Tom Philp: The billionaires backing California Forever want Newsom's help. Will he?

Tom Philp, The Sacramento Bee on Jul 25, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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The billionaires behind the idea to build a city roughly the size of Oakland about 40 miles southwest of Sacramento are seeking the help of Gov. Gavin Newsom to advance the Solano County project known as California Forever. The mystery inside the Capitol is what the governor will actually do.

This is not an easy political choice. Far behind in his 2018 goal to build 3.5 million new housing units throughout the state, Newsom could support this project because California Forever envisions some 400,000 new residents and new manufacturing jobs.

It would be awkward for Newsom, with his not-so-hidden aspirations for the White House, to be doing huge favors for Silicon Valley billionaires backing this project and asking for very special treatment in Sacramento.

“There will be no streamlining for housing unless there’s a guarantee of new jobs,” said Darrell Steinberg, the former Sacramento mayor who is among the stable of political heavyweights hired by California Forever.

California Forever has divided the political world, with State Senator Christopher Cabaldon of West Sacramento among the opponents.

“There’s no rationale for it,” Cabaldon said.

The last time California attempted master planning on this scale was in 1959, prior to the creation of environmental laws that stop developments today, when the Irvine Company began a master planning exercise that would eventually lead to a community exceeding 300,000 people, the city of Irvine.

The backers of California Forever have purchased about 65,000 acres of ranchland in Solano County and envision something even bigger.

California Forever’s political candy is jobs. “Thousands” of jobs, said Darrell Steinberg, the former Sacramento mayor who is among the stable of political heavyweights hired by California Forever.

The idea is to convert the sleepy Solano waterfront in the tiny community of Collinsville into a shipyard to construct autonomous drone vessels for the U.S. Navy.

“The governor, his team, have been all in trying to get this started,” Steinberg said. “Obviously California needs more manufacturing jobs. We need more workforce housing.”

There isn’t yet any actual legislation to streamline any of the land use processes facing California Forever. And there’s nothing legislators can do until they return in August from the summer recess. Steinberg, however, said any relief to advance the housing, such as a cap on the length of legal challenges, would be tied to actual progress and jobs on this drone shipyard idea.

Would a manufacturer choose California and Collinsville, of all places, to build naval drones?

The San Francisco Chronicle earlier this month reported how one top manufacturing prospect, despite an intensive sales pitch by California, is choosing Texas and the Port of Brownsville for its $3.2 billion project. If there’s no deep pocket lined up to create jobs on the Solano shoreline, what’s the rush in Sacramento?

Cabaldon views the shipyard idea as “completely unrelated” to all the housing California Forever wants to build between Suisun City and Rio Vista.

A hallmark of the Newsom years is his use of “trailer bills” tied to the annual budget to advance completely unrelated policy efforts. It’s a way to circumvent the traditional months-long legislative process and ram something past lawmakers with precious little debate.

Will one of his last trailer bills as governor be a sweetener for California Forever?

“The Senate has been on high alert,” said Cabaldon, who hasn’t seen the language.

California Forever got off on the wrong foot when these investors shrouded themselves in secrecy as they bought up all this land, leaving everyone else in the dark. And now they are trying to buy influence in Sacramento?

There is an increasingly credible argument that California can’t build big projects any longer. Our proliferation of regulations and processes can get in the way of good things. The Legislature could have had a robust debate about California Forever this session. But that apparently is not what California Forever wanted.

It’s not a good sign that California Forever prefers the shadows of Sacramento, hoping the governor delivers a late summer surprise. This is a plan that is anything but masterful.

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