The Brief

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At the request of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a nonprofit paid former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa more than $380,000 to advise the governor for about 10 months on how to overhaul California’s approach to major infrastructure projects.

Touting his new infrastructure czar back in 2022, Newsom framed the partnership as a way to save taxpayers money. But California Forward, a nonprofit focused on economic development that was tasked with overseeing Villaraigosa’s work, could not cover the cost alone. As the project stretched on and initial costs more than doubled, California Forward turned to corporate donors to fill the gap — funders that have not been publicly disclosed until now.

Elected officials in California can solicit contributions, known as behested payments, to outside entities for a governmental or charitable purpose. Under state law, Newsom had to disclose that he asked California Forward to pay Villaraigosa.

But that disclosure requirement did not extend to California Forward, whose donors ultimately included organizations with an interest in state infrastructure projects. The nonprofit provided a list when CalMatters requested it, but the information was not otherwise available and is still not on any public disclosure forms.

California Forward said it raised $118,800 from a dozen donors to pay Villaraigosa’s salary and for events and travel for the project, including $30,000 from the Port of San Diego, $17,500 from SoCalGas and $10,000 each from Doordash, Disney, Southern California Edison, AT&T and the California Communications Association.

Many questions remain about why the Newsom administration took this approach, how the financial arrangement with Villaraigosa and California Forward came together, and if this approach upholds the spirit of disclosure rules for behested payments.

Sean McMorris of California Common Cause, a nonprofit that advocates for government in the public interest, compared California Forward’s role to a “clearinghouse” that allowed special interests to pay for the project without the usual disclosures that would have been required if Newsom had asked the organizations for the funding himself.

“It’s a loophole in the behested payment law,” McMorris said, “because it’s relevant information that the public and the press have a right to know.”

Newsom's office won't answer questions

The governor’s office, representatives from the nonprofit and Villaraigosa all praise the project as a win for California, which led the state to streamline construction of multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects.

But the governor’s office declined to make anyone available to speak with CalMatters about the project and refused to answer a list of questions, including:

• Where did the idea come from to hire Villaraigosa? The governor’s office refused to answer. 
• Was anyone else considered for the role? The governor’s office refused to answer. 
• Why did the governor feel that someone within the Newsom administration could not perform the same function? The governor’s office refused to answer. 
• How did they settle on an outside funder to pay Villaraigosa? The governor’s office refused to answer. 

Villaraigosa is now a candidate for governor pledging to “jumpstart” home, energy and transportation construction in California. His stint as infrastructure adviser is his most significant public service since he left the Los Angeles mayor’s office in 2013.

In an interview, Villaraigosa said he has no qualms about how much he earned for the position: $35,000 per month, plus expenses, to travel from the Oregon border to the Mexico border meeting with stakeholders and then produce a report with recommendations for speeding up infrastructure development.

Though he did not stop his other consulting work through the global firm Actum during that period, Villaraigosa said his role as infrastructure adviser was close to full-time and “pretty much took a front seat.”

By the time he stepped down 10 and a half months later, California had a glossy report and five new laws on the books, and Villaragoisa had earned $381,820 for his work. That’s more than California Forward paid its chief executive officer that year, tax filings show, and nearly $160,000 more than the governor’s own state salary.

“I think it was a huge return on investment for the state. And that’s what they offered,” Villaraigosa said. “I know I can say that California Forward and the governor’s office felt like I went above and beyond.”

How the deal came about

In the wake of the passage of the federal infrastructure bill in late 2021, the Newsom administration was looking to maximize California’s access to an expected $550 billion in newly authorized spending over the next few years.

So in August 2022, the governor brought on Villaraigosa to “design strategies to advance the State’s priorities and interests,” “serve as the key State liaison for local elected officials interested in federal infrastructure funding,” “provide input for and assist in development of messages” and “maintain regular contact” with federal policymakers, among other duties, according to a memo prepared that September by Newsom’s then-chief of staff Jim DeBoo.

It’s not entirely unusual for Newsom to turn to outside consultants for state government projects. In 2020, he notably convened a star-studded task force of business leaders, led by the former hedge fund manager and presidential candidate Tom Steyer, during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic to help guide his reopening strategy. The participants were not compensated.

But the Villaraigosa appointment raised eyebrows because Newsom was pulling a former political rival into his orbit. They had faced off during the 2018 gubernatorial primary, where Villaraigosa finished third, which Newsom alluded to during a joint press conference announcing his role.

“I remember running against this guy saying, the one thing I can’t run against is how effective he was on drawing down federal funding as mayor of Los Angeles,” Newsom said.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaks during a gubernatorial candidates’ event hosted by the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO and the State Building and Construction Trades Council at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Sacramento on May 12, 2025.

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Villaraigosa was also notably not formally joining the Newsom administration or volunteering his time. Rather, he would be paid for his work, at the governor’s request, by California Forward.

Villaraigosa said he was approached about the infrastructure adviser position by DeBoo — who once served as chief legislative representative in his mayoral office — after the governor’s office had gone through a number of other people. Villaraigosa said he was told that all states had somebody to coordinate their relationship with the federal government on infrastructure and he had the best experience to guide California. DeBoo did not return multiple calls and emails requesting an interview.

Despite his contentious relationship with Newsom during the 2018 gubernatorial campaign, Villaraigosa immediately accepted the job.

“We both had a dream. We wanted to be governor. But it wasn’t personal,” Villaraigosa said. “We had a long relationship.”

He said he was not surprised to be asked, because of his past accomplishments on infrastructure projects in Los Angeles, which had even led him to be considered for transportation secretary in President Barack Obama’s second term.

Villaraigosa said the governor’s office offered to pay him and he agreed, without much negotiation over his fee. The compensation was always going to come from an outside group, he said, which Villaraigosa preferred, because being employed by the state would have involved too much bureaucracy.

“I didn’t want those complications,” he said. He did not elaborate further.

'That's where the ick factor sets in'

California Forward is best known for its annual economic summit bringing together California elected officials and civic leaders, which has featured Newsom as a speaker nearly every year since he became governor.

Villaraigosa led “stakeholder engagement” and gave “strategic advice” to the nonprofit as he worked on the infrastructure project, according to details from the financial records filed with the state.

Former California Forward CEO Micah Weinberg called the arrangement a “fantastic success,” with Villaraigosa’s recommendations leading to new laws to speed up the construction of green infrastructure in the state.

“In an era of people questioning government expenditures, this is just about one of the best deals that the government has ever gotten, because it didn’t cost the government and the California taxpayers anything at all,” Weinberg said.

California Forward’s fundraising and other revenue dropped by nearly two-thirds, to about $2.7 million, during the 2022-23 fiscal year, its federal income tax filing shows. Still, the nonprofit paid Villaraigosa more than Weinberg — who made $303,214 in that period — pulling from its reserves to cover most of the former mayor’s salary.

Both the governor’s office and California Forward said Newsom had no role in soliciting corporate donors for the project, meaning there was no legal obligation to report the fundraising to the state.

Taxpayers consequently had less insight into who was paying for a project with significant implications for the future of major public works in the state.

Weinberg defended the financial arrangement for creating a separation between California Forward’s fiscal sponsors and the final recommendations. He said Villaraigosa did not know which donors were funding the project and there was no quid pro quo.

“It was an initiative that was paid for by a nonprofit organization that has hundreds of supporters, which I think is a better way of doing this,” he said.

But McMorris, the transparency, ethics, and accountability program manager for California Common Cause, argues that this is an “ethically suspect” way of using behested payments, because it buries the true sources of funding.

“It looks better politically if an innocuous nonprofit is giving the money,” he said, even though it’s really special interest groups that are paying. “They don’t even have to report that they’re giving money to the third party. That’s where the ick factor sets in.”

McMorris said it’s important for the government to use taxpayer money for its priorities, because it holds elected officials accountable to do things that they believe are defensible to their voters.

“This is what taxpayer money is for,” he said. “I don’t understand this idea that we’re just going to outsource government to the private sector, because now you introduce all this conflict of interest and the possibility for conflict of interest, which then results in the end result potentially being tainted.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom holds a press conference at a Home Depot in San Jose to sign retail crime legislation into law on Aug. 16, 2024.

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'He helped set the tone for the conversations'

During his year as Newsom’s infrastructure adviser, Villaraigosa participated in more than 180 meetings, tours, roundtables, events, calls, and Zooms for the infrastructure report, his spokesperson said. That included a trip to Washington, D.C. in September 2023, after he was no longer being paid for his work, to meet with congressional leaders such as then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and California’s Democratic delegation about infrastructure funding.

Villaraigosa consulted with former advisers from Los Angeles, who volunteered their insights for the project, and got the Boston Consulting Group to help write the final report pro bono.

But he was primarily assisted by California Forward staffers, including Ismael Herrera, who joined Villaraigosa on a statewide listening tour throughout the final months of 2022, coordinating with the governor’s office about who to invite to the sessions and taking notes. Herrera said the project consumed about half his work time during that period, traveling to rural communities with Villaraigosa, then sitting for hourslong listening sessions, plus making site visits and doing prep work.

Those conversations — which also focused on the impacts of infrastructure projects for the workforce and the environment — involved public transportation agencies, local and regional government officials, water districts, universities and community colleges, community organizations and nonprofits, faith-based and environmental justice groups, labor unions and more, Herrera said.

“I thought (Villaraigosa’s) involvement was very valuable and he put a lot of time and effort into this,” Herrera said. “He helped set the tone for the conversations, and also did a lot of listening, a lot answering questions that people had.”

The governor’s office said the listening sessions were not considered open meetings subject to California’s public records laws.

The recommendations ultimately informed a package of bills, introduced by Newsom in May 2023, aimed at speeding up construction of big infrastructure projects by streamlining the state approval process. After facing pushback from environmental groups, a version of the package passed the Legislature about a month later.

“I was given great latitude,” Villaraigosa said. “Obviously these were recommendations. I was doing this on behalf of the governor. But the governor and his staff made almost no changes to our proposals.”

The governor’s office cited Senate Bill 149 — which sets a 270-day limit for wrapping up environmental lawsuits for water, energy, transportation and semiconductor projects that are certified by the governor — as the most significant change.

Since then, four projects have received certification for this expedited review, including Sites Reservoir, a controversial plan to build the state’s first new reservoir in more than 50 years in Colusa County.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Some government funding streams for L.A. County’s public health system are drying up, and officials are turning to private philanthropy to fill the gap.

A new privately funded foundation launched Thursday to strengthen public health services after $50 million in federal, state and local funding cuts to the county’s Department of Public Health since early last year.

“It is really a hard day for our community when we have to ask for private donations to fund a public good, but unfortunately, we've lost too much money to not take this important step,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

In February, the county’s Public Health Department closed seven clinics, with six remaining open. About half of the patients seen in those clinics are uninsured, according to county officials. The department also cut hundreds of staff positions.

Ferrer is on the board of the new foundation, The Fund for Advancing Public Health LA, which held its first meeting Thursday.

She said the fund will help the county maintain its basic public health infrastructure, including disease prevention, health promotion, environmental health, and emergency response efforts.

Other board members include several health insurance executives, as well as actors Sean Penn and Danny Trejo. Board member Saree Kayne of the R&S Kayne Foundation pledged $150,000 to the fund Thursday. Kayne said she hopes the donation encourages others to give.

The foundation aims to raise $2 million this year.

More cuts expected

L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell said it’s crucial to have an alternative funding stream to protect services for the county's most vulnerable residents.

“We are saving public health,” Mitchell said. “This fund represents a new approach, one that brings together government philanthropy in the private sector to invest in community-based solutions, protect vulnerable populations, and strengthen our public health infrastructure.”

Officials say more public health cuts are coming, through the federal budget law known as the "Big Beautiful Bill," which slashes funding for Medi-Cal.

The county Department of Public Health anticipates losing up to $300 million in revenue over the next three years because of the federal budget bill and other potential funding freezes. Federal funding accounts for almost 50% of the public health budget, according to county officials.

Mitchell also led an effort to put a half-percent county sales tax increase to fund public health on the June ballot.

If approved by voters, that proposal, known as Measure ER, is expected to raise about $1 billion a year for county safety net health services, including about $100 million for the public health department.

Board members

The Fund for Advancing Public Health LA announced its founding board of directors, which includes:

• Dr. Barbara Ferrer, LA County Department of Public Health director
• Debbie I. Chang, Blue Shield of California Foundation CEO
• Sean Penn, actor and co-founder of Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE)
• Martha Santana-Chin, LA Care Health Plan CEO
• Saree Kayne, R&S Kayne Foundation CEO
• Danny Trejo, actor and restaurateur
• Jarrett Barrios, an executive at the American Red Cross
• Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Charles R. Drew University College of Medicine Dean
• Kristin McCowan, an executive at the Los Angeles Dodgers

The Rose Bowl in Pasadena may be a centenarian, but it’s holding up pretty well as it continues to host events on its way to a starring role in the LA28 Olympics.

But before it can host the soccer final, it needs fixes, especially to the infrastructure serving the bathrooms and drinking fountains. Fears of a toilet backup while in the world’s spotlight led Rep. Laura Friedman to seek federal funds for upgrades. On Thursday she announced she secured just over $1 million.

“Two years from now, athletes around the world are going to compete for gold right where we are standing. This is not the time to find out whether or not these pipes are up to the task,” Friedman said.

The planned work, she added, will lead to improved water flow capacity and water drainage, eliminating the risk of backups and emergency maintenance.

The funds came from the House of Representatives Interior and Environment subcommittee. The fixes, an official said, will be completed by the LA28 Olympics.

The funds, however, are a drop in the bucket when it comes to what’s needed to make needed improvements to the Pasadena venue.

Officials, including (left to right) Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation President Dedan Brozino, Deputy Fire Chief of the City of Pasadena Tim Sell, Congresswoman Laura Friedman, and Rose Bowl Stadium CEO Jens Weiden announced infrastructure funding for the 103-year old Rose Bowl.

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“Over the  next 20 years there's about $200 million that we need to put in and that's everything from updating light fixtures to updating gas, water, wastewater lines, etc.,” said Dedan Brozino,  president of the Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation, the nonprofit that supports the Rose Bowl stadium's preservation and enhancement.

Getting venues ready will be expensive

The money is a much-needed win at a time when elected officials in city, county, state and federal offices have been struggling to find the funds to get L.A.-area venues ready for the global Olympic stage in two years.

The entrance to a men's bathroom at the Rose Bowl.

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A $360 million proposal to spruce up asphalt in parking lots around Exposition Park won’t be done in time for the Olympics, as originally planned. Meanwhile, just up the street, there’s concern that a $2.6 billion expansion of the L.A. Convention Center, which is hosting Olympic wrestling, fencing and judo in 2028 won’t be ready for the Olympics.

Additionally, to save money, LA28 organizers moved Olympic diving to the Rose Bowl complex last year because it has two Olympic-sized pools, while the Exposition Park complex doesn't and would need expensive upgrades.

Topline:

About the chick: The chick hatched March 14. The zoo opened its Cape vulture enclosure in February 2025 after years of planning to encourage the birds to roost and nest, welcoming a new breeding pair that year. When it grows to be an adult, it’ll have a wingspan of 8 1/2 feet.

About the enclosure: The L.A. Zoo said it spent years developing the vulture habitat, which was designed to mimic the vultures’ natural environment in South Africa and nearby countries. Dominick Dorsa II, the zoo’s director of animal care, said in a statement the successful hatching is “a testament to the design and construction” of the habitat.

How to see the chick: You can’t for the time being. Zoo officials are keeping it away from visitors until the chick matures, though you can still see adult Cape vultures at the zoo’s enclosure.

Though visitors will have to wait until the chick matures to see it in the enclosure, you can still take in the impressive eight and a half foot wingspan of the adult Cape vultures.

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What zoo officials are saying: “Welcoming a Cape vulture chick is a thrilling moment for our team and a beacon of hope for African vultures,” the L.A. Zoo’s curator of birds Rose Legato said in a statement. “Vultures are one of nature's most misunderstood marvels, and I cannot wait for our guests to eventually watch this chick grow and learn just how vital they are to our ecosystems.”

About the species: Cape vultures are listed as a vulnerable species due to human activities and encroachment. According to the L.A. Zoo, African vultures are more closely related to eagles and hawks than vultures native to the Americas, like the zoo's California condors that hatched last year.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

What should have been a celebration for formerly incarcerated youth completing a reentry program at the Boyle Heights Arts Conservatory (BHAC) last week instead ended with seven students and two staff members detained by the Los Angeles Police Department, according to witnesses. 

Now, nearly a week later, BHAC staff and city officials are demanding answers from the LAPD, with some accusing officers of racial profiling. 

According to the LAPD, officers observed a large group gathered on the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Mott Street around 4:16 p.m. on March 26. Authorities then requested backup for what they described as “a large group surrounding officers,” LAPD Public Information Officer Tony Im said. 

The group, classified by police as an “aggressive gang group,” consisted of seven 18-year-old students from the BHAC’s Bridge Academy Movement (BAM) program and two BHAC staff members.

The BAM program pays formerly incarcerated youth to complete 200-250 hours in media and visual arts training to prepare them for creative careers. That day, students were set to showcase their work at the BAM program graduation for families and community members. 

Rene Weber, a teaching artist at the BHAC, had been with the students setting up for the ceremony minutes before the incident occurred. 

According to Weber, the students had gone to coffee across the street at Milpa Kitchen as they often did, when staff were alerted that they were being detained. 

Weber said he arrived to find students and a staff member pressed against the wall in handcuffs. 

Video from the scene, taken by a staff member at the BHAC, shows multiple officers surrounding the group. At one point, an officer orders a person to “get on the wall” and displays a stun gun.  

“No, none of that, these are kids right here,” the staff member replies.

Another staff member, Teotl Veliz, recorded a large police response.  

“I counted 12 cop cars, that’s at least 25 cops, and they had a helicopter,” Veliz said. “It was just so comedic, tragically comedic, that it was on their graduation day too.”

Officers established a perimeter with yellow tape along the side of Ashley’s Beauty Salon as local business owners and witnesses gathered around the students. 

“I was just incredibly disappointed in LAPD… because it became so apparent to everybody, all at the same time, that it was racial profiling and nothing else,” Veliz said.

Weber said officers gave shifting explanations for the stop at the scene, including blocking the sidewalk and possible underage vaping. After Weber told the officers that all of the students were 18, they said they would investigate whether the group had any gang affiliation. 

Police have not responded to questions about what led officers to believe that the group was gang-affiliated. 

Weber recalled pleading with the officers to let the group go and explaining to them that they worked across the street. Community members and local business owners also stepped in to vouch for the students. 

“Our job is to help them gain a new perspective on life,” Weber said. “They’re coming out of juvenile detention and they’re turning their lives around. We can do our part in keeping them off the streets and keeping them doing better but what does it mean if they’re going to be profiled and treated exactly the same way?” 

In total, seven 18-year-old students and two staff members were detained. BHAC staff said one student and one staff member were taken to Hollenbeck Community Police Station and released less than two hours later after advocacy from community members and Councilmember Ysabel Jurado.

The incident ultimately resulted in an infraction for smoking a cannabis e-vape on a public sidewalk, according to a photo of the infraction shared with the Beat. LAPD did not provide details about the people taken to Hollenbeck Station or the infraction. 

The graduation ceremony was cancelled that night and is expected to be rescheduled in April. 

“Graduation should be a moment of pride and possibility — not fear,” Jurado said in a statement. “I’m seeking answers about what occurred, and this underscores the need for stronger relationships between law enforcement and community organizations so moments like these are protected, not disrupted.”

Carmelita Ramirez‑Sanchez, the conservatory’s executive director, said she was grateful to the community and Jurado for advocating for the students’ release. Jurado met her at Hollenbeck Station within 20 minutes of being alerted to the incident, she said. 

“They had store owners, señoras, barbers, that ran out and were trying to explain to the police who our kids were,” Ramirez‑Sanchez said. 

Still, she said the incident tarnished what should have been a joyous celebration.

“I imagine that what this does is derail this entire idea that you can be an active participant in your own restorative growth,” she said.