Top 50 Disasters Gov. Gavin Newsom Has Ushered into California: 2025 Edition

This week the Globe reported on the newly released California State Auditor’s report which depicts a devastating state of the state:

“The California State Auditor published a scalding report Friday that is an unvarnished indictment of Governor Gavin Newsom and his administration,” the Globe reported Monday following the Auditor’s new report. “The report should have everyone living in California horrified.”

“The Auditor’s report finds Gavin Newsom while in his final year as governor, has upended the state’s financial structure, compromised public safety, and left the state’s infrastructure in far worse condition.”

So, California has many dangerously “High-Risk” state agencies with waste, fraud, abuse, or mismanagement present, and an $18 Billion budget deficit… the makings of an unstable failed state.

California’s budget problem is now significantly larger than anticipated – and the state is undeniably less prepared for downturns.

Headlines around the state provide titles for this failure:

OC Register: Costly incompetence: Audit uncovers more California mismanagement

USA Today: Gavin Newsom is no moderate. California’s progressive fail;ures are on him

Santa Monica Daily Press: Gavin Newsom’s Fiscal Missteps: A $12 Billion Hole in California’s Budget

NY Post: How Gavin Newsom has failed California and set fire to his own political prospects

Washington Examiner: Gavin Newsom failed California. America, don’t make the same mistake

As governor, Gavin Newsom prioritizes style over substance – his style over your substance. But remember that the emperor has no clothes, and the people he surrounds himself with won’t tell him.

Remember when Gov. Newsom, who has presided over the exponential growth of hundreds of thousands of homeless drug addicts living on California streets, magically cleaned up San Francisco ahead of the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit? Style over substance. The streets were suddenly shiny clean, devoid of the usual tents and encampments, piles of trash and filth, human excrement, and drug addled zombies. The sidewalks and the many businesses which have been rotting under the burden of the filth from homeless tent camps allowed by city officials, received a world-class cleaning – for the Chinese President, and not for the people who live there.

Gavin Newsom is the French Laundry Governor. He would rule the country as tyrannically as he did California during three years of Covid lockdowns, and with the same, or worse, results.

This is a list of the top 50 crucial California issues, made worse by Gavin Newsom’s bad policy decisions – it wasn’t easy narrowing the list down to 50. Governor Newsom’s failing California is reflected in this list of disastrous policy decisions:

1. Water rationing continues: How can California have a water crisis when the state borders the Pacific Ocean, and the Sierra Nevada mountain range, 400 miles north-south and 50 miles to 80 miles east–west, drains into more than 15 rivers, 6 lakes, and numerous creeks? The Sierra Nevada snowpack is the major source of water and a significant source of electric power generation in California.
2. Highest taxes in the nation: California ranks among worst in U.S. for high taxes. Gavin Newsom’s state ranks in the bottom two for worst for individual taxes. Even with the highest taxes in the nation, Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing a retroactive billionaire tax targeting the roughly 220 billionaires residing in California in 2025. Newsom and Democrats tried to pass legislation to force successful Californians to pay additional taxes on wealth and income that has already been taxed – and vowed tax “avoidance” would not be allowed as California would tax them for the next ten years, despite what state they live in.
3. More than four million people left California for other states since the start of the century. 817,000 Californians left California in just 2022, and of those, more than 200,000 net migrants 25 or older, the bulk of whom had either four-year or associate degrees, while that cohort’s numbers surged in Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Florida and the Carolinas,” demographer Joel Kotkin recently reported. Thousands of businesses have fled to other states.
4. California’s crime problem: Gov. Newsom announced in 2020 he planned to close two state prisons – he has closed five – and all three state-run juvenile prisons. He also increased sentencing credits to allow inmates to leave prison more quickly, shortened parole to a maximum of two years, down from five years for felonies, and let ex-felons earn their way off supervision in just a year, or 18 months for sex offenders. Gov. Newsom made very clear his budget priorities in May by not funding voter-passed Proposition 36, and continuing to allow illegal immigrants receive taxpayer funded Medi-Cal.
5. All big cities in California are in decline under Gov. Newsom: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento.
6. Teachers unions are striking. Again.
7. Gavin Newsom Is The First Governor to make homelessness a way of life. California’s Governor has only grown the mentally-ill, drug addicted homeless population littering streets with feces and drug needles, tent encampments and filth. Remember, Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent $37 billion on homelessness since 2019, according to the California Legislative Analyst’s Office.
8. California denied housing vouchers in Los Angeles.
9. Lawmakers continue to push reparations for descendants of slaves. Nope. Reparations are just a shakedown, the Globe has reported. The State Reparations Task Force, which was quite openly expanding reparations beyond slavery, proved that it was just a grab and hustle for all grievances. They said the quiet parts aloud: “the racial wealth gap in the state of California.”
10. $8.00-$12.00 per-gallon-gas coming, courtesy of Gavin Newsom, who has forced oil companies to shutdown refineries. At one time California was home to over 40 operating refineries. However, due to high operating and regulatory compliance costs, a harsh political environment, conversions to bio and renewable fuels, and Governor Newsom’s 2020 directive banning the sale of new internal combustion vehicles in the state, the number of refiners has declined by 84% from 43 in 1982 to just seven survivors in 2026. California’s in-state oil production has declined by approximately 65%, while its dependency on foreign imports has risen by nearly 70%.
11. Gov. Gavin Newsom has a problem with no-bid contracts to favored donors: details of these contracts here.
12. Porn in K-12 curriculum – school books show actual graphic sexual acts, and in cartoon form, clearly targeting kids. Pure pornography.
13. State mandated secrecy of gender transitioning children from parents.
14. Gov. Newsom was the first Governor in the country to declare a COVID emergency, install himself as a virtual dictator by seizing this unilateral power, and completely ignore the democratic process.
15. COVID mandatory vaccine bills – SB 871 by Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), Forced Vaccinations for School Enrollment required all school-aged children up to age 17 to get the COVID-19 vaccine(s) to attend school and child care. AB 1993 by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), mandated the COVID-19 vaccine to all employees, including independent contractors; employees and contractors would be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccine to be able to work in California. Financial penalties would be imposed on employers who fail to comply. Newsom’s tyranny.
16. Single Payer health coverage – Socialized medicine. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 11 was introduced in 2022 in the California Legislature to enact significant tax increases to fund universal single-payer health care coverage in California.
17. Public school teachers strikes – forever strikes.
18. Energy shortage, rolling blackouts by the state utility companies.
19. Newsom’s COVID State of Emergency order from March 2020 until the end of February 2023 – he hung on to his emergency powers three years, conscribing the state to a dictatorship.
20. Newsom’s Vaccine mandates for school children, days after opposing one for prison guards. He’s still pushing vaccine mandates, and “Californians may soon find themselves subject to vaccination policies and enforcement. mechanisms designed and sustained by unelected private interests operating through a state-sanctioned structure voters never approved.”
21. AB 5 Newsom signed into law: AB 5, authored by Democrat Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (who left the CA Legislature early to head up the California Labor Federation), completely redefined independent contractors in California, as well as greatly reducing the number of contractors in the state by creating an “ABC test” that instead made them employees, or put them out of work. AB 5 was passed by Democrats in the California Legislature and signed into law in 2019 by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
22. Gun control bills overturned by federal judges. Again. Again. Again.
23. Rolling power blackouts: during the state’s heatwaves, wind events and general less-than-perfect weather throughout the state, power outages and rolling blackouts hit millions during the very hottest weather. While the governor claimed to be investigating the power outages, he also said Californians needed to get used to it.
24. $4.5 Million Free Immigration Legal Services Pilot Program.
25. Newsom’s own Ministry of Truth – his “Commission on the State of Hate,” he created via Executive Order also establishes the state’s first Racial Equity Commission. Even the First Partner weighed in on California’s Ministry of Truth with a blathering statement about working together “toward a more just and equitable society…”
26. Gov. Newsom even officially created a new state website, abortion.ca.gov, to assist anyone needing financial assistance from a Red State, with abortion travel plans and financial assistance, to California for an abortion, or to commit infanticide if you’re nine months along (It’s now legal in California), courtesy of the California taxpayers.
27. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2098 by Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), which would have punished physicians and surgeons for “unprofessional conduct” for advocating for the potential benefits of early treatment with off-label drugs, or those who dare to ask questions about COVID vaccine safety – i.e. for “spreading Covid “misinformation.” A judge issued and injunction to halt implementation, and eventually Newsom had to push a bill through the Legislature to officially overturn AB 1098. Epic fail.
28. Gov. Newsom tried to pass a Tax on ‘Windfall Profits’ on Oil Companies after abandoning and thoughts on a gas tax pause. In March, the Globe reported on a study by oil and gas expert USC Professor Michael Mische, which found that the factors contributing to California’s high gasoline prices over 50-years are self-imposed by state officials and politicians – the professor used 50 years of data. It turns out that California is its own worst enemy. And Governor Newsom and his administration of radical climate change disciples are a significant part of chasing Chevron out, and the upcoming closure of two refineries.
29. Newsom, in 2021, largely killed hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in California as part of his overall plan to end oil extraction. He also announced his action to halt issuance of fracking permits by 2024.
30. Gov. Newsom signed Senate Bill 1137, gut-and-amend legislation by Democrat Senators Lena Gonzalez and Monique Limón, now requires 3,200-foot mandatory setbacks around California oil and gas wells.
31. California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered letting another 76,000 prisoners out of state prisons – on his own authority through Executive Order, as violent crime is spiking in California’s cities.
32. State Capitol staffers told the Globe in February 2022 that elected members of the Assembly and Senate were exempted from COVID vaccine mandates, but Capitol staffers were not, and in fact were required to receive a booster by March 1st, or be fired. Where was the media on this?
33. Gavin Newsom’s French Laundry moment wasn’t confined to dining out – besides multiple vacations out of the country while he locked down Californians. In Feb. 2022 he starred in “MaskGate” at the NFC Championship game in Los Angeles – despite his own face mask mandates.
34. Gov. Gavin Newsom betrayed the state’s voters within 6 weeks of being sworn in January 2019 when he announced in March 2019 he was granting reprieves for all death penalty murderers on California’s death row, calling the death penalty “ineffective, irreversible and immoral.” He promised during his campaign that he would abide by the will of California voters who in 2016 rejected Proposition 66, a ballot initiative that would have repealed the death penalty, and instead voted to expedite the executions of the inmates currently sitting on death row. Newsom supported the initiative to repeal.
35. Gov. Newsom signed SB 152 quickly after its passage June 2021, which changed the rules of his own recall election by allowing Lieutenant Governor Kounalakis to set an earlier date for the recall election – exactly what Gavin Newsom decided would be best for Gavin Newsom. State officials bypassed one of the very steps in the recall election certification process they themselves put into law less than four years ago in order to protect a fellow state senator from his own recall defeat.
36. Also by Executive Order, Newsom announced closure of San Quentin State Prison.
37. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 145 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) which lowers the penalties for adults who have sex with same-sex minors – this means the new law allows a 24 year old to have sex with a 14 year old and escape a felony conviction and requirement to be a registered sex offender.
38. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a slew of Marijuana Bills.
39. Governor Newsom signed AB 205, income-based utility billing, rather than using an all-of-the-above approach to abundant energy production in California: Oil, gas, coal, nuclear, hydroelectric, solar and wind.
40. While Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the Orange County city of Huntington Beach for failing to provide enough additional “affordable housing,” his own home county of Marin is enjoys a moratorium on affordable housing building requirements until 2028. Coronado and Elk Grove have also been sued by the state.
41. Gov. Newsom announced in 2022 he would be developing the state’s lithium reserves in the Salton Sea region, and create a Lithium Valley Commission. “Proponents of mandating unrealistic policies and tight deadlines to fight climate change are finally having to confront the consequences of those sweeping decisions against a backdrop of an unreliable global supply chain impacting our national security.”
42. Newsom gifted free Medi-Cal coverage to every illegal immigrant in the state, costing taxpayers $10 billion to $12 billion. Very recently, Newsom admitted the state’s Medi-Cal program for low-income Californians is insolvent. His solution? Newsom is going to cut Medi-Cal to any poor or disabled elderly Californian who has $2,000 in “assets.”
43. Newsom reinstated the Obamacare individual mandate requiring everyone to buy health insurance or face tax fines.
44. Newsom signed an executive order that he would grant reprieves for all 737 death penalty murderers on California’s death row, calling the death penalty “ineffective, irreversible and immoral.”
45. During COVID, Gov. Newsom issued a nine different sets of re-opening plans, moving the state re-opening goalposts over and over again
46. Rampant and large scale pandemic unemployment assistance fraud was exposed November 2020 – upwards of $31-$54 billion dollars in unemployment claims was fraudulently sent to prison inmates in California’s county jails, and state and federal prisons, out of state, and even out of the country, while legitimate claimants were been stiffed for months, or received late payments. Death row inmates, life and life without possibility of parole inmates, rapists, child molesters, human traffickers, and other violent criminals received California unemployment benefits.
47. Governor Gavin Newsom’s 58 ‘COVID’ Related Executive Orders from March 4, 2020 to November 2020 – running the state as a dictator (never let a crisis go to waste)
48. Gov. Gavin Newsom Makes Hurried $1 Billion Deal With China’s BYD for Masks. The Chinese electric bus maker suddenly got into the medical mask business, and Newsom bought more than $1 billion worth. Hmmm.
49. In March of 2020, CA Gov. Gavin Newsom Ordered 40 Million healthy Californians to shelter at home because of the Coronavirus.
50. When he was elected, Gov. Newsom, in January 2019, promised the world and a bag of chips to Californians.
    • Newsom’s campaign promises included:

• • • Universal healthcare for everyone, regardless of ability to pay, including immigrants in the country illegally
    • A “Marshall Plan” for affordable housing production of 3.5 million housing units over the next decade
    • A master plan for aging with dignity
    • A middle-class workforce strategy
    • A cradle-to-college promise
    • Universal pre-school
    • An all-hands approach to ending child poverty
    • “Audacious” and “bold” action on the homelessness crisis

The California State Auditor just published a scalding report that is an unvarnished indictment of Governor Gavin Newsom and his administration, the Globe reported. The report should have everyone living in California horrified.

But remember, these are policy decisions, which can be overturned by a reasonable, sincere, Republican governor.