By admin 
As Gov. Gavin Newsom mulls commuting the sentences of more than 500 people on California’s death row, he faces support — although not completely full-throated — from leaders in the Legislature.
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One of his firm backers is Assemblymember Nick Schultz, D-Burbank, who chairs the body’s public safety committee.
“He’s sitting in a very unique position today to do something that takes incredible political courage and vision. And he’s uniquely positioned to do it,” he said. “And I encourage him to cement his legacy.”
A few months into his first term as governor, Newsom in 2019 signed an executive order placing a moratorium on the death penalty and called for the closing of the execution chamber at San Quentin prison. He said at the time the intentional killing of another person is wrong. The move was controversial and bold, especially because it came a little more than two years after voters rejected a state proposition that would have repealed the death penalty for first-degree murder charges.
The issue is a tricky one to gauge in California, even in a state that is heavily Democratic. Many voters who support more liberal leaders still want to keep the death penalty intact.
Now, Newsom considers going even further in his final few months in office: changing the sentences for those on death row to life in prison. He gave insight into his thinking during a recent podcast interview with the lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who has represented death row inmates for decades and wrote a highly-acclaimed memoir about his work.
“I have to prepare for my own consciousness, my own rocking chair test: Do I commute the largest death row in the Western Hemisphere?” Newsom asked during the conversation.
Other Democratic legislators responded with a resounding: “Yes.”
“I applaud Governor Newsom’s consideration of commuting the sentences of those on death row and encourage him to follow through on this,” said state Sen. Jesse Arreguín, D-Berkeley, the Senate Public Safety Committee chair, in a statement.
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But many others declined to comment, directly or through spokespeople, or were more guarded.
A spokesperson for Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, said the lawmaker would comment if he had anything to share about the matter. Senate President pro Tem Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, said in a statement: “Commuting death penalty sentences is a difficult decision, but I know the governor will make the best choice with the facts at hand.”
Even Republican legislators on the public safety committees, through spokespeople, declined to comment.
Assembly Republican Leader Alexandra Macedo, R-Tulare, did not explicitly say that the governor should hold off on commuting sentences, but urged him to consider the parents who had to bury their children before making the decision.
“Think about the empty bedrooms, the birthdays that never came and the families who have spent decades living with that loss,” Macedo said in a statement. “They have already suffered more than anyone should ever have to endure. The least their governor can do is hear them out before changing the sentences handed down to their loved ones’ killers.”
Newsom, in the podcast, appeared to already be considering them while pondering what to do next. He asked Stevenson for advice in this area during the podcast: “What do I say to the victims?”
Newsom has a few more months to figure out what he wants to do. The next governor will take over on Jan. 4.
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This story was originally published October 20, 2026 at 5:30 PM.