Analysis: California Lawmakers Propose $20M Google Grant Partnership

SUMMARY

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ newly proposed California Civic Media Act would create a public-private partnership between the state of California and Google called the California Civic Media Program. The program’s California Civic Media Fund would fund local news organizations via grants directed by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, known as GO-Biz.

California allocated $10 million to the program in its FY2025-2026 budget. Google is expected to contribute a matching $10 million. The program was outlined in amendments inserted into Assembly Bill 155 / Senate Bill 155 on Sept. 8, 2025.

Rebuild Local News has press independence concerns with empowering the executive branch to pick winners and losers, among other issues. 

BACKGROUND

The proposed California Civic Media Act emerges from a legislative settlement reached with Google at the end of the 2023-2024 California Legislative session. During that session, Asm. Wicks and Senator Steven M. Glazer proposed bills (AB 886 and SB 1327) that would have required large tech companies to fund substantial subsidies for local journalism jobs in California.

The incoming California Civic Media Act proposal is a much different and smaller program than the public-private partnership initially envisioned in August 2024 in lieu of passing either bill. The 2024 announcement had proposed a $250 million program spread across five years, with $100 million in combined funding from the state and Google coming in the first year of the program. 

Since then, an AI Accelerator proposed as part of the settlement does not seem to have come to fruition. State budget shortfalls prompted California Gov. Gavin Newsom to reduce the size of the state’s allocation, which led Google to reduce its own contribution, resulting in the program’s current proposed annual size of $20 million. 

The program was originally intended to be administered by the UC Berkeley School of Journalism. After the school turned away the program, Wicks announced in May 2025 that the program would be overseen by the California State Library and its Librarian, Greg Lucas, a former longtime San Francisco Chronicle reporter and a gubernatorial appointee. The newly introduced legislative language keeps the program inside of California’s executive branch but now with the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz).

GOVERNANCE AND OBJECTIVES OF CIVIC MEDIA FUND

California Civic Media Act is not a New Jersey-style Civic Information Consortium, in which a publicly funded but independently governed 501(c)3 is chartered by legislation for the purposes of local media grantmaking. The proposed California Civic Media Act instead vests total discretionary grantmaking authority inside California’s executive branch via the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), which “serves as the State of California’s leader for job growth, economic development and business assistance efforts in the world’s fourth largest economy.” 

The current director of GO-Biz is Gov. Newsom cabinet appointee Dee Dee Myers, a longtime Democratic political activist and official. Myers was previously White House Press Secretary under President Bill Clinton, executive vice president of worldwide corporate communications and public affairs for Warner Bros., managing director of communications firm Glover Park Group, as well as a CNBC cohost, Vanity Fair contributor and political commentator.

The California Civic Media Program would be established with the following statutory objectives:

(1) Enhancing the public good through supporting a robust and dynamic California press corps and reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy.

(2) Empowering Californians by fostering greater understanding of and access to information about their communities and governmental structures.

(3) Ensuring the sustainability of existing and new online publications with an emphasis on community-facing journalism.

(4) Supporting California-based state and local news organizations, particularly those serving underserved and underrepresented communities.

(5) Strengthening journalism that facilitates social integration, promotes civic engagement, and addresses inequalities among underserved communities.

Note: The term “online publications” in (3) is not defined and thus subject to interpretation. The bill text makes no distinction between print, broadcast or digital-only media outlets that publish digitally.

THE CIVIC MEDIA FUND ADVISORY BOARD AND PROGRAM SPENDING

The GO-Biz Director Dee Dee Myers (or her successor) would appoint a nine-person news industry advisory board that – befitting its name – is strictly advisory, with no statutory authority to make program rules, direct funds, or govern GO-Biz activities or grantmaking. “The office may solicit recommendations from the advisory board, but shall retain sole discretion and control over the expenditure of public moneys in the fund.” GO-Biz is allowed to use up to 7.5% of the fund for administrative overhead.

Public dollars directed by GO-Biz are to be prioritized “to support local and community news organizations.” GO-Biz’s statutory authority over the allocation of privately contributed dollars – such as the matching funds expected to be given by Google – is less directly spelled out in the bill text but appears to be similarly discretionary, though without a “local and community news” mandate.

Google’s expected contribution of private funds is voluntary and not compelled by the legislation. GO-Biz may – but is not statutorily required to – enter into separate agreements with third-party entities for the distribution of privately contributed funds. The selection or nature of those third-party entities is not regulated by the bill. 

Regarding the dispensation of privately contributed funds, the advisory board “may seek to allocate moneys to publishers on a pro rata basis based on the number of journalists employed by a publisher in the state, with the goal of increasing the total number of journalists employed in the state,” but is not required to do so; further, its spending suggestions to GO-Biz are “recommendations.” If the private funds “are held by a third-party administrator designated by the donor, the office shall provide instructions to the administrator for the expenditure of those funds.” In other words, GO-Biz may direct a third-party entity to distribute Google-contributed funding to California publishers in the form of a per capita journalist payroll subsidy – as had originally been envisioned in the 2024 tentative settlement – but GO-Biz is not statutorily obligated to do so.

The advisory board would primarily be comprised of news industry organization representatives, as follows:

(A) Two at-large members.

(B) Two members representing the California News Publishers Association, or a successor entity.

(C) One member representing the American Community Media, or a successor entity.

(D) One member representing the Local Independent Online News Publishers, or a successor entity.

(E) One member representing the Latino Media Collaborative, or a successor entity.

(F) One member representing the California Black Media, or a successor entity.

(G) One member representing the Media Guild of the West, or a successor entity.

The named organizations may recommend candidates to the GO-Biz director for selection.

POTENTIAL ISSUES

• • Press freedom: Grantmaking power is non-independent and fully discretionary by the executive branch, which can pick and choose which news outlets to support; GO-Biz currently under the direction of a longtime Democratic Party official 
  • Size and precedent: California program is significantly smaller than Google news compensation settlements struck after similar legislative pushes in nations with much smaller economies by GDP, Canada ($100 million CAD a year) and Australia (thought to exceed $130 million AUS a year)
  • Durability: A matching-funds clause means if Google reduces its contribution and no other private entity donate funds, the state reduces its spending as well, putting the program’s survival almost fully in Google’s hands as a voluntary participant; the state’s contribution of public dollars requires annual recurring appropriations (meaning annual lobbying and annual risks of budget reductions)
  • Transparency: No explicit public reporting requirement, though the Advisory Committee may be bound by Bagley-Keene Act transparency requirements on public meetings
  • Advisory board composition: A majority of the board is made up of certain publisher associations rather than a broader range of stakeholders

Prepared by Rebuild Local News Director of Policy Matt Pearce. For feedback or corrections, contact mattpearce@rebuildlocalnews.org.