Shannon Grove is out + COVID and California renters + Dreamers want action
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert. As always, thank you for reading.
GROVE OUT, WILK IN
Via Hannah Wiley...
A sign that Trump’s influence is waning with California Republicans?
Senate Republicans ousted Bakersfield Sen. Shannon Grove as their leader on Wednesday, capping a brutal two months for the caucus after it lost two of its 11 seats and Grove echoed conspiracy theories about the November election online.
Sen. Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita, who narrowly won his own reelection campaign to hold on to his Antelope Valley seat, will take on the leadership role, spokeswoman Eileen Ricker confirmed to The Sacramento Bee. Wilk is considered a more moderate member of the caucus who occasionally votes across the aisle.
A HISTORIC DAY
Wednesday was a big day, meanwhile, on the national stage for California.
Kamala Harris, who since 2017 has served as California’s junior senator, was sworn in as vice president — the first woman, first Black person and first South Asian to hold the office.
And what was one of Harris’ first acts as vice president?
Swearing in former California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to be the new junior senator from California — the first Latino to hold the office.
Padilla’s arrival in the Senate was lauded by California’s senior senator, Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
“I’m thrilled to welcome Alex Padilla to the Senate as California’s newest senator. He already has had a distinguished career in public service and I know he will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of our state. His swearing-in today makes him the first Latino senator from California, yet another barrier and ‘first’ in Alex’s career and a critical milestone for our state. I can’t wait to start working with Senator Padilla on the issues close to us both, from COVID-19 relief and immigration reform to climate change and economic recovery,” Feinstein said in a statement Wednesday.
HOW HAS COVID-19 AFFECTED CALIFORNIA RENTERS?
Via Jeong Park...
Federal and state policies may have helped many California households avoid falling behind on their rent, according to an analysis from the Legislative Analyst’s Office published Tuesday.
The analysis estimates that California renters owe $400 million in unpaid rent stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. About 90,000 households has an average unpaid rent of $4,500.
The figure is substantial, to be sure, but it’s much lower than $1.7 billion estimated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia in October.
LAO said it collaborated with the Philadelphia Fed to revise the figure, reflecting renters’ cost of living, savings as well as their participation in unemployment insurance.
A lot more people got unemployment insurance than what’s assumed by the Philadelphia Fed, LAO said in its analysis. Along with the expansion in unemployment insurance benefits as well as federal stimulus checks, many households have actually gotten a boost in their income, allowing them to not fall behind on their rent, LAO said.
Still, LAO noted the office doesn’t have the actual figure on rental debt. It also noted 1.4 million workers remain unemployed and that many low-income renters are severely rent burdened, meaning they pay more than 50% of their monthly income in rent.
“Until the pandemic is behind us and jobs can fully return, some renters may continue to accrue rental debt and face a risk of homelessness or housing instability,” LAO said.
DREAMERS OPTIMISTIC WITH BIDEN IN OFFICE
Via Kate Irby and Kim Bojórquez...
Almost a decade ago, Gabriela Cruz gained a sense of certainty when she applied for the Obama-era program that protects immigrants brought to the country illegally as children. For Cruz, it felt like the “first step” toward citizenship.
But the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program the former president created through executive order proved less secure when Congress failed to put it into law and the Trump administration attempted to rescind and weaken it over the past four years.
Now, with President Joe Biden taking office and Democratic majorities in Congress, so-called Dreamers like Cruz could be feeling optimistic that lawmakers finally will resolve their legal status. But many of them are on guard, wary of being disappointed again.
“As much as I want to believe (Biden), I also want action, because we’ve been here before,” Cruz said. “We’ve been under an administration who had full control of the House and the Senate. And yet, did not pass anything permanent for us.”
Read more here.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“So much hype. We rolled out 1k National Guard for Antifa and a guy with a bullhorn on a stick.”
- Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, via Twitter.
Best of The Bee:
A collection of protesters marched around and to California’s heavily guarded state Capitol on Wednesday as authorities continued their extraordinary show of force in downtown Sacramento to thwart any violence on Inauguration Day for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, via Sam Stanton, Rosalio Ahumada and Benjy Egel.
President Joe Biden is signing an executive order on his first day in office directing his government to revise fuel economy standards, a stark reversal from the Trump administration that for years battled California’s effort to maintain a strict cap on emissions from cars, via Michael Wilner and Sophia Bollag.