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CORONAVIRUS EXPOSES CALIFORNIA'S SYSTEMIC PROBLEMS

Good morning!

The coronavirus is causing acute health, financial, and economic consequences across the state and country. Public sector unions -- never ones to let a crisis go to waste -- will likely try to capitalize on this turmoil to pass measures to shore up their finances and grow the size of government. It is during these unique times that limited government supporters must be even more prepared than usual to fight big government proposals.

Members of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors met on Tuesday to approve a bond sale to generate funds to pay down growing pension debts. Yet, due to current market conditions, it’s unlikely that the sale will happen any time soon. “A biological issue has turned into a financial issue, and now a liquidity issue,” county chief financial officer Don Kent told the board. “It’s an economic downturn, and I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s like 9/11 and the 2008-09 financial crisis has been mashed into one.”

For years, CPC fellow Edward Ring has warned that public sector pensions are financially unsustainable. This week, he examines how coronavirus is exposing the systemic fiscal problems created by government unions. Read more.

To learn more about the impact of the economic downturn on California, listen to CPC President Will Swaim interview state Sen. John Moorlach on National Review’s Radio Free California podcast. John has long warned that a bear market would one day destroy California’s precarious public finances. Listen here.

As schools close to try to stem the coronavirus pandemic, CPC’s Parent Union project is working with charter schools, home-schoolers, and online education platforms to spotlight alternatives to the failing district model that's beholden to teacher unions not students. We’ve included a video from our Director of Community Relations and Education on what parents can do in the face of the coronavirus. Watch here.

Across California, state officials and local elected officials are battling coronavirus in a variety of ways. State lawmakers in Sacramento approved a $1 billion funding package on Monday before suspending its session until April.

San Francisco imposed the strictest shutdown in the nation, ordering its residents to “shelter at their place of residence” and threatening violators with fines or imprisonment. The following day, the Orange County Health Care Agency prohibited public and private gatherings to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced that it is taking important measures to “combat coronavirus,” such as releasing over 600 inmates from its jails and cutting back on the number of arrests officers make. “Our population within our jail is a vulnerable population just by virtue of who they are and where they’re located,” Villanueva told the press Monday. “So we’re protecting that population from potential exposure.” Convicted attorney Michael Avenatti made a similar plea to a federal judge in Santa Ana on Wednesday, asking for bail because he feared catching coronavirus from his cellmate.

On Sunday, Gov. Newsom announced a temporary ban on evictions that takes effect today. In his executive order, he also directed the state government to procure hotels and motels to shelter the homeless as part of the state’s effort to slow the spread of coronavirus. However, CPC contributor Chris Reed notes that “if homeless people in urban encampments get sick as often as patients in nursing homes even if all these new facilities are added, they won’t come close to meeting demand.” Read more.

Last Friday, the City of San Diego’s pension board approved a $15 million spike in the city’s annual pension payment, making it much more difficult to close next year’s budget deficit. The city’s actuary, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune, “blamed the spike primarily on pay raises Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the City Council have given to employees, especially police officers, since last summer.” But San Diego is not the only city in this predicament. Read more.

A growing number of Americans (and especially Californians) live in urban areas. CPC fellow Edward Ring writes about how we can create sustainable cities for the future. Read more

CPC contributor Larry Sand examines California’s bond fatigue. Read more.

Finally, are you affected by AB 5, California’s new law that’s reduced people’s ability to work as independent contractors or in the gig economy? If you have been hurt by AB 5, we would like to know your story. Please contact me at koppany@calpolicycenter.org.

As always, if you’d like to join our movement to save California, we invite you to support us. Click here to donate to CPC.

Koppany Jordan
Director of operations