Insulation (or lack thereof)

In our prior election analysis, we noted that the governor had called a special session of the legislature to try and insulate California from the incoming administration.* We also noted that it would be hard to insulate UC, because of its dependence on federal funds and various forms of federal regulation.

In pursuit of his insulation goals, the governor went to DC recently to try and get the Biden folks to assist. Politico has a list of what he requested help on:

Disaster aid: It’s tough to parse which threats Trump may follow through on, but Newsom appears to be taking Trump’s promise to withhold disaster relief funding from California seriously...

Electric cars: Newsom will advocate for the eight waivers that California still hasn’t received from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to let it phase out fossil fuel-burning cars, trucks and trains...

Land preservation: Newsom has thrown his weight behind campaigns led by environmental and tribal groups asking Biden to designate three new national monuments: the Kw’tsán National Monument and the Chuckwalla National Monument in the Southern California desert, and the Sáttítla National Monument in the Shasta-Trinity highlands in Northern California...

Federal health waivers: California has several big health care programs pending federal approval, including efforts related to reproductive health, behavioral health and funding for Medicaid. The two programs Newsom is focusing on most for this trip are getting approval on a behavioral health program that uses Medicaid dollars to strengthen the broader system for mental health care so people have treatment options outside of institutional settings. He’s also gunning for approval of the state’s MCO tax, which could bring in billions at almost no cost. Voters just overwhelmingly said they wanted this tax to be renewed by approving the statewide ballot measure Proposition 35. 

High-speed rail: Another big pot of money with a target on its back is California’s embattled high-speed rail project, which is relying on billions of dollars in federal funding to complete the Central Valley leg of the route that could eventually connect Los Angeles to San Francisco... 

Full story at https://www.politico.com/news/2024/11/12/gavin-newsom-trump-proofing-california-00188951.

As can be seen above, none of these goals directly involve higher ed or UC. Possibly, however, UC med centers might indirectly benefit from the MCO tax, to the extent that it brings additional money into the California health system.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2024/11/election-analysis.html.