Newsom’s $1 trillion ask of Congress + More protests planned + Coronavirus discrimination
Good morning! As always, thanks for reading!
HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY NEED, CALIFORNIA?
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants Washington to approve a $1 trillion package of economic assistance for states and local governments that are suddenly seeing huge deficits because of the coronavirus-induced recessions.
He’s in for a big fight.
Newsom’s proposal provides guidelines as to how the money could be allocated, but it attaches no specific numbers. That could prove to be a problem for Washington lawmakers as conservatives are wary of spending a lot more on such aid.
In California, Newsom has predicted adjustments to his budget when he presents revisions May 14 that could reach tens of billions of dollars. That could lead to cuts in social services and layoffs for public employees like teachers, police and firefighters.
Newsom’s request would involve spending in five areas hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, according to a letter he sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last month: Health care, unemployment benefits, small business assistance, the safety net and schools.
Other advocacy groups have floated different numbers for any aid package.
The National Governors Association has asked lawmakers for $500 billion, a figure it developed by looking at projected losses across major categories of state revenue. The National Association of State Budget Officers projects a 20 percent drop.
Pelosi has suggested $1 trillion could be needed for state and local aid. She has said she used that number by combining what she has learned from state and local interests about how the outbreak is affecting them.
What concerns many budget watchdogs, though they say such aid appears necessary, is the lack of precision behind the numbers.
“What we’re seeing is people picking numbers and people picking multiples,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Read more on the coming battle over assistance to states in David Lightman’s story today.
MORE PROTESTS AT THE CAPITOL?
Via Sam Stanton...
Days after 32 people were arrested while protesting at the state Capitol over California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order, another group has asked for a permit to stage a 500-person prayer meeting there Thursday that organizers say “will be a safe, peaceful event” that will include social distancing.
Organizers have requested a permit from the California Highway Patrol for the “National Day of Prayer - Building Bridges” event, despite the CHP’s current ban on allowing permits for events at the Capitol or other state-owned properties during the coronavirus crisis.
The permit application specifically refers to the arrests at last Friday’s event and says Newsom – not the CHP – “will be held accountable.”
The Thursday event is billed as featuring a sermon from Pastor Tim Thompson, a conservative Riverside County church leader who was one of the individuals detained at last Friday’s protest for creating a public health hazard.
Thompson said the event “is a response to what took place last Friday.”
“This will be a safe, peaceful event and families are encouraged to attend and bring picnic lunches to enjoy in the grass on the West Side,” the application states. “We will encourage appropriate social distancing unless part of the same family.”
Thompson said attendees will attempt to follow those guidelines, but “people are people, you can’t force people to do something.”
TOWN HALLS AGAINST RACISM
San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman David Chiu is part of an effort to launch Rise: Asian Pacific America, a series of four virtual town halls confronting racism against Asian Pacific Americans, as well as the continuing impact of COVID-19 on Asian Pacific American communities.
“Our APA communities are under assault both by the COVID-19 virus and the virus of racism,” Chiu said in a statement. “Our national leaders use dog-whistle language that encourages anti-Asian sentiment and inevitably bleeds over into hostility toward Asian Americans: terms like ‘Chinese virus’ and ‘Kung Flu’, slurs about Chinese hygiene and dietary habits, and unfounded, China-centered conspiracy theories. We have seen this before with the Chinese Exclusion Act, the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans, the murder of Vincent Chin, and post-9/11 anti-Muslim bigotry. Now with growing activism and representation in the halls of power, we can change our future.”
The town halls will take place at 5 p.m. on May 8, May 15, May 22 and May 29, and will touch on topics including the state of Asian Pacific America today, the history of Asian Pacific American discrimination, what recovery will look like for that community and how to build a coalition with other communities.
More information is available at www.riseapa.org.
MEDINA CRITICIZES THE RIVERSIDE BOARD OF SUPES
Jose Medina, the Democratic Assemblyman from Riverside, has waded into county politics, criticizing the Riverside County Board of Supervisors for considering a proposal to roll back COVID-19 public health orders recommended by the county’s public health officer.
“This careless proposal was introduced as we continue to fight COVID-19 and see the number of cases increasing within our county. Each case reported not only represents an individual fighting a battle against COVID-19, but a family at risk of losing a loved one,” Medina said in a statement.
Medina said that the county supervisors should let science and data guide their decision-making.
“Getting back to ‘business as usual’ too early could have potentially disastrous impacts. We need to take every precaution to protect our community. I am opposed to the proposal put forth by our County Supervisors and urge them to reconsider it,” Medina said.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’m urging the Governor to let pharmacies perform COVID-19 tests, as other states have. Needlessly forgoing 6,300 testing sites spanning nearly every community could hold back reopening across the state.”
- Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
Many California retail businesses will be able to reopen with some modifications by the end of the week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Monday, signaling an easing of the restrictions he handed down on March 19 to slow the coronavirus outbreak, via Andrew Sheeler and Dale Kasler.
California officials accused two energy trading firms Monday of illegally driving up gasoline prices through a complex scheme that cost the state’s motorists millions of dollars, via Dale Kasler.
Yuba, Sutter open despite Newsom’s stay-at-home order. How they could be a model for others, via Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks