The state of "state of " speeches is ... meh (2024)

Good morning. I’m Mariel Garza, editorials editor, and it is Wednesday, April 17. Let’s look at the week so far in Opinion.

On Monday evening, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass delivered her second state of the city speech. And it was ... fine — a well-done example of the genre, if not exactly riveting TV.

No disrespect intended. Bass is required to perform this duty under the municipal code. It’s a tradition followed by generations of presidents and governors, to issue an oral annual report on the state of their particular branch of government. But let’s be honest, these aren’t administrative reports on how well government is functioning, but pep rallies that highlight political and policy wins and lay out the aspirations for the next year.

This raises the question of whether these annual addresses are worth the effort that elected officials and their staffs put into them. While I like the idea of mayors, governors and presidents having to periodically sit in the hot seat to answer tough questions about what their administrations are doing, these glitzy “State of” speeches aren’t accountability sessions. They don’t allow for questions from the public, or even from lawmakers who are the intended audience. They are shows that require diverting public resources away from the actual business of governing.

Would anyone miss them if these dog and pony shows were retired? Did anyone miss Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ceremonial speech last year? He sent a letter to the Legislature instead. Unlike L.A. city’s charter, the state constitution requires only that the governor report the “condition” of the state to the Legislature each year. This year, he planned a return to the address on March 18, but pulled the plug a few days before. There was speculation that the delay was because his much-touted mental health ballot measure, Proposition 1, was in danger of failing after the primary election. It ended up passing, barely. But Newsom hasn’t rescheduled his State of the State speech yet. Will anyone notice if he doesn’t?

It seems presidents could skip the speech too. The U.S. constitution says the president “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union” and make some recommendations. The way I read that vague language, the president could dispatch that duty with a pie chart and a few bullet points.

Rather than a staged speech, wouldn’t it be more interesting and illuminating to have an annual public Q&A session in which a collection of people representing the public, the media and lawmakers could press mayors, governors and presidents for actual information on the state of government? Now that would be riveting TV.

High electric bills threaten California’s clean future. This plan would help. Who wants to invest thousands of dollars in a heat pump or induction stove only to be punished with higher bills? The Times Editorial Board notes that with California’s electric rates rising, a proposal by state regulators to change how electric power is billed for customers served by investor-owned utilities would ease that burden. “Rather than being charged for each kilowatt-hour with rates bulked up to cover capital costs and maintenance, electric customers would pay a modest flat fee (about $24 a month for most households) and a lower per kilowatt-hour rate. It’s a well-thought-out approach to modernizing California’s electric rates.”

Trump’s antics failed to delay his New York trial. But don’t expect him to give up on them yet. Legal affairs columnist Harry Litman writes that the opening days of Donald Trump’s hush money trial, which began Monday, “will likely feature much the same brand of petulance and vituperation from the defendant, now redirected to the jury selection process.”

My son was killed with a gun. Like too many California parents, I don’t know who did it. Mattie Scott, president of Brady California and the founder of Healing 4 Our Families & Our Nation, says that a bill pending in Sacramento would “ensure that fewer families know this pain” by allowing family members to request reviews of files in cold cases. “These unsolved cases perpetuate a vicious cycle of fear, violence and hopelessness. The perceived disinterest in tracking down a loved one’s killer erodes trust in police. It may even lead some people to arm themselves, despite the risks of having a gun, because they feel the authorities can’t or won’t protect them.”

How can evangelicals like Mike Johnson tolerate Trump? The former president keeps showing his true self, and yet Republicans keep aligning themselves with this thrice-married adulterer, writes Times columnist LZ Granderson. “The image of Johnson standing at the lectern — as Trump stood behind him like a jack-o’-lantern the day after Halloween — was frightening. Unnerving. It was not a show of strength; it was another sign of how far some white evangelicals are willing to drag their faith through the mud just to be next to power.”

More from this week in opinion

From our columnists

• Robin Abcarian: Never forget: Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder redefined our understanding of domestic violence
• Jackie Calmes: Donald Trump inspires yet another profile in cowardice

From the Op-Ed desk

• The decline in American life expectancy harms more than our health
• Can you beat this epic commute? Take the 10 to the 86 to the 111 to the 8 ...
• Don’t want Biden or Trump to have so much power? Maybe the U.S. needs a poly-presidency

From the Editorial Board

• L.A. City Hall has a corruption problem. Why are leaders stalling on ethics reform?
• Board of Supervisors’ silent sign-off on $25-million payout fails accountability test

Letters to the Editor

• L.A.’s right-left divide on solving homelessness: a special letters section
• California doesn’t know if $20 billion spent on homelessness has worked. Who gets fired?
• The self-defeating logic of ‘states’ rights’ abortion foes