Rural California counties move to defy Newsom’s shutdown order. Here’s how he could respond

As pressure increases to relax the shutdown of California’s economy, three rural counties north of Sacramento have declared themselves open for business, putting Gov. Gavin Newsom in a delicate spot as he tries to maintain the state’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order.

This week, officials in Modoc County, one of the least populated and most remote counties in California’s far northeastern corner, touched off the mini-rebellion by saying businesses, schools and churches could reopen Friday. Then, the public health officer serving Yuba and Sutter counties said some businesses, including tattoo parlors and hair salons, could open Monday.

The moves could prompt other counties to defy Newsom as some local officials throughout California, particularly those in rural counties with low rates of COVID-19, push for a resumption of normal activities in spite of the pandemic.

Most of the pressure is coming from sparsely populated communities, but other jurisdictions are pushing the governor as well. The cities of Dana Point and Huntington Beach are vowing legal action against Newsom over his order temporarily closing Orange County beaches. Thirty-two people were arrested Friday in Sacramento at a boisterous demonstration at the Capitol against Newsom’s order.

“It’s all over the map, it’s really tied to your (county’s infection) caseload,” said Paul Smith, vice president for governmental affairs at Rural County Representatives of California, a lobbying organization. “People are saying, ‘Why is our economy suffering if we don’t have the caseload?’ ”

California, a state with nearly 40 million people, has 58 counties and hundreds of cities, all with their own governments and police forces. Most of them have issued their own stay-at-home guidelines and orders. Overlapping that is the powerful state government, which issued its own directives to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Yuba and Sutter counties have had a combined 50 infections and three COVID-19 deaths. Randy Fletcher, a Yuba supervisor, said officials believe the two counties can be reopened without compromising public safety, even as Newsom has said as recently as Thursday that county officials aren’t supposed to relax the state order.

“Big state, very diverse,” Fletcher said. “One policy may not be the answer.”

He said that Yuba County officials haven’t yet received any pushback from Newsom’s office and added that the governor, despite the broad emergency powers he holds, isn’t likely to order a crackdown to enforce his shutdown directive.

“You can only lead if they’re willing to follow. If they don’t follow, what are you going to do?” he said.

The order signed by Phuong Luu, the Yuba-Sutter public health officer, says the order is “in alignment with” Newsom’s order as well as President Donald Trump’s guidance for reopening economies around the country.

Some Republican state lawmakers, such as state Senator Jim Nielsen, R-Tehama, applauded the move.

“Local businesses in the North State are on the brink of permanent closure. Some employees only have $20 to their name,” Nielsen said Friday in a written statement. “Given the low infection rates, we must open up our local economy for these employees. They want to work. They need to earn money to support their families.”

Newsom can use law enforcement

Legal experts said the governor could deploy the California Highway Patrol or National Guard to enforce his order. But Newsom, since the day he signed the stay-at-home order, has said he wants to rely on “social pressure” to get Californians to adhere to his directives on the coronavirus.

Newsom’s spokesman didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Saturday. The governor recently has urged Californians to remain patient and said Friday some loosening of his stay-at-home order could come within days.

Experts said Newsom is unlikely to use law enforcement agencies to crack down on defiant counties, in part because that could spark more widespread resistance.

“He’s not one to jump ahead to something that’s extreme or radical,” said J. Clark Kelso, a McGeorge School of Law professor who has served in a variety of positions in state government. “I believe it’s a good idea not to have a confrontation over this. Look, this is not Los Angeles defying the governor; this is Modoc. The stakes are smaller.”

Political commentator Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said the Democratic governor can’t ignore the defiance from rural counties — but he can’t overreact, either.

“It’s like he’s threading a needle while dancing on the head of a pin,” Levinson said.

Much of the official resistance to Newsom’s order, signed in mid-March, has come through the courts. Churches have sued his administration to get permission to reopen, while a Republican congressional candidate and a Sacramento gun shop owner are suing over the California Highway Patrol’s ban on demonstrations on state property.

But acts of defiance by officials have popped up as well. When it was first reported that Newsom was going to close all California beaches, not just those in Orange County, Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said he wouldn’t enforce the edict.

“I am the protector of constitutional rights in Humboldt County,” Honsal said on Twitter.

Coronavirus crippling rural economies

Some rural county officials aren’t quite ready to rebel, though they want businesses to reopen.

In Mono County, home to the Mammoth Mountain ski resort in the eastern Sierra, the economy is hugely dependent on the summer tourist season and residents are itching to get back to work, but Supervisor Stacy Corless said she doesn’t expect her fellow leaders to openly flout state law.

Instead, she said they’re likely next week to decide to write a “friendly, collaboratively-toned message to the governor that we want to get back to business.”

Humboldt Supervisor Rex Bohn said his county also isn’t ready to follow the lead of Yuba, Sutter and Modoc counties either, though he said he’s supportive of their actions.

Humboldt officials are watching those three counties closely to see if infections spike and how their business plans work, “as a barometer to see where we’re going,” Bohn said. About 130 people protested Newsom’s order in front of the county courthouse Friday, he said.

Bohn agreed that it’s doubtful Newsom will send the CHP or the National Guard to enforce his order. But he warned that counties have to be careful about pushing Newsom.

“We’re worried about what he does with his pen when this is over. He controls a lot of the grant monies,” Bohn said. “He can have the final say, and we get millions of dollars in state park monies because we have hundreds of thousands of acres of state parks.”

In Siskiyou County, which borders Modoc, there’s a plan to reopen, but the county will wait for the state’s approval.

“Everybody is trying to be safe, but they also have to pay the bills,” said Supervisor Michael Kobseff, adding that only five Siskiyou residents have been infected with the coronavirus and all have recovered. “I don’t know how else to say that. It’s difficult.”

Newsom also controls $15 billion the state has received from the federal stimulus package that’s to be distributed to county governments to help them deal with the coronavirus. Smith, the rural county organization’s lobbyist, said counties should make sure they don’t do anything to jeopardize getting their share of those dollars.

“We are telling the counties to be careful with the Newsom administration … and have immediate and constructive dialog with the state public health officer,” Smith said.

Modoc’s order said churches and schools could reopen Friday, while restaurants could offer sit-down dining as long as they reduce seating capacity by half.

The Yuba-Sutter order said residents should maintain social distancing and wear a mask when distancing isn’t possible. At restaurants, only members of the same household can sit together. While salons and tattoo parlors can open, gathering of large crowds are still forbidden. Major venues, such as the Toyota Amphitheatre, will remain closed.

Can rural healthcare handle COVID-19 cases?

Health experts say rural leaders may be setting themselves up for outbreaks their small local hospitals can’t handle.

Experts say that on a good day, rural healthcare facilities — often serving populations that tend to be older and infirm — lack the staffing and resources to handle a sudden influx of people needing critical care or a wave of doctors and nurses getting sick.

Public health officials have long been concerned about local resistance to containing a disease outbreak.

In June 2016, the California Department of Public Health published a pandemic influenza operations plan that detailed the actions the government would need to take to contain a highly infectious respiratory disease.

The report warned that the success of “non-pharmaceutical interventions” (NPIs) to contain the disease, such as lock-down orders and quarantines, would depend greatly on “compliance among the targeted populations.”

“Compliance ... is likely the biggest challenge due to a variety of social, economic, cultural, personal need, and political issues,” the report said. “An unpredictable percentage of people may not believe the reality and/or severity of the threat posed by a pandemic event, and may take no action or may take actions counterproductive to the government efforts to quarantine, control, and treat people who are infected with the disease.”

Bohn, the Humboldt County supervisor, said that when his economy reopens, he trusts local businesses to take appropriate steps to keep their customers safe. He said many closed businesses feel they should be able to take the same steps that stores like Target, Costco and Safeway have done to stay open.

“They want their customers to be healthy, too,” Bohn said. “You want to know the worst way to end a business? It’s like in a restaurant when you have food poisoning. The worst way to end a business is for someone to be sick in your store. I truly believe these entrepreneurs we have up here are able to navigate that.”

This story was originally published May 2, 2020 at 12:44 PM.