• Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new food security initiatives in an April 29 press release: $3.64 million in funding will aid in expanding the statewide Farm to Family program. The funding combines $2.86 million from the USDA with $775,000 from philanthropic donations. According to the release, the campaign aims to eventually reach $15 million to allow the program to continue through the end of 2020. CalFresh and electronic benefit transfer programs will also be expanded, including a new program for children who receive free lunch. “Putting food on the table during this pandemic is hard for families on the brink,” Newsom said in the release. “It’s in that spirit that we’re expanding our Farm to Family program while also working to connect low-income families with vital resources and financial support.”
• State Sen. Hannah Beth-Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to be cautious around the state’s partnership with technology companies in the face of COVID-19, stating in an April 29 press release that California should do so “without undermining Californians’ fundamental right to privacy.” In a letter to the governor, Jackson asked him “to consider the protection of sensitive personal information while pursuing public-private partnerships, when assessing contracts to expand testing, conduct contact tracing through apps, facilitate distance learning for K-12 students, connect individuals with job opportunities, and other initiatives,” the press release states. “In times of crisis, we must be especially vigilant to safeguard our fundamental rights and ensure that we do not sacrifice them in the name of safety,” Jackson was quoted in the release. “We must proceed with the least possible disruption and undermining of our privacy rights and look to the least intrusive approaches to our success in battling this epidemic—and those that are likely to follow.”
• Assemblymember Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) participated in an Assembly Budget Committee oversight hearing on April 27. Limón wrote in a Facebook post that during the meeting she “raised many concerns including the importance of safely reopening schools and helping working parents who cannot work in same way because they are home with their kids; supporting local governments and multiple industries in the challenging road of economic recovery; sustaining nonprofits in our communities; and the important need to enhance consumer protections for individuals and small businesses during this time.” She stated during the hearing, “I don’t want that to be lost in this conversation: How many parents are working at home, will still need to work from home, because schools will not be open. I think as part of the recovery for our business community, schools have to be part of that critical conversation.”
• In response to initial reports that Gov. Gavin Newsom might be closing all California beaches, Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo) voiced his opposition to such a proposal in an April 30 Facebook post. “This is the wrong decision,” he wrote. “According to our local public health officials, beaches on the Central Coast have been properly managed, and folks are maintaining their social distancing. There is no science and no data that backs this decision up or explains its rationale, and it may not even be constitutional (state constitution guarantees the public’s right to access to coastline).” After Newsom made an official statement clarifying that only Orange County beaches would close, Cunningham made a second post, stating, “Great to hear that the governor is not closing beaches statewide. There was no science and no data to back up a statewide closure.”
This article appears in May 7-14, 2020.