Newsom postpones state address amid Prop 1 uncertainty
The California governor is delaying his yearly State of the State speech as he awaits final results on a mental health ballot measure that’s central to his efforts to overhaul the homelessness crisis.
SACRAMENTO, California — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday postponed his State of the State address scheduled for next week, as the fate of his signature mental health initiative from the primary ballot remains uncertain.
No new date was given for the speech, which had been scheduled for Monday afternoon.
Newsom’s Proposition 1 was narrowly ahead after its slim lead seesawed in the ballot count updates released since the March 5 election. While Newsom’s opponents have conceded the race, he has not declared victory on the $6.4 billion lynchpin of his ambitious plans to overhaul how the state treats mental health disorders.
Prop 1’s disappointing showing — despite facing no funded opposition but happening during an exceedingly low-turnout election — comes at a tough stretch for the second-term governor, who is facing another recall and staring into the abyss of a huge budget deficit he must close by summer.
Newsom and his team had expected Prop 1 to register about 55 percent of the vote, though that number was revised down some the weekend before the election. His gamble to appear on the primary ballot rather than waiting until November — when more Democrats are expected to vote — appears to have been an overly risky choice. As of Friday morning, the measure was ahead by just over 20,000 votes out of the more than 6.7 million ballots counted so far.
Giving the speech on Monday posed a challenge to Newsom on both a policy and a political level: Prop 1 is central to his broader agenda to make a dent in the twin crises of homelessness and housing, and its potential failure would blow a massive hole in those plans — a setback he seemingly was unprepared to address.
Then there’s the matter of speechmaking from prepared texts more broadly, a perennial issue for the governor. Newsom has spoken openly in the past about the impacts of his dyslexia, and the uncertainty around both Prop 1 and the state budget complicated how much time he had to prepare new material before Monday.
Newsom in the past has preferred alternative formats that have taken him on the road to make the annual update. But this year’s address, which was to be held in Assembly chambers, was seen as a concession to the new class of legislative leaders who will be participating in the pageant for the first time in their current roles.
A Newsom aide said the governor’s office is coordinating with the Legislature to set a new date for the speech.