Thursday, July 8, 2021

Pay Yourself First According to CalMatters, Newsom “gave away millions of dollars and other prizes to encourage Californians to get the COVID-19 vaccine. It’s also the latest piece of information to cast doubt on whether the program’s results justify the cost: Recent data shows the lottery didn’t significantly increase the number of Californians getting their first shot. Although the vaccine incentives were well publicized, the fact that the state would be required to pay the California State Lottery — which helped Newsom run the program — was not. In a Thursday letter to the California Department of Public Health, the lottery commission explained it must be reimbursed for spending money that doesn’t relate to its purpose, which is to fund public education. H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance, said California would repay the lottery commission with $500,000 from a General Fund account used for disaster response and emergency operations. However, the state will eventually reimburse itself with relief funds from the federal stimulus package President Joe Biden signed into law in March, Palmer said. Most of the money related to the vaccine lottery will likely never come to light. California will pay out at least $116.5 million in prizes — including $1.5 million each to 10 individuals — but the state won’t share their names unless the winners give consent. Erin Mellon, a governor’s office spokeswoman, said the confidentiality of vaccination records also precludes winners’ names from being disclosed in public records requests.

SU, Nomination: Politico reports “The U.S. Senate could soon vote on the nomination of Julie Su to be deputy Labor secretary, closing the book on a nearly five-month wait for the California official tapped for the job in early February. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on Su’s nomination recently, but the vote is still likely to be weeks away as the Senate is off for its two-week July 4th recess. Su, who has served as California’s labor secretary since January 2019, has faced stiff opposition from Senate Republicans who have criticized the state's handling of unemployment benefits during the pandemic. Republicans in Washington have argued that California's labor department should not be a model for the rest of the country and raised concerns that Su would be a negative influence on Labor Secretary Marty Walsh.” (What? Su will make Walsh worse?) The Washington Examiner said “The LA Times editorial board, no friend to small businesses, calls her work an "epic failure." California auditors found Su and others responded to the spike in unemployment claims associated with the pandemic by allowing the staff to bypass unemployment insurance verification controls.” Story

Eagle Mountain Lives! Governor Newsom is trying to insert support for two energy sources into the state budget, a legislative source says, a push that could set up a conflict with the Legislature, environmentalists and agricultural interests, reports POLITICO. Under draft language that the source says came from Newsom's office, the state — rather than utilities — would buy electricity from long-duration energy storage projects, a cost that would then be passed along to all ratepayers. One such storage technology is pumped-storage hydropower, which would be used at the Eagle Mountain project near Joshua Tree National Park and at least two other locations in California. The language does not specify a technology or project, but environmentalists suspect it was written with the Eagle Mountain project in mind. A coalition of green groups joined forces with the powerful Agricultural Energy Consumers Association, Independent Energy Producers Association and other organizations to oppose what they characterize as a "bailout" for the Eagle Mountain project. There have been several failed bills in recent years to boost energy storage. Newsom spokesperson Amelia Matier declined to elaborate on the energy proposals when asked if the governor was behind them, saying that the governor's office "is currently engaged in productive discussions with the Legislature to address the work that remains on some policy areas of the budget. As these are ongoing deliberations, we have no comment at this time." IBEW has been an ardent supporter of Eagle Mountain.

C-SPAN released its fourth historians survey of presidential leadership and found that former President Donald J. Trump tied third to last in terms of best national leaders. He tied for third with FRANKLIN PIERCE, and just ahead of JAMES BUCHANAN and ANDREW JOHNSON, who was also impeached. Topping the list is ABRAHAM LINCOLN. BARACK OBAMA gets 10th place (behind Ronald Regan and ahead of LBJ – an interesting juxtaposition of Presidents) and GEORGE W. BUSH gets 29th. In the survey, which was first conducted in 2000, participants rate each president based on 10 qualities of presidential leadership: Public Persuasion, Crisis Leadership, Economic Management, Moral Authority, International Relations, Administrative Skills, Relations with Congress, Vision/Setting an Agenda, Pursued Equal Justice for All and Performance Within the Context of the Times. This year's survey polled 142 respondents — including historians, professors and other professionals with knowledge of the field.

An Update on Statewide Ballot Measures There have been some interesting statewide ballot measures that were recently certified. Here’s a brief overview.

Arizona: At the 2022 general election, voters will decide a constitutional amendment to require that citizen-initiated ballot measures embrace a single subject. The ballot measure would also require the initiative's subject to be expressed in the ballot title, or else the missing subject would be considered void. Also in 2022, voters will decide a ballot measure to allow the state legislature to amend or repeal voter-approved ballot initiatives in cases where the Arizona Supreme Court or U.S. Supreme Court declare that a portion of the ballot initiative is unconstitutional or illegal. In Arizona, the legislature must propose a ballot measure to amend or repeal voter-approved ballot initiatives. Initiatives often include severability clauses, meaning that if the courts declare a provision to be unconstitutional, other provisions can remain valid.

Senate Bill Would Create Apprenticeship College Consortium A bill introduced (S 1886) in the U.S. Senate would create an "apprenticeship college consortium" and oblige the Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Education to enter an interagency agreement to promote apprenticeship. The proposal arrived just months after a Trump administration overhaul to the nation's apprenticeship system was rescinded by President Joe Biden in a February executive order. Under the now-rescinded final rule, DOL would have been able to recognize entities that could work with employers and other parties to create, recognize and monitor apprenticeship programs. Story

Fuel Cell NEM. Politico reports “Four of California's largest environmental groups urged legislative leaders to not extend the life of the state's fuel cell incentives policy.” Apparently, “Newsom's office is pushing for the budget to include language that would stop the fuel cell net metering program from expiring at the end of the year. Similar to net metering for rooftop solar, fuel cell owners like supermarkets, hospitals and data centers have lower energy bills thanks to the excess electricity that the technology feeds into the larger grid. While fuel cells produce little to no air pollution — an advantage over diesel generators and natural gas power plants — they still emit some greenhouses gases, which has prompted environmentalists to criticize the technology. Extending the net metering program through the end of 2026 would also benefit fuel cell manufacturers like Bloom Energy, a Newsom donor that won a no-bid contract from the administration to refurbish ventilators as the pandemic intensified last spring.”

State Building Trades to the Rescue. An article in Calmatters highlights a union effort to delay construction at UC campuses. “Education, infrastructure and economic stimulus are near the top of our nation’s agenda now. But here in California, the Legislature is considering a bill that would discourage progress on all three fronts. Senate Bill 132 would stop the University of California from moving ahead with badly needed capital improvement projects unless the university submits to a costly and cumbersome annual certification process sought by one public employee union. No wonder California’s building trade unions have joined UC and the California Coalition for Public Higher Education in opposing SB 132.” Story

More California Movement Kate Gordon is now senior adviser to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. She most recently was director of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Office of Planning and Research.

Biden Signs Three Congressional Review Act Bills Repealing Trump-Era Rules President Biden signed three Congressional Review Act (CRA) bills on June 30, reversing three administrative rules implemented near the end of the Donald Trump administration. Signing these bills brings the total number of rules repealed under the CRA to 20. These CRA bills are the first Congress has used to reverse regulatory actions taken by a Republican president.

•  The first bill, S.J.Res.13, reversed a Trump-era Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) rule that changed what information the agency would share with companies accused of discrimination.
• The second bill, S.J.Res.14, reversed a Trump-era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) methane rule and restored methane emissions standards set during the Barack Obama (D) administration.
• The third bill, S.J.Res.15, reversed a Trump-era U.S. Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) rule that changed regulations governing banks that give money to third parties to lend to borrowers.