Newsom has already shown that he wants to distinguish himself from Brown. He announced plans to scale back his predecessor’s legacy projects to build massive water tunnels through the Delta and a high-speed rail line from the Bay Area to Los Angeles. He approved temporary tax breaks on diapers and menstrual products that Brown rejected. And he signed a bill Brown vetoed that requires presidential candidates to release their tax returns if they want to be placed on the California primary ballot. (It was recently put on hold by the courts.)
Nate Ballard, a political consultant who worked for Newsom as San Francisco mayor, said he expects Newsom will differentiate himself from Brown on the #MeToo bills as well.
“There’s a pretty good chance those bills are going to get signed,” he said.
In part he chalked it up to a generational difference between the 51-year-old Newsom and 81-year-old Brown that may make the younger governor more attuned to issues women face in the workplace. But he also attributed a lot of influence to Newsom’s wife — a filmmaker whose work focuses on gender inequity.
Before Newsom was elected, Jennifer Siebel Newsom lobbied in favor of last year’s version of the arbitration bill. She hasn’t been publicly involved in campaigning for this year’s version but has used her high-profile position to advance other feminist causes, such as equal pay.
“Jennifer Siebel Newsom is a feminist activist who is engaged in these issues every single day of her life,” said Ballard, who sits on the board of Siebel Newsom’s gender equity nonprofit. “That brings a valuable perspective into the governor’s orbit that most male governors just don’t have. She is up to her ears in feminist activism, and that makes a difference.”