Evictions, cops, taxes: What’s going to Newsom + GOP protests + PUC director dismissed
Good morning and happy Tuesday! The legislative session has ended and lawmakers are going home for the year...or are they?
THEY RAN OUT THE CLOCK
California lawmakers used up all their time and then some on their final day of session to pass dozens of bills that will shape the state’s response to the coronavirus outbreak and tackle demands that they address a summer of protests over police brutality.
The long night included a number of interruptions in the Senate, where quarantined Republicans participating remotely in debates protested a Democratic attempt to limit debate on bills. More on that later.
Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly signed a law to protect tenants against renters during the pandemic just after legislators passed it, reflecting the urgency of the state’s expiring eviction ban.
“California is stepping up to protect those most at-risk because of COVID-related nonpayment, but it’s just a bridge to a more permanent solution once the federal government finally recognizes its role in stabilizing the housing market,” he said.
In the wake of national protests over George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis law enforcement officers, California lawmakers passed a ban police choke holds and another measure by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty that calls for the state Department of Justice to investigate police shootings instead of county district attorneys.
Lawmakers also sent Newsom efforts to build a stockpile of medical protective equipment, carve out new exemptions in the labor law AB 5 and block private equity firms from gobbling up foreclosed homes.
After 1 a.m., the Senate gave final approval to Sen. Steven Bradford’s SB 1447, a measure that would open up $100 million in tax credits for small businesses that hire or rehire workers this summer and fall. It’s meant to be a lift for companies struggling in the coronavirus recession.
We may be learning about some of the new bills in the weeks and months ahead. Senate Bill 823, an overhaul of the state’s juvenile justice system that shifts responsibility from the state to local governments, is on its way to Newsom just a few days after it first appeared in print.
“This is a sudden and massive change to youth justice in California,” said Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Big Bear Lake, who voted against the bill.
With a minute until midnight, the Assembly passed a measure Newsom backed to ensure workers at smaller businesses have an opportunity to take 12 weeks of paid family leave.
And one working mom, Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, brought her infant to the floor to make an appeal for Senate Bill 1120, a measure to ease barriers to subdivision construction.
“I was in the middle of feeding my daughter when this bill came up,” Wicks said, holding a crying infant. “I just came down here in strong support of this bill to urge my colleagues...please please please pass this bill. And I’m going to go finish feeding my daughter.”
That one passed at 11:58 p.m.
THE REMOTE CAUCUS
Senate Republicans, forced to participate in end-of-session work remotely because of a COVID-19 quarantine, cried foul. Senate Republican leader Shannon Grove of Bakersfield and Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, tried to shout objections over Sen. Hannah Beth Jackson, the Santa Barbara Democrat leading the floor session.
“So you’re just going to shut Republicans out of debate?” Melendez asked as Jackson talked over her. “This is bull----.”
Other GOP senators also pushed Democrats for an explanation, including Jim Nielsen of Gerber, the lone Republican senator allowed in the chamber. (He was spared from the quarantine, having skipped the caucus meeting last week where his colleagues were exposed.)
“This is unprecedented in my experience here, and I want a doggone reason,” Nielsen said.
The Democrats’ motion passed 28-10 along party lines, capping debate to two minutes per speaker and limiting the number of speakers to two per side. The rule applied to both parties.
Although the Assembly always has time limits for debate, capping debate is extremely rare in the Senate, where lawmakers frequently give long-winded speeches. Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, said although time limits are unusual, they are not unprecedented, pointing to several times in the chamber’s history when Senate leaders had capped debate.
The argument came after a day of testy exchanges between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, including snarky comments related to remote senators muting and unmuting themselves during votes. Republicans also attempted several times to introduce amendments on bills, even though the deadline for amending bills had passed Friday.
Meanwhile, 19 Senate and Assembly Republicans are asking Newsom to call an “extraordinary session” so that the Legislature can continue its work until Nov. 30.
“With Californians facing unprecedented hardships, including school closures, business restrictions, and the continuing public health challenges of COVID-19, the Legislature cannot simply go home for the year,” said Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, in a statement.
The group pointed to the fact that this legislative session has been truncated by nine weeks, with much of that being due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many proposals were introduced this year to help the people of California, but were refused a hearing using the shortened session as an excuse,” Kiley said. “This not only undermined the democratic process of our institution, it also robbed countless Californians of critical relief in a time of historic need.”
CPUC DIRECTOR OUSTED OVER ‘QUESTIONABLE’ HIRES
The agency that regulates California’s privately owned utilities fired its executive director on Monday, finding that she inappropriately used her influence to hire or promote under-qualified job candidates and then showed insubordination when the state investigated her decisions.
The removal of Alice Stebbins as executive director of the California Public Utilities Commission comes in the midst of the state’s wildfire season and as the agency focuses on challenges that range from monitoring PG&E’s bankruptcy to decommissioning the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in San Luis Obispo County.
Her removal will be effective Friday, Commission President Marybel Batjer said. Stebbins joined the commission in 2018 after working for decades in California environmental agencies.
In dismissing Stebbins, the board cited both a report from the State Personnel Board that said that she made several “highly questionable” hirings in her capacity as executive director, as well as her conduct after the draft of that report was made available.
The conflict turns on California’s so-called civil service rules, which are intended to prevent nepotism and favoritism from influencing personnel decisions.
“You took a series of actions over the course of several years that calls into question your integrity,” said Batjer, who led a multiyear project revising California state hiring and disciplinary codes when served as government operations secretary in former Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration.
Stebbins is still fighting her dismissal, and she’s preparing a whistleblower retaliation complaint.
You can read more in Andrew Sheeler’s story today.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I think I have shown incredible diplomacy here tonight.”
- Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg.
Best of the Bee:
Sacramento County health officials once again gave the green light on Monday for hair salons and barbers to reopen their doors for indoor hair cutting and styling — hoping this time will work out better than last, via Tony Bizjak.
A second round of coronavirus stimulus checks remains in limbo as August draws to a close without an agreement among lawmakers on a relief package, via Bailey Aldridge.
The California Legislature late Sunday sent Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill that would direct public corporations headquartered in California to appoint minority or gay representatives to their boards of directors. Companies that don’t comply with the law could face fines between $100,000 and $300,000, according to the bill, via Kim Bojórquez.
This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 4:55 AM.