One-fifth of the state workforce disappears & the roadmap to reopening

May 1, 2020
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** NO BEACH FOR YOU
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One-fifth of the state workforce disappears in six weeks: 328,000 ([link removed]) Californians filed for unemployment benefits last week. Over the past six weeks, 3.7 million Californians have lost their jobs – 21 percent of the state’s workforce.

Roadmap to reopening: Gov. Newsom announced the state’s reopening plan this week. Non-essential, low-risk businesses could open in weeks, yet high-risk ventures could stay closed "for months." Modoc County, one of the least-populated counties in the state, plans to start reopening today in defiance of the state order. Elected officials in Butte, Glenn, Tehama, Yuba, Sutter, and Colusa counties in Northern California have also requested Newsom ease quarantines. ([link removed])

No beach for you: After Orange County residents hit the beach last weekend, Gov. Newsom announced this week that he’s shutting them down. “We’re going to have a temporary pause on the beaches down there,” Newsom said ([link removed]) , calling images of Orange County beachgoers “disturbing.”

Fake views? The pictures of OC beachgoers generated significant backlash, with some skeptics questioning the veracity of the photos. The OC Register’s executive editor felt the need to weigh in ([link removed]) to defend the accuracy of a shot. The pic is legit, but from its vantage point it gives the impression that the frolickers are closer together than they were in reality.

They may take away our freedoms, but they'll never take our beaches! Newsom’s order has drawn accusations ([link removed]) of overreach. The OC board of supervisors chairwoman called the move “an overreaction and abuse of power” that “tramples on our constitutional rights.” Newport Beach City Council voted 5-2 to reject a proposed ordinance to shut the city's beaches for the next three weekends.

A governor or a king? Gov. Newsom is increasingly governing by executive order, and he’s receiving deserved criticism for it. CPC President Will Swaim and CPC Board Member David Bahnsen discuss Newsom’s penchant for authoritarianism and journalists’ selective appreciation of the First Amendment on this week’s episode ([link removed]) of National Review’s Radio Free California.

Must be nice to have summers off: Teachers unions are fighting back ([link removed]) against Gov. Newsom’s proposal to restart schools this summer to reduce the learning gaps caused by the shutdown and allow parents to return to work. Unions were reportedly “stunned” by this modest proposal and called the decision “insane” and “unrealistic.”

Not only summers but also this spring: California’s school from home experiment continues to falter. Politico reports ([link removed]) , "California schools have lost contact with thousands of students more than a month into closures."

Proving the value of homeschooling by denouncing it: Harvard University attacked homeschoolers this week because, you know, parents aren’t smart enough to teach their children. Is it any wonder some parents wouldn’t want to turn their kids’ impressionable minds over to this viewpoint? CPC Contributor Larry Sand defends homeschooling in his latest piece ([link removed]) .

Storm clouds gather in California cities: Mark Joffe, Senior Policy Analyst at the Reason Foundation, explains ([link removed]) the dire fiscal situation facing many California cities after decades of overgenerous pension commitments: “While other cities can initially deal with revenue losses by drawing down reserves, many will be compelled to cut costs. With personnel costs accounting for a high proportion of expenditures in most cities and pension contributions enjoying strong legal protections, furloughs and layoffs could be widespread. Staff reductions would force service reductions, potentially adversely impacting the quality of life in many communities.” Chapter 9 bankruptcy may be the only option for some.

The pandemic has just hastened the inevitable: CPC Contributor Edward Ring reminds us that “even before the sudden pandemic shutdown, California’s cities were in financial trouble” in his latest contribution ([link removed]) that analyzes the rates of pay and pension debt in the state’s distressed cities.

Said it once before but it bears repeating, now: “The usual problems with public-sector unions are well known, but worth repeating,” writes Ring in another contribution ([link removed]) . “They use campaign donations to elect the politicians they negotiate with for pay, benefits, and work rules. Their members staff the bureaucracies and operate the machinery of government, with a sizable minority of those members committed union activists bent on advancing the union agenda within their agencies. They rely on taxes to pay for their wages and benefits instead of having to earn revenues and profits in a competitive market.”

No more beers on conference calls!? As if the excessive number of conference calls working from home during this pandemic weren’t bad enough, they’re all on video now thanks to Zoom. That means no more going on mute and going about your business. A Vallejo city councilor found this out the hard way ([link removed]) this week after he drank beer and tossed his cat out of the way during a videoconference meeting. He was forced to resign. Zoom claims another scalp!

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Jordan Bruneau
Communications Director




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