Jerry Brown speaks on the American Dream, Trump and more

Jerry Brown, California’s longest-serving governor (1975-83, 2011-2019), had a lot to say Thursday.

In an hour-long conversation hosted by the Public Policy Institute of California, Brown was typically blunt on a wide range of topics:

The American Dream: In response to a PPIC poll that found most Californians do not believe that hard work will get you ahead, Brown said that the world has changed dramatically since his time as Secretary of State (1971-75) when he was able to buy a $75,000 home on a $35,000 annual salary. But people all over the world, Brown said, have economic and financial fears — not just Californians.

• Brown: “There’s cause for anxiety and there’s a lot of it. How do you navigate all that? I think it’s going to take real talent and … luck.”

Donald Trump: Brown anticipates that the incoming president’s pledges to dismantle environmental policies will, “in a very paradoxical way,” help climate change efforts by galvanizing both advocates and those who may not yet prioritize environmental issues.

• Brown: “He’s going to prove the environment is really important. … It’s called reductio ad absurdum — take something far enough, you demonstrate it’s absurd and people want the opposite.” 

To prepare the state Department of Justice for potential legal battles with the Trump administration on the environment, health care and other policies, legislators on Jan. 6 will reconvene the special session called by Gov. Gavin Newsom to consider allocating funds for litigation. Assembly Democrats plan to focus the session just on that request and wrap it up before Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20, according to a Thursday memo.

Prop. 36: Though Brown did not reveal whether he voted for the anti-crime measure that overwhelmingly passed in November, he did say he did not support 2014’s Proposition 47, which Prop. 36 seeks to overhaul. Brown acknowledged that voters are frustrated with drug crime and retail theft, but added that more rehabilitation is also needed.

• Brown: Prop. 36 “brought back a little bit of the hammer and hopefully we’re going to still extend the hand because a lot of people don’t have what they need to overcome the terrible situation they’re in.”

About a month before Gov. Newsom unveils his initial state budget proposal, Sen. Roger Niello, a Roseville Republican, sent a letter to Newsom Thursday urging him to allocate sufficient funding to implement Prop. 36 and to “uphold the will of the voters.”

State budget: Brown pointed out how voters often blame governors for budget shortfalls, even though the economy is influenced by factors outside of what governors or even U.S. presidents control. Regardless, hammering out a budget plan is no easy task.

• Brown: “Most of what government does is good. So if you want to cut budgets, you’re going to cut ‘good.’ That’s the dilemma.”

Though Brown said he remains hopeful about the future, he also said that some issues — such as poverty and crime — should be considered more like “conditions” that continue in perpetuity, instead of “problems” to be solved.

• Brown: “You got to work to make it better. But it’s really not going to get better. It’s going to reoccur — and you’re going to die anyway.”

If you miss Brown’s unsparing opinions and philosophical musings, watch the entire event here.

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff:

Beverly Hills officials are celebrating this week after a judge tossed most of a lawsuit alleging that the city colluded with anti-abortion protestors and pressured a local landlord to keep out an all-trimester abortion clinic.

DuPont Clinic — a Washington, D.C.-based provider that performs abortions into the third trimester and sought to open a clinic in Beverly Hills — sued the city last year after DuPont’s landlord canceled its lease.

The city sought a dismissal on free speech grounds. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Shultz largely agreed, ruling Tuesday that many of the actions by Beverly Hills officials cited in evidence by DuPont were protected, including communicating with anti-abortion protestors and drafting a safety letter for other building tenants that DuPont alleged was intended to stir up fear over the planned clinic.

“We are pleased that the Court has vindicated the City’s position through a neutral evaluation of the evidence,” Beverly Hills Mayor Lester Friedman said in a statement. “As the City has indicated time and again, it vigorously supports a woman’s right to choose and the decision to rescind DuPont Clinic’s lease was not made by the City of Beverly Hills.”

The city added that it would seek to have DuPont cover its attorney’s fees.

In October, a California Department of Justice investigation came to a different conclusion, holding Beverly Hills responsible for “illegally interfering” with abortion access. The city admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement, which requires it to conduct comprehensive training for employees about state and federal abortion protections and develop a procedure for reporting potential future violations to the state.

“DuPont is very disappointed with the Court’s ruling today, especially in light of the Complaint filed by the California Attorney General that points to clear wrongdoing on the part of the City of Beverly Hills,” attorney Jessica Corpuz said in a statement. “DuPont remains committed to its claims against the City of Beverly Hills and believes that the merits of its case will ultimately prevail.”

A separate lawsuit against the landlord that rescinded its lease is ongoing.

Extreme weather events, such as wildfires and floods, can devastate California communities — leaving death and financial losses in their wake. Disaster aid, including federal grants to temporarily hire residents for debris and damage cleanup, can provide some relief.

But as CalMatters’ Adam Echelman explains, the jobs are physically intensive and managing the grants can be difficult for agencies, resulting in some local governments leaving money on the table.

One federal workforce grant program has provided California with $170 million since 2017, following floods, wildfires and the pandemic. But a CalMatters analysis found that the state failed to use about 20% of the money. 

In Merced County, rainstorms flooded the Latino-majority town of Planada in January 2023. The state gave $20 million in relief (though only about $4 million has been spent so far). And of the federal money designated for disaster-relief jobs, the county spent $165,000 of the grant, or about 16%. 

The rest won’t be claimed by the county, said Erick Serrato, Merced County’s director of workforce investment. That’s because when the county received the money — in May 2023, five months after the initial flooding — waters had receded and the public parks where temporary workers would have been assigned were already repaired.

• Serrato: “When you have to wait five months to receive the support you need right in the aftermath, it makes it difficult to put those resources to work.”

Learn more about California disaster relief jobs in Adam’s story.

Trump is threatening to increase tariffs on imports from Mexico and China. CalMatters economy reporter Levi Sumagaysay and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on Levi’s story on how these tariffs could impact California’s economy as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.