Congress on sidelines as budget ax nears + Everything’s coming up Kamala + Newsom’s public approval
Welcome back from the weekend. Here’s hoping you stayed safe. As always, thanks for reading!
FIRST UP
California’s budget deadline is just a week away. The ax will fall unless Congress and the Trump administration agree to send an economic relief package to states.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and leaders in the Legislature are anxiously looking to Washington for help. Many economists from the right, left and center agree that Congress should pony up some money.
“This is something that is about as close to a no brainer to do as I can imagine,’’ said Glenn Hubbard, chairman of President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, since such aid tends to ultimately help the economy grow.
It looks obvious to Hubbard, but Congress is not moving on California’s timeline. The House of Representatives has no votes scheduled until June 30. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is noncommittal about whether he’ll send another economic relief package to a vote.
Our David Lightman and Sophia Bollag break down the state of the stimulus in this story story today.
MORE BUDGET NEWS
Help for undocumented: Despite the yawning deficit, some Democratic leaders are making a case to Newsom that it’s time expand health care and a valuable tax credit to low-income, undocumented households.
“We must do what we can to provide more substantial financial assistance ... to Latinos in California that have been left out of our COVID response,” Sen. María Elena Durazo. Read more in this piece by Kim Bojórquez.
Deal or no deal: The clock is ticking for public employee unions to make a deal with Newsom on the 10 percent pay cut wants. If they don’t come to an agreement, Newsom would have suspend raises and institute furloughs Democratic leaders in the Legislature want unions to make some concessions, but they’re not demanding furloughs.
That leaves public employee unions with a choice:
They can negotiate agreements that are better than Newsom’s two unpaid days off but would still involve some pain. Or they can wait and see what happens and risk getting stuck with the two days.
“What (the Legislature has) done has dramatically reduced (Newsom’s) leverage in negotiating with the unions,” said Michael Shires, an associate professor of public policy at the Pepperdine School of Public Policy.
Read more in this story by Wes Venteicher.
KAMALA HARRIS AS VEEP NOMINEE?
Via David Lightman...
Kamala Harris is winning one vice presidential contest — the one created by pundits and gamblers.
Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia ranked her presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s most likely choice.
Among her strengths, the site said: “Obama 2.0” and “Plausible future president,” though it also listed some flaws, such as her times as state attorney general and San Francisco prosecutor and “CA not a swing state.”
Harris also topped the top 10 possibilities on the rankings of CNN’s Chris Cillizza.
“If anything, Harris seems even more likely to be the pick now as she, at 55, is a generation younger than Biden but also has a wealth of experience — as California attorney general and a senator — that we know Biden values,” he said Thursday.
She’s also getting betting action, listed as the favorite among several oddsmakers, often at 5 to 4. Betonline puts her far ahead of runners up Rep. Val Demings of Florida and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Not everyone agreed. Slate put Harris number 2, behind Warren.
“It would be a projection of what the people running the Democratic Party think young voters of color want,” Slate’s Jim Newell wrote, “in spite of recent evidence from the Democratic presidential primary that Kamala Harris failed to fire up the voters she would be tasked with firing up. In other words, she remains very much a front-runner.”
NEWSOM BUDGET GETS ‘MIXED REVIEWS’ POLL
Via Matt Kristoffersen...
Californians aren’t sold on Newsom’s budget plan, but they like what he’s doing.
That’s one of the takeway from a new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California.
Released on Wednesday, survey results suggest the budget — which would cut spending for California schools and slash pay for public employees — hasn’t won over most residents. Just 40 percent of likely voters approve the proposal. It also hasn’t received support from Democratic leaders in the Legislature.
“Gov. Newsom’s plan to close a multibillion-dollar state budget gap is receiving mixed reviews, while tax increases are opposed by a two-to-one margin,” survey director and PPIC leader Mark Baldassare said in a statement.
Newsom’s own approval ratings have shot up by double-digits this month, survey data shows. And as California faces one of the largest budget shortfalls in state history, one-third of those surveyed also said the tax hikes he included in his latest revision are a good idea.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSELOR IS LEAVING
After 18 years as Legislative Counsel, Diane Boyer-Vine is retiring this October.
Boyer-Vine’s upcoming departure was remarked upon by Senate Leader Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, in a statement on Friday.
“As Legislative Counsel, Diane Boyer-Vine has used her deep knowledge of the law and the legislative process to ensure that thousands of bills were appropriately drafted and properly enacted. Maybe even more important, Diane has been in the forefront of our efforts to change the culture of the Capitol. There are legislators, staff, and members of the Capitol community who will benefit from her leadership years after she has gone. That says a lot. I have personally relied on Diane’s advice countless times, as Speaker and pro Tem, and she is exactly the kind of tenacious, effective lawyer anyone would want in their corner. We will miss her, and wish her all the best in retirement.”
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, put out his own statement in Boyer-Vine on Friday. He said that her departure brings him “mixed emotions,” but that he congratulates her on a “well-earned retirement.”
“She has ably led the Office of Legislative Counsel in many areas, including this year’s consultation on how the Legislature could fulfill its duties under conditions imposed by the current pandemic,” Rendon said. “Before that, Legislative Counsel also took on an important role including the Workplace Conduct Unit we created to move the Capitol toward becoming a culture of inclusion and respect.
Boyer-Vine first joined the office of the Legislative Counsel in 1988, and was appointed to her current position June 6, 2002, according to her biography.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“No Donald Trump, it is NOT a great day for George Floyd. He is gone because of police brutality and a slow motion murder. His family is grieving as is most of America. And what are you doing about it?”
- Former Sen. Barbara Boxer, via Twitter. She was responding to this.
Best of the Bee:
CHP commissioner condemns George Floyd’s killing, wades into Capitol protest, via Sacramento Bee staff
Gavin Newsom promised progress for California’s unemployment office — but many can’t see it, via David Lightman
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday blasted a senior White House adviser who argued there’s no need for Congress to pass another economic stimulus package to help Americans recover from the coronavorius outbreak, via Andrew Sheeler.
A year ago, California passed one of the strictest policies in the nation on the use of deadly force by police. After a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, the author of the measure says his death shows more must be done, via Hannah Wiley and Amy Chance.
The concrete stage in Sacramento’s Cesar E. Chavez Plaza is now a makeshift shrine to victims of police brutality, a collection of candles, flowers and homemade posters growing daily as demonstrations continue against the killing of George Floyd, via Dale Kasler.
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 4:55 AM.