Bradford chairs Black Caucus + Consultant to head EDD + Farmers aren’t happy
Welcome back to the AM Alert. We hope you had a wonderful holiday break.
NO LEGISLATURE THIS WEEK
While the AM Alert may be back, the Legislature isn’t.
Lawmakers originally were scheduled to return to work today, but that was pushed off til next Monday due to skyrocketing COVID-19 case numbers in the Sacramento area.
“With the number of COVID-19 cases reaching all-time highs and in an effort to keep members, Legislative staff, and all staff in the Capitol as safe as possible, both the Assembly and Senate have decided to move the date of our return to session to January 11, 2021,” Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, said in a statement.
COVID-19 also cut last year’s session significantly shorter, as lawmakers scrambled to adjust to life in a pandemic.
Legislative leaders have taken numerous steps to handle COVID-19 in the coming year, including temperature checks, mandatory masking and social distancing, as well as installing plexiglass at the Capitol’s entrance and doing more frequent cleaning, as Hannah Wiley reported last month.
BRADFORD TO CHAIR BLACK CAUCUS
Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, has been elected as the new chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, which has been advocating on behalf of African Americans and other marginalized people for five decades.
Bradford replaces Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, who is replacing Alex Padilla as secretary of state.
Bradford has been in office since 2009, making him the longest serving member of the caucus. He is also currently the only Black senator in the State Senate.
In a statement, Bradford said he is humbled and honored to accept the role and he also praised Weber’s legacy. He also previewed what his priorities will be in the coming year.
“We will be tackling issues such as the massively disproportional effect of COVID-19 on black Californians, establishing a more transparent and accountable police system, enhancing economic opportunity through social equity programs, protecting the state’s ratepayers from unfair energy policies, supporting our formerly incarcerated with rehabilitative programs, pursuing representation in all forms of government and so much more. ,” Bradford said in a statement.
NEWSOM TAPS CONSULTANT TO HEAD EDD
The embattled Employment Development Department has a new boss.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom last week appointed Rita Saenz to head the department, which is struggling under a massive caseload of unemployment claims.
Newsom said in a statement that Saenz has more than four decades of experience in state government and private enterprise, making her well-prepared to lead the troubled agency.
“Nationally, we are seeing a record number of unemployment claims as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and with that, unprecedented abuse of unemployment systems and fraudulent claims. California has certainly not escaped this national crisis unscathed but with Rita at the helm, we stand ready to ensure payments to Californians who are in desperate need of financial support while simultaneously stopping fraud in our systems and holding people who have committed fraud accountable,” Newsom said in a statement.
Saenz, 71, previously served as a consultant with Saenz and Associates. Prior to that, she held several positions at Xerox Corporation from 2007 to 2016, including director of California governmental affairs and director of communications.
Saenz, a Democrat, also served in several positions under Gov. Jerry Brown, during his first term of office. She worked as appointments secretary and special assistant to appointments from 1981 to 1983. She also served as director of the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse from 1978 to 1981.
Assuming the Senate confirms Saenz, she’ll be paid $204,864 a year.
FARMERS AREN’T HAPPY WITH CALIFORNIA’S COVID-19 WORKPLACE RULES
Via Jeong Park...
Agricultural employers are suing California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, commonly called Cal/OSHA, over the state’s COVID-19 emergency workplace rules.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court follows a similar case lodged in San Francisco by groups representing small businesses.
“These regulations will disrupt food supply operations all along the line, but it will be especially hard on our 20,000 small family farming members,” said Jamie Johansson, President of the California Farm Bureau Federation, in a press release announcing the lawsuit. “They and their employees are the unsung heroes of the pandemic but once again, they must react to a rule handed down by fiat instead of going through a deliberate regulatory process where the voices of farmers would be heard.”
Labor advocates and unions pushed for the regulations, which include requiring employers to regularly test their employees during an outbreak and ensuring workers practice social distancing whenever possible.
But employers have protested those rules, saying they impose a heavy burden on how businesses operate.
In their lawsuit, agricultural employers said the provisions on workplace housing, such as keeping beds at least six feet apart in all directions, will especially affect their businesses.
“One aspect of the regulations is to substantially reduce and eliminate vitally needed agricultural housing during a statewide housing crisis,” the groups said in the release. “A reduction in already-scarce housing will directly impact farmworker communities and harm rural economies across the state that depend on agriculture.”
INSURERS CAN’T DENY GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE, LARA SAYS
Insurance companies cannot use age as the sole reason to deny coverage of female-to-male gender-affirming chest reconstruction surgery, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a statement last week.
“For far too long, individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria have had to battle a host of challenges to get access to gender-affirming care in order to be their true selves,” Lara said. “Social stigma, misconceptions about gender dysphoria and its treatment, and outdated medical criteria create barriers to necessary medical care that can lead to tragic results for individuals with gender dysphoria, especially for our transgender youth.”
Lara said California insurers should take proactive steps to evaluate their coverage criteria for gender dysphoria treatment and eliminate any non-compliant practices that would interfere with the medical care recommended by a patient’s doctor.
Assemblyman Evan Low, who chairs the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus, issued a statement applauding Lara’s decision.
“The state of California has always led the way on issues of equality, and this legal opinion takes a much-needed stand to protect the rights of California’s LGBTQ residents, regardless of age,” Low said. “I want to thank Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara for his office’s careful consideration of this issue. Every patient, including those experiencing gender dysphoria, deserves to have their specific clinical situation taken into consideration. Discrimination does not have a place in California and should not have a place anywhere in health care.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We all want 2020 to end. Celebrate its end safely. Hope is on the horizon.”
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom, via Twitter. (Happy 2021 everybody!)
Best of the Bee:
In the spring, California set a bold goal: Have 10,000 ventilators ready to farm out to overwhelmed hospitals treating sick patients struggling to breathe. Now, as California enters the darkest days of the pandemic, most if not all of those machines are sitting in warehouses around the state. It’s unclear if they’ll even be needed at all, via Jason Pohl.
Experts say the stimulus package will help, but the economy won’t truly get back on track until the pandemic is largely tamed and normal business activities can resume, via Dale Kasler.
A new round of federal coronavirus relief could help California’s essential workers pay for child care and could keep the lights on at child care centers struggling to stay open, according to advocates for the centers, via Jeong Park.