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The Thorn West is a state and local news roundup compiled by members of DSA-LA. Our goal is to provide a weekly update on the latest developments in state and local politics, and to track the issues that are most important to our membership. 

Issue No. 3 - March 27, 2020

LOCAL NEWS

• The Senate and House have passed the coronavirus bailout bill, which will be signed into law by Donald Trump. Media focus has been placed on topline numbers and provisions that will bring relief to working Americans, through direct cash payments and expanded unemployment benefits (including for gig workers), and to small businesses, including loans that convert into grants when the money is spent on payroll, rent or utilities. However, this coverage is deceptive in its failure to point out that the scale of assistance provided to working Americans and small businesses is dwarfed by that being provided to huge corporations: the total amount provided for unemployment benefits, direct cash payments, and small business loans accounts for $900 billion of the bailout, while corporations have access to $4.5 trillion. The latter figure is being reported as merely $500 billion for corporations, but $454 billion of that money is being used to capitalize a lending program by the Federal Reserve, which can then loan out 10 times that amount, resulting in the $4.5 trillion number. 
  
  
• Mechanisms for delivering the $900 billion will likely result in long delays for those most desperately in need: the cash payments rely on direct deposit info already being on file with the IRS, or else there could be a wait for months for a check in the mail that may be sent to an old address; unemployment claims will be administered by states, which may not be able to efficiently handle the huge influx of requests; and the small business loans are to be administered by a notoriously ineffective agency (the Small Business Administration), while loopholes in the legislation allow large businesses — including potentially Trump’s own hotels — to get some of the money. There is also no effective oversight of the $4.5 trillion corporate bailout, with Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin being placed in charge and granted broad powers to waive potential restrictions. As a reminder, prior to becoming treasury secretary, Mnuchin was CEO of OneWest Bank, which in the aftermath of the 2008/9 financial crisis engaged in “ruthless foreclosure practices, ranging from locking out one homeowner during a Minneapolis blizzard to foreclosing on another over a 27-cent payment shortfall.”
  
  
• On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California is expected to face shortages of 17,000 hospital beds, as well as hundreds of millions of protective masks and gloves for health care workers. Some counties face shortages of the swabs that are currently necessary to test for COVID-19. The attempt to meet this shortfall, and to plan for an expected increase in patients, has consisted of an urgent, but patchwork, collection of efforts from state, county, and municipal governments, along with support from the private sector.
  
  
• California has received over 1 million claims for unemployment benefits in the last 12 days. Entertainment industry workers may be eligible for additional assistance.
  
  
• Local union leaders are asking for more protections for grocery workers after other states including Minnesota and Vermont have reclassified grocery store employees as emergency workers, enabling them to access additional benefits such as free childcare. “Our workers need first priority when it comes to testing, leaves, and childcare,” says John Grant, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union local 770, which represents over 20,000 grocery store workers in Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo counties. As grocery store workers are increasingly placed at risk of contracting COVID-19, the union is reaching out to Governor Gavin Newsom’s office to seek reclassification.
  
  
• In a video statement on Monday, Superintendent Austin Beutner announced that L.A. Unified schools will remain closed until May 1. Instruction will move online until school campuses can reopen. Beutner has authorized $100 million in emergency spending, and requested an emergency appropriation of “$500 per student” from state legislatures to balance the district’s budget. Expenses brought on by the pandemic include the costs of ensuring every student has access to a computer and an internet connection. L.A. Unified is also providing meals to all who ask at 60 “grab-and-go” distribution centers throughout the city. “I wish I could start by telling you it will all be back to normal sometime soon,” said Beutner in the video statement. “But that is not the case.”
  
  
• State and local officials are warning that the worst is yet to come for coronavirus in California. As of today, LA County has 1,230 cases and 21 deaths. LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said a large influx could be just 6–12 days away and that residents should be “prepared for a couple months” with the current lockdown in place.
  
  
• In response to video of Los Angelenos gathering in crowds in the city's beaches and parks, often making no efforts to practice social distancing, Mayor Eric Garcetti has closed all beach parking lots in Venice and Santa Monica, and banned recreational sports in city parks. In addition, city-owned golf courses have been closed, as have many hiking trails. The mayor tweeted: “That doesn’t mean gather elsewhere. This is serious. Stay home and save lives.”
  
  
• Climate advocates, environmental groups and renewable energy companies are criticizing a plan approved by the California Public Utilities Commission “that aims to cut power-plant emissions by about 25% over the next decade — a slower pace than those emissions fell during the previous decade.” The commission rejected an alternative plan to cut emissions in half, and climate advocates believe the current plan will jeopardize the state’s ability to meet the goal enshrined in state law to reduce economy-wide pollution 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. Climate and labor groups had appealed to Governor Gavin Newsom to intervene, however the Governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment. In light of the COVID-19 crisis, renewable energy advocates are arguing for more rapid action so that clean energy construction can provide an opportunity for economic stimulus and job creation.

• After pleading guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85 and destroyed 18,000 buildings in Paradise, CA, Pacific Gas & Electric plans to pay $4 million in fines and penalties out of the $13.5 billion Fire Victim Trust created during bankruptcy proceedings. During the investigation of the Camp Fire, “investigators found that PG&E workers had failed to do climbing inspections on many of its grid towers, including the century-old tower where equipment failed the morning of Nov. 8, 2018.” Community members and local elected officials are arguing that the judge overseeing the utility’s bankruptcy should rule against this use of the fire victims’ fund.

Want to join The Thorn West team? Have an idea for what we should be covering? Please get in touch at [email protected]. 

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