California lawmakers choose profit over people in gutting COVID disclosure bill

If you’ve heard about COVID-19 outbreaks in nearby businesses, it’s probably because you learned about it from news reporters.

Instead of requiring transparency from all California companies, state lawmakers failed workers and consumers by gutting a bill that would have required full transparency whenever there are COVID outbreaks at workplaces.

Wouldn’t you like to know if the staff at your local coffee shop or furniture store is having a rash of COVID sickness?

And if you work there — or wherever you work — wouldn’t you want to know before clocking in? Could that information help you decide whether to get tested, and whether to skip lunch with aging parents until you know for sure if you’re infected?

Our California Legislature with Democratic supermajorities apparently cares more about commerce than protecting you or your loved ones. In a misguided bow to the business lobby, lawmakers removed from Assembly Bill 654 the most helpful language to real people requiring that outbreaks be reported by location.

And legislators’ failure will disproportionately hurt minority employees who are more likely to work in shoulder-to-shoulder production jobs — agriculture, food production, and manufacturing — where outbreaks can be devastating.

Last year, testing during an outbreak at Foster Farms’ Livingston plant showed 40% positivity — eight times higher than the surrounding area.

The primary opposition floated by the business lobby was that AB 654 would promote “public shaming” of businesses where outbreaks occur. What a baseless and cynical argument.

Full disclosure is working in some California county governments where health decisions are based on protecting human life over other considerations such as business interests.

For example, with a few keystrokes, anyone in Merced County can know that Dutch Bros Coffee in Los Banos has had at least three infections in a two-week period. The same goes for customers of the Ashley HomeStore and Sierra College of Beauty, both in Merced. All because Merced County trusts its citizens with the truth.

“It’s another tool for us to limit the spread of the virus,” county spokesman Mike North said about it last year.

Oregon has a similar disclosure policy. Los Angeles County on Monday showed 36 companies infected with multiple COVID cases and their addresses, including the Palmdale CarMax, two Sprouts stores, and Warner Bros. Studio.

That level of information helps families navigate a deadly pandemic. In its initial form, AB 654 would have made transparency by specific location the rule throughout California.

CA legislators choose profit over people

But business interests insisted on watering down the legislation, requiring only that outbreaks be reported by category. In its final Assembly vote, no legislator voted against the weak language; 15 representatives, including the Valley’s Adam Gray, a Democrat, and Republican Heath Flora, failed to vote.

Meanwhile, COVID cases and deaths continue to mount, breaking records and hearts. California has lost nearly 69,000 souls to the coronavirus.

Some lawmakers undoubtedly will brag if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs AB 654 in the coming days. Don’t be fooled — the bill favors business, not the public.

“By prohibiting the publication of data that tells us where outbreaks are happening, we’re limiting our ability to understand the quickly changing and really dangerous virus,” said Ana Padilla, executive director at UC Merced Community and Labor Center, in The Fresno Bee. “Public disclosure of this data shouldn’t be as contentious as it is.”

This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 4:00 AM with the headline "California lawmakers choose profit over people in gutting COVID disclosure bill."