Antonio Villaraigosa is struggling to secure second place in the June primary election for California governor and is several points behind Republican businessman John Cox for the No. 2 slot, according to a new poll released Thursday.

Cox was favored by 20% of voters surveyed in the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll. Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, had the support of 13%, according to the poll. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the front-runner in polls and fundraising since he entered the race in 2015, was the choice of 33% of likely voters, according to the poll.

"We think it's likely to be Cox against Newsom in the general election," poll director Mark DiCamillo told the Sacramento Bee.

The Los Angeles Police Department and other law enforcement agencies have failed to properly identify and respond to some hate crimes and need better policies and training so officers can recognize the specific characteristics of those offenses, the state auditor said in a report released Thursday.

The audit found flaws in the categorizing of hate crimes by the LAPD, San Francisco State University Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The first two agencies failed to correctly identify 11 of the 30 cases auditors reviewed as hate crimes, even though they met the elements of such crimes.

“Officers at these law enforcement agencies may have been better equipped to identify hate crimes if their agencies had adequate policies and methods in place to identify hate crimes,” State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote to Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature.

With the June primary election less than a week away, Republican John Cox brought his campaign for governor to Stockton on Wednesday, taking aim at Democrat Gavin Newsom, whom he expects to face in a November runoff. 

Polls indicate Cox is neck-and-neck with Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, in a battle for second place in the field of gubernatorial candidates led by front-runner Newsom.

"If you look in the dictionary for the words 'Bay Area elitist,' you see Gavin Newsom’s picture," Cox said in a speech to a crowd of more than 100 before the Stockton Republican Women Federated. Cox, a wealthy Rancho Santa Fe businessman, touted his endorsement last week by President Trump.

Allies of Antonio Villaraigosa are spending at least $2.3 million to air blistering ads attacking fellow Democrat and front-runner Gavin Newsom as a lazy elected official. 

“We all know guys like Gavin,” a narrator says in a 30-second ad titled “Guys” launched Wednesday, in the final days before the primary. “Boasting, overselling his achievements, making false claims.”

The ad and another one, called “Work,” that was released Monday quote Newsom’s past comments about his boredom with his lack of official duties as lieutenant governor. It concludes, “Gavin’s not going to work as governor.”

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley will join Democrat Tatiana Matta on Wednesday evening at a fundraiser for her congressional campaign held in downtown Los Angeles. Matta was the co-chair of O’Malley’s veterans and military families committee for his 2016 presidential primary campaign.

“Tatiana is the strong, clear voice of the new generation of leadership. She will work tirelessly for the well-being of our military families and our family-owned businesses. Tatiana will always put people ahead of politics. I’m honored to support her,” O’Malley said in a statement.

Matta is one of five Democrats challenging House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) for his seat in the 23rd Congressional District. 

A ballot measure that would clamp down on the profits raked in by companies providing dialysis treatment will go before voters in November.

The initiative, sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers, would cap revenue for dialysis companies at 115% of the cost of direct patient care and treatment quality efforts, as determined by the initiative. If companies’ revenue exceed that threshold, they would have to issue rebates, primarily to commercial health insurers.

Dialysis is used to treat patients experiencing kidney failure. The treatment performs some of the function of kidneys, such as removing excess salt and waste from the blood. Sessions are hours long and patients usually need treatments three times per week.

Democrats Antonio Villaraigosa and Gavin Newsom on Wednesday hammered away on two signature issues in their campaigns for California governor — immigration and gun control, respectively — as they traveled the state to rally support ahead of the June 5 primary.

Near the U.S.-Mexico border, Villaraigosa joined with leaders of Border Angels, a nonprofit that provides water and other aid for immigrants trekking across the desert, and lambasted President Trump’s “immoral” immigration policies.

Villaraigosa was especially critical of a Trump administration policy to separate children from their parents when a family crosses the border illegally.

A former legislative staffer who accused Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) of groping him four years ago is appealing the investigation that found his claim to be unsubstantiated.

Danny Fierro filed a notice of appeal Wednesday to the Assembly Rules Committee that asserted “the investigation was not impartial or conducted in good faith, and did not afford Mr. Fierro due process.”

Fierro said several witnesses were not interviewed, including his former employer, Assemblyman Ian Calderon (D-Whittier), and other lawmakers who were present at the legislative softball game in 2014. Fierro has accused Garcia of touching him inappropriately at the game. 

California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra joined his counterparts in New York and Maryland on Wednesday in filing another in a string of lawsuits against the Trump administration, this time challenging a decision to suspend safeguards for agricultural workers.

The lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency seeks to reinstate a requirement that employers provide workers and their families with training to avoid pesticide exposure.

The lawsuit alleges that the suspension of the requirement by the EPA is arbitrary and capricious, and in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would seek to model the budget-conscious ethos of Gov. Jerry Brown, but said he would be more active in the legislative process if elected to succeed him.

“I really do think Gov. Brown has created a new norm of expectations in terms of fiscal discipline,” Newsom told reporters aboard his campaign bus during a wide-ranging 80-minute interview on Tuesday. “It’s incumbent upon the next governor to model that.”

But he said on certain issues — notably healthcare and homelessness — he would be more engaged in legislative efforts in Sacramento than he believes Brown, who is termed out, has been.