California has more than 18,000 firefighters battling 27 wildfire complexes now, @GavinNewsom says. Shady and Glass fires, which broke out yesterday in Sonoma and Napa, are causing "a lot of consternation in and around that region that has been hit over and over and over again." Decreases in new coronavirus cases are plateauing and the rate of spread is creeping up again, @GavinNewsom warns, though case numbers are not rising yet. California had 2,995 new cases yesterday and 3,367 daily average over the past week. Positive test rate over 14 days is 2.8%.

BREAKING: @GavinNewsom will sign an executive order today requiring all new cars sold in California be zero-emission by 2035. sfchronicle.com/politics/artic… "Of all the simultaneous crises that we face as a state," Newsom says at news conference to announce the executive order, "none is more impactful, none is more forceful, than that of the climate crisis."

Newsom kicks off his briefing today by announcing the first $77 million in grants for Homekey, program to convert hotels and motels into homeless housing. Bay Area projects approved include a Motel 6 in Pittsburg and a site in San Jose. "We need to reconcile the fact that there are no Democratic thermometers and no Republican thermometers," @GavinNewsom says as he switches topics to climate change and California's wildfires.

Sacramento Press Club is live now with @XavierBecerra. I'm looking forward to hearing what questions @hannahcwiley and @_Nixo have for California's attorney general. facebook.com/SacPressClub/v… Would @XavierBecerra want to replace @SenKamalaHarris if she is elected VP? Becerra says he considered jumping into the 2016 race she won. "I'd be honored to be the U.S. senator. I'm honored to be the attorney general," he says. "That's going to be totally up to Gavin Newsom."

Here are a few of the folks I met at the temporary evacuation point for the #BearFire in Gridley this afternoon: Brothers Jerry and Ed Murie wanted to stay to defend their home in Berry Creek, but they had no running water because PG&E shut off the power. They fled through a “wall of flames” last night. “We’ve been completely screwed, man, by the higher forces,” Jerry said.

California has had 7,606 wildfires that have burned 2.3 million acres so far this year, @GavinNewsom says at briefing, compared to 4,927 fires that burned 118,000 acres at the same point in 2019. So if it has felt like a new level of doom this summer, that's because it is. "I quite literally have no patience for climate change deniers," @GavinNewsom says after another weekend of record heat across the state. Los Angeles County recorded its hottest temperature ever: 121 degrees.

A rivalry between the Senate and Assembly is practically built into how the Capitol operates. But disagreements over how to get through the coronavirus pandemic ratcheted up the friction to a new level this year. Major bills got caught in the crossfire.
sfchronicle.com/politics/artic… "There was more dysfunction in this last week than I've seen in a long time," said @NancySkinnerCA. She lost bills on housing and police records that passed both chambers and then never came up for final approval because the Legislature ran out of time. sfchronicle.com/politics/artic…

In case you went to bed at a reasonable hour, here is some of what went down on a chaotic final day of legislative session: @GavinNewsom signed eviction relief for Californians who lost income due to the coronavirus. More details on how that will work: sfchronicle.com/politics/artic… After George Floyd's death, lawmakers introduced a flurry of policing measures and kneeled on the Capitol steps in his honor. But the biggest proposals — including a bill to decertify officers who break the law — never got a vote.
sfchronicle.com/politics/artic…

SB629 by @ilike_mike, which would protect press access to covering protests, has enough votes to move to the governor. It's the first of many policing-related bills the Legislature may take up today, though others are likely to be much more controversial. AB1185 by @KevinMcCartyCA, which would allow counties to establish sheriff oversight boards, ekes out of the Assembly and heads to the governor's desk.

Nearly 12,000 lighting strikes in the past week have sparked more than 560 wildfires, which have burned 771,000 acres, per @CAL_FIRE. That's greater in size than the state of Rhode Island, which is just a stunning statistic. California has received mutual aid from 10 different states, and is reaching out as far as the East Coast and Canada looking for additional resources to help a firefighting force that has been stretched thin across the state, @GavinNewsom says.

Two @SenToniAtkins bills that are part of Senate housing package (SB995 and SB1120) pass Assembly appropriations. But three Democrats hold off on SB1120, which would make it easier to split lots and has faced local opposition. That could portend trouble on the Assembly floor. Differing fates for two rent bills moving through the Legislature: @DavidChiu's AB1436, an eviction moratorium, gets out of Senate approps, but the Assembly holds @CASenCaballero's SB1410, which would have provided landlords tax credits for rent relief. sfchronicle.com/politics/artic…

Just to give you a sense of how severe the 2020 wildfire season is shaping up to be: @GavinNewsom says California has had 6,754 fires so far this year, compared to 4,007 by the same point last year. California is battling 23 major or complex fires right now, and more than 300 smaller ones. Newsom says the state has requested 375 engines from outside the state to help with firefighting efforts. Arizona and Nevada have already sent equipment.

Latest California coronavirus figures, per @GavinNewsom:
* 6,846 new cases yesterday, 8,911 average over past week
* 7.4% positive tests over past two weeks, holding steady
* 6,921 hospitalizations (16% increase over two weeks)
* 1,943 ICU patients (12% increase over two weeks) The increase in hospitalizations and ICU patients has slowed, Newsom says: "We are seeing a reduction in the rate of growth, but a rate of growth nonetheless." He stresses again importance of "personal responsibility" for Californians to wear face coverings and socially distance.

New from @GavinNewsom: California schools can only physically reopen this fall if they are located in counties that have been off the state monitoring list for at least 14 days. Otherwise they must begin the school year with distance learning. All school staff and students in third grade and above will be required to wear masks at schools that physically reopen. Students in the second grade or below are encouraged to wear masks and face shields.

Gov. @GavinNewsom announces a major ratcheting back of California's reopening. All counties will now have to shutter bars and indoor dining. Dozens of counties on the state monitoring list will also have to close gyms, places of worship, officers, hair salons and malls again. There are more than 30 counties on the monitoring list, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, Sonoma and Solano in the Bay Area.
cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/D…

With spread of coronavirus accelerating in California, Gov. @GavinNewsom orders 19 counties to close indoor operations of restaurants, wineries, movie theaters, museums and cardrooms for at least three weeks. This include Contra Costa, Santa Clara and Solano in the Bay Area. As Californians consider heading outdoors for the long Fourth of July weekend, the state will also close parking facilities at beaches throughout Southern California and the Bay Area to limit visitors, Newsom says.

With 5,307 more confirmed cases on Sunday, @GavinNewsom says at his daily news conference that the total number of coronavirus cases in California has increased by 45% in just the past week. The rate of positive tests over the past 14 days is 5.5%. Two weeks ago, it was 4.4%. "We don't like the trend line," Newsom says.

Hospitalizations are also up by 43% during the past two weeks, to 4,776.

California had a record 7,149 new confirmed coronavirus cases yesterday, @GavinNewsom says at news conference. While the number of daily tests has increased, the positivity rate is also ticking up. Newsom also notes there has been a 29% increase in hospitalizations of coronavirus patients over the past 14 days, to 4,095.

Assembly is taking up @AsmShirleyWeber's ACA5, which would ask voters to repeal Prop. 209, allowing affirmative action policies in California again. Advocates who have long wanted to undo that law sense opportunity this November with Trump on the ballot: sfchronicle.com/politics/artic… "After 25 years of quantitative and qualitative data, we see that race-neutral solutions cannot fix problems steeped in race," @AsmShirleyWeber says.

"The black community is not responsible for what’s happening in the country right now. We are," @GavinNewsom says after weekend of tense protests against police brutality. Says institutions must be held accountable: "People have lost patience because they haven't seen progress." Newsom says that looting and violence do not have a place as part of the protests: "When you're out there to exploit conditions, not advance the cause of justice, that does not serve the greater good and we need to call that out."

As he begins daily briefing, @GavinNewsom says two dozen counties reached out since he unveiled yesterday the criteria they would have to meet for reopening quicker than the statewide order. Some local officials have complained the criteria is too strict.
sfchronicle.com/politics/artic… "We will continue to be marching through these phases together. Even if a local variance you can’t get now, we are still progressing as a state," Newsom says. Perhaps a recognition of frustration over high bar he set for counties, including no coronavirus deaths for two weeks.