Gavin Newsom hollow declaration he will "lays down the law" on construction of more housing

In the space of two minutes, Gov. Gavin Newsom reordered a political standoff over California’s housing crisis.

The governor on Wednesday threw his weight behind a push to turbocharge housing construction statewide by slashing local restrictions and environmental reviews. With divisions among legislative Democrats imperiling a package of bills, Newsom announced during a news conference that he would instead advance those policy changes through the budget, over which he has considerably more leverage.