political opponents, particularly regarding crime, taxes, and economic policies.
8. Cultural significance: California is portrayed as a diverse, creative, and forward-thinking state that continually reinvents itself and leads global trends.
The overall tone is defiant and optimistic, presenting California as a successful model of progressive governance in the face of national and global challenges.
Gavin Newsom warns that dark forces are threatening California | KPBS Public Media
Months of speculation and complaints about when, or even if, Gov. Gavin Newsom would give his annual State of the State address ended this morning with more of a whimper than a bang.
At a few minutes past 10 a.m., Newsom posted a pre-recorded speech to his social media channels. Flanked by American and California flags, the Democratic governor solemnly warned that “the California way of life is under attack” by forces threatened by the state’s diversity, pluralism and innovative spirit.
“Our values and our way of life are the antidote to the poisonous populism of the right, and to the fear and anxiety that so many people are feeling today,” Newsom said. “For conservatives and delusional California bashers, their success depends on our failure.”
Eschewing the convention of delivering live remarks to the Legislature in the stately Assembly chambers of the Capitol, Newsom’s subdued approach this year drew fierce condemnation from his Republican critics — who had fastidiously tracked the days since he canceled his original speech in March and called him a coward for not showing up in person to defend his record in office.
“While this pre-recorded speech fulfills the governor’s legal mandate, it does not in any real way fulfill his responsibility to Californians who deserve a safe, affordable and opportunity-filled future,” Sen. Kelly Seyarto, a Murrieta Republican, said in a pre-response video.
But the governor’s dodge is unlikely to matter to most Californians, many of whom may not register this low-key event at all — barely 1,000 people tuned in for the premiere on YouTube. And that’s precisely the point.
Letting the rescheduling of the State of the State drag on for so long was a mistake that opened Newsom to unnecessary, if largely inconsequential, criticism, said Rob Stutzman, a Republican consultant who served as communications director for former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Forgoing a big speech ends the saga with as little attention as possible.
“He got caught in tough circumstances here,” Stutzman said.
Even with his unorthodox solution, the remarks were classic Newsom, incorporating many of his favorite talking points as stock footage played on the screen.
The address included a lengthy defense of what California has accomplished in the past few years — protecting reproductive rights, seizing fentanyl at the border with Mexico, clearing homeless encampments — which he argued undermines a persistent narrative of a failing state.
Faced with rising concerns over how California is handling crime, Newsom pointed to statistics that indicate gun violence and homicide rates are higher in Republican-led states.
“All of those facts fly in the face of the California haters who want to tear us down because they know our success is a spotlight on their own failures,” Newsom said.
The governor also highlighted the CARE Court system that he developed to push more people with serious mental health challenges into treatment and a bond approved by voters in March to fund more beds for those patients.
“Every year, the people of California stun the world with something new that our detractors could never have dreamed of,” he said. “The only surprise is that they keep being surprised.”
It’s not unprecedented for Newsom to skip a traditional State of the State address. He’s done it three times in his six years in office, including a speech from an empty Dodgers Stadium in 2021, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, and a four-day policy tour across California last year.
But today’s event — fulfilling the governor’s constitutional obligation to “report to the Legislature each calendar year on the condition of the State” by sending them the text of his remarks — was the most muted of Newsom’s tenure, reflecting the sour political mood that he currently faces.
Newsom originally planned to deliver the State of the State in March, following the primary election, but he abruptly delayed the speech when results for his signature mental health care proposal wound up too close to call. It ultimately passed by less than four-tenths of a percentage point, after weeks of counting.
The governor’s office said at the time that it would work with the Legislature to find a new date. As weeks turned into months, however, their time was consumed instead by negotiations to close California’s multibillion-dollar budget deficit, not to mention bill hearings and a gubernatorial trip to the Vatican to discuss climate change. Newsom has also battled recently with proponents of an initiative to strengthen criminal penalties for drug and property crimes, pushing unsuccessfully to remove it from the November ballot.
Amid a season of unflattering headlines for the governor, a new survey from the Public Policy Institute of California this month found that just 44% of respondents approved of Newsom’s job performance while 54% disapproved, the worst assessment he has received since taking office in 2019.
With Newsom and legislative leaders reaching a budget deal over the weekend, and the Legislature soon heading out of town for most of July on recess, the State of the State was suddenly back on — sort of.
The governor’s office announced its plan for a reformatted speech on Sunday. Instead of visiting the Assembly chambers, Newsom held a private reception with lawmakers the evening before his remarks were posted online.
Despite the brouhaha over this year’s address, the pomp and ceremony of the State of the State has long fluctuated as different governors found variable utility in the event.
Two decades ago, Schwarzenegger capitalized on his movie star power and got the evening newscasts to broadcast his speeches live. Stutzman said the State of the State was a tool for Schwarzenegger to launch his annual agenda.
“There is some benefit to the governor working with the Legislature to lay out some priorities at the beginning of the session,” Stutzman said. “Let ’em know where you’re going to put your political capital.”
Schwarzenegger’s successor, Gov. Jerry Brown, did not seem to relish the requirement and even folded it into the inauguration for his final term. But Brown was very bound by tradition, noted Miriam Pawel, author of “The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation,” and he showed up to the Legislature each year to speak — albeit often for fewer than 20 minutes, offering philosophical admonitions alongside rundowns of his accomplishments.
“They were very in character,” Pawel said. “They were short, they were to the point.”
Though considerably longer, Newsom’s latest speech leaned toward the Brown mode, placing California at an “extraordinary moment in history.” The governor evoked the spread of fascism across Europe in 1939 and, without naming former President Trump, suggested that California was a bulwark against a similar creeping rollback of progress.
“We are presented with a choice between a society that embraces our values and a world darkened by division and discrimination,” Newsom said. “But California won’t bend. We are a success story exactly because of our universality and our extraordinary diversity, and because we practice pluralism.”
Newsom's State of the State address looked like a presidential campaign launch
The California Constitution requires that “the Governor shall report to the Legislature each calendar year on the condition of the State and may make recommendations.”
Traditionally, that has meant that the governor would personally address a joint session of the Legislature early each year to lay out a legislative agenda, including a new state budget.
For reasons known only to himself, Gavin Newsom has shunned that tradition after following it during the first two years of his governorship. He gave his third State of the State address to an empty Dodgers Stadium during the COVID-19 pandemic and his fourth in a state agency auditorium, rather than the Capitol. Last year, he just sent a letter to the Legislature after doing a multi-stop tour of the state.
On Tuesday, just a few days before the halfway point in the year, Newsom deviated from tradition again with a pre-recorded video, delivering what is likely the most belated State of the State address in California history.
But was it truly a State of the State address, or the opening event of his 2028 campaign for president of the United States?
The first passages were a full-on verbal attack on the “poisonous populism of the right” from Republicans in Congress and GOP-leaning states, calling them the “forces of darkness.” He cited a slew of statistics that he said proved the superior virtues of California compared to rivals such as Texas and Florida.
“Our values and our way of life are the antidote to the poisonous populism of the right, and to the fear and anxiety that so many people are feeling today,” Newsom said. “People across the globe look to California and see what’s possible, and how to live and advance together and prosper together across every conceivable difference.”
The not-so-subliminal message, of course, was that the nation and the world would be better off if they ignored the social media and televised images of California and emulated the policies and programs that he and the Legislature have wrought, inferentially by making him the leader of the nation.
His portrayal of California, however, was as lopsided and propagandistic as those aired in right-wing media. The state constitution’s mandate that he report on the condition of the state to the Legislature also suggests that he “make recommendations” for improvement but Newsom had none.
Rather, he implied that everything in California is wonderful, saying that “across the spectrum California simply has no peers.”
“The state of the state is strong and resilient,” Newsom concluded at the end of his nearly 30-minute video.
However, California has some very knotty problems that have so far not been resolved, and in some cases have gotten worse. For instance, Newsom touted the state’s efforts to deal with homelessness, such as building temporary housing. But there are more unhoused people in California now than when his governorship began in 2019.
The programs he started or expanded to deal with not only homelessness but mental health, drug abuse, housing costs, early childhood education and other issues are still works in progress. Whether they bear fruit will not be known, most likely, until after his governorship ends.
What will be occupying Newsom’s attention then? Despite his oft-stated lack of interest in running for president, he has been doing all the things that a would-be candidate for the White House would be doing — including delivering a State of the State address implying that he would be eager to wage political war on Republicans four years hence.
Dan Walters is one of most decorated and widely syndicated columnists in California history, authoring a column four times a week that offers his view and analysis of the state’s political, economic,... More by Dan Walters
Video Transcript
I begin today with a warning from the past. It was January 2nd, 1939, that anxious moment in history when the world was on edge as fascism spread its hate and destruction through Europe. On that day, California Governor Culbert Olson delivered an inaugural address to raise the alarm with lawmakers and the people of this great state. He spoke of California's most determined task in the face of "destruction of democracy." At that moment, the state's highest calling was the preservation of our American civil liberties and democratic institutions.
This year, we face another extraordinary moment in history for California, for the country, and the world. We are presented with a choice between a society that embraces our values and a world darkened by division and discrimination. The economic prosperity, health, safety, and freedom that we enjoy are under assault. Forces are threatening the foundation of California's success: our pluralism, our innovative spirit, and our diversity.
There's only one state in America with a dream - the California Dream. It's a dream built on opportunity, a dream built on pushing boundaries and celebrating, not tolerating, diversity. That dream propelled us to the front of the pack, to be the fifth largest economy in the world. Our values and our way of life are the antidote to the poisonous populism of the right and the fear and anxiety that so many people are feeling today.
People across the globe look to California to see what's possible and how we can live together, advance together, and prosper together across every conceivable and imaginable difference. But the California way of life we recognize is under attack. For conservatives and delusional California bashers, their success depends on our failure. They want to impeach the very things that have made us successful as a tactic to turn America towards a darker future.
They do so in the name of "liberty" and "freedom." They want to roll back social progress, social justice, racial justice, economic justice, clean air, clean water, and basic fundamental fairness. They would cleave America from the principles of freedom and the rule of law and, in the process, throw our economy and, in many respects, society as we know it into chaos.
But California, we won't bend. We are a success story exactly because of our universality and our extraordinary diversity, and because we practice pluralism. For generations, we've stood for progress, championing women's rights and LGBTQ rights, protecting the environment, and expanding civil rights. We see this hard-earned progress not as something apart from liberty and freedom, but as their fulfillment.
Sadly, there is another way to see the world. Those bent on putting America on a darker course choose chaos over stability at every turn. For our detractors, the distorted prism of political pandering means cutting healthcare benefits and telling a woman she's not in charge of her own body when it comes to reproductive rights. Their lies are designed to control. Their draconian policies are driving women to flee across state lines as fugitives from laws written by men more than a hundred years ago. Some even go so far as to force victims of assault to give birth to their rapist's babies.
As extreme politicians in other states take away women's rights, California stands as a beacon of self-determination. Together with this legislature, we have passed some of the strongest laws in the nation protecting women's health. Thanks to Senator Nancy Skinner, Toni Atkins, and Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, we've stood firm against radical lawmakers who would criminalize women in other states. With your help, we are protecting women's medical providers, doctors, and healthcare facilities from the forces of darkness in this country. We will never turn our backs on women or threaten their freedom to travel.
When it comes to the southern border with Mexico, California has proven time and time again that it's willing to tackle the hardest problems. But Republicans in Congress choose cynicism and the dangerous path of chaos instead of doing their job to help us secure the border. Think of this: for all their talk of securing the border, they rejected over and over again the opportunity to add thousands of new border agents and new immigration judges, as well as personnel and hundreds of millions of dollars to support local communities near the border. And for what? Pure, unadulterated partisan politics.
When they speak about immigrants poisoning American blood and mass deportations and detention camps, this is the language of destruction of 1939, when Governor Olson issued his warning. California is home to the busiest land port in the Western Hemisphere, and we've addressed the problems at the border with resources, not plain politics.
Give you an example: the vast majority of fentanyl seized at the border, we know, comes through ports of entry. That's exactly why we've deployed the National Guard to stop the flow of this deadly drug into our state and the impact it has across the United States, allowing border patrol agents to do their job. These operations have resulted in the seizure of over 62,000 lbs of fentanyl in 2023, a 1,166% increase since 2021. In the first five months just of this year alone, counter-drug operations have led to the seizure of an estimated 5.8 million pills containing fentanyl statewide.
At the same time, California has proudly provided humanitarian assistance and temporary shelter to migrants and their families along the border communities, easing the burden to local cities. Unfortunately, California has largely had to go this alone again because Republicans in Congress, when presented with an opportunity to assist border states, have turned their back. They've chosen politics, chosen inertia, and they've advanced pure political pandering.
When it comes to America's homeless problem, California's detractors have similarly offered nothing but rhetoric, moaning, and casting blame. No state, by the way, has done more than California in addressing this pernicious problem of homelessness plaguing cities and towns not just across the state of California but increasingly across the United States. Too many politicians for too long have ignored this problem.
Let me remind you, just as an example: when I got here in 2019, there was no state homeless strategy, no state homeless plan. There was no significant investment. Sure, there was a half-billion dollar contribution one time made to local government, but there was no expectation of anything in return, no accountability, no demonstrable results expected. When I came into office, we wanted to change that paradigm. That's why I presented a State of the State exclusively on the issue of homelessness and mental health. This was my commitment to California: we would no longer ignore this most pressing and distressing problem.
Since then, by the way, we've cleared now over 9,300 dangerous encampments, and we're helping tens of thousands of people move from tents and freeway underpasses to shelter or housing. Our innovative HomeKey program has revitalized former motels, hotels, and apartments and provided more than 15,300 units of housing. Combined with Project Roomkey, California has now provided shelter for more than 71,000 people.
While the causes of homelessness are indeed complex, the solution is rather simple: housing and supportive services. That's why we've focused our reform specifically to address the housing needs as it relates to reforming CEQA. I've signed now 32 CEQA reforms to build more housing faster, at the same time creating more accountability by establishing a housing accountability unit to hold cities and counties accountable for following the law.
Here are the results: just in the last year or two, we've seen some 442 actions against local government, including lawsuits to compel them to follow the law. The success of accountability in the housing space is why we're adding similar accountability and oversight for homelessness. We're requiring cities now and counties to account for how they spend taxpayer dollars to get people off the streets and sidewalks, out of tents, and into housing.
Look, so long as there are people living outdoors, so long as people are suffering from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, paranoia, self-medicating with drug or alcohol addictions, our work clearly is not done.
Most importantly though, we have created a mosaic of extraordinarily transformative and impactful mental health reforms, starting with a new paradigm of thinking: CARE Court. A nation-leading effort that provides treatment and housing for people with the most serious untreated mental health challenges. This is critical to help exhausted and financially stressed families that have been trying to help relatives, loved ones stuck in the dark, in unimaginable pain, suffering so often alone. Thanks to Susan Eggman and Tom Umberg, this program is moving out of the pilot phase. It'll be up and running in every county in the state of California by the end of this year.
We also took on the difficult and politically fraught task of conservatorship reform. How many decades have we been discussing the issue of conservatorship reform, saying it was necessary but increasingly impossible to achieve? Well, we achieved it. Now, for the first time, we're helping to find meaningful solutions for families with relatives suffering from acute mental health and substance abuse disorders.
Perhaps the steepest hill to climb was tackling the changes that were necessary as well to the Mental Health Services Act. This year, we made a dramatic shift to focus the law on those struggling the most, to shift resources to housing and supportive services. This is the biggest effort in our lifetime to combat substance abuse and mental health as well. And this is a future that was advanced because of all of you.
Proposition 1 - it's the future that you provided us. With the support of the California voters, we're able now to build over 11,000 new beds and housing units for those with the most challenging mental illness. And we're requiring counties and cities in the state to focus existing money on housing and treatment for the toughest cases. And critically, we're guaranteeing a portion of those homes will go to veterans living on the streets, many of them suffering from PTSD.
All of this while never compromising on our nation-leading efforts to improve youth mental health with more school-based health professionals, new mobile apps, and platforms like Soluna to engage more kids earlier in prevention and screening. Think about a world in which we did nothing about this crisis, when we fell prey to the cynicism, negativity, and the rhetoric, and just rolled over and said it was simply unfixable.
The same, by the way, is true of the red state approach to crime. They couldn't be more divorced from reality. Their entire crime agenda narrative is about diversion and distraction. They create fear and division. Meanwhile, people are gunned down at higher rates in Republican states than in Democratic states. Eight of the 10 most violent murder states in America are red states. Even cities like Jacksonville and Memphis have significantly higher homicide rates than cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles.
But that's not what you hear. Instead, you hear wall-to-wall right-wing media coverage about lawless blue cities and blue states. In fact, California's violent crime rate is about half of what it was in the 1990s - 1992. A lower homicide rate now than 29 other states, including Florida and Texas. And property crime, as an example in San Francisco, is down 32%. In Oakland, with the California Highway Patrol in partnership with local law enforcement, we've seen a remarkable decline - 33% in crime.
This is because in California, we take public safety seriously. We take it as a problem to solve, not just to flog on cable news. We didn't wake up to this yesterday. Beginning in 2019, we funded local police and prosecutors specifically to go after retail theft, not by defunding the police, but by recruiting, among other things, 1,000 CHP officers.
But we're not satisfied until we get the job done, and to do that, I recognize we need to do more to clarify existing laws. And while it's true that California has some of the toughest felony theft thresholds in the nation, we need to do more to go after professional theft rings more forcefully. We look forward to advancing this package of reforms this year.
Our work on public safety also means we've protected victims of domestic violence with expanded restraining orders. We've cracked down on ghost guns. We've gone toe-to-toe with the gun lobby and ideological judges who advanced their agenda, and we won't stop fighting because protecting Californians is our most important job.
You know, 30 years ago, California's gun homicide rate was 50% above the national average. Now, today, it's 33% below the national average. That's because of our gun safety laws. And red states' refusal to follow California's lead has led to catastrophic impacts. Let's put it this way: if every state in America had California's gun death rate over the past decade, 140,000 Americans would be alive today. That's the cost of fealty to the ideological agenda by the National Rifle Association. 140,000 brothers and sisters and sons and daughters, mothers and fathers would be alive today.
For lawmakers in red states, with respect, bravery sometimes simply means ignoring the best interest of their constituents, I guess, in doing whatever the donors and the lobbyists tell them to do. That's not the approach we take in California. But we're facing unprecedented challenges. Not a word, not a single word from them about the Supreme Court's perversion of the Second Amendment that allows, for example, machine guns and weapons of war to proliferate on the streets of America. It's a sickness.
Just a week ago, as a point, Republicans in the United States Senate refused to even outlaw bump stocks, the same so-called accessory that a gunman in Las Vegas used to kill 60 people, wound over 400, and dislodge over 1,000 rounds in just 11 minutes. That's why their states, with respect, are less safe.
Catering to big business and the rich is also why red states tax their lowest earners far more than California does. Those red states punish you while you're struggling but give you a free pass when you're wealthy. Here's the truth, here's the truth Republicans will never tell you: California is not a high-tax state. Conservative states, this is a fact, conservative states tax their poorest residents - people struggling with two jobs, hospital bills, and child care - at a higher rate than we tax our wealthiest residents. You pay a higher percentage of taxes if you're poor in Texas than you do if you're wealthy in California. It's about who you're fighting for.
In California, you don't have to be propagated to be progressive. We understand how to balance budgets while protecting working families, children, and the most vulnerable in our state. Thanks to our partnership with Senator McGuire and Speaker Rivas, we just passed the first-ever two-year balanced budget, a disciplined approach that keeps California on strong fiscal footing.
But we're not satisfied until we get the job done, and to do that, I recognize we need to do more to clarify existing laws. And while it's true that California has some of the toughest felony theft thresholds in the nation, we need to do more to go after professional theft rings more forcefully. We look forward to advancing this package of reforms this year.
Our work on public safety also means we've protected victims of domestic violence with expanded restraining orders. We've cracked down on ghost guns. We've gone toe-to-toe with the gun lobby and ideological judges who advanced their agenda, and we won't stop fighting because protecting Californians is our most important job.
You know, 30 years ago, California's gun homicide rate was 50% above the national average. Now, today, it's 33% below the national average. That's because of our gun safety laws. And red states' refusal to follow California's lead has led to catastrophic impacts. Let's put it this way: if every state in America had California's gun death rate over the past decade, 140,000 Americans would be alive today. That's the cost of fealty to the ideological agenda by the National Rifle Association. 140,000 brothers and sisters and sons and daughters, mothers and fathers would be alive today.
For lawmakers in red states, with respect, bravery sometimes simply means ignoring the best interest of their constituents, I guess, in doing whatever the donors and the lobbyists tell them to do. That's not the approach we take in California. But we're facing unprecedented challenges. Not a word, not a single word from them about the Supreme Court's perversion of the Second Amendment that allows, for example, machine guns and weapons of war to proliferate on the streets of America. It's a sickness.
Just a week ago, as a point, Republicans in the United States Senate refused to even outlaw bump stocks, the same so-called accessory that a gunman in Las Vegas used to kill 60 people, wound over 400, and dislodge over 1,000 rounds in just 11 minutes. That's why their states, with respect, are less safe.
Catering to big business and the rich is also why red states tax their lowest earners far more than California does. Those red states punish you while you're struggling but give you a free pass when you're wealthy. Here's the truth, here's the truth Republicans will never tell you: California is not a high-tax state. Conservative states, this is a fact, conservative states tax their poorest residents - people struggling with two jobs, hospital bills, and child care - at a higher rate than we tax our wealthiest residents. You pay a higher percentage of taxes if you're poor in Texas than you do if you're wealthy in California. It's about who you're fighting for.
In California, you don't have to be propagated to be progressive. We understand how to balance budgets while protecting working families, children, and the most vulnerable in our state. Thanks to our partnership with Senator McGuire and Speaker Rivas, we just passed the first-ever two-year balanced budget, a disciplined approach that keeps California on strong fiscal footing.
We built a future where everyone can have access to community college for free, and we're ensuring more residents than ever can gain admissions to the University of California and the California State system. All this took commitment and lots of investment, but the payoff is big: thousands of young Californians accessing the greatest public higher education system in America.
Here's a simple question for Republicans: if California is such a failed state, why are four of the seven most valuable companies in the world based here? Why does the Bay Area remain the top-ranked region in the world for venture capital? We've got more business startups in California than any other state in America, among the highest average wages in any state in America. We've added 63,000 - talk about a wealth factory - we've added 63,000 new millionaires in California since 2019. And within the last few weeks, we learned yet again that California has retained its place as the fifth largest economy in the world. We've achieved record-breaking tourism, and our population is growing again.
All of these facts fly in the face of the California haters who want to tear us down because they know our success is a spotlight, respectfully, on their own failures. California doesn't look away from its toughest problems. We embrace solutions that work and work for most people.
Just look: last week we accomplished something that was seemingly impossible - reforming the Private Attorneys General Act, or PAGA. It's a complicated, thorny issue that for decades eluded compromise, bringing rational reforms and important labor protections at the same time, sensibly managing responsible concerns from small businesses. It's easier to address simple problems, but that's not the California way.
I'll give you another example of California embracing big, complex issues without flinching. We're in the middle of the largest dam removal project in U.S. history, restoring some 400 miles of a historic river and, in doing so, restoring a historic way of life that has sustained this state for thousands and thousands of years. We fast-tracked the construction of the first new large-scale above-ground water storage project sites in over half a century. And we're moving forward with the largest climate restoration project in the nation, the Delta Conveyance, protecting our water supplies while building resilience for the state's most important ecosystem.
We know that protecting the environment improves our economy. Look no further for proof than California's economic dominance than the revolution that's happening right now with clean cars. California's home to 60 zero-emission vehicle headquartered companies now. One of our top exports, the global EV market, simply would not exist but for California's clean air leadership. A regulatory environment has been an accelerator for investment, creating certainty and unprecedented investment opportunities. We're creating jobs and whole new industries as we fight climate change. That's California innovation. That's California innovation in action.
And we're moving forward in the face of oil-funded politicians all around us that are lying to us. They're trying to say that a clean economy somehow is a bad economy. But we're not asserting that. We're proving them wrong. We have six times now, six times more clean energy jobs than we do fossil fuel jobs. At the same time, we're holding Big Oil accountable - accountable for their lies and accountable for their price gouging. We're suing them. We're suing them, yes, for defiling our planet, but also defending ourselves from their profit-driven greed, drilling their oil rigs next to houses and playgrounds and daycare centers.
And we're operating the world's fifth-largest economy on a carbon-free engine 90 days since March alone, proving that a clean future isn't only desirable, it's achievable. And even under these attacks, we're writing our own history as the epicenter of global innovation.
Let me give you one more potent example. California is transforming an empty former mall in Los Angeles into a research and innovation hub in partnership with Google and UCLA. At the site, scientists, engineers, and researchers are helping solve some of the world's greatest challenges, from the frontiers of quantum computing to cutting-edge immunology research.
We're also home to NVIDIA, founded in Sunnyvale in 1993. It's now the world's most valuable company. As they grow, like so many companies like them, they're nurturing a startup ecosystem that will prove to be perhaps the most fertile in economic history.
You know, it's no mistake that California is the epicenter of what is called the Fourth Industrial Revolution: artificial intelligence. In fact, 35 of the world's 50 most exciting and largest market cap companies in AI are right here in California. Across the spectrum, California simply has no peers. Name an industry, and California dominates: vast productive farms and ranches that feed the world, in healthcare and life science and biotech, bioinnovation and arts and music, motion pictures. The best minds in the world, they call California home because they're liberated from the constraints of conformity and tradition. This is true freedom to invent and to make the world a better place.
California has figured out a way to make it work time and time again, decade after decade. And in times like these, with deep divisions at home and around the rest of the world, I know it's easy to feel a little bit of despair, but I'm hopeful.
I'll give you another example of the remarkable people who live in this state. Thousands of Californians are now participating in community service programs that connect people through shared experiences. They work towards a common purpose. California has created a College Corps program that allows students to work up to 450 hours of community service and earn up to $10,000, at the same time they're gaining valuable job experience. They also are gaining college credit and, perhaps most importantly, a sense of pride and purpose.
And just over the last five years, we've also built, more broadly, our Service Corps into the largest volunteer organization in the country, larger now than the U.S. Peace Corps - 10,000 members strong with nearly 5 million hours of service every year.
The people of California, well, they stun the world with something new that our detractors could never have dreamed of. The only surprise is they keep being surprised. In a state with a bigger balance sheet than many nations, it's easy to get lost often in facts and figures. It's easy to forget what our values truly represent, what they represent to the United States, for that matter to the rest of the world.
We're building a future where everyone feels protected, everyone feels connected and respected. We're building a state that transforms the world over and over and over again. We're a state that launched a farmworker revolution, a free speech revolution, a love revolution, a computing revolution, a biotech revolution, a climate revolution, and a quantum revolution. That's us - weird, wild, free-spirited California. A place that can elect Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown back to back. A place for Ayn Rand and Jane Fonda, from Metallica to Kendrick Lamar. A place that can invent the internet and the popsicle, blue jeans and Barbie.
California is where the most creative people in the world want to be, whether they're born in Salinas, Tuscaloosa, or Bangalore. A place where a world-class education leads to a world-class job, where that world-class job leads to a brighter future, where standing out makes you outstanding. This is the future California is creating now. We're solving our most pressing problems with enthusiasm, resolve, and a California spirit that allows us to accomplish anything.
Anyone who really knows California knows that the state of our state is strong and resilient, a beacon to the world.
Thank you.
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Just the Facts
Here's a list of specific, facts mentioned in the speech, without the rhetorical elements:
- California is the fifth largest economy in the world.
- California's gun homicide rate is 33% below the national average.
- California has seized over 62,000 lbs of fentanyl in 2023, a 1,166% increase since 2021.
- California has cleared over 9,300 dangerous encampments.
- The state has provided shelter for more than 71,000 people through HomeKey and Project Roomkey programs.
- California's violent crime rate is about half of what it was in the 1990s.
- The state has a lower homicide rate than 29 other states.
- Property crime in San Francisco is down 32%.
- 16% of the nation's job creation last month came from California.
- California policies are putting over $117,000 back into the pockets of families.
- The state has created over 120,000 new child care slots.
- California is home to 60 zero-emission vehicle headquartered companies.
- The state has six times more clean energy jobs than fossil fuel jobs.
- California has added 63,000 new millionaires since 2019.
- 35 of the world's 50 largest market cap companies in AI are in California.
- California's Service Corps has 10,000 members with nearly 5 million hours of service annually.
- The College Corps program allows students to work up to 450 hours of community service and earn up to $10,000.
These facts are presented as stated in the speech. Each would require independent verification for accuracy.
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