Legislature wants more from Newsom + Protesters at the Capitol + County asks to reopen
Top of the Tuesday morning to you, California. Hang in there...
PUT ME IN, COACH
A growing number of legislators say Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration is ignoring the 120 members who make up the co-equal, second branch of government in Sacramento.
We heard it last week during a Senate budget subcommittee hearing, during which both Republicans and Democrats asked for more transparency in how Newsom’s team is spending the estimated $7 billion needed to combat the coronavirus.
And we heard it yesterday, during an Assembly’s budget subcommittee meeting. Again, lawmakers from both parties said they were concerned with how the governor and his administration have cut checks without authorization or input from the Legislature.
Quotable:
Assemblyman and Health Committee Chairman Jim Wood said he is is ready to get to work.
But the prime partnership opportunity between his committee and Newsom’s administration has gone to waste, Wood said.
“It is the intent of the Legislature that the administration work with stakeholders, including members of the Legislature and legislative staff, in developing strategies to be considered for inclusion in the Budget Act of 2020 to assist individuals, nonprofit organizations, and small businesses experiencing economic hardships due to the impacts of COVID-19,” Wood said, quoting Section 37 of the emergency legislation the Legislature approved on March 16 to hand Newsom a blank check for up to $1 billion.
“It’s clear the administration is working with stakeholders, but not with the Legislature or legislative staff. I have a health committee staff that has over 100 years of health policy experience and we have not been engaged. And we’ve been trying to engage,” Wood said.
The Santa Rosa Democrat continued that any time he’s tried to connect with the administration, “I’m met with resistance, quite frankly.”
Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, also said he expected more collaboration between the Legislature and Newsom’s office now that the first few rough weeks of California’s coronavirus response has passed.
“The emergency powers that were granted were with an understanding that this would be for a certain amount of discrete time. It wasn’t the sense that there was a blank check or we would just be notified after expenditures were already committed to,” Ting said.
Assemblyman Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, echoed his Assembly colleagues and Sacramento Democrat Sen. Richard Pan’s call last week for greater transparency of a more than $1 billion contract with a Chinese company to make PPE for California health care workers.
”At least allow the Legislature to see the details as soon as possible,” Fong said.
PROTEST AT THE CAPITOL
Via Sam Stanton and Hannah Wiley...
Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued an order banning large gatherings because of the coronavirus crisis, and Sacramento-area law enforcement officials warned last week that they will start citing people who violate the ban.
So why would state Capitol officials approve a Monday protest against shelter-in-place orders that is advertised as attracting as many as 500 people?
It’s not entirely clear. The Capitol’s protest permit website shows the planned demonstration was permitted for noon on the west steps of the Capitol building, which is currently fenced off as part of a renovation project.
The California Highway Patrol’s capitol protection section, which issues such permits, referred questions Monday to the Senate Rules Committee. An official with that committee referred questions to the sergeant at arms, who said the Senate president pro tem’s office would have to answer. The pro tem’s office was looking into whether the permit was valid.
ICYMI — At his daily press conference, Newsom declined to respond to the question of why the CHP issued a permit, leaving it up to that agency to respond.
He did have a message for the protesters, however.
“If you’re going to protest, practice physical distancing,” Newsom said.
The governor said that he empathized with the anxiety that people are feeling as a result of the state stay-at-home order, but that any return to “normal” must be based on science.
“We must have a health-first focus if we’re ultimately going to come back economically,” he said.
He cautioned that some nations, such as Singapore, which had re-opened their doors were forced to shut them once again due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
A LETTER FROM SLO COUNTY
Speaking of re-opening, some counties are eager to get started.
San Luis Obispo County Republican Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham penned a letter to Gov. Newsom, signed by every mayor in the county, along with two county supervisors, urging the governor’s office to relax his statewide stay-at-home order so that SLO County can establish “a science-based, phased re-opening of the economy with the guidance of local public health officials,” according to a statement from Cunningham’s office.
“We must take steps now to cut down on the risk of prolonged recession and the resulting catastrophic public health issues that will inevitably follow from an economic downturn of that magnitude,” the letter read in part.
The letter points out that SLO County was quicker by a day in issuing a stay-at-home order than was the state.
The letter also argues SLO County has capacity for another wave of cases because local officials built an alternate care site at Cal Poly that can scale up to 931 hospital beds.
“We believe that the most recent public health data, in addition to our county’s ability to continue monitoring cases and keeping the (Alternative Care Site) at Cal Poly open, should allow the county to soon begin a science-based, thoughtfully-phased reopening of our economy that would allow our residents to get back to work,” the letter read.
Newsom said at his noon press conference that he has not seen the letter, but that he would be announcing further details about his six criteria for re-opening the state at his press conference on Wednesday.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Sorry folks, saving lives and promoting public health is not tyranny. . .”
- Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, via Twitter. Bonta was responding to Monday’s protest of Newsom’s stay-at-home order.
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This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 4:55 AM.