Capitol Briefs: Ditching the BOE, gubernatorial twin ticket?

This week was the legislative spring break so there’s not a lot to report on, but we do have a few nuggets for you…in brief.

Newsom orders more guardrails, expanded AI use: In a response to President Donal Trump’s efforts to limit state regulation of AI, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order this week requiring artificial intelligence companies that want to do business with the state to ensure they have adequate safety and privacy protocols in place. Conversely, the governor also ordered state agencies to expand use of generative AI tools “to help Californians navigate available programs and benefits by life event, such as starting a business or finding a job.”

In a statement, Newsom called California “the birthplace of innovation,” saying AI could help residents better navigate the mechanisms of government while noting the need for strong guardrails to protect people from the technology’s negative aspects.

“But we also understand the flip side: in the wrong hands innovation can be misused in ways that put people at risk. California leads in AI, and we’re going to use every tool we have to ensure companies protect people’s rights, not exploit them or put them in harm’s way,” he said.

Ma calls for eliminating BOE, gov/lt.gov joint ticket: California Treasurer Fiona Ma took advantage of the slow news week brought on by the Legislature’s annual spring break to pitch a pair of major government reforms: eliminating the Board of Equalization and having candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run together on the same ticket.

In a press release this week Ma said “It’s time to end business-as-usual in the way California’s government works.”

She acknowledged that it would take changing the state constitution to do so, but said doing so would save taxpayers millions of dollars and make government more efficient.

Ma was particularly effusive about the need to ditch the BOE, saying it “has outlived its purpose, and now only serves as a landing spot for aspiring and term-limited politicians.” Culling the five-member Board, she says, would save taxpayers $10 million.

She also addressed the hottest current topic in California politics – the chance that two Republicans could end up in the November gubernatorial run-off – saying under the Top Two primary “it’s quite possible that the Governor and LG could be from different political parties.”

Ma, who is running to succeed Eleni Kounalakis as Lt. Governor, said if elected she would “introduce the necessary legislation during the 2027-2028 legislative session to make the changes for the next election cycle.”

Cardrooms seek injunctions to stop new state regulations: Ratcheting up their fight with Attorney General Rob Bonta, California cardrooms have filed for preliminary injunctions against new state regulations that would restrict their most popular and profitable games.

The two regulations took effect on April 1, but cardrooms have until May 31 to submit their compliance plans. Cardrooms last month filed two suits over the regulations in San Francisco Superior Court.

Bonta announced the new regulations in February. That came after the Legislature granted the state’s gaming tribes special authority to sue cardrooms over the table games. The tribes are expected to appeal after that suit was struck down in October.

One of the regulations prohibits cardrooms from offering blackjack-style games where players or dealers can bust if their points exceed 21, which would seem to spell the end of “California Blackjack,” a derivative of the popular casino game developed for use within California cardrooms where the traditional rules violate state law.

The other regulation concerns third-party proposition players or TPPPs, which are special, licensed businesses that work within cardrooms to help them offer quasi banked pitting players against the house.

That regulation says the role of the house or bank, known as “the player-dealer position,” must rotate to two players other than the TPPP at the table “every 40 minutes or the game shall end.”

TPPP employees working contractually within California cardrooms volunteer to act as the house or bank at every table where quasi-banked games are played. Before a dealer deals a hand of blackjack-style game, he or she offers all of the players at the table the opportunity to serve for a hand or two as the house or bank.

When the question is asked, TPPPs volunteer to cover the action at the table, allowing cardrooms to offer blackjack-style games. The new rule, however, would require other players to also cover hands. Most other players aren’t likely to have the money to cover that kind of action.

Combined with the new rule on blackjack-style games, the TPPP rule limits the type of games cardrooms may offer, threatening not only their future but the economic health of cities that rely on them for tax revenue.