California convulses + Housing advocates offer dire warning + Seeing $$ through sports betting
Good morning and welcome to another week of Capitol politics!
THE LONG WEEKEND
From the Capitol to San Diego and disparate points in between, thousands of Californians took to the streets over the weekend to mourn the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and protest the police killings of other black men.
In Sacramento, what were mostly peaceful protests during daytime hours turned into something different at night, when groups of people smashed windows and looted stores.
Similar scenes played out in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles, where Gov. Gavin Newsom called up the National Guard to support local law enforcement agencies.
Violent confrontations unfolded in smaller cities, too.
In Modesto, a largely peaceful, roughly four-hour march in Modesto on Sunday erupted in violence downtown when protesters and officers converged downtown. In Visalia, someone driving a jeep with a flag supporting President Donald Trump reportedly hit two women at a protest.
People took care of each other, too.
Late Sunday, law enforcement officers outside the Capitol took a knee at the urging of protesters, eliciting cheers. A broom brigade hit the streets of Sacramento Sunday morning, cleaning up stores that had been looted just hours earlier.
“This is our city,” said Carl Watson of Sacramento. “I love this city. We are out here to do our part taking care of the city.”
Newsom on Friday discussed Floyd at length during a press conference.
The governor’s 10-year-old daughter had watched a video of Floyd’s death on TikTok and wanted to make sure he saw it. His son, 8, said Floyd’s death was “worse than wrong,” because “bad people are supposed to be bad, but good people are supposed to be good.” Newsom’s 4-year-old said “that’s not right ... police officers are good people” and ran away. His daughter left in tears.
“(It is) not lost on me the privilege of that conversation,” he said. “Not lost on me the privilege of being governor, the privilege of my background, the privilege my kids have in terms of their upbringing, the fact that they’re white.”
Passing laws is not enough, Newsom said. Rather, he said, the current moment calls for a cultural change that prioritizes care, empathy and collaboration over power, dominance and aggression. He also called for the country to “wake up” to structural racism and the need for fundamental institutional reform, especially in the criminal justice system.
Newsom did not give public remarks over the weekend, aside from his order deploying the National Guard.
He is expected to speak at a press conference today at noon. In a sign of the moment, the headline on the news release from his office read, “Newsom to provide update on demonstrations across the state and the state’s response to COVID-19.”
TENANTS FACE HOUSING LOSS
Via Kate Irby and Hannah Wiley...
With rent due for another new month in the coronavirus outbreak, affordable housing advocates warn that the new recession could trigger a domino effect wiping out protections for millions of lower-income California tenants.
They worry not only about tenants who will be unable to pay rent because they’ve lost jobs and income.
More tenants — even ones who keep jobs and make rent — could lose their subsidized housing if enough of their neighbors fall behind and a complex goes out of business, allowing new landlords to hike rents to market prices.
Affordable housing advocates say as much as 79 percent of California’s existing affordable housing is at risk.
So far, most tenants are keeping up with their bills. They’ve been helped with rent due to increased unemployment payments and the $1,200 stimulus checks passed by the federal government earlier this year, according to Matt Schwartz, President and CEO of California Housing Partnership.
But that won’t last when the benefits run out, he said.
“Here’s an indicator of what may be coming: A housing provider surveyed residents and reported that 57 percent of the households have lost jobs and 84 percent have lost significant income,” he said.
About 380,000 homes located in 4,372 developments in California are designated as affordable housing, which cost the federal and state government about $100 billion to build over the years, according to the California Housing Partnership. Their tenants benefit from restrictions, while builders can incentives like tax credits.
A recent UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation study found that of the 2.3 million renting households in California affected by the coronavirus, 50 percent were already rent-burdened. With the state’s current 15 percent unemployment rate expected to rise, advocates have asked the federal government to keep these tenants from collapsing into homelessness.
“Although these developments are rent-restricted for up to 55 more years, default and foreclosure will generally erase all affordability requirements,” reads a report by California Housing Partnership. “As a result, 79% of California’s precious affordable rental homes are at imminent risk of loss, absent public intervention.”
LEGALIZED SPORTS BETTING?
California lawmakers this week are set to consider a constitutional amendment to legalize sports betting.
The amendment, authored by Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, and Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, will be heard Tuesday in the Senate Governmental Organization Committee, which Dodd chairs.
If approved by California voters, legalized sports betting could generate $300 million in state taxes and $2 billion in operator revenue annually, according to projections from PlayCA.com, which analyzes legalized gambling in California.
“California is the holy grail of sports betting markets, and not just because of its sheer size,” said Dustin Gouker, chief analyst for PlayCA.com said in a statement. “It appears that legislators are working to put in place a structure that will make California uniquely attractive to every major operator. And because it has the potential to be the largest legal sports betting market in the U.S., ultimately it represents a seismic shift in the industry.”
Back in 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal ban on sports betting, opening the door for states to decide whether to legalize it for themselves. Sports betting is now legal in 22 states, according to Dodd’s office.
“Like many of you, I’m not a gambler but I see how important this is for the well-being of California,” Dodd said in a statement. “Even if you don’t bet there is good reason to support this bill. Revenue from sports wagering will help us avoid teacher layoffs and painful cuts. At the same time, it will allow us to regulate a practice that happens anyway.”
Gray said in a statement that legalizing sports betting could not only provide revenue for the state, it could help put an end to black market betting.
“That’s a win-win,” Gray said.
WELCOME INTERNS!
The Sacramento Bee Capitol Bureau would like to extend a warm welcome to its two newest interns, Matt Kristoffersen and Mackenzie Hawkins. You may have already noticed their bylines.
Here’s a little bit more about them:
Kristoffersen is a junior at Yale University, studying history. He plays the saxophone and loves reading thick books. Matt will be working from home in Redlands this summer. He previously interned at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside.
Hawkins is a junior at Yale studying Ethics, Politics & Economics. She covers city politics and local activism for her student newspaper, the Yale Daily News, and has reported on social services for the Half Moon Bay Review. Hawkins is a Bay Area native currently working out of San Francisco.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Racism is a disease, just like COVID-19 or cancer. We put so many resources toward combatting our illnesses, as we should. We need to put similar resources towards combatting our more than 400 years of racism, which does not appear to be ending anytime soon.”
- Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager, D-Los Angeles, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
California correctional officer dies after testing positive for coronavirus, by Wes Venteicher
Lost your job during coronavirus pandemic? Here are some new ones to try, by David Lightman
‘Outside agitators.’ Sacramento activists critical of violence after George Floyd protest, by Rosalio Ahumada and Darrell Smith