Power Moves · Week of November 2, 2026

This week the state opened a door, a commentator pointed at a loophole, a new law handed renters a tool, and big money bought the coast. Not one of them makes your next move for you.

Prop 1: count outcomes, not openings.

The first behavioral health facility built with Proposition 1 money, the Ritter Center in San Rafael, is open with 1,412 outpatient treatment slots. The state reports 6,948 residential treatment beds and 27,868 outpatient slots, 102 and 104 percent of its goals, and expects 13 more facilities by the end of 2026.¹ Good. Voters asked for results, and beds are a result. The next number has to be people treated and people who stay off the street. Hold the state to that scoreboard.

Prop 13: protect the home, not the loophole.

A CalMatters commentary argues that Proposition 13, sold as a way to save retirees’ homes from rising property taxes, became a permanent discount for rich, corporate property owners, with billions of dollars on the line.² I agree with the direction. Keep the shield on the family home. Business property should not hide behind it. Whatever Sacramento decides, your job does not change: know what you own and what it costs you to hold it.

Balcony solar: the law opened a door. Walk through it.

California has a new law allowing portable solar, and the open question is what it means for renters.³ Renters, read your lease and ask your landlord in writing. Landlords, say yes to tenant-paid upgrades that lower utility bills. That is how you keep good tenants.

A $600 million resort is not your benchmark.

The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, sold for an estimated $600 million as the top end of the state’s hotel market continues to thrive.⁴ Read it as news about one segment, not a signal about yours. Stop measuring yourself against a deal you were never in. Your first home, your first rental, your first business: that is the deal that matters.

The thread through all of it

The state is building beds. Writers are arguing over property taxes. A new law gave renters an option. Investors bought a landmark. None of that is yours to control. Your credit, your savings, your lease, and your plan are. Everything else is someone else’s drama, and you don’t have time for it. Knowledge is power, but knowledge without action is wasted energy. The power is always now.

— Eric Lawrence Frazier, MBA, Your Trusted Advisor in Business and Wealth

Notes

1. Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, “After Record Reductions in Homelessness: Governor Newsom Announces Opening of First Prop 1-Funded Behavioral Health Facility,” press release, October 30, 2026, gov.ca.gov.
2. “California Can’t Afford to Keep Prop. 13 Loopholes Open When Billions of Dollars Are on the Line,” commentary, CalMatters, October 30, 2026, calmatters.org.
3. “Balcony Solar Is Coming to California. Can Renters Actually Use It?,” Los Angeles Times, October 27, 2026, latimes.com.
4. “Dana Point Landmark Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel Resort Sells for $600 Million,” Los Angeles Times, October 31, 2026, latimes.com.

Power Moves is opinion and commentary by Eric Lawrence Frazier, MBA. It is not legal, tax, investment, or lending advice, and it is not an offer to lend or a commitment to lend. Facts are drawn from the sources cited; read the originals. CA DRE 01143484 · NMLS 461807.