Today Governor Gavin Newsom held his daily briefing to provide an update on the State’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He focused on the economic consequences of the virus. Since March 12th, 3.1 million Californians have filed for unemployment insurance (UI). “We are now in a pandemic-induced recession here in the state of California,” Newsom said.
He announced that there is now a 5.3 percent unemployment rate in California but said that figure “masks the reality of where the real unemployment rate is.” The job losses in March ended a record job expansion in California of 120 months. Additional information released today by the California Employment Development (EDD) can be found here.
In response to these “sober” data points, the Governor has created an economic advisory panel with 80 business, labor, tribal, and social leaders. It also includes all four living former California governors: Republicans Pete Wilson & Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Democrats Jerry Brown & Gray Davis.
Tom Steyer, former Democratic presidential candidate and venture capitalist, will be leading the advisory panel along with the Governor’s chief of staff, Ann O’Leary. Steyer described the task force’s mission: “To develop a strategy to help California recover as fast as safely possible from the COVID-19 induced recession, and to create a fair green and prosperous future.”
Jackie Reses, Head of Square Capital; Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder of PolicyLink; and Bob Iger, Executive Chairman of The Walt Disney Company all offered comments via Zoom. Governor Newsom said meetings of this advisory panel will convene soon.
Following yesterday’s daily briefing, the Governor’s office issued a press release detailing Executive Orders (EO) regarding paid sick leave for “food sector workers.” A copy of the Governor’s EO can be found here and text can be found here. A copy of the Governor’s Office press release can be found here.
Additionally, late Thursday, the Governor signed another omnibus-type EO addressing a variety of issues in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including adjusting admissions requirements for the California State University system and providing flexibility for 60 days on background checks for critical infrastructure sectors. The text of the EO can be found here and a copy can be found here. A copy of the Governor’s Office press release can be found here.
On Wednesday, April 15th, the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) issued a statement acknowledging that some businesses and other regulated parties “may need additional compliance assistance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic” and asking them to submit specific requests that “define the hardship” to relevant departments within the agency. A copy of the CalEPA Statement can be found here.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced the most recent statistics on COVID-19, there are a total of 26,182 confirmed positive cases and 890 deaths in California. As of April 15th, local health departments have reported 2,974 confirmed positive cases in health care workers. This includes on-the-job exposures, and other exposures, such as travel and close family contact. Also, as of April 15th, more than 246,400 tests had been conducted in California. At least 239,181 results have been received and another 7,200 are pending. More information regarding the most recent COVID-19 statistics can be found here.