An interview with Anthony Rendon + California’s homeless response + Grocery workers protest

Good Monday morning, California. We hope you enjoyed your weekend, were able to get outside in between rain showers and found some kind of calm in the chaos.

‘THE PRIORITIES ARE DIFFERENT’

It’s been quite the 2020 legislative session ... or lack of one? The Legislature on Friday announced that it will not reconvene until May 4. That means a tight timeline to pass a state budget by the June 15 deadline.

Capitol Bureau reporter Hannah Wiley caught up with Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood for a Q and A on this very unusual session. Interview edited for length and clarity.

How is legislating from home going?

RENDON: I’m in Sacramento, have been for almost a month, continuing to come into the Capitol on a daily basis, where my senior management team is. It’s also the easiest way, to me, to coordinate all that we have to coordinate, when members have questions about anything from small business closures to unemployment assistance and all the various agencies we’re working with. The members are on the ground in their districts getting valuable information. It seems as though this crisis is impacting every district a little differently.

How has the work changed?

RENDON: I come from nonprofit social services. That’s where I spent 20 years of my life and it feels to an extent to be back in that world. A lot of what we are doing is connecting people to services, to programs, and to government agencies that can help them or nonprofits that can help them.

Is policy on hold right now? I’m thinking of the calls for a strong production package, homelessness.

RENDON: The priorities are different. This isn’t just a crisis. This is a crisis that is and will be multifaceted. It’s going to impact all aspects of the state, all aspects of the economy, all levels of education, so we have to make sure that the virus and our response addresses all aspects of what we do. At the same time, we had a homeless crisis before COVID, we had climate change before COVID. We need to address education as a state, health care as a state. We are going to make sure we address COVID but at the same time, we started the year with certain efforts and we’re going to continue to do so.

Does this present an opportunity for the Legislature to consider new ways to legislate, remote work policies, alternative voting mechanisms, etc.?

RENDON: In terms of remote work, yeah we are. I’m in the Capitol but there are less than a dozen people in the Capitol and generally there are 1,000 people in the Capitol. the vast majority of staff is working remotely, and that goes for the district offices as well.

For remote voting, yeah, we’ve looked at it. We know there are a number of constitutional concerns, we know that you have to establish a quorum in person in Sacramento, so that’s certainly a challenge we have to face.

We also know an LA city council meeting was hacked on Zoom recently. The job is still a job that takes place in Sacramento. The nature of the work will largely remain the same.

You said during your March 16 floor speech that democracy must continue. How has that been a struggle?

RENDON: Our system of representative democracy has been helped by having members return to their districts, serving their constituents, having their member on the ground. From that standpoint, democracy has continued and flourished. At the same time, yeah we have serious work to do in Sacramento.

Is this among the most memorable moments you’ve experienced in the Capitol?

RENDON: It’s part of the tapestry. We had worked on homelessness, climate change, obviously the #MeToo movement was moment in time that we were challenged as well. It’s part of the whole overall picture that has been an interesting four years so far.

Have any of the members tested positive for COVID-19?

RENDON: No, not that I’m aware.

What about staff?

RENDON: Only speaking for the Assembly? No.

So the January budget is “no longer operable,” Newsom said .

RENDON: We’re going to need to adjust our budget. We’ll have more specific details in the future, but members are certainly being asked to be realistic in terms of their budget requests.

What about committee hearings, floor sessions, deadlines, etc?

RENDON: We really don’t know. It will be condensed to some degree, but it’s hard to tell.

You have a new baby, so are you able to spend time with your family?

RENDON: My wife and daughter are both up here in Sacramento. My daughter is seven months old. She’s not too aware of what’s happening. My wife is working on her dissertation and working full time. We’re a busy group but we have time to spend together. Being in the same city is super helpful.

ONE EMERGENCY FOR ANOTHER

Before California had a coronavirus emergency, it had a homeless crisis.

More than 150,000 people are homeless in California, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Nearly three-quarters of the population are unsheltered, living on the streets, or in parks and make-do encampments.

For the advocates who’ve long rallied at the Capitol and protested for policy changes, the coronavirus represents the emergency they’ve warned about for decades.

Among the first checks Gov. Gavin Newsom cut to fund his executive orders was $150 million on March 18 to support local efforts to funnel vulnerable homeless people into travel trailers, hotels, motels and other emergency shelters.

By Friday, the governor said the state had identified about 7,000 out of 15,000 rooms — what Newsom called the “First Phase” — to shelter COVID-19 positive homeless patients, those who’ve been exposed to the virus or those most at-risk of infection.

Within a “matter of days,” said Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, the Legislature accomplished what “used to take decades.”

“This is not a drill. S**t hit the fan,” Santiago said. “It’s real, and all the decades of bureaucratic reasons for why we couldn’t do things have forced us into this issue. As it relates to homelessness, for decades we dropped the ball.”

Read more from Hannah’s report here.

GROCERY WORKERS AS EMERGENCY PERSONNEL?

A major Southern California and Central Coast union is calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to designate grocery workers as emergency personnel, and to ensure that they have access to adequate protection.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, which represents thousands of grocery workers in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, led a protest action Friday, demanding that employers immediately provide personal protective equipment to their employees.

“Companies are playing a dangerous game right now,” UFCW President John Grant said in a statement. “It’s a slap in the face for them to ask these workers to expose themselves to a deadly, invisible enemy without providing them the necessary protections and training to keep them and their families out of harm’s way - all while these same companies rake in unprecedented profits.”

Protesters donned union-made masks and stood in front of one of the busiest Ralphs stores in Los Angeles, according to a statement from the union.

The union has launched a petition to get Newsom to designate protections for grocery workers including:

• the right to wash hands every 30 minutes, or as needed;
• the right to personal protective equipment;
• the institution of plexiglass panels at checkstands and pharmacy counters;
• access to sanitizers and increased sanitation activity;
• customer crowd control and security guards;
• standardized and limited operating hours for all grocery and drug stores;
• the right to free coronavirus testing;
• 14 additional sick days for workers impacted by COVID-19;
• the right to paid child care.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“We’ll continue to listen to the experts and try to avoid some elected officials that frankly may not have the benefit of some of the insight that many of us do here.”

- Gov. Gavin Newsom, on The View. Newsom was referring to comments made by Rep. Devin Nunes that closing California schools for the year was “ way overkill.”

Best of the Bee:

• Are California politicians still campaigning during coronavirus? They are – and here’s how, via Kate Irby

• The state has secured nearly 7,000 hotel rooms to house homeless individuals most threatened by the coronavirus pandemic, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday, via Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks, Theresa Clift and Sophia Bollag.

• Defying orders from public health officials and California Gov. Gavin Newsom to avoid large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic, a church in Roseville held a two-hour service Sunday morning attended by dozens of parishioners. A church in Lodi that had pledged to hold in-person services was forced to cancel, by Sam Stanton and Dale Kasler