Back in September 2023, the California Assembly passed more of the “sounds good in theory but sucks in real life” legislation they're known for, this one being the fast food minimum wage bill that recently took effect, with predictable consequences.

Notwithstanding a mountain of evidence that minimum wage laws do not create jobs, they kill them, Newsom signed the bill into law - as usual, in front of cameras and while smiling his toothy, smarmy smile. Newsom presents himself as a man of the people. A friend of the “working class." But we soon learned that his friendships with billionaire CEOs are even more valuable since the bill contained a carveout for his billionaire buddy Greg Flynn's company, Panera Bread. Of course, Newsom denies that he had anything to do with crafting the law, as RedState’s Jennifer Oliver O’Connell reported back in February: 

Newsom referred to "the collective wisdom of the legislature..." in crafting this law. Let's look at how many of these wise people have received money from Flynn. In the 2017-2018 election cycle, there was San Francisco Democrat Assemblywoman Buffy "The Climber" Wicks, the egregious pro-pedophilia Democrat Senator Scott Weiner, and Democrat Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. The bill's lead author, Democrat Assemblyman Chris Holden, did not appear to be part of Flynn's largesse, but then Holden is from Southern California and not part of the San Francisco Cabal seem to benefit the most from donors like Flynn.

The process actually started with a former legislator named Lorena Gonzalez. She drafted AB257, which she labeled The Fast Recovery Act. Gonzalez is the union toadie who'd championed unions at the expense of freelancers when she drafted AB5. AB5 was a disaster. It decimated the freelancer economy. She was warned, but she ignored the warnings. Like the fast food minimum wage bill, AB5 carved out exemptions for her favorite “freelancers.” I was in a group of freelancers who, after AB5, couldn’t freelance. I was cartooning for the LA Times. And then I couldn’t – all because of Gonzalez.   

Gonzalez was busy writing more union-friendly legislation. On January 15, 2021, she introduced AB257. Within a year, Gonzalez resigned from the legislature and took a pay raise and the position heading the California Labor Federation. Democrat Assemblyman Chris Holden took over for AB257. 

Notwithstanding a supermajority in Sacramento, Holden’s bill barely passed with just one vote to spare. Newsom signed the bill. Within hours, the fast-food industry launched a referendum to oppose it. 

Two months later, a judge stopped the bill from taking effect when Newsom and the Industrial Relations Department sought to implement the law.  

On September 11, 2023, a “deal” was struck. The deal was reached between the fast-food industry, SEIU, and California legislators. According to Asley Zavala of KCRA, the bill: 

• Toss[ed] the joint liability bill and end[ed] the Industrial Welfare Commission resurrection. In exchange, fast-food industry leaders agree to pull the referendum off the ballot. They all agree to keep the FAST Food Council in place and raise the minimum wage for workers to $20 an April. 

• The “deal”/ new version of AB 1228 has its first hearing in the Senate, which lasts about 20 minutes. No opposition is represented, but one Republican states that franchisees were left out and the deal was made in secret. He votes no.

While Newsom announced the bill passage, Ms. Zavala asked Newsom about the Panera exemption, and he replied that it is “part of the sausage making.” 

Zavala reported that: 

In March of 2024, the Legislature passed more exemptions The legislation would exempt fast-food restaurants in airports, hotels, convention centers, arenas, museums, casinos, and college campuses.

Predictably, once the $20.00 minimum wage law took effect, fast-food joints cut hours, replaced workers with robots, or simply closed shop. 

But a question remains: Who made Newsom’s sausage, and how was his sausage made? Notwithstanding the California Public Records Act, we don’t know, and according to government officials, it is none of our business. 

Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) were (apparently) signed when the September 2023 “deal” was struck. Although it is a public law, passed by public officials, Sacramento Democrats believe the public has no right to know how and by whom the sausage is made. 

On April 18, 2024, AB2654 was introduced by Bakersfield Assemblyman Vince Fong. Fong is one of the few Republicans in the Assembly. Fong's bill would have restructured the Political Reform Act of 1974, effectively banning NDAs for legislative influencers, specifically lobbyists. The reason Fong brought AB2654 was in response to Newsom's secret sausage-making and that his political donors seem to have been given a carve-out. 

Logical? Yes. 

Needed? Absolutely.

Democrats killed it in the crib. How Newsom's cronies and donors got the sausage made was "none of our business" and would remain a secret. 

Secret negotiations on the legislation gifted some fast food outlets that produce bread an exemption from having to pay fast food workers $20 an hour. The groups involved in those negotiations signed non-disclosure agreements — NDA’s – that prevented the public from ever finding out who asked for the exemption, or why and how the exemption came to exist.

Republican Assemblyman Bill Essayli, a former local and federal prosecutor, asked the Election Committee how the law was “made.” He was told to shut up. None of his business. None of the public's business. “What you see is the bill." Here is the exchange between Essayli and the committee chair, who cut his mic.

CALIFORNIA COVERUP: NDAs have no business in the legislative process. The People have a right to know when Gavin Newsom’s major donor gets his Panera businesses exempted from a minimum wage bill. But NDAs between big business and labor unions shielded the negotiation process from… pic.twitter.com/usbnJdP86B

— Bill Essayli (@billessayli) April 25, 2024

An NDA is generally used to protect proprietary business information like the ingredients in “sausage.” Businesses have a vested interest in protecting information that might be used to make their sausage or make better sausage. NDAs have no business in drafting legislation. Everything done in the “business” of state government should be exposed to the light of day. The only reason to hide behind NDAs in drafting legislation is to hide what you don't want the public to know. 

Why did the committee chair get so angry? 

What’s in the sausage, Governor Newsom?  Did Newsom’s donors have a hand in making the deal? Were carve-outs made (like his carve-out to PGE) just coincidentally for his campaign donors? Newsom has been ordered by a judge to turn over records related to his PGE meetings. 

We don’t know what is in this new sausage. Why are Newsom, his friends in the legislature, lobbyists, and political donors so afraid of the light of day? 

What’s in the sausage, Governor Newsom?