California’s Competence Crisis Under Gavin Newsom

From failed infrastructure projects to industrial flight, California increasingly appears governed by headlines and ideology rather than execution and results.

Gavin Newsom is no longer just the Governor of California. He is a prominent fixture on the national stage, positioning himself as the high-tech architect of a modern American future, and a frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic Presidential nomination. But while the Newsom “Brand” is thriving on cable news, his record at home is a mounting ledger of administrative incompetence and abandoned promises. In California, failure isn’t just an occasional setback; it is a recurring feature of a distracted governorship.

The Unusable $450 Million Next Generation 911 System
In 2019, Governor Newsom stood before the state and promised a “Next Generation 911” system. He spoke of “swift results” and a digital revolution that would modernize emergency response. After burning through $450 million in taxpayer funds, the system failed testing so completely it had to be scrapped. Consequently, California’s emergency infrastructure has been reset to a 2030 deadline.

Given the importance of a fully functioning 911 emergency response system, many expected Newsom to take decisive action. Sadly, they were mistaken. He continued his frantic out-of-state itinerary, and tacit campaign schedule, spending nearly two months a year away from the state he was elected to lead. It is a monument to his “press-release governance,” where the announcement is the goal and the execution is an afterthought.

High-Speed Rail: The Half-Billion Dollar Secret
The same “ambition-reality gap” defines the California High-Speed Rail. What was originally touted as a $33 billion project is now a fiscal black hole estimated to cost between $126 billion and $231 billion. The lack of transparency reached a new high in January 2026, when the Board approved a staggering $537.3 million settlement to a contractor for cost and time disputes. The mind-boggling payout was decided in a closed-session meeting, fueling outrage over the lack of public oversight.

The Energy and Business Exodus
The decay extends to the basic costs of daily life. California drivers pay the highest gas prices in the nation, trapped in a “fuel island” created by unique special blends, and state-imposed taxes.

Similarly, California’s industrial electricity rates are also among the highest in the country (~24.73¢/kWh), nearly two to three times higher than states like North Carolina and Texas. This “California Premium” has triggered a massive business exodus. The state lost 82,000 manufacturing jobs in less than two years.

Even Hollywood is leaving. Production days in Los Angeles have fallen dramatically from their 2021 peak, dropping by more than half at one point, as studios shift projects to places like New York and the UK in search of stronger tax incentives and fewer regulatory hurdles. While recent FilmLA reports point to modest upticks in limited areas such as tax credit–supported projects and select television categories, most tracked production segments remain flat or well below historic norms, with some still declining. With so much infrastructure, talent pipelines, and long-term commitments now established out of state and overseas, the question remains whether California’s renewed subsidies will be enough to bring production anywhere close to pre-2021 levels.

The Great Pharmaceutical Disconnect
The pharmaceutical industry provides yet another example of California’s anti-business reputation. For decades, the U.S. “subsidized” the world by paying high prices to fund research and development (R&D). Today, the U.S. is finally using Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) pricing to force global burden-sharing and bring manufacturing home. Yet, California is losing out. While local giants like Genentech and Amgen continue drug R&D in their California labs, their billion-dollar manufacturing expansions are happening in North Carolina and Ohio.

As a result, California can now be viewed as a state of “absentee innovation,” where dreams of cures are created, but must be manufactured elsewhere because Newsom’s policies made it impossible to build there.

Healthcare Infrastructure in Freefall
Even the safety nets Newsom pledged to protect are buckling. His landmark 2024 expansion of Medi-Cal to all illegal residents was followed on January 1, 2026, by an unprecedented enrollment freeze and the elimination of coverage for weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. The state expects to save $5 billion and $85 million, respectively, through these cuts. Once again, a flashy initiative collapses under its own weight, leaving ordinary Californians to shoulder the consequences.

The Absentee Architect: A Referendum on Reality
Supporters argue these challenges are global, but Newsom has been in statewide leadership for over a decade. He did not simply inherit a broken system; he is its primary architect. As he eyes a 2028 presidential run, the upcoming 2026 Midterms serve as a direct referendum on this failed model. For millions dealing with failing 911 systems, secret rail settlements, and a middle class in freefall, the record must finally matter more than the rhetoric.