California claws back coronavirus $$ + ‘Job killer’ bills + Should the state pay reparations?
Happy Tuesday! Thanks as always for reading!
THE GOOD NEWS IS
California has not lost any money on its coronavirus-related contracts for protective equipment like masks, even from deals that have fallen through, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s top emergency official told lawmakers Monday.
“Not one dime of taxpayer dollars has been lost,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
His testimony in the Legislature comes on the heels of reporting by multiple news outlets into contracts that failed. They include a contract first reported by CalMatters for 100 million masks from Blue Flame Medical LLC that fell through after the state tried to wire the company half a billion dollars. California canceled a nearly $800 million mask contract with Bear Mountain Development Co. LLC after the company failed to deliver most supplies, the Los Angeles Times reported. The state didn’t pay the company for any masks or face shields that weren’t delivered, according to the Times.
In another case, first reported by The Bee, a firm called Hichens, Harrison and Co. returned $8.75 million after a deal it had struck with the state also fell through. State Treasurer Fiona Ma said Monday that contract was for ventilators.
Ghilarducci described a chaotic bidding environment for emergency equipment this spring, when the state received hundreds of leads from potential suppliers as it rushed to prepare for the outbreak.
On Friday, BYD, a multinational manufacturer based in China, refunded California $247.5 million after masks the state had already paid for were delayed pending federal certification. If the state ultimately receives all the 300 million masks it agreed to buy from BYD, it will have to repay the refunded money, OES spokesman Brian Ferguson told The Bee last week.
BYD stands to earn more than $1 billion through its contract with the state, according to the contract.
COVID-19 BILL A ‘JOB KILLER’
The California Chamber of Commerce has released its annual list of “job killers,” listing 10 bills that it says “threaten California’s economic recovery and would hurt the ability of employers to rehire or maintain employment of California workers should they become law,” according to a statement from the group.
“It’s truly unfortunate — and, quite astonishing — that anyone in the legislature would unnecessarily increase costs on California’s distressed employers and reduce employment opportunities for California workers,” said CalChamber President and CEO Allan Zaremberg.
The list of bills includes Assembly Bill 3216, authored by San Jose Democrat Ash Kalra. AB 3216 would provides for unlimited COVID-19-related job protected medical or family leave for all employees of employers of any size.
CalChamber says it “creates additional burdens on California employers at a time they can least afford it.”
AB 3216 is currently in the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment.
You can read the full list of “job killer” bills here.
CALIFORNIA EXPLORING REPARATIONS?
California lawmakers heard testimony on Monday on a bill that would authorize the creation of a task force to explore the possibility of awarding reparations for slavery.
Assembly Bill 3121, sponsored by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, would empower the task force to “among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies,” according to the legislative counsel’s digest.
AB 3121 is currently being reviewed by the Assembly Committee on the Judiciary, which heard Monday from Isaac Bryan, director of the UCLA Black Policy Project.
While California billed itself as a “free state” when it entered the union in 1850, it nevertheless participated in slavery, Bryan said in his remarks.
“The California Legislature authorized Southern slaveholders to hold people in bondage if they had entered the state with their property prior to statehood. To reiterate, California did in fact allow slave owners to own, and subjugate, black bodies despite its designation as a free state,” Bryan said, according to a copy of his remarks provided to the Bee.
California also adopted a Fugitive Slave Act, and its courts ordered escaped slaves returned to their former owners, Bryan added.
“Today the legacy of slavery and its afterlives are still felt across our civic institutions. Dollar for dollar, California spends more money on human caging than higher education. Nearly 30 percent of the men incarcerated in our states penal system are Black men despite making up less than 8 percent of our state’s male population,” Bryan said.
Bryan called AB 3121 a “necessary first step” and urged lawmakers on the committee to pass it.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“California could save billions in tax revenue if we stop subsidizing the purchase of Teslas, which are made with rare earths mined in horrific conditions, bought by people who don’t need the tax breaks, and are often charged with dirty power. Just saying.”
- Former Assemblyman Mike Gatto, via Twitter. Gatto was responding to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who tweeted that Tesla could save billions of dollars in taxes by moving to his state.
Best of the Bee:
Some California workers can make more in jobless benefits than lost wages. So why work?, via David Lightman
Elon Musk says Tesla has reopened its Fremont, California, factory in a showdown with local health officials over coronavirus lockdown rules, via Don Sweeney.
Four western governors joined California Gov. Gavin Newsom in asking Congress for $1 trillion in aid for states and local governments reeling from the economic damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic, via Andrew Sheeler.
The last time California faced a massive budget deficit, the governor soon started talking about furloughs. Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed unpaid days off for state workers in 2008, when the state faced a roughly $40 billion deficit. On Thursday, the Department of Finance projected a $54 billion deficit, raising questions about where the state will look to reduce spending this time around, via Wes Venteicher.
This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 4:55 AM.