THE BUZZ: A “death spiral.” A “financial emergency.” A matter of “survival.”

Bay Area’s public transit systems are hurtling toward a dire end of the line, according to officials who testified at an often-bleak Senate hearing Tuesday. Senators were there to listen and question, not to vote — but the exhortations for state assistance spoke to one of the marquee budget disputes as Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers haggle over diminished dollars.

Newsom wants to close a $31.5 billion deficit in part by slicing billions of dollars previously allocated to transit. Legislative Democrats can only contest the governor on so many fronts, and leaders have telegraphed that transit is a priority where they will seek to hold the line. Senate Democrats “rejected” Newsom’s plan, Sen. Scott Wiener said Tuesday, and “I know our Assembly Democratic colleagues get it as well.”

No lawmaker has sounded the trainmageddon alarm louder than Wiener, who has pushed Newsom and leaders to redirect revenues to a $5.15 billion transit infusion. “We cannot and will not allow our public transit system to collapse due to inaction by the state of California,” the San Francisco Democrat said Tuesday, arguing that BART and Muni and are critical Bay Area economic pillars.

The pandemic eviscerated transit budgets across the country. Locked-down riders vanished, and many of them have not returned as work-from-home becomes more commonplace. That phenomenon is particularly acute in San Francisco, where empty office spaces have fanned fears of a reeling downtown plunging into an economic “doom loop.” Federal money is dwindling. As deficit projections soar, there is a concrete possibility BART runs out of money.

Hence the sense of urgency from Wiener and others. The ripples are bigger than people commuting to Giants games. Efforts to allay California’s housing crisis often seek to expedite projects that are close to transit. Environmentalists and urban planners argue expansive transit systems are critical to reducing carbon emissions. “Public transit is the vanguard of California’s fight against climate change,” Speaker Anthony Rendon said last week.

People don’t always love riding BART. Polling shows they want rides to be safer, cleaner and more efficient. But the beleaguered system — along with train and bus routes in the Bay Area and beyond — have some public champions in legislative Democrats. The next month will tell if they can get Newsom on board.

BUENOS DÍAS, good Wednesday morning. Legislators are rallying with grocery workers this morning for a package of bills that would give workers job security or severance pay when mergers lead to layoffs and closures.

Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up at [email protected] and [email protected] or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte.

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We have tried to be very clear about the magnitude of the risks here. … My worst fears are that we cause significant — we, the field, the technology, the industry — cause significant harm to the world.” OpenAI founder Sam Altman before Congress.

TWEET OF THE DAY:

WE’RE HIRING — POLITICO is embarking on an exciting expansion in the Golden State and looking for another journalist to join our growing team as a California Playbook author. More in the job description here.

— “A Hollywood producer says he makes ‘dreams come true.’ But fraud allegations dog him,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Noah Goldberg: “The production, it turned out, was over budget, and hundreds of thousands of dollars had been “stolen” by Brown, according to a lawsuit filmmakers filed against Brown in Los Angeles last month.”

— Dianne Feinstein’s health: “The senator seems not to remember being absent from the Capitol.,” by Slate’s Jim Newell: “But it is not true that she had been ‘here,’ in a physical sense, for the two-and-a-half-month stretch between February and last week.”

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: ROLLIN’ IN THE DOUGH — Democrat Will Rollins raised more than $350,000 in the first 24 hours after launching his rematch against longtime Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, a big initial haul for a House challenger.

L.A. UP — Former Rep. and Assemblymember Laura Richardson is looking to return to elected office, running for the blue 35th Senate District currently represented by the terming-out Sen. Steve Bradford. Richardson launched with a string of endorsements from local elected officials.

— “Attorney General Rob Bonta considers run for governor, sources say,” by The San Francisco Standard’s Josh Koehn: “In some ways, Kounalakis is to blame for Bonta hiring a new campaign squad just half a year after he won his first full term as California’s top attorney.”

— Newsom announces $30M effort to improve salmon habitat in Northern California, by POLITICO’s Camille Von Kaenel: The governor announced the funding for a project that will include a channel to make it easier for salmon and sturgeon to reach upstream spawning grounds in the Sierra Nevada, the latest in a series of moves to improve declining fish habitat in the state.

— “Banko Brown shooting: Could U.S. or California prosecutors bring charges against security guard?,” by The San Francisco Standard’s Michael Barba: “While California Attorney General Rob Bonta could be in a position to second-guess Jenkins and consider charging Anthony with manslaughter or murder, experts in criminal law do not see a pathway for the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute the case against the security guard.”

— “California’s COVID unemployment mess isn’t over yet,” by CalMatters’ Lauren Hepler: “The biggest logjam of contested unemployment cases lies in a state appeals process, where more than 1 million workers have asked for a review of EDD’s decisions in their cases since March 2020. About 880,000 of those cases have already been transferred and heard by a lesser-known state labor agency, the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, where the average case is still languishing for 139 days before a hearing with a judge, federal data shows.”

— “L.A. dispensaries openly selling magic mushrooms as state weighs decriminalizing psychedelics,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Connor Sheets: “As the state Legislature considers a bill to decriminalize several psychedelics including psilocybin, some L.A.-area businesses are openly selling the potent hallucinogen. Although cannabis is legal statewide, no Southern California municipality or county has followed the lead of Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Cruz by decriminalizing magic mushrooms.”

— “Can reparations bring Black residents back to San Francisco?,” by The New York Times’ Tim Arango: “The cash figure has grabbed headlines, but it is widely seen as unrealistic in a city that has growing budget problems and a lack of political consensus on the issue.”

— “Bank execs blame panicked depositors for Silicon Valley, Signature failures, but senators blame them,” by The Associated Press’ Ken Sweet: “Becker used his testimony and answers to senators’ questions to say that Silicon Valley Bank was a victim of a confluence of factors, including a social media-driven bank run. Regulators have said that customers pulled $42 billion of deposits from Silicon Valley Bank on March 9, one day after the bank announced it needed to raise capital.”

— “Major League Soccer expected to announce San Diego expansion team Thursday,” by The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Mark Zeigler.

— “Is a four-day workweek as good as it sounds? California employees share what it’s really like,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Samantha Masunaga.

— “Marin County water rates could see huge jump,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Julie Johnson.

— “Vaccine authorized for emergency use in California condors amid bird flu outbreak,” by The Associated Press.

Former Rep. George Miller … TechCrunch’s Karyne Levy … Rebecca Nelson Kay

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