The California Legislative Report

GOVERNOR NEWSOM EASING STATEWIDE COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS

Governor Newsom is poised to ease statewide restrictions on mass gatherings and indoor masking as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to recede. The plan, confirmed by an administration official, would be the first step in Newsom’s exit strategy for the Covid-19 pandemic - a major shift for a state that has preserved some of the nation’s strictest and longest lasting restrictions. Officials said the state would unveil more details. Lifting Omicron-era crowd-size restrictions on indoor and outdoor gatherings and letting the state’s indoor mask mandate expire on February 15th after the Super Bowl is just the beginning of Newsom’s path out of the pandemic. The shift comes amid improving case numbers and growing calls for a blueprint to normal - and after wide-angle photographs at an NFL playoff game in Los Angeles showed Newsom and scores of fans maskless in the stands, despite masking rules for large events.

Administration officials said future steps would likely include updated mask policies for Californians writ large, and potentially even schoolchildren, who have been under a strict mask requirement throughout the pandemic. Governor Newsom signaled last month that he would introduce a strategy for the “endemic” - a time when overall rates have stabilized, but the disease will still have to be managed - promising Californians that there was a light at the end of the tunnel as Omicron cases plummeted. It comes amid mounting pressure from California residents and businesses for a blueprint to normal. Still, despite the behind-the-scenes and incremental work, officials have conveyed little of their vision to the public.

The Legislature has been signaling its own intention to ramp up pandemic policies - with talk still circulating about a statewide vaccine mandate for going about daily business - as business advocates have been pushing the administration to move faster to restore normality.

SENATOR BRIAN DAHLE TO LAUNCH GUBERNATORIAL BID

State Senator Brian Dahle launched his gubernatorial campaign at a kickoff event in Redding to become the first prominent Republican to enter the race. Dahle, a longtime state lawmaker and farmer from rural Lassen County, is set to term out of the Legislature in 2024. It’s not yet clear which, if any, challengers Dahle might face within his own party. Larry Elder, the radio shock jock who led the field of replacement candidates in the recall election, has already taken a pass. Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and real estate developer John Cox are both still weighing another run. Stay tuned!

ASSEMBLY REPUBLICANS ELECT NEW LEADER

Assemblymember James Gallagher will replace Assemblymember Marie Waldron, as the leader of the Assembly Republican Caucus. The vote to replace Waldron was unanimous, according to a news release from the caucus. Waldron has been the Republican leader since 2018. She currently has one term left to run for re-election before having to give up her seat. Gallagher won’t be termed out until 2026. Gallagher, an attorney who is married and has five children, says he sees one of the party’s roles as to holding the Democrats accountable for things like fraud in the state’s unemployment benefits department and combating and preventing wildfires. Gallagher represents a northern California district that includes the town of Paradise, which was mostly destroyed by a wildfire in 2018.

POLITICAL NOTES

• A Special Election Primary will be held February 15th for California’s 17th Assembly District, which covers most of San Francisco’s eastern and southeast neighborhoods, to fill the term vacated by David Chiu, who resigned in November to become San Francisco City Attorney. If no candidate receives a majority vote or more than 50 percent, a General Election will occur on April 9th in which voters will then choose between the top two candidates from the Primary election. The winning candidate will serve until the start of the next term in January 2023. In the running are Supervisor Matt Haney, who is also former Board of Education president; former Supervisor David Campos who most recently served as chief of staff at the District Attorney’s Office; City College of San Francisco board trustee Thea Selby, also a small business owner and co-founder of the Lower Haight Merchant and Neighbor Association; and entrepreneur and neuroscientist Bilal Mahmood, a former policy analyst with the administration of former President Barack Obama.
• Veteran Tulare County politician Connie Conway’s path to fill out the term of Rep. Devin Nunes got clearer when another high-profile candidate dropped out of the Special Election. Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig, a former Clovis Mayor and Councilmember who picked up the endorsements of several prominent Tulare County politicians, announced he would concentrate on a run for the newly drawn Congressional District 5 (CD 5) instead of the short seat. CD5 covers the California Gold Country and the San Joaquin Valley, including parts of Fresno County. Last month, Phil Arballo, who lost to Nunes in 2020, also announced he was dropping out of the special election to concentrate on running for the newly drawn Congressional District 13, which covers parts of Fresno and Merced counties. Conway, who lives in Tulare and has close ties with Nunes over the years, announced she would run for the heavily Republican-leaning short seat in mid-January. Conway doesn’t intend to run in November for any of the redrawn Congressional seats. If elected for the short seat, she will concentrate on constituent services such as helping people with passport and social security problems, veterans’ issues, and appointing qualified students to the U.S. military academies.
• Mike Karbassi, a Democrat representing northwest Fresno on the City Council, is running for California State Assembly. The move will pit him against fellow Fresno City Councilmember and Democrat Esmeralda Soria.
• The race to replace former Assemblymember Autumn Burke is turning into a clash of former staffers. The Assembly District 62 Special Election contenders Tina McKinnor and Robert Pullen-Miles have both worked for Burke, who resigned her Los Angeles seat — Pullen-Miles as District Director and McKinnor as Chief of Staff and campaign manager. Burke has endorsed Pullen-Miles; it’s fascinating to contemplate which candidate will get the votes of current Burke staffers.
• Assemblymember Jim Cooper announced he is running to succeed Scott Jones as Sacramento County Sheriff in a high-profile run, which he admits his own family opposes the idea. Cooper will give up the final four years of a safe Assembly upon which he has built a reputation as a moderate Democrat often at odds with his progressive colleagues.

APPOINTMENTS

The Governor made the following appointments:

• Amy Tong, 48, of Sacramento, has been appointed Secretary of the California Government Operations Agency. Tong has been Director at the California Office of Digital Innovation since 2022. She was Director at the California Department of Technology from 2016 to 2021. Tong was Chief Deputy Director of the Office of Systems Integration and Agency Chief Information Officer at the California Health and Human Services Agency from 2014 to 2016. She was Deputy Director and Chief Information Officer at the California State Lottery from 2012 to 2014. Tong was Chief Technology Officer at the Department of Tax and Fee Administration from 2011 to 2012 and Chief of the Data Center at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System from 2008 to 2011.
• Toks Omishakin, 44, of Sacramento, has been appointed Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency. Omishakin has been Director of the California Department of Transportation since 2019. He was Deputy Commissioner for Environment and Planning at the Tennessee Department of Transportation from 2011 to 2019. He was Director of Healthy Living Initiatives in the Nashville Mayor’s Office from 2008 to 2011.

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FOOD & AG ANNOUNCES VACANCIES ON NURSERY ADVISORY BOARD

CDFA’s Pest Exclusion Branch is announcing three (3) midterm vacancies on the Nursery Advisory Board (NAB). The Board is composed of twelve (12) voting members, each representing an establishment with a valid California License to Sell Nursery Stock. No two (2) members shall represent the same organization. Members will represent a wide spectrum of the nursery industry, and the Board will be geographically representative of the nursery industry in California.

The term of office for Board Members is four years. Members typically meet twice per year but can meet more frequently if needed. The members receive no compensation but are entitled to payment of necessary traveling expenses in accordance with the rules of the California Department of Human Resources. In addition, the Board includes up to nine (9) nonvoting ex officio members from the County Agricultural Commissioner and Sealers Association, the University of California, and groups affiliated with the nursery industry.

The mission of the Nursery Advisory Board is to grow and maintain a strong relationship between CDFA and the nursery industry to secure the industry’s future. The Board facilitates communication between state and federal regulators and the nursery industry, and it advises CDFA’s Nursery Services Program on policies, fees, and other issues concerning nurseries and nursery stock.

One of the successful candidates will be appointed to serve the remainder of a term expiring on January 31, 2023. The other two successful candidates will be appointed to serve the remainder of the terms expiring January 31, 2025.

Individuals interested in being considered for this Board appointment should send a letter of interest and a brief resumé to Kristina Weber by March 21, 2022, by email to nurseryservices@cdfa.ca.gov or by mail to:

California Department of Food and Agriculture Pest Exclusion Branch
1220 N Street, Room 221
Sacramento, CA 95814
Attention: Kristina Weber

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Source: California Women for Agriculture

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