By Nicole Norman, POLITICO
CLAIM DENIED — Gavin Newsom vetoed two bills backed by wildfire victim groups that would have made changes to how insurance policies handle payments to policyholders.
The bills from state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez were a part of the Senate’s wildfire liability proposal at the end of session but did not make it into a term sheet put forward by Newsom’s office during negotiations.
Newsom wrote in his veto message that the bills were “unnecessary at this time,” citing as evidence several “landmark regulations” adopted by the California Department of Insurance. But Pérez, who represents victims of last year’s Eaton fire, called the explanation “ridiculous” and pointed out that one of the bills, SB 878, was sponsored by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara.
Carmen Balber, the executive director of Consumer Watchdog, noted that consumer advocates and wildfire survivors had lobbied against Newsom’s proposed wildfire liability reforms, which they saw as privileging utilities over victims.
“It looks like reprisal,” Balber said. “When the stated reason for vetoing the bill is bogus, you have to look for another reason.”
Pérez said she hoped that tense end-of-session negotiations over wildfire liability did not influence the governor’s decisions, but she agreed that the veto message was not “a good response.”
Asked about Balber’s reprisal allegation, the governor’s office said the veto message spoke for itself and pointed to other bills Newsom signed to help wildfire victims. — Nicole Norman and Saqib Rahim
POLITICAL MUSCLE — Newsom blocked a bill sponsored by the upscale fitness club Equinox that would have allowed gyms to up their initiation fees and other costs by removing a decade-old cap set at $4,400. The proposal, from Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, sailed through the Legislature with little pushback from lawmakers, who reminisced during public meetings about when they had more time to spend at the gym. But Newsom argued in a veto note that removing the cap was “not in the best interest of Californians.”
The company spent over $80,000 lobbying on Boerner’s bill and “state regulations of health clubs” from last October through June 2026. — Nicole Norman
