Contributor: How California is failing its Latino population

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Few states so self-righteously proclaim their commitment to helping minorities like California does.Gov.

Gavin Newsom rarely misses an opportunity to assert his solidarity with people of color, proclaiming in 2022 that “our incredible diversity is the foundation for our state’s strength, growth and success — and that confronting inequality is not just a moral imperative, but an economic one.”Nice words, but on the things that matter — affordable housing, good jobs, and decent education — the current California regime has been a disaster for minorities.In a new study I did with attorney Jennifer Hernandez, released by the University of Texas’ Civitas Institute, we found that in most critical areas, African Americans and Latinos do worse here in California than in most of the country.To be sure, some minorities have benefited from such programs as diversity, equity and inclusion to get into elite colleges and universities.

But this has not stopped the rise of the state’s poverty rate, which increased to 18.9% in 2023, well above 11.0% in 2021, according to new Census data.Latinos, with a poverty rate of 16.9%, remained disproportionately poor.

Some 13.6% of African Americans, 11.5% of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders and 10.2% of white Californians lived in poverty.These awful results reflect state policies — particularly around climate change — that hurt job growth and wages and yet are embraced by Newsom and the Legislature.For his part, Newsom still sees climate as a useful wedge issue with Democratic primary voters, as he demonstrated by making an appearance at the recent climate summit in Brazil, which most leaders of the top carbon-emitting nations skipped.Yet his climate obsessions have had some awful results for the poorest Californians.

Recently, the California Air Resources Board, the primary executor of California’s climate policies, projected ...