‘Lives and livelihoods’ in California budget + Anti-vaccine meets MAGA + Recycling advocacy
Good morning and happy budget day! Today’s a big one in the Capitol. Just remember to take deep breaths and we’ll all get through it together.
BUDGET DAY
One hundred and twenty-four days ago Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a $222 billion state budget proposal that he said was an example of what “big-hearted, effective governance looks like.”
It counted on a $5.6 billion surplus and included plans to provide health care for undocumented seniors, expand access to preschool and tackle homelessness with hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding.
The revised budget proposal he’s due to release today is going to look very different.
To Newsom’s office, that $5.6 billion surplus today looks more like a $54.3 billion deficit for the coming fiscal year that will require belt-tightening and a big assist from the federal government.
The actual deficit might not be that bad — the Legislative Analyst’s Office last week estimated a deficit in the range of $18 billion to $31 billion. But things also could get worse if the coronavirus outbreak drags on and suppresses the economy.
“I guarantee you in two or three months the governor will say it’s worse than $54 billion, because things get worse and worse until they stop,” Mike Genest, who was then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s finance director when the economy crashed in 2008, told us this week.
For more on how the state navigated the last recession, check out our retrospective: California cut schools and raised taxes in its last recession. What will Newsom do now? It might make you cringe.
Newsom has some advantages that Schwarzenegger lacked 12 years ago, such as flush reserves, a solid credit rating, little debt outside of pension plans and about $40 billion in state government accounts that can be borrowed for immediate needs.
He has a different challenge, though, in guiding the state both through a public health crisis and a severe recession, State Controller Betty Yee said, meaning California should both keep people safe from the virus and provide resources to help them relaunch suspended careers.
“This is a pandemic that’s both about critically saving lives and also saving livelihoods,” she said. “You can’t split the two, you have to do both.”
Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angels, earlier this week said she expects a budget solution to include “belt-tightening,” deferred payments and some unrestricted assistance from the federal government.
She and Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, said they’re aiming to negotiate a balanced budget that will set the state on track for a recovery when the outbreak passes.
“We will not look to just cobble together a budget that is precariously balanced for 2020-21, but instead pass a budget with a projected balance in 2021, 2022 and a stronger projection beyond that,” Atkins said.
DO THOSE PROTESTERS LOOK FAMILIAR TO YOU?
By Hannah Wiley
They post images comparing Gov. Gavin Newsom to Hitler.
They say wearing a mask is “submission.”
They reject contact tracing for coronavirus as recommended by public health officials, calling it a government tool to “put a target on your back.”
Anti-vaccine advocates who once flooded the state Capitol to protest a law that school children be innoculated against disease are back again.
But this time they are joining far-right organizations that share a disdain of government directives and public health guidelines, including the stay-at-home order issued in March to slow the spread of COVID-19.
These mothers, who fear vaccines cause more harm than they prevent, are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Make America Great Again enthusiasts, Second Amendment devotees and militia members to protest coronavirus mandates they believe are undermining their civil liberties.
“We are standing together by the millions, and it will grow and grow. Because whether (or not) they’re out here with us now, they’re with us in spirit,” said Tara Thornton, co-founder of a well-known California anti-vaccine coalition called Freedom Angels, during a recent prayer gathering at the Capitol. “They know what tyranny is, they know what freedom is.”
The battle against coronavirus signals a shift in the movement once comprised of both left- and right-leaning members to an uber-conservative campaign, said Richard Carpiano, a UC Riverside public policy and sociology professor.
“We’ve normally thought about it as the left-leaning, the granola, new-agey types,” Carpiano said. “But we see a lot more of an alignment with right-wing and Republican lobbying.”
The evolution was apparent during protests in April and May, where signs reading messages like “No Mandatory Vaccines” or “Flu+Media=COVID-19” dotted a crowd filled with Trump 2020 banners and Make America Great Again red hats.
Carpiano said what ties the seemingly “strange bedfellows” together is a shared passion for individual liberties and freedoms. An era of more extreme politics, combined with an unprecedented global pandemic, accentuates those values, he said.
“COVID brought out a whole bunch of different groups,” he added, “and gave them an opportunity for new allies.”
Read more from Wiley’s report here.
BOTTLE BILL IN JEOPARDY?
California must reform it’s Bottle Bill and unlock the Beverage Container Recycling Fund’s $400 million in unspent money and use that to revitalize the state’s beverage container recycling program, according to a new report out now from the Changing Markets Foundation and the National Stewardship Action Counsel.
The report reveals that California’s once-vaunted beverage container recycling rate has slipped from 85 percent to 66 percent.
The report also cited a survey that found that more than a third, 37 percent, of Californians were unaware of the Bottle Bill, which allows Californians to redeem beverage containers for 5 cents. And 53 percent of Californians do not use redemption centers to return their beverage containers, that survey found.
The COVID-19 emergency has made the situation even more dire, the study found. In the first few weeks of the stay-at-home order, beverage container volumes at recycling facilities were down as much as 70 percent, according to the report.
“Recyclable empty containers are accumulating in peoples’ homes, awaiting return for redemption when stay-at-home orders are lifted, or otherwise going to landfill,” the report said. “There is now a need to completely reform the operational container-return process in California to one that uses ‘no-touch’ reverse vending machines (RVMs), bag-drop systems,and other methods that reduce physical contact between people and materials. California also needs far more redemption sites scattered throughout the state to enable social distancing, rather than the scarcity of sites that currently leads to crowded recycling centers and long lines.”
The report also calls for expanding the bottle bill to allow for wine and liquor containers to be redeemed.
Reforming the Bottle Bill could also be a job creator, adding as many as 5,000 new jobs, according to the report.
VOTERS WORRY ABOUT COVID-19, SUPPORT A FLAVOR TOBACCO BAN
Senate Bill 793 got some good news on Wednesday: The bill cleared the Senate Health Committee and moved on to the Senate Appropriations Committee, and a new poll commissioned by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids came out showing a majority of California voters support the effort.
The online poll, conducted by Stephen Clermont of Change Research, surveyed 2,578 likely California voters, and found that 69 percent of those asked support a ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, hookah, pipe and chewing tobacco and snuff.
The bill, from Democratic San Mateo Sen. Jerry Hill, had more Democratic support (82 percent) than Republican (54 percent). The ban was most supported by those 65 and older (84 percent), and least supported by those 18 to 34 (57 percent).
The survey also found that 73 percent of those polled are concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic, with 88 percent concerned about the government’s response to it. Meanwhile, 66 percent of those surveyed said that smokers and vapers should consider quitting as a response to the pandemic.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“After seeing more results last night, it is clear that our message of lower taxes and ensuring we don’t take liberal Sacramento dysfunction to Washington prevailed. I’m ready to go to work right away for the citizens of the 25th Congressional District. For too long, the people of our district have not had representation, and it’s time their voice is heard in Washington. These are difficult times, and too much is at stake — our small businesses, our workers and our families need all the help they can get.”
- Republican Mike Garcia, who won the election to fill the seat left vacant by Democrat Katie Hill. Here’s what that means for November.
Best of the Bee:
California gave $139 million ventilator contract to medical supply firm once raided by FBI, via Ryan Sabalow, Jason Pohl and Dale Kasler
Federal regulators say certification of masks California purchased from Chinese company BYD was denied, not delayed, contradicting comments Gov. Gavin Newsom made last week, via Sophia Bollag.
As county jails and state and federal prisons nationwide have grappled with crippling outbreaks of COVID-19 among inmates and staff, Sacramento sheriff’s officials say they have had a remarkable experience so far, with only one inmate and no staff testing positive for the virus. And they want to keep it that way, via Sam Stanton.
With a “ferocious and challenging” wildfire season looming, California Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged to hire hundreds of new firefighters Wednesday — but acknowledged that his new budget will curtail some of his previous funding proposals to help the state respond to emergencies, via Dale Kasler, Ryan Sabalow and Jason Pohl.
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 4:55 AM.