Strong job numbers + Bonta supports Colorado law + California GOP weighs in on props

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

NEWSOM TOUTS JOB NUMBERS, BUT RECESSION FEARS LOOM

The latest California job numbers are out now, and Gov. Gavin Newsom is touting historically low unemployment levels and the largest job gain since February.

“Californians are getting back to work with record low unemployment,” Newsom said in a statement. “We have historic reserves and we’re putting money back in peoples’ pockets as we continue to lead the nation’s economic recovery.”

California added 84,800 non-farm jobs, bringing the state total to 17.6 million, and the private sector achieved full recovery from the pandemic-induced recession, acccording to Newsom’s office.

In July, unemployment dropped to 3.9%, a record low going back to the official data series that started in 1976.

According to Loyola Marymount University economist Sung Won Sohn, the jobless rate declined in part due to the labor force dropping by more than 23,000 in July.

“Labor force participation rate edged down to 62.4% from 62.5% indicating that workers are cautious about returning to the job market. Sooner or later, however, more workers will rejoin the labor force. Thanks to high inflation, their buying power is eroding,” Sohn wrote in a recent update.

Sohn warned that despite the recent encouraging jobs news, California is facing an economic slowdown or even a recession in the coming months. He wrote that California’s “Achilles heel” is the tech sector, concentrated in the Bay Area.

“The tech sector has slowed hiring or began layoffs. Prior to the pandemic, IT was the workhorse of the state’s economy generating lots of jobs and income. The recent setbacks in the sector are worrisome. With rising interest rates, venture fundings have become scarcer and jobs have been lost,” Sohn wrote.

The exodus from the Bay Area has prevented a complete recovery from the pandemic, he wrote.

However, there is good news: California is unlikely to see a “dot-com”-style bust as occurred around the turn of the millennium, “as the kind of speculative bubble evident around the year 2000 does not exist today,” Sohn wrote.

BONTA SIGNS BRIEF DEFENDING COLORADO PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS LAW

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has signed on to a “friend of the court” brief in favor of Colorado’s public accommodations law, which is aimed at preventing discriminationensuring that people are able to access businesses and facilities that are a part of daily life.

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering a legal challenge from a wedding website services company which is suing to avoid having to serve same-sex couples.

“It’s 2022 and we’re still stuck fighting to ensure LGBTQ+ Americans can access basic business services open to the public,” Bonta said in a statement. “Don’t let anyone fool you: We can’t let up for an instant. Public accommodations laws are a critical part of our efforts to protect against discrimination — and they are under attack. In California, we’re fighting back. No matter who you are or who you love, we’re going to continue to stand up for the fundamental rights of all of our residents. I urge the Supreme Court to reject this challenge to Colorado’s laws.”

Bonta joins a coalition of attorneys general in signing the amicus brief, which argues that the exception sought by the private company would lead to “widespread and varied forms of discrimination,” according to the attorney general’s office.

THIS NOVEMBER, THE (ALMOST) LAST SHALL BE FIRST

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office has conducted a lottery-style drawing to determine the alphabet order that names will appear on the November general election ballot.

And the winner is: the letter “Y.”

Candidates with a last name beginning with Y will be listed first, followed by I, D, A, B, R, V, C, O, P, U, N, E, T, S, X, M, Z, H, F, W, Q, L, J, K and G.

“This alphabet applies throughout the candidate’s name, last name first, followed,if necessary, by first name, then middle name. If more than one candidate’s lastname begins with the same letter, the alphabet applies to the second letter and, if needed, the third, etc., until different letters appear in the same position,” according to a statement from the secretary of state’s office.

CALIFORNIA GOP OPPOSES (ALMOST) ALL BALLOT MEASURES

And finally, the California Republican Party on Friday released its official position on November’s ballot initiative questions, and the theme of that release is “oppose, oppose, oppose.”

Specifically, the California GOP is opposed to Proposition 1, which would enshrine abortion in California’s Constitution; opposed to Proposition 26, which would allow for in-person sports-wagering; opposed to Proposition 27, the online sports wagering measure; and neutral on Proposition 28, which would increase funding for school arts and music.

The California GOP has previously come out in opposition to Proposition 29, which would impose regulations on dialysis clinics; Proposition 30, the tax to fund a clean air initiative; and Proposition 31, the referendum on California’s flavored tobacco ban.

“In 2020, voters were with the California Republican Party on seven of the 11 ballot initiatives in which we took a position,” said CAGOP Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson in a statement. “Voters are with Republicans on the ideas, and with our final ballot initiative positions now in place, we are ready to put in the work to ensure that voters are with us again this November.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Control of the Senate may all come down to turnout in Wisconsin.”

- California GOP consultant Mike Madrid, via Twitter.

Best of the Bee:

• California voters don’t want President Joe Biden run for a second term, and the state’s Democrats have Gov. Gavin Newsom leading a list of alternatives for the 2024 presidential nomination, according to a new poll, via Lindsey Holden.

• California is banning state-funded travel to Georgia after the state passed a law allowing athletic associations to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ interscholastic sports, via Wes Venteicher.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom visited Fresno’s McLane High School on Wednesday morning to announce a $4.7 billion investment in mental health and substance abuse supports for young Californians. The governor’s office called the investment “the most significant, multi-year overhaul of our mental health system in state history,” via Julianna Morano and Lasherica Thornton.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom made working towards ancestral land return a state policy in 2020 when he issued a directive encouraging agencies to improve tribes’ access to traditional territory that is on state land, through co-management or acquisition. But successful land return cases are rare across the state as opportunities remain out of reach for many tribes, particularly those without federal recognition, via Ari Plachta.

This story was originally published August 22, 2022 at 4:55 AM.