Rise Of The Robotruck Lobby

After autonomous vehicle interests spent at least a quarter of a million dollars on lobbying and treated two senior gubernatorial aides to a bougie dinner, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) vetoed a bill Friday night that would have banned self-driving trucks from operating in the state without a safety operator aboard. 

The veto delivered a massive win to Big Tech and a major blow to labor unions and road safety advocates, since backers of the bill say the rapid rise of driverless trucks may jeopardize trucking jobs and make public roadways more dangerous.

Newsom’s veto is the latest successful lobbying effort for the growing autonomous vehicle industry in the influential, Democratic-led state. 

It comes on the heels of the California Public Utilities Commission approving permits allowing robotaxi companies Cruise and Waymo to operate essentially without limits in San Francisco, following a multi-million dollar industry lobbying surge.

Local chapters of the Teamsters union repeatedly urged Newsom to sign the autonomous truck safety bill, which would have protected truck driving jobs into the future. But Newsom’s team signaled its opposition last month

The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), an office Newsom directly controls, took the rare step of formally coming out against the bill by sending a letter of opposition to its author, Assembly member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D). 

Dee Dee Myers, a senior Newsom advisor and director of GO-Biz who served as White House Press Secretary in the anti-union Clinton administration, argued the trucking bill would undermine existing oversight, hamper economic competition, and inhibit “the state’s ability to carry forward momentum from billions of dollars in recent investments for supply chain infrastructure.” 

“Our state is on the cusp of a new era and cannot risk stifling innovation at this critical juncture,” wrote Myers.

Tech industry lobbyists treated Myers and one of her GO-Biz colleagues to a $263 dinner at Il Fornaio, an upscale Italian restaurant in San Jose, in May, as the autonomous truck safety bill was working its way through the state assembly.  

Myers did not respond to a request for comment, but GO-Biz issued a statement.

“As with any bill that stands to impact California’s economy, our office met with stakeholders on both sides of this issue throughout the legislative cycle,” a GO-Biz spokesperson said in an email to The Lever. “Ultimately, our opposition to the bill was borne out of our desire to continue fostering innovation and growing jobs in the state.”

Newsom’s office directed The Lever to his veto statement, without answering questions regarding lobbying efforts and Newsom’s decision-making. 

Big Tech’s ability to gain exclusive access to lawmakers and their advisors on matters like this infuriates workers, said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who supported the autonomous truck safety bill.

“This is what enrages the working class in this country, that you have big donors that are influencing these decisions,” Khanna said. “[The veto] was really a punch in the gut to workers, and their concern about whether corporate greed and big money is driving decision making.”