Thread by @CalMatters

It may be summer break, but school is in session for Gavin Newsom:

We wrote a report card on the governor’s first 2.5 years ahead of California’s recall election.

Here's a few highlights 🧵 bit.ly/3kIsUG2

Gov. Newsom ended California’s death penalty… for now. There are more than 700 people on death row, and a future governor can undo the decision calmatters.org/explainers/new…

Newsom is also shutting down two California state prisons: Deuel Vocational Institution in #Tracy and California Correctional Center in #Susanville calmatters.org/explainers/new…

The governor proposed the largest state budget in any state’s history this year, $100 billion, extended rent and utility debt relief, and rewrote California labor law, making it harder for companies to classify their workers as “independent contractors” calmatters.org/explainers/new…

However, he still hasn’t reformed California’s state tax system or cut interest payments on child support debt
calmatters.org/explainers/new…

In the education sector, Newsom expanded early childhood education and signed off on free school lunch for all. But he still hasn’t mandated an ethnic studies course for California high school students calmatters.org/explainers/new…

The Gov. also hasn’t made final plans that require California public schools to open back up this fall, but he did offer financial incentives and urgent pleas calmatters.org/explainers/new…

When it comes to climate change, Newsom banned future fracking (which isn’t slated to go into effect until 2024), announced the eventual end of fossil fuels, and outlawed chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide calmatters.org/explainers/new…

Though Newsom's administration has ramped up spending on forest management and fire prevention — a budget item that often gets the financial short shrift over fighting active fires — he also overstated the scope of its recent efforts calmatters.org/explainers/new…

While in office, Newsom expanded Medi-Cal for undocumented residents and boosted Obamacare subsidies, but many are still waiting for the governor to enact single-payer health care calmatters.org/explainers/new…

In the summer 2020, Newsom issued an executive order barring evictions for non-payment of rent — though crucially, tenants still owe their back rent. The Legislature has renewed that policy twice now calmatters.org/explainers/new…

While running, Newsom also vowed to oversee the construction of 3.5 million new units by 2025. That works out to about 500,000 units a year. Critics called the promise wildly unrealistic. It looks like they were right calmatters.org/explainers/new…

Amid the pandemic, Newsom set the record for executive orders and recently ramped up vaccinations. He also led the country in acquiring personal protective equipment calmatters.org/explainers/new…