Billionaire Elon Musk said Tuesday he will move the headquarters of private company SpaceX and social media site X from California to Texas, calling Governor Gavin Newsom's decision to sign a new law on student gender identity “the last straw.”

The law, signed Monday, prevents school districts from requiring teachers to inform parents of changes in a student's gender identity or sexual orientation without the child's consent. It also requires the state Department of Education to provide resources for families of LGBTQ+ students in seventh grade through high school.

“This is the last straw,” Musk wrote on X. “Because of this law and many others before it that attacked both families and businesses, SpaceX will now be moving its headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas.”

Elon Musk said SpaceX will move its headquarters to Texas. REUTERS

Musk added that he “made it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws like this would force families and businesses to leave California to protect their children.”

In another post, the billionaire added that the headquarters of X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, will be moving from San Francisco to Austin, Texas.

“I'm tired of dodging gangs of violent drug addicts just to get in and out of the building,” Musk wrote on X.

Critics argue that the bill is too invasive and undermines parents' rights. One group opposing the bill, the California Family Council, said it “undermines their fundamental role and puts boys and girls in potential danger.”

Meanwhile, supporters said the bill would provide necessary protections for transgender students whose parents live in disapproving households. The law takes effect in January.

In a separate response to an X post by “All In” podcast host Jason Calacanis, Musk said the law would cause “many families and businesses to move out of California.”

“Who would want to risk having their children taken away from them by the government?” Musk said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill, which Musk said will force families to leave the state to protect their children. JULIANA YAMADA/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott said Musk's move “solidifies Texas' leadership in space exploration.”

The Post has reached out to SpaceX for further comment.

Musk had already moved the physical headquarters of his electric car maker Tesla from California to Texas in 2021 after confrontations with Newsom and other local authorities over their pandemic policies.

In a separate move, Tesla moved its headquarters from Delaware to Texas earlier this year. Musk pushed for the change after a Delaware judge rejected his pay package on the grounds that it was excessive.

With post wires

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Elon Musk, CEO and owner of SpaceX, said Tuesday he will move the headquarters of both companies from California to Texas.

Musk announced these measures in response to California Governor Gavin Newsom signing a new law that prohibits school districts in California from requiring parents to provide notification of a child's change in gender identification.

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“This is the last straw. Because of this law and many other laws before it that attacked both families and businesses, SpaceX will now be moving its headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas,” Musk posted on X. He later added that the X headquarters would also be moved from San Francisco to Austin.

The “X” sign on the headquarters of the company formerly known as Twitter in San Francisco on July 28, 2023.Noah Berger / AP File

“I made it clear to Governor Newsom about a year ago that laws like this would force families and businesses to leave California to protect their children,” he added.

In 2022, People magazine reported, Elon Musk's then 18-year-old daughter received permission to officially change her name and gender. She dropped the surname Musk and instead adopted her mother's maiden name, Justine Wilson.

When asked about his estranged transgender daughter in October 2022, Musk told the Financial Times, “You can't win them all,” and claimed to have a good relationship with all of his other children.

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In 2021, Musk, also CEO of Tesla, moved his automaker's headquarters from Palo Alto, California, to Austin.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for further information.

This story first appeared on CNBC.com

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• A new law fast-tracking affordable and mixed-income housing is paying off in San Francisco. 
• Plans for the tallest-ever apartment building in the city are being fast-tracked under the new state law. 
• The Bay Area city is in desperate need of new housing, particularly affordable units. 

San Francisco is on track to get its tallest-ever apartment building, thanks to a new state law streamlining construction of affordable and mixed-income housing in commercial corridors.

The project — a 71-story apartment building in the city’s southern financial district — is being fast-tracked by Assembly Bill 2011, the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022.

Under the law, the building — which will replace a parking lot and a four-story office complex — isn’t subject to the lengthy approval processes under California’s Environmental Quality Act. It also doesn’t have to be approved by the city Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors, which often slow down or derail construction projects. It’s only the second project in San Francisco to use AB2011.

San Francisco has for years faced a severe housing affordability crisis and struggled to meet its state-mandated home building requirements, in part because of its lengthy permitting and approval processes.

About 10% of the one, two, and three-bedroom apartments — 67 of the 672 units — will have below market-rate rents. The building will also have a bridge connecting it to Salesforce park — a five-and-a-half-acre rooftop filled with greenery and fountains.

The tower at 530 Howard Street will be the tallest residential building in San Francisco and the third-tallest building citywide, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The developer behind it, Paul Paradis, has already helped shape the San Francisco skyline with the looming Salesforce Tower and the JPMorgan Chase building.

The 840-foot high apartment complex will have “incredible views,” Paradis told the Chronicle. “It’ll set a new standard for rental properties in San Francisco.”

AB2011 is one of a slew of pro-housing laws the California legislature has passed and Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed in recent years. Newsom signed more than 50 housing bills last month that loosen restrictions imposed by CEQA, fast-track affordable housing projects, and encourage more dense, infill residential construction.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has pushed hard to eliminate burdensome regulations on home construction and praised the new state laws.

“CEQA can’t be abused like it has in the past because of changes to our state laws,” she said during a panel at the Bloomberg CityLab conference in Washington last month.

And she celebrated the record-setting financial district tower.

“Turning a parking lot into housing, including affordable housing, is exactly what we need to do to build a stronger, more resilient San Francisco,” Breed said in a statement to the Chronicle. “It’s good for the future of our city, for our restaurants, and retail, and for the long-term health of our entire economy.”

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In West Hollywood, California, industry professionals say something unusual has occurred at a three-decade-old residential complex along La Cienega Boulevard: Parking, laundry rooms and excess storage were overhauled to become a half-dozen new apartments.

LaTerra Development, a Los Angeles-based multifamily owner and developer, converted these non-living spaces at 1121 N. La Cienega Blvd. into studio apartments in what real estate professionals say could be the most expansive use of building more apartment units in a single building using California’s Assembly Bill 68.

The law, signed in 2020, allows for more accessory dwelling unit construction in existing single-family and multifamily properties. The law was an attempt by the state to create incentives for more housing construction to ease an acute shortage of residential properties.

Other states and cities around the country, including Seattle, Chicago and Minneapolis, have adopted similar measures to permit these so-called ADUs in response to soaring housing costs.

In California, single-family homeowners have been the best-known adopters of the law, adding ADUs in their backyards and leasing out the space. However, some apartment owners have just begun looking at how to take advantage of the law, too, which could result in hundreds of new multifamily units added in greater Los Angeles, according to Chris Tourtellotte, managing director of LaTerra.

“We paved the way a little bit,” Tourtellotte said of building the ADUs on the La Cienega Boulevard property.

It’s still not common to see new ADUs built in existing apartment complexes, according to Jeremy Nova, founder of Louisville, Colorado-based Studio Shed, which makes and sells prefabricated ADUs across the United States.

“We’re seeing more ADUs being integrated into new developments” such as so-called microcommunities, a relatively new term — something between urban and suburban living — for a cluster of small residences on the same block, Nova said, as opposed to putting ADUs into existing apartment buildings.

In Los Angeles, ADU construction is growing in popularity. The city issued 100 permits for ADUs in 2016, but by 2022, that number rose to roughly 7,000, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that promotes solutions to a variety of issues facing the United States. A breakdown of what percentage ADU construction has occurred so far at greater Los Angeles apartment complexes wasn’t available to CoStar News.

New studio apartment kitchens at 1121 N. La Cienega Blvd. in West Hollywood, California, feature modern finishes and stainless steel appliances. (Jack Witthaus/CoStar)

Despite LaTerra’s project being the firm’s first ADU attempt, it’s difficult to tell that the units weren’t original to the 33-year-old property. An existing courtyard opens up to three of the studios, which have windows letting in natural light along with modern appliances, cabinets and finishes. A newly created hallway connecting to the courtyard leads to the other three units. Each unit has a doorbell and entryway sconce.

LaTerra created the new units in 15 months between getting plans approved with the city and wrapping up construction, Tourtellotte said. The state law allows apartment owners to skip the entitlement process, which hastens the timeline.

For ground-up apartment construction in West Hollywood, the planning, entitlement and building process would have taken years longer and cost at least $800,000 to build each unit, according to Tourtellotte. For the ADUs on La Cienega Boulevard, LaTerra spent roughly $300,000 for each unit.

The developer bought the property for $29.2 million in late 2021, according to CoStar data. Beyond adding ADUs, LaTerra has been renovating older apartments at the property, including adding washers and dryers after replacing the laundry rooms with living space. Despite the ADUs, the property still has adequate parking, including those serving the new units, Tourtellotte said.

The ADU process wasn’t without challenges. LaTerra needed to move residents’ parking spaces around when construction started, and hooking up mechanical, electrical and plumbing to the new units proved difficult, according to Tourtellotte.

Plus, the developer and architect, Los Angeles-based Urban Architecture Lab, weren’t using a previous design model because it was their first time involved in such a project. They had to work with West Hollywood officials, too, on explaining the state law, Tourtellotte said. The city hadn’t encountered construction like this before.

The roughly 695-square-foot ADU studios have hit the market for $3,100 a month. While that seems pricey and not what affordable housing advocates would support, West Hollywood is among the most desirable apartment markets in greater Los Angeles due to its walkability, nightlife and restaurants and its Westside location, said Ryan Patap, senior director of market analytics for CoStar Group in Los Angeles. Further, few new apartments are built in West Hollywood, meaning that any new construction commands high pricing.

Patap said LaTerra’s ADU pricing is below what a new studio would go for in West Hollywood due to the high demand for living there. The ADUs are the lowest-priced units in the complex, according to Tourtellotte.

Beyond the West Hollywood apartment building, it’s not uncommon for new studios in greater Los Angeles to top $4,000 per month. Figueroa Eight, a newly built apartment tower in downtown Los Angeles, is marketing 625-square-foot studios for $4,105 per month.

This empty space at 1121 N. La Cienega Blvd. could one day be converted into an accessory dwelling unit, or ADU. (Jack Witthaus/CoStar)

California leads the nation with ADU construction after residential owners applied for more than 30,000 permits in 2022, according to San Francisco-based ADU digital marketplace Cottage, which tracks this data. In fact, one in six houses built in 2022 in California was an ADU.

Increasing housing density, especially in areas connected by mass transit, has emerged as a California strategy in recent years. Past policy has favored single-family zoning.

Lawmakers say high housing costs have undermined the state’s economic competitiveness and contributed to many companies and residents moving to more affordable places such as Arizona and Texas. Building ADUs, also known as casitas in California or granny flats elsewhere in the United States, is viewed as one way to address the issue.

However, other states and cities adopting ADU ordinances have seen a mixed amount of demand. Seattle saw 2,254 applications for ADU permits in 2022, which was a 25% year-over-year increase, according to Cottage. But in Minneapolis, only 176 building permits were issued for ADU structures between 2014-2022, according to the Star Tribune.

Looking ahead, LaTerra is interested in adding a few more ADU units at the La Cienega Boulevard property and some of its other California multifamily complexes. Tourtellotte said he looks at apartment properties differently now because of the ADU construction experience. When he tours multifamily sites, he said he finds himself thinking about where to add new ADUs.

Tourtellotte said that the best apartment candidates for ADUs are ones that are low-density, have ample parking and feature storage spaces or laundry rooms. Some California apartment brokers are starting to market multifamily properties with ADU potential, showing that the trend of building these apartment units is catching on, Tourtellotte said.

“It’s a whole new way to add value,” Tourtellotte said.

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As an increasing number of landlords face foreclosure or sell off their properties at a steep discount, the U.S. Supreme Court has dashed their hopes of finding relief from rent regulation.

The court on Monday declined to hear landlord groups’ challenge to New York’s rent stabilization law. 

The Rent Stabilization Association, the Community Housing Improvement Program and a few individual landlords filed a petition in May, asking the court to consider arguments that the state’s rent stabilization represents an unlawful taking of property without just compensation. 

The decision thwarts the hopes of struggling landlords and means any relief is likely up to state lawmakers. That is an iffy proposition at best.

The legal petition claimed that landlords are forced to provide “public assistance” to tenants through low rents, lease renewals and succession rights. The city’s Rent Guidelines Board, which determines annual rent increases for stabilized apartments, considers tenants’ ability to pay rent, which has led to “a widening gap between owner costs and regulated rents,” the petition states. 

The groups claim that the rent law fails to actually address the state’s housing crisis while placing “the burden of rectifying a societal problem on a select minority of property owners.” New York City has about 900,000 rent-stabilized units and its suburbs have perhaps 100,000 more.

Extensive changes to the state’s rent law in 2019 further restricted how and when landlords can increase rent on stabilized apartments and when apartments can be taken back by the owner.

Landlords have blamed those changes for their inability to renovate apartments needing extensive repairs, resulting in tens of thousands of units being removed from the market and building revenue failing to keep up with expenses.

Defenders of the law say landlords purchased their buildings knowing they were subject to further regulation by lawmakers, and if the 2019 reform cost them money, that does not make it unconstitutional.

Foreclosure filings are on the rise as property owners struggle to pay off their debt, and high interest rates spell trouble for those with impending loan maturities. 

The Supreme Court challenge was a long shot, given the court’s history of declining rent control cases and the tiny fraction of cases that are heard by the high court each year.  

Even the court’s conservative majority was not enough to push the case forward. Four votes among the nine justices were needed to hear the case. 

“While we were hopeful a broad facial challenge would have delivered the most relief to the most owners as quickly as possible, we remain convinced that the law is irrational and vulnerable to more specific challenges,” Jay Martin, CHIP’s executive director, said in a statement. “One way or another this law must go down. Its current form is destroying New York’s housing.”

In a joint statement, CHIP and RSA called the decision “a signal to bring more targeted challenges to specific provisions of the law illustrating direct impacts on housing providers.”

The landlords’ arguments relied on a 2021 decision by the high court in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid. In that case, the court found a California law unconstitutional because it required employers to allow union organizers onto their property for up to three hours.

The groups filed their lawsuit in July 2019, intent on eventually bringing their claims before the Supreme Court. Lower courts rejected their arguments.

Two other similar petitions challenging the state’s rent law could still be picked up by the high court, though the odds are against them as well. The Legal Aid Society, which opposed the landlord groups’ petition, said it was hopeful that the other two cases will meet a similar fate.

“We welcome this decision, one rooted in the law and long-standing legal precedent, from the Supreme Court denying CHIP’s meritless and frivolous lawsuit challenging our city’s rent stabilization laws,” the group said in a statement.

Other states were watching this case closely, with some landlords hoping a Supreme Court ruling would require changes to rent control beyond New York. 

In an amicus curiae brief in support of the landlord groups, the California Business Roundtable cited California’s 2019 cap on rent increases, pointing to Los Angeles and San Francisco as “some of the most burdensome rent-control regimes in the country.”

“Some of California’s largest cities … contain many of the same troubling features that petitioners challenge here — e.g., substantial restraints on a property owner’s ability to remove tenants, to reclaim units for personal use, to withdraw units from the market, and to charge fair-market rates,” the brief states. 

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This article is adapted from an episode of our podcast “Civic.” Click the audio player below to hear the full story.  

Walk into Animal Care and Control’s bright and clean new facility on Bryant Street and you might be greeted by a human volunteer or an adoptable dog. But behind the scenes, officers are investigating alerts about possible abuse, errant wildlife and distressed animals. Animal Care and Control is an emergency service, and officers have been on the job throughout the pandemic, even having to cut hours temporarily as employees fell ill. Though call volume dropped dramatically with the first shelter-in-place order, as workers in many other sectors return to the job and are out and about more, and as kitten season approaches, the facility could see an increase in activity. For the staff on duty, each day can bring surprises.  

“That’s what makes the job so exciting, is that you have no idea what the day holds,” Lieutenant Eleanor Sadler said. “So you’re responding to all these calls. And it’s, you know, a sick pigeon that just looks sad on somebody’s doorstep or a raccoon hanging by its foot from a fence or hit-by-a-car possum, or squirrel in a chimney. There’s just a million variations of the trouble the animals can get into that they just needed a little bit of help with.” 

Sadler has decades of experience as an officer responding to calls, but she also works with the public in a less tactile way. She is the voice behind the widely popular Officer Edith Twitter account. With the likeness of a former resident Amazon parrot as its avatar, the account posts photos and insights that range from comedic to heartwarming to insightful.  

When Sadler first took over the account, “it was me and, like, 100 people, and it was just nonsense. And then I got retweeted by a local journalist,” she said. “And then suddenly, there was a massive input of followers, and things started getting really fun. And I started trying to figure out what works, what represents the agency well or is also interesting to people.” 

Neither the Twitter account nor the parts of the facility that are open to the public capture the entirety of what animal control officers do day to day.  

“You can’t ever really know what we do until you have this kind of conversation. It’s like, people have no idea that we arrest for animal cruelty,” Sadler said. “But they also don’t see the officer that picks up the 2-week-old kitten and it’s in bad condition but they’re like, ‘we’re on the fence about euthanizing this guy, we don’t think he’s gonna make it,’ and then the officer is like, ‘I’m going to take him home.’ They spend every two hours waking up making formula, warming them up, feeding them, peeing them. You know, it’s not just a job. It’s like a vocation for the people that are here.” 

Yesica Prado

Lt. Eleanor Sadler visits the bird room on the second floor of San Francisco Animal Care and Control’s facility on Bryant Street. The facility provides temporary shelter to birds, cats, dogs, fish, guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits and reptiles.

Animals can end up at the shelter many different ways. They can be surrendered by an owner or found loose. Wildlife may need to be removed from an unsafe situation. Sometimes pets need a temporary home, like when the owner goes to the hospital, dies or is incarcerated. Some pet owners find themselves overwhelmed by multiplying animals. Officers also investigate allegations of animal abuse and may seize an animal in a welfare investigation. 

“We have hundreds of complaints a year. The majority are either a misunderstanding or just false. And then periodically, we get one that’s really serious. And we have to investigate it thoroughly and put all the pieces together,” Sadler said. “Our main goal is to make sure these people cannot have animals again.” 

Last year, a suspect in such a case was arrested after a lengthy investigation found he had inflicted multiple broken bones on his golden retriever puppy. The man pleaded guilty to misdemeanor animal cruelty and neglect.  

In many cases, however, officers play less of a law enforcement role and more of an educational one. They teach residents why it’s detrimental to feed wildlife, and how to handle an unexpected animal.  

“The general rule of thumb is to move slower than you think you have to be, quieter than you think you have to be. And don’t panic,” Sadler said. “If it’s an animal that we need to deal with, call us. And we will help you. But don’t put yourself in danger.” 

Yesica Prado / San Francisco Public Press

A 5-month-old stray female cat named Butters, who was found on the streets, meows at visitors. She was spayed five days after her intake at San Francisco Animal Care and Control.

Where domestic animals are concerned, the Animal Care and Control center on Bryant Street could be the place prospective pet owners find a new companion. But domestic or no, pets can also be too much to handle. Animal Control is equipped to help in both situations. 

“If you’re interested in adopting an animal, go to a shelter or rescue group. If you’re overwhelmed in the animal you have, there is no shame in surrendering them. Doing what’s right is most important. And if you are unable to take care of an animal properly, there are people who will do that and they won’t shame you or judge you,” Sadler said. “We are a resource for people and we want people to use this resource.” 

For animal-related emergencies, Animal Care and Control can be reached 6 a.m. to midnight at 415-554-9400.  

A segment from our radio show and podcast, “Civic.” Listen at 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 102.5 FM in San Francisco, or online at ksfp.fm, and subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify or Stitcher. 

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Situated in the heart of San Francisco’s Civic Center, UC Law SF offers access to every level of the judiciary, with the exception of the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, many of the city’s top attractions are just blocks away.  The law school’s academic and residential buildings stand astride two blocks of McAllister Street:

From the East Bay

By car: From the Bay Bridge, exit right at Civic Center (after you pass the 5th Street exit). Stay in one of the two right lanes. Merge onto Harrison and make a right turn onto 9th Street. Cross Market on 9th Street in one of the right hand lanes, marked Larkin Street, which will intersect both McAllister Street and Golden Gate Avenue. There is parking in the UC Law SF Garage on the corner of Larkin and Golden Gate.

AC Transit (Bus): Take the appropriate bus to the Transbay Terminal, then walk one block north to Market Street to take local transit (“MUNI”). The F line (historic street cars) stops at Civic Center; McAllister Street is 1 block north, on your right. The #5 Muni bus will stop in front of 200 McAllister Street.

BART: All Bay Area Rapid Transit trains going to Daly City/Colma or SFO/Millbrae have a Civic Center stop. McAllister Street is one block north of the Civic Center Station.

From the North Bay

By car: From the Golden Gate Bridge, take Lombard Street to Van Ness Avenue. Turn right onto Van Ness and continue to McAllister Street. Turn left onto McAllister, go two blocks, turn left onto Larkin to access the UC Law SF Parking Garage at the corner of Larkin and Golden Gate.

Public Transportation: Golden Gate Transit buses provide service between several destinations in the North Bay and the Civic Center area. Take a Golden Gate Transit to Golden Gate Bridge Southern Approach; transfer to any Civic Center Bus. Get off at Hyde and McAllister Streets. For complete information and current fares, contact Golden Gate Transit online or call (415) 923-2000.

MUNI: The F, J, K, L, M, N, S and T lines stop at Civic Center. McAllister Street is 1 block north, on your right. The #5 Muni bus stops in front of 200 McAllister Street. The current Muni fare is $2.00 in exact change, including a 90-minute transfer.

From the South Bay

By car: Take 101 North, stay in second lane from your left, and follow signs to Bay Bridge. Exit 9th Street/Civic Center. Cross Market on 9th Street in one of the righthand lanes marked “Larkin Street” which will intersect both McAllister Street and Golden Gate Avenue. There is parking in the UC Law SF Garage at the corner of Larkin and Golden Gate.

By CalTrain to the Cal Train Station at King Street/Mission Bay: Upon disembarking from the train, take either the N or the T Muni train to the Civic Center stop and walk north to McAllister Street. The current fare for the Muni is $2.00 in exact change, including a 90-minute transfer.

Parking in the Civic Center Area

The UC Law SF Parking Garage is at the corner of Larkin and Golden Gate. Visit our Parking site for more information regarding hours of availability and parking rates.

Campus Map

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Campus Visits

We invite you to explore UC Law SF. The Admissions Office hosts Information Sessions and webcasts for prospective students during the fall and winter months. Visitors are also welcome to take a student-guided tour or visit a class; details about these visit options are listed below. Send an email to admissions@uclawsf.edu or call 415-565-4623 for more information about campus visit options. Our Admissions Officers travel frequently throughout the Fall to attend recruitment events across the nation, and are frequently unavailable for walk in visits. If you want to speak to one of us directly, please email admissions@uclawsf.edu to make an appointment or ask a question. We look forward to hearing from you.

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