An ordinance that would have allowed Santa Barbara County officials to fine individuals for violating coronavirus-related health orders was tabled on Aug. 25, after it was criticized by several community members as being, at best, unnecessary, and, at worst, tyrannical.
The proposed urgency ordinance, which the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors discussed at a meeting on Aug. 25, would have enabled law enforcement officers and other select county staff to issue infraction citations and administrative fines to individuals repeatedly found to be out of compliance with health orders geared toward slowing the spread of COVID-19, including restrictions on large gatherings and face-covering requirements.
Though county staff said the administrative fines would offer a less aggressive enforcement option compared to the criminal citations that have already been used in some especially egregious cases, several community members who spoke at the meeting, who focused mostly on the statewide mandate requiring face coverings in public spaces, called it “draconian,” Orwellian, and likened it to the French Reign of Terror.
Although Andy Caldwell—executive director of the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture, and Business who’s running against U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) for the 24th District seat, agreed that fines for such health orders could be problematic, his main issue is with the county’s timing.
“I think this is coming at the wrong time,” Caldwell said at the meeting, noting that local cases of COVID are, for the most part, on a downward trend. “We need to reward people, not become punitive at this point.”
Since the pandemic’s start locally in mid-March, Assistant County Executive Officer Barney Melekian said there have been a number of ever-changing health orders that businesses and community members have had to navigate. Because the orders can be confusing and difficult to keep track of, Santa Barbara County’s focus has largely been on enforcement through education. That, for the most part, has worked and the majority of community members are complying voluntarily. But Melekian said county employees continue to receive complaints about various violations, most often related to large gatherings and a lack of face coverings in public spaces.
While law enforcement can issue criminal citations to those who refuse to adhere to COVID-19 related health orders, Melekian said those citations should only be used in extreme cases. Another option, which Melekian said is on the opposite end of the enforcement spectrum, is the county’s ability to issue civil cease and desist orders and formal injunctions to those out of compliance.
“But there really hasn’t been anything occupying the middle ground of that spectrum,” he said at the Aug. 25 meeting. “And the reason we’re here today is to try to strengthen that center piece, that administrative piece, both in terms of fines and/or the ability to suspend or revoke licenses people may hold or that business may hold if they’re not complying with a health officer order.”
Through the urgency ordinance, county staff would have been able to issue fines—$100 for a first violation, $200 for the second, and $500 for each additional violation—without having to take criminal action. But 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino and 4th District Supervisor Peter Adam said they couldn’t support the ordinance, which both said was an overreach of the county’s power and an untimely one, considering the slowly declining cases of COVID-19 on the Central Coast.
Instead, the board voted 3-2 to bring a revised version of the urgency ordinance back as a regular ordinance for further discussion at a later date.
This article appears in Aug 27 – Sep 3, 2020.