What's Next, Los Angeles? with Mike Bonin

Prop 45: Fast-Tracking CEQA, with Jennifer Barrera and Sylvia Arredondo

CEQA is the law that makes California look before it builds. Defenders call it a vital shield for communities and the environment. Critics say it’s why building anything here takes so long. Prop 45 would change it.

Prop 45 creates an optional fast track for projects it defines as essential, including housing, water, clean energy, transportation, hospitals, schools and broadband. Projects that opt in get deadlines on environmental review, caps on public comment, and a 270-day limit for courts to decide lawsuits. Developers would propose the alternative that gets studied, and a judge who finds a flaw could stop only that part of a project, not all of it.

The lines are mostly the ones you’d expect, with a few exceptions. On the Yes side are business groups, builders and the Republican Party, along with hospitals, community clinics and some affordable housing developers. On the No side are the Democratic Party, organized labor, nurses, and environmental and environmental justice groups.

I talk with both sides. Jennifer Barrera of the California Chamber of Commerce, which wrote Prop 45, makes the case for it. Sylvia Arredondo of Communities for a Better Environment makes the case against it. I push both of them on the hard questions: what the deadlines would really change, whether data centers could qualify, who gets to pick the alternatives, and whether any of it would lower costs.

About Jennifer Barrera

Jennifer Barrera is president and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce, the state’s largest broad-based business group. She came up through the Chamber’s policy shop, as a senior policy advocate and then running its policy strategy. Before that, she was an employment defense lawyer.

About Sylvia Arredondo

Sylvia Arredondo is civic engagement director at Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). For decades, CBE has organized in low-income communities of color living next to refineries, ports, power plants and freeways, from Wilmington and Southeast LA to Richmond and East Oakland. Sylvia leads CBE’s voter outreach.

📋 CalMatters 2026 Voter Guide

• Voter Guide homepage: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/
• All propositions: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/propositions/
• Prop 45: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-45-environmental-review/

📰 More reading

• The case for Prop 45 (CalMatters commentary): https://calmatters.org/commentary/2026/07/proposition-45-housing-environmental-reform/
• The case against Prop 45 (CalMatters commentary): https://calmatters.org/commentary/2026/07/proposition-45-environment-health-protections/
• KQED Forum on Prop 45: https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101915583/prop-45-will-california-vote-to-trade-environmental-regulation-for-quicker-housing-development
• Housing fix or data center loophole? (KQED): https://www.kqed.org/news/12100915/housing-fix-or-data-center-loophole-this-ballot-measure-would-overhaul-ceqa
• Voice of San Diego on Prop 45: https://voiceofsandiego.org/2026/09/28/existential-threat-to-ceqa-or-just-building-stuff-we-need-faster/

🏛️ The guests’ organizations

• California Chamber of Commerce: https://www.calchamber.com
• Communities for a Better Environment: https://www.cbecal.org

🗳️ Official sources

• Prop 45 official voter guide: https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/45/index.htm
• Legislative Analyst’s analysis: https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/45/analysis.htm
• Arguments and rebuttals: https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/45/arguments-rebuttals.htm

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

The Billionaire Tax: Prop 40, and the Props Written to Kill It

About 200 people. A one-time 5% tax. And a nine-figure campaign to stop it. Prop 40, the billionaire tax, is the most expensive and contentious fight on California’s November ballot, and it has scrambled the usual political alliances: unions on both sides, Democrats on both sides, and a Democratic governor breaking with his party.

Mike starts with a quick lesson in tax school (what makes a wealth tax different from an income tax), then explains Prop 40, the two countermeasures designed to cancel it out (Props 41 and 42), and Prop 3, the high-earner income tax that often gets lumped in with it. Then we hear both sides: Mayra Castaneda of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West makes the case for Prop 40, and Debra Schade, president of the California School Boards Association, makes the case against.

The one thing to remember: on Props 40, 41 and 42, it’s not just yes versus no. It’s which one gets more votes.

About Mayra

Mayra Castaneda is a board member of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, the union that wrote Prop 40 and is leading the campaign to pass it. SEIU-UHW represents about 90,000 frontline caregivers in hospitals and clinics across California. 

About Debra

Dr. Debra Schade is the 2026 president of the California School Boards Association, which represents school board members at roughly 1,000 California school districts and county offices of education. She has served on the Solana Beach School District board for 23 years and previously was vice president of the San Diego County School Boards Association. She holds a Ph.D. in public health.

📰 More reading

• Prop 40, Billionaire tax (CalMatters): https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-40-billionaire-tax/
• How Props 41 and 42 could kill the billionaire tax (CalMatters): https://calmatters.org/health/2026/09/california-wealth-tax-prop-40-41-42/
• 5 tax measures are on the California ballot. Here’s how to make sense of them all (CalMatters): https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/tax-propositions-ballot-measures/
• Newsom’s positions on the tax props (CalMatters): https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/newsom-tax-propositions-november-election/
• Top Democrats join the wealthiest in fighting the billionaire tax (AP): https://abcnews.com/Business/wireStory/top-democrats-join-wealthiest-fighting-california-tax-increase-137131213
• How the billionaire tax split labor and Democrats: https://www.newstribune.com/news/2026/jul/09/californias-billionaire-tax-measure-has-split/

🗳️ Official sources

• Secretary of State, official voter guide: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting-resources/voter-information-guides
• Nov. 3 election info and deadlines: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/upcoming-elections/general-election-november-3-2026

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

Governance & Democracy on the Ballot: Props 39, 5 and 4, with CalMatters’ Juliet Williams

Most measures on your ballot are about what government does. These three are about the rules of the game itself: how you prove who you are when you vote, how you throw a politician out, and who pays to run for office. Each says it’s about trust. I sat down with Juliet Williams, CalMatters’ politics editor, to find out which ones earn it.

Prop 39: Voter ID. It would amend the state constitution to require a government-issued ID to vote in person, require mail voters to write the last four digits of an ID number on their ballot envelope, and order election officials to verify the citizenship of every registered voter. Assemblymember Carl DeMaio and Reform California put it on the ballot with big money from out-of-state donors. We talk about how California verifies voters today, what the evidence on fraud actually shows, who could get shut out, the fight over the ballot label, and why a measure that polls well nationally has split so sharply along party lines here.

Prop 5: Recall rules. Today, a recall ballot asks two questions: should this official go, and who replaces them? The winner of question two can take office with a small fraction of the vote. That’s how Arnold Schwarzenegger beat 134 other candidates in 2003. Prop 5 eliminates the second question, leaving a vacancy to be filled later, and lets the recalled official run again. Juliet explains who would become governor under Prop 5, the case for and against, and how much this is about principle versus the recalls of 2018 and 2021.

Prop 4: Public financing of campaigns. Since 1988, the state and most local governments have been barred from publicly financing campaigns. Only a handful of charter cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, can do it. Prop 4 lifts that ban. It doesn’t create a program; it lets the state and local governments create one if they choose. We dig into how LA and San Francisco’s programs have worked, where the money would come from, the strongest criticisms, and why California voters have said no before.

We close with the big picture: what would approving or rejecting all three say about how Californians see their democracy, and which one deserves more attention than it’s getting?

About Juliet

Juliet Williams is the politics editor at CalMatters, where she directs the newsroom’s coverage of California politics. Before that, she spent 22 years at The Associated Press, including as Northern California news editor and as an editor in the Capitol bureau, where she covered the Schwarzenegger and Brown administrations.
 Follow CalMatters’ politics coverage: https://calmatters.org/author/juliet-williams/

📋 CalMatters 2026 Voter Guide

• Voter Guide homepage: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/
• All 14 propositions: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/propositions/
• Build your ballot with “My Ballot”: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/my-ballot/
• Proposition quizzes: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/propositions/quizzes/

🗳️ The democracy props: CalMatters guides

• Prop 39, Voter ID: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-39-voter-id/
• Prop 5, Recall reform: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-5-recall-reform/
• Prop 4, Public financing: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-4-public-fundraising/

📰 More from CalMatters

• Prop 5 explainer, by Kate Wolffe: https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/california-election-proposition-5-explainer/
• Prop 4 explainer, by Yue Stella Yu: https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/california-proposition-4-explainer/
• Prop 39 commentary, the case for: https://calmatters.org/commentary/2026/08/voter-identification-proposition-39-elections/
• Prop 4 commentary, the case for: https://calmatters.org/commentary/2026/10/public-financing-california-elections-proposition/

🎙️ Credits
Produced by Daniel Huecias. Sponsored by LA Forward. Research and reporting by Mike Wang and the team at the Pat Brown Institute.

Missed the registration deadline? You can still register and vote the same day at your county elections office or a vote center. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

Here are the show notes, same format as the housing episode.

Taxes on the Ballot: Props 2, 3, 40, 41, 42 and 43, with CalMatters' Jeanne Kuang

Six measures on your November ballot are about taxes, or about the rules for raising them. Several are designed to collide with each other. I sat down with CalMatters Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang to untangle them.

Prop 2: The rainy day fund. Doubles the cap on the state's reserve to 20%, extends extra payments on pension debt to 2040, and changes how savings count against the Gann spending limit. We talk about why California's revenue swings so hard, and whether opponents are right to call the Gann change a loophole.

Prop 3: The high-earner income tax. Makes permanent the higher rates the top 2% have paid since 2012, which bring in $5–15 billion a year, mostly for schools. We get into why the teachers are going to voters five years early, whether "temporary, twice" is a fair hit, and how the CTA squares backing Prop 3 while opposing the billionaire tax.

Props 40, 41 and 42: The billionaire tax fight. Prop 40 is a one-time 5% tax on Californians worth $1 billion or more, mostly for Medi-Cal. Props 41 and 42, backed by the billionaire-funded Building a Better California, exist to stop it. If either outpolls Prop 40, the billionaire tax dies, even if it passes. Jeanne explains how a measure can win and still lose, why voters are backing all three at once, and what 41 and 42 would mean for California taxes long after this fight.

Prop 43: Local special taxes. Closes the door the courts opened after the Upland decision by requiring two-thirds of voters to approve citizen-initiated local special taxes. We dig into the deal with Howard Jarvis that put it on the ballot, and what it means for future local measures on transit, housing and homelessness.

About Jeanne

Jeanne Kuang is a Capitol reporter for CalMatters, covering state government, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the 2026 governor's race. She previously covered labor, homelessness and economic inequality, including award-winning reporting on how long California workers wait to recover stolen wages. Before CalMatters, she covered Missouri politics for The Kansas City Star. She grew up in the San Gabriel Valley and is based in Sacramento.
 Follow her reporting: https://calmatters.org/author/jeanne-kuang/

📋 CalMatters 2026 Voter Guide

• Voter Guide homepage: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/
• All 14 propositions: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/propositions/
• Build your ballot with "My Ballot": https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/my-ballot/
• Proposition quizzes: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/propositions/quizzes/

💵 The tax props: CalMatters guides

• Prop 2, Rainy day fund: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-2-rainy-day-fund/
• Prop 3, High-income tax: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-3-high-income-tax/
• Prop 40, Billionaire tax: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-40-billionaire-tax/
• Prop 41, Tax audits: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-41-tax-audits/
• Prop 42, Property taxes: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-42-property-taxes/
• Prop 43, Tax threshold: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-43-tax-threshold/

📰 More from Jeanne and CalMatters

• Billionaire tax explained: What you need to know about Prop. 40: https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/california-billionaire-tax-explainer/
• The billionaire tax could be defeated by two other tax measures. Here's how: https://calmatters.org/health/2026/09/california-wealth-tax-prop-40-41-42/
• Fact check: Could California lawmakers expand the billionaire tax to everyone?: https://calmatters.org/health/2026/10/prop-40-billionaire-tax-fact-check/
• Will Californians back the billionaire tax? New poll shows a close race: https://calmatters.org/newsletter/billionaire-tax-proposition-poll/
• 5 tax measures are on the California ballot. Here's how to make sense of them all: https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/tax-propositions-ballot-measures/
• Gavin Newsom backs measure to kill the billionaire tax and ban future wealth taxes: https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/newsom-tax-propositions-november-election/

🗳️ Official sources

• CA Secretary of State quick reference guide (ballot labels and fiscal impacts): https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2026/general/pdf/quick-reference-guide.pdf

Key dates: Ballots went out by Oct. 5. Last day to register is Oct. 19. Election Day is Nov. 3.

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

Housing on the Ballot: Props 1, 37 and 45, with CalMatters’ Ben Christopher

Rent eats paychecks. Buying a home feels like a fantasy for most Californians under 40. And we’re still millions of homes short. This November, three measures on your ballot take on housing, each with a different approach.

Prop 1 is the money approach. The state would borrow $11.25 billion: about $10 billion for affordable housing and homeownership programs, and $1.25 billion for CalVet home loans for veterans. We talk about what it would build, whether the 2018 housing bond delivered, who actually gets to live in the housing, and whether the state should take on $500–600 million a year in debt payments in the middle of a budget squeeze.

Prop 37 is the homeownership approach. The California Housing Finance Agency could borrow up to $25 billion to make second mortgages covering up to 17% of the price of a newly built home, so buyers can get in with 3% down. We ask who it’s really for, whether twice the median income counts as “middle class,” why it only applies to new homes, what it means to carry a second monthly loan, and why realtors and carpenters are on the same side.

Prop 45 is the red tape approach — and the big fight. Put on the ballot by the California Chamber of Commerce, it creates a fast track under CEQA for “essential” projects, with a 365-day limit on environmental reviews and 270 days for courts to rule on lawsuits. Ben explains why a 1970 environmental law comes up every time anyone talks about housing, why the Chamber went further after last year’s CEQA reforms, the fight over data centers, why the building trades are spending millions against a measure that includes prevailing wage, and this week’s flap over Yes campaign money going to the Republican Party and Carl DeMaio’s group.

We close with the big picture: if all three pass, how much does it move the needle? What ties together Building a Better California’s spending on Props 37, 45 and 40? And what do voters most often get wrong?

About Ben

Ben Christopher covers housing policy for CalMatters, writing about everything from zoning fights between Sacramento and local governments to cities rebuilding after the LA fires. Before taking over the housing beat in 2023, he covered elections and politics for CalMatters through four election cycles, including the 2021 recall. He has a master’s in public policy from UC Berkeley and once interned at the Congressional Budget Office, which means he actually reads the fiscal analysis.
 Follow his reporting: https://calmatters.org/author/ben-christopher/

📋 CalMatters 2026 Voter Guide

• Voter Guide homepage: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/
• All 14 propositions: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/propositions/
• Build your ballot with “My Ballot”: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/my-ballot/
• Proposition quizzes: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/propositions/quizzes/

🏠 The housing props: CalMatters guides

• Prop 1, Housing bond: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-1-housing-bond/
• Prop 37, Homebuyers loan: https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-37-homebuyers-loan/
• Prop 45, Environmental review (CEQA): https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/proposition-45-environmental-review/

📰 More from Ben and CalMatters

• 5 tax measures are on the California ballot. Here’s how to make sense of them all: https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/tax-propositions-ballot-measures/
• Almost nowhere in California is building enough, according to the state: https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/08/california-rhna-housing-affordable-progress/
• Two cities burned in LA fires settle YIMBY lawsuit: https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/07/yimby-sb9-malibu-pasadena/
• Newsom backs bills to speed housing over CEQA (2025 background): https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/05/newsom-ceqa-yimby-housing/
• Prop 45, the case for: https://calmatters.org/commentary/2026/07/proposition-45-housing-environmental-reform/
• Prop 45, the case against: https://calmatters.org/commentary/2026/07/proposition-45-environment-health-protections/

🗳️ Official sources

• CA Secretary of State quick reference guide (ballot labels and fiscal impacts): https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2026/general/pdf/quick-reference-guide.pdf

Key dates: Ballots went out by Oct. 5. Last day to register is Oct. 19. Election Day is Nov. 3.

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

There may be no statewide race on this year's ballot with more direct impact on your wallet than this one. Make no mistake: the insurance commissioner regulates the nation's biggest insurance market, and the next one takes office in a full-blown crisis. The January 2025 fires in Los Angeles County damaged or destroyed more than 18,000 homes and killed 31 people, and families across the state are being dropped by insurers or priced out. And for the first time since the office became elected, two Democrats will face each other in November. 

I sat down separately with both candidates. In this episode, I talk with State Senator Ben Allen about homeowners insurance, auto insurance, and health insurance, and how he would defend consumers against an industry that too often puts profits first.

About Ben Allen
Allen represents the 24th Senate District, covering the Westside, Hollywood, the South Bay, and the Santa Monica Mountains, and was first elected in 2014. When the Palisades Fire tore through his district in January 2025, he helped thousands of families who lost their homes navigate recovery. He wrote Proposition 4, the climate bond voters approved in 2024, and authored the law behind California's crackdown on single-use plastic straws and utensils. Before the Senate, he was president of the Santa Monica-Malibu school board and a lecturer at UCLA Law School. He holds degrees from Harvard, Cambridge, and UC Berkeley School of Law. He won the largest share of delegate votes at the state Democratic convention in February

• Ben Allen's campaign: benallenca.com
• Jane Kim's campaign: janekim.org
• LAist: California insurance commissioner: Who's running and why it matters
• CalMatters Voter Guide: Insurance Commissioner
• CalMatters: California insurance commissioner race is set: Kim vs. Allen
• CalMatters: Will California vote 'progressive' in insurance commissioner race?

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

There may be no statewide race on this year's ballot with more direct impact on your wallet than this one. Make no mistake: the insurance commissioner regulates the nation's biggest insurance market, and the next one takes office in a full-blown crisis. The January 2025 fires in Los Angeles County damaged or destroyed more than 18,000 homes and killed 31 people, and families across the state are being dropped by insurers or priced out. And for the first time since the office became elected, two Democrats will face each other in November. Kim, Allen lead in California insurance watchdog race +2

I sat down separately with both candidates. In this episode, I talk with Jane Kim about homeowners insurance, auto insurance, and health insurance, and how she would defend consumers against an industry that too often puts profits first.

About Jane Kim
Kim served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 2011 to 2019, where she helped make San Francisco the only city in the nation offering tuition-free community college to all residents, and passed a tax on high-value commercial real estate to fund universal affordable childcare. Before that, she served on the San Francisco school board, including as its president. After leaving office, she was California Political Director for Bernie 2020, and has spent the last four years as California Director of the Working Families Party. She holds a B.A. from Stanford and a J.D. from UC Berkeley School of Law. She is endorsed by Bernie Sanders and SEIU California, and she finished first in the June primary.

Links

• Jane Kim's campaign: janekim.org
• Ben Allen's campaign: benallenca.com
• LAist: California insurance commissioner: Who's running and why it matters
• CalMatters Voter Guide: Insurance Commissioner
• CalMatters: California insurance commissioner race is set: Kim vs. Allen
• CalMatters: Will California vote 'progressive' in insurance commissioner race?

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

Bending the Arc: Liberty Hill at 50

Fifty years ago, Los Angeles was run by an old-school establishment centered downtown, with an LAPD that wielded outsized power and communities of color largely shut out of institutional influence. It was in that city, just three years after Tom Bradley's historic election as LA's first Black mayor, that Liberty Hill Foundation was founded in 1976.

In this episode, we use Liberty Hill's 50-year history as a lens on the evolution of Los Angeles itself — who held power, who challenged it, and how organizing reshaped the city. From tenants' rights and labor to immigrant rights, environmental justice, youth justice, and police reform, Liberty Hill has funded and helped build the movements that pushed these issues from the margins into the political mainstream, often decades before they became conventional wisdom.

Our guest is Shane Murphy Goldsmith, President and CEO of Liberty Hill Foundation. Shane joined the organization in 2010, became executive director, and has led it as President and CEO since 2013. Under her leadership, Liberty Hill has deepened its investment in grassroots organizing and backed major campaigns in youth justice, environmental justice, and housing.

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

Long Beach is the seventh-largest city in California and home to the nation's second-largest port, a booming "Space Beach" aerospace cluster, and more 2028 Olympic events than any city besides LA itself. Mayor Rex Richardson — the city's first Black mayor, just reelected outright in the primary with 57% of the vote — sits down to talk about how he got here: growing up between the Midwest and Long Beach, a first-generation college grad who slept on his family's couch, a labor organizer turned City Council member at 29. 

We dig into what makes Long Beach run differently from LA — a governance structure that forces collaboration between mayor, council, and city manager, and a city that runs its own police, fire, port, airport, utilities, and one of only three independent health departments in California. He's candid about the budget cuts coming this year, and why he thinks they set the city up for a surplus down the line. Then we go regional: his two years standing up and chairing LACAHSA, LA County's affordable housing agency, and his new seat on the LA Metro board — where his top priority is fixing what he calls an unfair balance of representation for Long Beach and the Gateway Cities. Plus his real answer on fare-free transit, and whether he's eyeing LA County's new elected CEO seat.

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward and with the support of the staff at the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles.

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.

The votes have been (mostly) counted, and the winners are clear.  What will a Bass-Raman match up look like? And what will it mean for Los Angeles? I share some thoughts. Also: an interview with City Controller Kenneth Mejia and his campaign manager, Jane Nguyen, about his resounding victory; and a conversation with County Registrar Dean Logan about the controversy over the pace of the count in Los Angeles County.

What's Next, Los Angeles? is produced and hosted by Mike Bonin, in partnership with LA Forward.