Originally posted at On California by David Crane
Yesterday was the deadline for CA Governor Gavin Newsom to take final action on bills passed by the 2025 Legislature. He signed 794 and vetoed 123. Since taking office in 2019, Newsom has now signed 5,710 bills and $1.942 trillion of budgets. How has California performed since he took office? Below are a few Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s):
- Unemployment Rate: The state’s unemployment rate has moved from 13th highest in the nation in 2019 to the nation’s highest in 2025 and presently exceeds the national average by 1.2 percentage points as compared to 0.2 percentage points in 2019.
- Student Performance: K-12 math and reading scores have declined 2.7 and 2.3 percentage points.
- Poverty Rate: California continues to have the nation’s highest poverty rate, tied with Louisiana.
- Budget Health: The state budget went from no deficit and adding to reserves in Jerry Brown’s last year as governor (2018-19) to a deficit and taking from reserves in Newsom’s most recent budget (2025-26).
Those aren’t the only KPI’s to consider when evaluating a governor’s performance but, unlike so much of what the press focuses upon, they are measures governors can actually influence with their actions and are also the focus of GFC’s questions of candidates to succeed Newsom. In that regard, note that we’ve added new Zoom sessions with candidates for statewide offices. The sessions are 45 minutes in length and are not recorded. To join, you must register in advance and be a GFC supporter. Contact GFC COO Pam Novinsky at pam@governforcalifornia.org with any questions.
