By Jeremy B. White, Lara Korte and Dustin Gardiner

SEIU workers shout slogans outside of Los Angeles City Hall Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023, during a citywide strike. SEIU is among the backers of a new constitutional amendment seeking to raise the vote threshold on ballot initiatives that raise vote thresholds. | AP

DRIVING THE DAY: Southern California is hunkering down after Tropical Storm Hilary made landfall last night, bringing high winds and heavy rainfall to the region.

The Los Angeles Unified School District is closed today and San Diego Unified is pushing back its first day of school until Tuesday.

This is not a storm to take lightly, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said Sunday during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” warning that it could bring devastating flooding to the region.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for affected counties over the weekend, and has taken a post down south as the storm moves over the area.

A message from The Nature Conservancy:

Pass a $15B Climate Bond for People and Nature

From drought to megafires, Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of catastrophic events in California. While nature can achieve one-third of the greenhouse gas reductions needed to make our climate safer, nature-based solutions are significantly underfunded. But if we take steps now to ensure nature thrives, we can change our state’s trajectory. A well-funded $15 billion climate bond is California’s best path to resilience.

THE BUZZ — GAME OF THRESHOLDS: An end-of-session tax rumble has Democrats looking to force-feed big business its own medicine.

Sacramento’s latest round of ballot brinkmanship hinges on how voters raise taxes. The partisans have divergent goals, but they’ve arrived at the same tactic.

A coalition led by the California Business Roundtable has qualified an initiative for the 2024 ballot that would require voter approval of Legislature-passed taxes and impose a two-thirds approval margin on local levies. That’s anathema to organized labor and local government groups who fear being starved of vital operating revenue.

Now the Business Roundtable’s foes are responding in kind. Assembly member Chris Ward – with the support of SEIU California and the imprimatur of Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas – is pushing a constitutional amendment that would say any ballot initiative that changes voter thresholds must pass by that same, proposed new threshold.

In other words: If business groups want to require that two-thirds of voters approve local taxes, they’d need to convince…two-thirds of voters.

“I think they’re looking in the mirror,” Ward said in an interview on Friday, casting his measure as a safeguard against “special interest attempts to subvert the will of a democracy” by switching the rules and enshrining “the power of a super-minority to decide elections.”

If this all sounds familiar, you may be remembering the machinations when business groups qualified a similar 2018 ballot measure limiting local taxes. That time, they dropped the initiative after the Legislature agreed under duress to ban local soda taxes. This time, amid speculation about what business groups might accept in exchange for dropping the 2024 measure, lawmakers are making a preemptive play.

One key difference: A New speaker. Ward said Rivas has blessed his initiative as "only fair" but he could also try to work out a deal to neutralize the dueling initiatives. The Speaker’s office had no comment.

SUBSCRIBE TO CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So we have something cool for you: A brand-new California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Cut through the jargon and get the latest developments in California as lawmakers and industry leaders adapt to the changing climate. Subscribe now to California Climate to keep up with the changes.

HAPPY MONDAY. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. 

PLAYBOOK TIP LINE — What are you keeping an eye on? What do you expect to be the fight of the next few weeks in the California legislature? Let us know.

Now you can text us at ‪916-562-0685‬‪ — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts now.

Or drop us a line at [email protected] and [email protected], or on Twitter — @DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte 

WHERE’S GAVIN? In SoCal with Tropical Storm Hilary.

POLITICO's light rail trail spotted in Downtown Sacramento. | Rachel Bluth/POLITICO

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A message from The Nature Conservancy:

In this file photo, Ridley-Thomas, who has been convicted on corruption charges, is set to be sentenced this month. One former rival is asking prosecutors to increase his prison time. | AP

TOUGH ON CRIME — Bernard C. Parks had made no secret of his disdain for Mark Ridley-Thomas in the past. But as of last week, it’s a matter of official court record.

Parks, the retired LAPD chief and former city councilmember, sent a letter to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Thursday suggesting that federal prosecutors were too lenient when they recommended a six-year prison sentence for Ridley-Thomas, the former LA County Supervisor and city councilman who has been convicted of corruption charges.

“After reading about the prosecution’s sentencing recommendation of six years, I felt obliged to weigh in, due to my unique perspective as both a law enforcement official and as an elected officeholder,” Parks wrote to Judge Dale. S. Fischer. 

Prosecutors were particularly blunt in that sentencing memo — painting Ridley-Thomas as a self-interested politician who abused elected office to serve himself. But that wasn’t good enough for Parks, who in 2008 lost the same LA County Board of Supervisors seat that would eventually serve as a tool for Ridley-Thomas’ corruption, according to federal prosecutors.

Parks in 2021 said he was “not surprised” by Ridley-Thomas’ indictment, describing a situation during their supervisor race wherein an FBI agent approached his campaign about possibly suspicious dealings.

If anything, Parks told the court last week, they should make an example out of Ridley-Thomas.

GROWING IN THE GOLDEN STATE: POLITICO California is growing, reinforcing our role as the indispensable insider source for reporting on politics, policy and power. From the corridors of power in Sacramento and Los Angeles to the players and innovation hubs in Silicon Valley, we're your go-to for navigating the political landscape across the state. Exclusive scoops, essential daily newsletters, unmatched policy reporting and insights — POLITICO California is your key to unlocking Golden State politics. LEARN MORE.

JUST A TRIM! — A coalition of California Republicans have taken a weed wacker to the party’s platform, looking to make sweeping changes to the document that outlines Republicans’ values and vision for the future.

But it’s not so much what’s in it as what’s not that’s causing an uproar.

As the LA Times first reported, the proposal makes the eyebrow-raising suggestion to remove opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion from the platform — replacing them instead with non-gender-specific language about supporting the family unit and advocating for a reduction in the number of abortions.

The proposal was approved by the party’s platform drafting committee in late July. The platform committee, which is composed of top party leaders, is supposed to bring a draft platform before delegates later this year, at the fall convention in Anaheim.

The changes would winnow the party platform down from 14 pages to four. They’re also looking to cut a section condemning racism, party opposition to Propositions 47 and 57, an entire section on property rights and another one on election integrity.

"Retailers Are Fleeing Downtown San Francisco. IKEA Is Moving In."  by the Wall Street Journal's Trefor Moss: “The opening will put to the test a new format that the Swedish furniture company is rolling out globally—a pared-back store aimed at casual shoppers and office workers that is far smaller than the huge out-of-town sites for which IKEA is best known.”

"California DMV cuts Cruise’s fleet after S.F. crashes involving its driverless cars," by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Danielle Echeverria and Jordan Parker: “The investigation comes after a driverless Cruise car with a passenger inside collided with a fire truck on Thursday night.”

"In SF, one of the only trans homeless shelters in America is in danger," by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Nuala Bishari: “Staffers weren’t given a reason for St. James’ demise. The best explanation Dana Hopkins, president of the nonprofit’s board, could give me was: ‘Despite everybody’s best intentions, we don’t quite have the capacity to do this.’”

A message from The Nature Conservancy:

Nature’s Future Is Our Future

Without intervention, the cost of climate change to California is estimated to reach $113 billion annually by 2050 (CNRA’s Fourth Climate Assessment). By harnessing the climate change fighting power of nature, we can curb these costs. But in order for this to happen, we must invest in nature.

With the reality of state budget cuts, California needs to lock down a stable, long-term source of funding for nature-based climate solutions to protect our planet before it’s too late. In order to make this happen, California needs a climate bond. If we fail to invest in nature, we will lose one of the most important allies in our battle with climate change.

California Legislature: A $15 billion climate bond is essential to funding the nature-based solutions needed to protect our planet.

BIRTHDAYS — Tony Thurmond…Peter Hamby of Snapchat and Puck … Teresa Carlson … Greg Bell … (was Sunday): Ari Goldberg of the Center for Democracy & Technology …Google’s Lauren Epshteyn … Adam Ginzberg … Jules Clark … Morgan MaGill … (was Saturday): Adam Conner of the Center for American Progress … Meta’s Eva Guidarini 

CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here.

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