THE BUZZ — At long last, we’ll get the first hints today of whether Xavier Becerra will join the Biden administration or remain California’s attorney general.

Senate confirmation hearings for Becerra’s Health and Human Services secretary nomination will launch today, with the Senate HELP Committee kicking things off. The slow-burn process has left legions of Californian politicians hoping to succeed Becerra as AG in a holding pattern, with Gov. Gavin Newsom stating recently that he will not name a replacement until — and unless — Becerra makes it through the confirmation process. Sen. Alex Padilla is expected to introduce Becerra — two sons of Mexican immigrants who passed through the crucible of Los Angeles politics to become among California's most powerful politicians.

Republicans would love to keep Becerra in California — or at least inflict damage on the Democrats who back his return to DC. Democrats’ Senate-flipping victories in two Georgia races buoyed Becerra’s prospects, but Senate Democrats still have the absolute minimum number of votes for a majority. Republicans probing for a vulnerable Biden nominee or three to derail have focused a fair amount of their oppositional effort on Becerra – and even if they can’t stymie him, they’re spending money to make yes votes a liability for Democratic senators facing tight reelections.

GOP senators’ overarching strategy will be to portray Becerra as a partisan warrior and a non-expert unsuited to the job. A selection of Republicans previewed that on Monday with a letter demanding Becerra’s withdrawal, excoriating his “lack of healthcare experience” and his “embrace of radical policies.” Republicans have already used pandemic politics to try and portray Becerra as the hammer for California’s stringent Covid rules, which Becerra’s office has defended in court — including religious restrictions that courts later dissolved, in a victory for conservatives. We will likely hear about Becerra’s longtime advocacy for extending health care to undocumented immigrants. And don’t be surprised if California’s unemployment insurance woes get a mention.

Becerra’s fate will have major implications for California policy, like the various federal health care waivers the state has sought and failed to secure — for example, Becerra’s since-withdrawn request for permission to let undocumented immigrants participate in the state’s health care exchanges. And it will also have significant repercussions for the state’s political hierarchy, as various ambitious Democrats with law degrees root a little bit harder for Becerra’s success.

BUENOS DÍAS, good Tuesday morning. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign stimulus legislation today sending relief to businesses and payments to low-income Californians after the Legislature passed the measures on overwhelming bipartisan votes yesterday. The political context: Newsom pivoted to those lifelines when asked on Monday about the recall, underscoring the potential political boost of checks going to struggling Californians. Indeed, even as legislators were voting, Newsom emailed his donor list asking for statements of support.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “This year, local control has been a complete failure. We have seen the whole 'trust us' motto from the districts fail.” Assemblymember Phil Ting unloads on school districts.

BONUS QOTD: “It was going from working 24/7 to sort of not working at all in a snap. … And it did take a while sort of for my body and mind to calm down.” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) on the less frenetic pace of the Biden era, via the NYT.

TWEET OF THE DAY: Spiritual leader and short-lived presidential candidate Marianne Williamson @MarWilliamson: “The goal of all public policy should be the reduction of human suffering.”

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

SCHOOL DEBATE — Newsom feuds with fellow California Democrats over schools, by POLITICO’s Mackenzie Mays: California Democrats and Gov. Gavin Newsom are in rare conflict with the governor slamming a school reopening bill he says would set districts further back as lawmakers align with teachers unions by seeking stricter guidelines than the federal government recommends.

An Assembly Budget Committee hearing Monday shed light on the contentious negotiations as lawmakers reviewed Senate Bill 86 for the first time. Democratic lawmakers stood by their bill on Monday despite Newsom saying he will not support it and that it would not get schools open fast enough. At times Monday, some Republican lawmakers, including longtime critics of Newsom, were more closely aligned with the governor than Democrats, as they pushed legislative Democrats to loosen expectations regarding when and how schools would be eligible to receive grants as an incentive to reopen.

BAY RENT STUNNER — “Cheaper rent in San Francisco? For some Oakland tenants, the city across the Bay is more affordable now,” by the LA Times’ Liam Dillon: “San Francisco, even as rents decrease, remains the nation’s costliest big city. A one-bedroom apartment still typically rents for almost $2,000 a month, putting it far out of reach for many residents. But the steep drop in prices has surprised real estate watchers for both its depth and scale.”

— “California's new Valencia testing lab had 'significant deficiencies' in December,” by POLITICO’s Victoria Colliver: The inspection found that out of more than 1.5 million tests performed, the Valencia Branch Laboratory issued corrected reports for approximately 60, or 0.0039 percent of sample totals, and was unable to test approximately 250 samples, or 0.017 percent, due to lab errors. “One incorrect test result is one too many,” Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said in a statement.

BROWNLINE: Former Gov. Jerry Brown is out with a new website recounting his history and detailing his post-gubernatorial life on the ranch and beyond. It features a corgi and we’re told there’s some Latin hidden in there as well.

— “Johnson & Johnson says it can provide 20M vaccine doses by late March,” by POLITICO’s Sarah Owermohle: “The company has applied to the Food and Drug Administration for emergency authorization. FDA is expected to grant that as early as this weekend, after an expert FDA panel convenes Friday to discuss the effectiveness and safety of J&J’s vaccine.”

CREEPING CLOSER — “Sacramento City Unified announces target dates to reopen schools,” by the Sac Bee’s Sawsan Morrar: “The Sacramento City Unified School District announced students could be back on campus in early April.”

BUT IS IT ENOUGH? — “Families demand wider school reopening as LAUSD moves toward limited in-person instruction,” by the LA Times’ Howard Blume: “Los Angeles schools will resume some services next week for a small percentage of students with special needs, Supt. Austin Beutner announced Monday. However, the measures fall far short of demands from parents who rallied on the Westside to push for a broader reopening of schools.”

— “Immigration detention centers showcase California’s vaccine chaos,” by CalMatters’ Ana B. Ibarra: “Because detainees are in federal custody, state health officials said last week that they aren’t sure who is responsible for vaccination at the detention centers.”

— “California coronavirus variant possibly more infectious, might cause more serious illness, S.F. studies show,” by the SF Chronicle’s Erin Allday: “A California-bred variant that has spread widely across much of the state since the start of the year appears to be more infectious than other versions of the coronavirus, and may also cause more serious illness and be somewhat resistant to the body’s immune response, according to two studies released Monday.”

— “For two COVID-19 patients, life and death rests on ‘el tubo,’” by the LA Times’ Joe Mozingo: “Intubation has become more than a medical procedure. It represents the terrible crossroad of this disease: the moment patients must decide whether to have a tube inserted into their trachea so a machine can take over their breathing.”

— "Vaccine access codes for Black, Latino communities improperly used in affluent L.A. areas," by the LA Times' Julia Wick: "It’s unclear how the codes got into the hands of outsiders, but the situation has forced the state to scramble to protect the integrity of an equity program that Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials have been hailing."

BIG FOR CALIFORNIA — Supreme Court to review Trump curbs on abortion clinics, immigration, by POLITICO’s Susannah Luthi: Biden has already ordered the federal government to begin reviewing both policies, likely leading to their reversals — and potentially mooting either case before the justices could review them.

— “Vice President Kamala Harris's Longtime San Francisco Condo Has Found a Buyer for $799,000,” by People’s Hannah Chubb: “According to property records, the lawmaker, 56, purchased the 1,069-square-foot home for $489,000 in 2004 — the same year she broke new ground as the first-ever female District Attorney in San Francisco, and as the first African American woman and South Asian American woman to ever hold the position in the state of California.”

— “How California Democrats could delay a Gavin Newsom recall,” by the Sac Bee’s Sophia Bollag: “A later election might give opponents more time to raise money and build a case against him. Pushing a recall to the latest possible date might help him, however, if the pandemic is easing and COVID-19 restrictions are lifting.”

DEMAIO DOLLARS: Republican former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio’s political vessel Reform California reported its first spending for the Newsom recall, cataloguing about $50,000 worth of independent expenditures on mail and text messaging as its first digital ad came out. DeMaio has been assailing longtime San Diego GOP rival Kevin Faulconer; Reform California set up a website portraying Faulconer as a squishy faux-conservative. DeMaio has showed more enthusiasm for a potential Richard Grenell candidacy.

— “Effort launched to recall three S.F. school board members,” by SF Chronicle’s Lizzie Johnson: “In recent months, the Board has faced mounting pressure to safely reopen schools — while also stirring anger for efforts to rename 44 district schools and halt merit-based admissions at Lowell High School. As of Sunday, the renaming process has been put on hold.”

— “Google to lift political ad ban this week,” by POLITICO’s Elena Schneider: “Facebook — which temporarily and narrowly lifted its own political ad ban ahead of the Georgia Senate runoffs in January before reimposing it once again — has not yet announced when (or if) it will lift its own ban on political ads.”

HELP COMING — California lawmakers send $7.6B in Covid-19 relief bills to Newsom, by POLITICO’s Katy Murphy: The deal funnels $2 billion in grants to small businesses that have been hammered by the pandemic in addition to tax cuts for recipients of federal Paycheck Protection Program loans and fee relief for restaurants, bars and other businesses forced to close or restrict their operations last year. … The package also ramps up aid to California families. The Golden State Stimulus will send onetime $600 tax credits and grants to millions of low-income Californians.

— “Garcetti pledged $250 million to communities of color. Did he deliver?” by the LA Times’ Dakota Smith: “The mayor’s office never publicly announced how Garcetti would use the $250 million he pledged June 3. Some leaders of advocacy groups said they didn’t know that much of the money was accounted for until they were contacted Thursday by The Times.”

HIGH-SPEED WOES — “A ‘low-cost’ plan for California bullet train brings $800 million in overruns, big delays,” by the LA Times’ Ralph Vartabedian: “That figure is 62% above the contract price tag, which the rail authority has agreed to pay, according to interviews and technical and contractual documents reviewed by The Times.”

— “'Divisive and offensive' race theory training forced on San Diego County healthcare workers,” by the Washington Examiner’s Tori Richards: “The Health & Human Services Agency required employees to spend six hours watching the online racism course, a training participant told the Washington Examiner.”

— “OC Leaders Secretly Approved Over $200 Million in Covid Contracts. Voice of OC is Getting the Public a Peek at Where it Went,” by Voice of OC’s Nick Gerda: “The coronavirus-related contracts, which are now being detailed publicly for the first time, include over $40 million for testing, $11 million for contact tracing, and $2 million for marketing by a separate firm from the one known to have a coronavirus PR contract.”

— “Lawsuit seeks to stop ICE’s use of private guards to make California immigration arrests,” by the Fresno Bee’s Yesenia Amaro: “The complaint says the federal immigration agency uses private companies, such as G4S Secure Solutions, Inc., to detain people upon their release from jails and prisons in California. The private guards, the suit says, then transfer the individuals to ICE.”

— “Australia is showing the U.S. how to regulate Facebook and Google,” by the WaPo’s Anya Schiffrin: “Google and Facebook are sensitive to the charge that they are killing off mainstream news entities — while helping users spread conspiracy theories and misinformation — so they have been striving to buy good will through giving grants to journalism organizations, underwriting conferences and subsidizing journalism centers at universities. But the Australian government has seen enough.”

— “Microsoft wades into Facebook news fight by siding with European publishers,” by CNN’s Julia Horowitz: “The move comes after Facebook stopped people from finding news on its platform in Australia last week rather than pay publishers for their content, a decision that produced a global backlash and generated negative headlines for the social media company.”

— “Uber accused of trying to deter drivers from seeking compensation,” by the Guardian’s Sarah Butler: “The taxi-hailing app may have to pay out more than £100m to more than 10,000 drivers involved in cases linked to a UK supreme court ruling on Friday that they must be classified as workers.”

— “Uber Eats driver issues heartbreaking message after delivery order gone wrong: ‘Totally unacceptable,’” by Yahoo! News’ Dillon Thompson.

— “Megan Thee Stallion and Representative Maxine Waters on Misogynoir, Saying No, and the Genius of WAP,” by Harper's Bazaar’s Kaitlyn Greenidge.

— "New Jersey legalizes cannabis after years of failed efforts and toxic negotiations," by POLITICO’s Sam Sutton.

— “Democrats question TV carriers' decisions to host Fox, OAN and Newsmax, citing 'misinformation,'" by POLITICO’s John Hendel: California Democratic Reps. Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney’s questions represent a rare effort by members of Congress to intrude into companies' decisions to carry specific news networks. In some ways, it parallels the years of complaints Republicans have raised about the content of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter — but extends that fight in a way that could raise broader free-speech issues.

— “Homeless people face relentless abuse in Lancaster, an ACLU report alleges,” by the LA Times’ Doug Smith.

— “Celebrating Black History: Dotson Wilson, California Assembly’s 1st African American chief clerk, parliamentarian,” by KCRA’s Brandi Cummings.

— “San Leandro Police Ban No-Knock Warrants,” by Patch’s Bea Karnes.

— “What you see is the largest pollination event on Earth: California’s almond blossom,” by the Sac Bee’s David Caraccio.

— “See the photos that won Gabrielle Lurie ‘Local Photographer of the Year,’” via the SF Chronicle.

— “Chevron Says Flawed Electrical Diagram Triggered Major Flaring Incident,” by KQED’s Ted Goldberg.

— “Welcome to the Year of Fernando Tatis Jr.: Why San Diego Padres' $340 million face is exactly what MLB needs right now,” by ESPN’s Jeff Passan.

— “Cal State San Bernardino student who suffered heat stroke during class run wins $39.5 million settlement,” by the San Bernardino Sun’s Joe Nelson.

Nicole Sexton … Frank Luntz ... Michael Dell

CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here.

Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: [email protected].