Placer County takes on Newsom again: Supervisors urge legislature to end state of emergency

Placer County officials unanimously voted Tuesday to submit letters to Gov. Gavin Newsom voicing support for resolutions to end the COVID-19 statewide emergency and curtail the governor’s use of emergency executive powers.

The resolutions, written by Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, and state Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore would allow the state legislature to “declare that the state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor on March 4, 2020, is at an end, thereby terminating the emergency powers granted to the Governor as a result of that proclamation,” according to SCR-5, introduced by Melendez.

“Placer County is in full support of those letters,” Supervisor Suzanne Jones said in a board meeting. Jones represents the Granite Bay area.

“Since the State of Emergency has been in effect, there has been more than 45 executive orders issued which have changed numerous laws spanning that of everyday, normal life,” the board’s letter of support said. “...We are now over 450 days of power for one person to set state policies without the involvement of the people’s representatives which is not the way our government is supposed to work.”

The Placer Board of Supervisors has been united in the last year in its challenge to Newsom and the state over COVID policies.

In September 2020, the board voted unanimously to end its local health emergency, citing low infection rates and ample hospital space. The decision prompted the resignation of the county’s public health officer a day later.

The board also sent at least four letters to Newsom’s administration seeking clarification on his policies and arguing for more local control to suit the needs of Placer residents, Supervisor Bonnie Gore said at a Sept. 8 meeting. The board never received a response.

“With the onset of COVID well over a year ago, this board on several occasions was faced with different decision points, but I think it was consistent among the five of us through that whole time that we would’ve preferred ... local control as compared to state-driven control,” said board chair Robert Weygandt, who represents the Lincoln area.

Throughout the pandemic, the board continued to have in-person meetings, and its meetings were open to the public with the exception of a short period after the first stay-at-home order in March 2020.

Placer County also had virtually no enforcement of state mandates, County Counsel Karin Schwab said.

“What this letter is getting at .... is the governor may have taken the tier system away, but he did not terminate the proclamation of state emergency,” she said.

The county’s COVID-19 cases have dropped substantially since the pandemic’s winter peak. According to the county’s dashboard, the test positivity rate is 2% and its case rate is 3.8 cases per 100,000 residents.

“Certainly the situation with COVID is more encouraging than it has been at any point in the last 15 months or so,” said Dr. Rob Oldham, the county’s public health officer and director of health and human services.

Placer has also been a leader in the state in terms of vaccine distribution, with more than 50% of its total population now fully vaccinated.

Kiley and Melendez’s resolutions were introduced as a part of the Emergency Services Act, which says that the legislature can end a state of emergency by voting on a resolution, said Josh Hoover, spokesman for Kiley.

So far, the resolution has not received a hearing in the legislature.