In a March 2023 interview, California Governor Gavin Newsom outlined his intention for the Golden State to serve as a “moral authority” of the nation. How to effectuate this lofty goal? Wield the state’s gargantuan market power, population, and “unique capacity to lead” to incubate and export a policy agenda to be emulated in state legislatures across the country and eventually, in Congress.1
Newsom’s assertion that California does—and should—have an outsized effect on the policies of the nation is not a new one. The phenomenon scholars have dubbed “The California Effect” can be traced back to the 1970s, when state legislators insisted on a carve-out to the national Clean Air Act, imposing harsher auto emission regulations on automakers seeking to sell within state lines. Faced with the prospect of losing a major slice of the American market, domestic and foreign manufacturers acceded and successfully lobbied their own lawmakers to impose standards modeled after the California legislation—standards that still govern auto regulation and clean energy nationwide.2 The state’s jurisdiction encompassing both Silicon Valley and Hollywood has only heightened the state’s national profile in recent decades, and further positioned it as an authority on artistic expression and tech regulation. Today, California’s laws are among the most widely copied in the country—from labor and consumer protections to building codes and data security laws—solidifying the state’s unique role as issue-spotter and incubator for progressive policies that may be adopted by Democratic legislators across the country.3