Newsom calls state of emergency + counting delegates + Proposition 13 name ban

Happy Thursday, California. We made it to the end of a legislative week that felt more like a month. Enjoy the sunshine this weekend, get outside, and we’ll see you again Monday morning.

COVID-19 UPDATE

Via Sophia Bollag

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over the coronavirus as a cruise ship that transported at least two infected passengers sailed toward the state Wednesday.

One patient who had traveled on the ship died Wednesday in Placer County, marking the first death in California connected to the virsus that has spread to dozens of countries.

Newsom described the man’s death as a “profound moment in our state.”

“Our hearts go out to that individual,” he said.

Coronavirus, known as COVID-19, is spread through contact between people within six feet of each other, especially through coughing and sneezing that expels respiratory droplets that land in the mouths or noses of people nearby. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it’s possible to catch COVID-19 by touching something that has the virus on it, and then touching your own face, “but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.” In the U.S.,128 cases have been reported, including nine deaths in Washington state out of 32 reported cases. In California, 53 cases have been reported, Newsom said.

The emergency declaration comes the same day the state learned it will receive $37 million in federal emergency funds to fight the virus.

“It’s not about money, it’s about adding tools to the toolkit,” Newsom says of the declaration.

DELEGATES

Bernie Sanders has won California, but it’s not yet clear just how many delegates he and Joe Biden will collect as the lengthy counting process continues. We’ll be keeping track.

As of Wednesday afternoon, here’s how many pledged delegates each candidate has, according to the AP:

• Bernie Sanders: 155
• Joe Biden: 93
• Mike Bloomberg: 14
• Elizabeth Warren: 9

Here’s a landing spot for you to check on legislative and congressional races.

Here are some nuggets in all the numbers:

• Democrat and labor-supported Assemblywoman Susan Eggman of Stockton and former Modesto Republican Mayor Jim Ridenour will compete to represent the Central Valley District 5 senate seat.
• Democrats Ann Ravel and Dave Cortese won the top two Senate District 15 ballot spots. Oil companies spent more than $1 million to get a more moderate choice in Nora Campos on the ticket.
• Abigail Medina, a Democrat, and Rosilicie Bogh, a Republican, will advance to November’s Senate District 23 election. The district leans Republican. Medina’s race was highlighted by Equality California recently after the LGBTQ civil rights group called out her opponent, Democrat Kris Goodfellow, for what it characterized as an “anti-LGBTQ smear campaign.”
• Red alert for GOP incumbent Sen. Ling Ling Chang, who will contend in the Senate District 29 general election. But she had slightly less than half the vote on Wednesday. Her competition, Democrat Josh Newman, secured a little more than a third of the support, and Joseph Cho, also a Democrat, came in with 18 percent of the vote.
• Also a warning sign. John Moorlach, the Republican senator who currently represents Senate District 37, had exactly half the vote still on Wednesday afternoon. But the two Democrats who challenged him each collected about a quarter of the votes, with Dave Min heading to the November race.
• Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, leads the field to fill the open Senate District 28 post.

State Assembly races:

• Total shocker here. Republican Jessica Martinez rolled in with about a third of the District 57 vote. The race was largely seen as a competition between two Democrats who come from name-recognition political families: labor-favored Lisa Calderon and big business’ pick, Sylvia Rubio. Calderon secured the second spot with nearly 20 percent of the vote.
• If Tuesday’s primary was November’s general, Republican incumbent Tyler Diep would have lost by almost 10 percent to former state Sen. Janet Nguyen, also a Republican, to maintain his District 72 seat.

And some congressional races to watch, too:

• Incumbent TJ Cox nabbed the CA 21 seat in 2018 from Republican David Valadao, who will advance with him to the November ballot. Cox trailed his opponent by more than 15 points on Wednesday.
• Young Kim, a Republican, was leading incumbent Gil Cisneros, a Democrat, in the CA 29 race. Both will contend for the post in November.
• Current Democratic Rep. Katie Porter was the only Democrat running to protect her flipped seat. She’ll head to the ballot in November against Greg Raths, who earned only 18 percent of the vote amid a crowded GOP field.

UNLUCKY NUMBER 13?

It’s likely that Proposition 13 will fail. The $15 billion school bond to fund building renovations and upgrades faced voter approval on Tuesday, but as of Wednesday afternoon, the ballot measure was struggling.

It wasn’t necessarily the dollar sign attached to the proposal, said Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach. It’s that the bond was called “Proposition 13.”

Background — A law passed in 1978 created California’s current property tax rules, which keep taxes low for businesses and residents. It’s name? Proposition 13. It’s a divisive law, and one that advocates are trying to change in a proposed initiative for November’s election. That idea would change how property taxes are assessed for commercial property.

It’s confusion that prompted O’Donnell’s frustration, which prompted an announced Wednesday plan to author legislation that would ban ballot measures from being named “Proposition 13.” Initiatives are numbered in sequential order. The bond just happened to get lucky number 13.

“We need to retire this ballot number to ensure voters are not misled,” O’Donnell said. “Despite this number having no relation to the content of the school facilities bond, many voters mistakenly believed the ballot measure made changes to the ‘Proposition 13’ originally passed in 1978 which dealt with property taxes.”

Best of the Bee:

• Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is working to form a local ownership group that could purchase The Sacramento Bee, separating the 163-year-old publication from its parent company and more than two-dozen sister newspapers across the U.S., by Ryan Lillis