Pressure on Newsom to up public health spending + Faulconer scores big donation + Wage theft
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
LAWMAKERS CALL FOR MORE PUBLIC HEALTH SPENDING
Is Gov. Gavin Newsom making a “deadly mistake” by not including more funding for public health in his May Revise budget?
Sen. Richard Pan, chair of the Senate Health Committee, and Assemblyman Jim Wood, chair of the Assembly Health Committee, think so.
The two Democratic lawmakers will join representatives of California’s county health officials, frontline public health workers and public health advocates in calling for the governor to include $200 million in annual funding “to rebuild California’s battered local public health infrastructure and workforce,” according to a statement put out on behalf of the California Can’t Wait coalition.
The coalition asserts that despite a massive surplus, Newsom included zero new dollars for public health spending even though the state is emerging from a deadly pandemic. Newsom pushed back against that argument at a press conference last week, arguing he was moving to increase health spending in other ways.
California’s spending on public languished for a decade leading up to the coronavirus pandemic. The Bee’s Hannah Wiley last year reported that spending on public health declined as a share of the state budget from 2.8% of total spending in 2009-10 down to 1.5% in 2019-20.
At 10 a.m., Pan and Wood will join Michelle Gibbons of the County Health Executives Association of California, Augustin Rucobo, a San Diego County senior public health nurse, Kat DeBurgh of the Health Officers Association of California, Elsa Jimenez of the Monterey County Health Department, as well as representatives of the Public Health Advocates, California State Association of Counties, Urban Counties of California, and Rural County Representatives of California to call on Newsom to put more money toward public health.
TRUMP ALLY MAXES OUT DONATION TO FAULCONER
Via Lara Korte...
Geoff Palmer, the Southern California real estate developer and Trump mega-donor, donated the maximum amount of money to Kevin Faulconer’s campaign this week, kicking in more than $32,000 to see the former San Diego mayor overthrow Gavin Newsom in a recall election.
In 2016, the L.A. real estate mogul donated at least $2 million to a Trump Super PAC known as “Rebuilding America Now.” In 2019, he hosted the former president for a fundraiser at his Beverley Hills Home. Palmer already was one of the top donors to the campaign to gather recall petition signatures, kicking in $150,000 to recall organizers in January.
It’s unclear if this means recall supporters are coalescing behind one candidate. Palmer’s donation, while significant, doesn’t guarantee a win for Faulconer, and there’s still plenty of time for more candidates (and more donors) to enter the race before the likely recall election this fall.
In the latest poll from Berkeley IGS, Faulconer is tied with former Republican candidate John Cox for the largest portion of voters inclined to support (22%). About 14% of voters expressed support for former GOP Rep. Doug Ose, while only 6% said they were inclined to support Caitlyn Jenner.
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS WAGE THEFT VIOLATIONS
San Diego Democratic Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez’s office is calling attention to a new report published by the Economic Policy Institute, which “sheds light on the need for district attorneys and other public prosecutors to bring forward cases involving wage theft and other employer-committed crimes against workers,” according to her office.
“We need to actually enforce labor laws in this country and address the crimes committed against ordinary workers every single day with the urgency it deserves,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
The report found that minimum wage violations in the 10 most populous states, including California, affected approximately 2.4 million low-income employees, who lost an average of $3,300 a year, or nearly a quarter of their earned wages.
Gonzalez’s office pointed to her bill, AB 1003, which would increase the criminal penalties for employers caught committing wage theft.
“While AB 1003 is about deterring bad actors from committing wage theft, this legislation also makes it absolutely clear that prosecutors can go after employers who knowingly steal from their workers,” Gonzalez said.
You can read the report for yourself by visiting here.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Joe Biden uses the term ‘Neanderthal’ to describe governors who don’t follow the advice of the CDC. That now includes the Governor of California.”
- Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
CalPERS considering pension hikes for workers, agencies as investment outlook dims, via Wes Venteicher
A majority of California voters supports allowing some businesses to verify that their customers are vaccinated or have tested negative for coronavirus before allowing them to enter, according to a new poll, via Lara Korte.
Just days after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced a plan to close a prison in Susanville last month, dozens of “for sale” signs for homes began popping up in a rural Lassen County town, via Jeong Park.