The Brief

The rest of the country may remember Hollywood legend Rob Reiner for his work in front of and behind the camera, but in California, he leaves behind a political legacy that endures beyond his films and movie and television roles.

Reiner, a longtime Democratic activist, donor and fundraiser, played a critical role in the legalization of same-sex marriage in California, and he was a driving force behind California’s signature early-childhood development program, First 5.

Reiner, 78, was found stabbed to death along with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, inside their Brentwood home Sunday.

Police investigators announced Monday that their son, Nick Reiner, 32, had been arrested and was being held on suspicion of their murder. Rob and Nick Reiner once worked together on a semi-autobiographical film about Nick Reiner’s lifelong struggles with addiction.

“I can’t believe it,” former California Gov. Gray Davis told CalMatters Monday in a phone interview. “I mean, Rob and Michele have been part of Sharon and I's life for over 30 years.” Sharon Davis is the former governor’s wife.

Davis said he’ll never forget when Rob Reiner in 1991 invited him — then California’s elected controller — to hang out on the set of Reiner’s “A Few Good Men.” Davis got to watch for hours as actors including Tom Cruise, Kevin Bacon, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson did their scenes.

“I thought: I am so proud to live in a state where quality filmmaking takes place,” Davis said.

But a few years later, the two became something akin to coworkers. Davis was elected governor the same night in 1998 that Reiner’s Proposition 10 ballot initiative passed. The initiative created a new tax on tobacco that funded the programs for children younger than 5 that are now in every California county.

Davis said the two were at the same Election Night party in 1998 as the results came in. Davis said he and his administration later worked with Reiner to ensure the First 5 program got implemented. Davis appointed Reiner to chair the program’s California Children and Families Commission, a position he held until 2006. Reiner resigned amid allegations he was using taxpayer funds to promote his Proposition 82, an unsuccessful ballot initiative that sought to tax the wealthy to fund preschool for all children.

“Rob was not just a talker. He was a doer,” Davis said. “A lot of other people would give a nice speech, they would come to a press conference, and then they thought their job was over, and certainly we appreciate that. I mean, they have other things to do, but the difference was Rob called you up and said, ‘What can I do next?’ ”

Mike Roos, a former California legislator, political strategist and lobbyist, worked closely with Reiner on the Prop. 10 campaign. He said they got to know each other and it was clear to Roos that Reiner loved his children dearly.

“This has been just one of the most horrible things I could ever imagine, knowing him and knowing his love and the investment that he made in every one of those kids in that family,” Roos said, “but particularly how he cared and talked so thoughtfully about the struggles that Nick had in that period of time when I knew him.”

Later, Reiner would help found the American Foundation for Equal Rights. The group paid for the legal fight against Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage in California. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Prop. 8 in 2013.

Kris Perry, the former executive director of First 5 and a lead plaintiff in the case that got Prop. 8 overturned, said Rob and Michele Reiner also stood by her and her wife, Sandy Stier, as they and the other plaintiffs defended their right to marry in the landmark case.

“They continued over a five-year period to champion the cause by speaking out themselves, bringing more support to the case, doing media interviews, and, more importantly, being kind and generous … year after year after year,” Perry said. “They cared about us as people throughout that entire process. They left this indelible impression on all of us of what it means to be a real leader, to not only make something possible, but to stand beside people during the fight.”

She said Reiner wasn’t just a figurehead at First 5, either. He attended Children and Families Commission meetings every month and was deeply involved in discussions of “how to invest, where to get results, how to hold people accountable,” she said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom over the weekend said Reiner’s impressive body of professional work, which included “When Harry Met Sally,” “Stand By Me” and “The Princess Bride,” taught “generations how to see goodness and righteousness in others — and (encouraged) us to dream bigger.”

“That empathy extended well beyond his films,” Newsom said in a statement. “He made California a better place through his good works. Rob will be remembered for his remarkable filmography and for his extraordinary contribution to humanity.”

The Reiners donated about $2.7 million to help Democrats over their lifetime, The New York Times reported, including $100,000 to support then-President Joe Biden’s 2024 re-election. He later joined actor George Clooney in urging Biden to drop out, saying “We need someone younger to fight back.”

Not everyone had nice things to say about Reiner. President Donald Trump, whom Reiner frequently criticized, called Reiner a “tortured and struggling but once very talented movie director and comedy star” in a social media post. He claimed Reiner’s death was linked to a “mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”

Democratic U.S Rep. Laura Friedman, who represents the Hollywood area, said in an interview she “really felt sick over seeing Donald Trump’s post about this terrible murder.”

Friedman, a former film and television producer, said Reiner’s art reflected his politics. She said he advocated for being decent to each other and against bigotry — unlike Trump who she said has a “unique ability to divide Americans and make people angry.”

Reiner, she said, often used humor to “bring us together … and do it in a way that was somehow gentle and loving at the same time.”

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

As Los Angeles homeowners grapple with the expense of rebuilding after last year’s devastating fires, an L.A. City Councilmember is putting forward an idea that could lower some costs.

Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades, has introduced a motion to explore waiving part of the city’s portion of the local sales tax for fire victims who purchase rebuilding materials in the city.

The 1% of the local 9.75% sales tax that goes into the city’s general fund would be given back to consumers under the proposal. The waiver could apply to lumber, appliances and other rebuilding goods purchased within the city.

The motion, introduced Friday by Park and seconded by Councilmember John Lee, says: “The City should do everything within its power to alleviate the financial burden for these residents and businesses in order to facilitate their return and stabilize the Pacific Palisades community.”

Would it make much of a difference? 

Economists told LAist the proposal could help many homeowners mitigate the high cost of rebuilding, but likely wouldn’t tip the scales for under-insured, under-resourced property owners.

“It wouldn't hurt if it's very well designed and easy to use,” said Alexander Meeks, a director at the Santa Monica-based Milken Institute. “But I'm not sure if it's really going to tackle the scale of the financial challenge that survivors are facing.”

Meeks noted that the tax waiver wouldn’t lower up-front costs such as environmental testing, architectural design and permitting. And it may not help homeowners sourcing raw materials from outside the city.

Zhiyun Li, a UCLA Anderson School of Management economist, said the waiver could help some homeowners justify the additional cost of rebuilding more fire-safe structures.

“Homeowners must typically pay out of pocket to upgrade to IBHS+ standards, which are more stringent,” Li said. “The tax waiver could encourage upgrading to IBHS+ standards or investing more in mitigation, thereby reducing future risk and improving the likelihood of maintaining insurance coverage.”

What’s next for the proposal? 

The proposed tax relief would not be available to properties that have been sold since the fires started in January 2025.

The motion has been sent to the City Council’s budget and fire recovery committees. If approved by the full council, it would require the city administrative officer, the Office of Finance and the city attorney to report back to the council within 60 days on options for crafting a tax relief plan.

The motion calls for the report to consider factors such as how to minimize the burden of administering the tax relief, what documentation homeowners would have to submit and what it would cost the city to oversee the program.

Senate and House Republican leadership have resurrected a stalled plan to fund the Department of Homeland Security after a record 47-day funding lapse.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in a joint statement on Wednesday that the House will take up a measure passed by the Senate last week to fund most of DHS except Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol through the end of September.

Republicans would then attempt to fund ICE and Border Patrol for three years using a party-line budget reconciliation bill that would not require support from Democrats.

"In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited," Thune and Johnson wrote.

The agreement comes nearly a week after House Republicans dismissed an identical plan, refusing to take up the Senate-passed measure and instead passing a 60-day short term funding bill for all of DHS that had little chance of overcoming Democratic opposition in the Senate.

Johnson called the agreement a "joke" and President Donald Trump declined to publicly endorse the deal. Trump had previously resisted any package that did not include his push to overhaul federal elections known as the Save America Act.

"I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it," Trump told reporters last week.

Democrats welcomed the agreement as in line with their pledge not to give ICE any more money without reforms after immigration enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis. But the deal does not include any of the policy demands Democrats are pressing for, such as a ban on masks for immigration enforcement officers and requiring warrants issued by a judge, not just the agency, to enter homes.

"For days, Republican divisions derailed a bipartisan agreement, making American families pay the price for their dysfunction," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a statement Wednesday. "Throughout this fight, Senate Democrats never wavered."

Trump seemed to bless the revived plan earlier Wednesday, writing on social media that he wants a party-line bill to fund immigration enforcement on his desk by June 1.

"We are going to work as fast, and as focused, as possible to replenish funding for our Border and ICE Agents, and the Radical Left Democrats won't be able to stop us," Trump wrote.

Despite the shutdown, ICE has been minimally impacted because Republican lawmakers approved $75 billion for ICE through another party-line budget reconciliation bill last year.

Congress is on a two-week recess, but the Senate and House could move to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP as early as Thursday using a procedure known as unanimous consent that allows the chambers to circumvent formal voting as long as no member objects.

Even during a recess when most members are not in Washington, this could be unpredictable, especially in the House, where many hard-line conservatives oppose a deal that does not fully fund DHS.

"Let's make this simple: caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund Law Enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wrote on X. "If that's the vote, I'm a NO."

If a member does object, that could require waiting for another vote when all members are back from recess.

Claudia Grisales contributed reporting.
Copyright 2026 NPR

California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season.

It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century.

Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave.

But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains.

On Wednesday, state engineers conducting the symbolic April 1 snowpack measurement at Phillips Station south of Lake Tahoe found no measurable snow in patches of white dotting the grassy field.

“I want to welcome you call to probably one of the quickest snow surveys we’ve had — maybe one where people could actually use an umbrella,” joked Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “We’re getting a lot of questions about are we heading into a hydrologic drought? The answer is, I don’t know.”

State data reports that California’s snowpack is closing out the season at an alarming 18% of average statewide, and an even more abysmal 6% of average in the northern mountains that feed California’s major reservoirs.

Only the extreme drought year of 2015 beat this year’s snowpack for the worst on record, measuring in at just 5% of average on April 1st, when the snow historically is at its deepest.

“I think everyone's anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network.

“Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.”

‘It’s pretty bizarre up here’ 

In the city of South Lake Tahoe, which survived the massive Caldor Fire in the fall of 2021 without losing any structures, fire chief Jim Drennan said his department is already ramping up prevention efforts.

“It's pretty bizarre up here right now. It really seems like June conditions more than March,” Drennan said. “People are already turning the sprinklers on for their lawns.”

Without more precipitation, an early spring may complicate prescribed burning efforts. But Drennan said fire agencies in the Tahoe basin can start mechanically clearing fuels from forest areas earlier than usual.

“That means we can get more work done,” he said.

It also means homeowners need to start hardening their homes now, said Martin Goldberg, battalion chief and fuels management officer for the Lake Valley Fire Protection District, which protects unincorporated communities in the Lake Tahoe Basin’s south shore.

Goldberg urges residents to scour their yards for burnable materials, create defensible space and reach out to local fire departments with questions. The risks are widespread — from firewood, wooden fences, gas cans, plants, pine needles — even lawn furniture stacked against a house.

“In years past, I wouldn't even think of raking and clearing until May,” Goldberg said. “But my yard's completely cleared of snowpack, and it has been for a couple weeks now.”

‘A haystack fire’

Battalion chief David Acuña, a spokesperson for Cal Fire, said fire season is shaped by more than just one year’s snowpack.

Climate change has been remaking California’s fire seasons into fire years. And California’s recent average to abundant water years have fueled what Acuña called “bumper crops of vegetation and brush.”

“Most of California is like a haystack. And if you’ve ever seen a haystack fire, they burn very intensely because there's layers of fuel,” Acuña said.

Like Quinn-Davidson, Acuña wasn’t ready to make specific predictions about fires to come.

But John Abatzoglou, a professor of climatology at UC Merced, said the temperatures and snowpack conditions this year offer a glimpse of California in the latter decades of this century, as fossil fuel use continues to drive global temperatures higher.

How this year’s fires will play out will depend on when, where and how wind, heat, fuel and ignitions combine. But it foreshadows the consequences of a warmer California for water and fire under climate change.

“This,” Abatzoglou said, “is yet another stress test for the future in the state.”

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