Newsom taps Chopra to lead new California oversight agency;

Governor Gavin Newsom announced the hiring this week of Rohit Chopra, the former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to lead a new oversight agency that will police industries as disparate as alcohol, cannabis, horse racing and financial services. 

Chopra has been named secretary of the Business and Consumer Services Agency that will launch July 1. The position requires confirmation by the state Senate and pays $254,450 a year. An agency that polices corporate wrongdoing is seen as a play to bolster Newsom’s 2028 presidential run. 

Chopra will have oversight over eight agencies including California’s Department of Financial Protection and Inclusion, which oversees financial services, as well as the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Department of Cannabis Control, California Horse Racing Board and Department of Real Estate. 

In a press release, Newsom said he hired Chopra “as the Trump administration turns its back on consumers.” The CFPB, that Chopra once led, has been radically scaled back — and a majority of rules Chopra finalized have been repealed — by the Trump administration. —Kate Berry