THE BUZZ — WEEKS AWAY: Donald Trump wants to put pedal to the metal to reopening the country and the economy. But in California, the world’s fifth-largest economy, Gavin Newsom warns he’s still putting on the brakes for a few weeks — at a minimum.
Bottom line: No date yet for reopening or relaxing social distancing. And don’t look for “June, July and August” for a revival of those big concerts, weddings and gatherings.
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“We’re not out of the woods yet,’’ the Democratic governor said Tuesday in a briefing to lay out a West Coast strategy for reopening states. He warned any moves to relax the shutdown would depend on “science, not politics,’’ he said. “It’s no time to be spiking the ball.”
Here’s Jeremy’s story on Newsom’s briefing in which he announced the six-point plan detailing parameters of how the state will go from “surge to suppression.” Key takeaway: “California’s gradual reopening will depend on a series of public health benchmarks as local officials will consider “the state’s ability to track the virus through testing; the capacity of hospitals and status of treatments; and how well vulnerable people are protected.”
AND HERE’S THE NEW NORMAL: “Businesses and schools will need to demonstrate their ability to maintain safe distancing guidelines. At restaurants, that could include fewer tables and diners having their temperature checked at the door, Newsom said. At schools, which have shut for the remainder of the academic year, that could mean staggered class times in the fall.’’
And face masks? Get used to them. Newsom also “made clear that the state could tighten restrictions if officials see indications that the virus is spreading.”
BATTLE AHEAD? — “A new Trump vs. California battle looms over reopening an economy battered by coronavirus,” by the LA Times’ Taryn Luna, Colleen Shalby and Rong-Gong Lin.
THE BIG PICTURE — “Governors defy Trump, who cries ‘mutiny,’” via POLITICO’s Quint Forgey.
— “Trump takes back spotlight in ‘us vs. them’ war with states,” via POLITICO’s Anita Kumar.
BUENOS DIAS, good Wednesday morning. Happy (traditional) Tax Day! JOIN US THIS MORNING! Carla and Jeremy will brief Playbook readers on Gov. Newsom’s progress fighting the coronavirus, the Legislature’s role and all the other pressing California politics news on Wednesday, April 15 at 9 a.m. PT, noon ET — sign up for the California Playbook video briefing here.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Dr. Fauci is right, we should have responded much more quickly. … But now that we are responding, we are seeing some of the strengths of our federal decentralized system … sometimes takes us a while to get going, but boy when we get going, this is pretty resilient society, a pretty resilient country.’’ Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in webinar briefing Tuesday from Hoover Institution.
BONUS QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Trump is now a disaster, causing the suffering of countless Americans & endangering lives. The truth is, a weak person, a poor leader, takes no responsibility. A weak person blames others.” — Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a scathing letter to the Democrats released Tuesday.
TWEETS OF THE DAY — @Yashar Ali: “Gavin has used ‘nation state‘ for 20 years and all of a sudden everyone is losing their mind. In fact, as @ParkerMolloy points out in this thread, both Schwarzenegger and Pete Wilson used it. It’s how California Governors have always seen California.”
—@ParkerMalloy: “It’s funny seeing people get all riled up over Newsom calling California a ‘nation-state‘ as though that’s unique to him. Here’s Schwarzenegger doing the same in one of his inaugural addresses.’’
VIDEO OF THE DAY: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reveals the contents of her freezer to late night host James Corden on the #LateLateShow. All ice cream, all chocolate. Watch here.
WHERE’S GAVIN? His daily #NewsomAtNoon briefing, to be livestreamed on @CAGovernor Twitter feed, will update Covid-19 news in California.
Sign up for POLITICO Nightly: Coronavirus Special Edition, your daily update on how the illness is affecting politics, markets, public health and more.
PARTY ON? — “Illegal nightclub in SF used janitorial company as a front, kept partying during outbreak,” by the SF Chronicle’s Michael Cabanatuan: “In the weeks since San Francisco’s March 16 shelter-in-place order, the parties became more raucous and frequent, according to workers at neighboring businesses.”
CHURCH CLASH — “Pastors sue California over coronavirus restrictions,” by POLITICO’s Jeremy B. White: “A complaint filed in U.S. District Court for California’s Central District argues that a temporary prohibition on in-person religious services and ministering violates the rights of Californians.” (Pro link)
RELATED — “AG Barr: Places of worship won’t be ‘singled out’ amid coronavirus shutdown,” by POLITICO’s Myah Ward: “Barr issued his statement after the Justice Department filed a statement of interest in support of a Mississippi church where worshipers reportedly met in the parking lot of their church to listen to a sermon over their car radios.”
FORE! — PGA Championship planning a full week in August for Harding Park in San Francisco — with options, via AP. “Plan A is to play with fans at Harding Park..Plan B is no fans. Plan C is to call an audible if indeed we need to try to play it somewhere we can safely.”
QUESTION FOR THE AGES: “In the age of COVID-19, do we want our leaders to be vulnerable and in their 70s?” by Loyola Law School’s Jessica A. Levinson for CalMatters: “Biden could make his crowning achievement be the selfless act of turning over the nomination to a proven leader from the next generation – Newsom.”
SCOOP from KCBS’ Doug Sovern — “Scam PAC with robocalls connected to Trump targets older Californians”: “One recorded message begins with the President introducing himself and declaring “I am with you, I will fight for you and I will win for you.” Then a different male voice announces that “this is an urgent message from the campaign to elect President Trump in 2020.” It asks the recipient to press “1” to be connected to a live operator — and make a donation.”
BIG PICTURE — “California Set the Tone on Coronavirus Shutdowns. What’s Its Next Move?” by NYT’s Thomas Fuller and Tim Arango: “How the nation’s largest economy calibrates the reopening will have huge ramifications for the rest of the country, providing examples of what works, and what does not, especially given limits on testing capacity.”
PRIDE PADLOCKED — “SF Pride Parade and Celebration cancelled on 50th anniversary,” by 48 Hills’ Marke B.
TIME TO BAN? — “New York, California lawmakers call for state ban on ‘wet markets’ amid coronavirus,” by Fox News’ Brooke Singman: “California state Sen. Henry Stern and New York Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal this week teamed with animal protection legislative advocacy group Social Compassion in Legislation to roll out the plan for their states, which also would cut off imports of exotic and endangered wildlife that could spread ‘zoonotic” diseases like COVID-19.‘”
— “California nears 25,000 cases of COVID-19, but also outbreak’s possible peak,” by The Mercury News’ Evan Webeck.
— “Will California nursing homes be forced to accept COVID-19 patients?” by CalMatters’ Barbara Feder Ostrov
— “Day one of $600 extra California unemployment payments tops $300 million,” by The Mercury News’ George Avalos: “Starting on Sunday, the state’s Employment Development Department began sending out unemployment payments that consisted of the regular state distribution plus an extra $600 financed by the federal government to help soften the economic battering caused by the coronavirus.”
— “San Francisco company links people online with coronavirus clinical studies,” by the SF Chronicle’s J.D. Morris.
With the help of The COVID Tracking Project — a volunteer-run accounting of every coronavirus test conducted in America — POLITICO is monitoring how many Americans have been tested in all 50 states. Our live tracker will continue to update with the latest numbers across the country as they come in.
— “Pelosi looks to seize Trump’s bully pulpit,” by POLITICO’s Heather Caygle and Sarah Ferris: “As President Donald Trump beams into American homes with his daily coronavirus briefings, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has decided the best way to counter him is to be everywhere — even if that means doing so from her San Francisco kitchen.”
THE #FIREFAUCI CROWD — “How a pair of anti-vaccine activists sparked a #FireFauci furor,” by POLITICO’s Tina Nguyen: Among Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai’s supporters is DeAnna Lorraine, “who suddenly ended up in the spotlight after Trump retweeted her call to #FireFauci. Lorraine, a former challenger for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s California House seat who has regularly retweeted QAnon conspiracies, is using her newfound perch to stump for Ayyadurai.”
MONTHLY ASSISTANCE TO AVERAGE AMERICANS? — Silicon Valley Rep. Ro Khanna and Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio via Twitter Tuesday debuted their bill offering monthly assistance to families for the duration of the pandemic. The plan would provide a monthly check for between $1,000 and $2,000 to every American who earned less than $130,000 last year.
Khanna argues: “If we can find a billion dolllars to bail out corporations, we can find the money for ordinary Americans,’’ like bus drivers, small business owners, working moms and dads “to make it through these months.” Details here.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — SCHIFF WITH BIDEN: On the heels of the big endorsement Tuesday from Barack Obama, and the earlier announcement from Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden has snagged the backing of Rep. Adam Schiff, chair of the House Intelligence Committee, CA Playbook has learned.
Schiff’s statement to POLITICO: “As we face a global pandemic with increasingly severe economic and public health implications, it is more important than ever that we have a President who places the interests of the American people first and knows how to lead. Someone with experience, great competence and compassion. Someone who will bring together the best minds and apply the best science. Someone like Joe Biden.”
FIRST IN POLITICO SCORE — CA-25: Republican Mike Garcia, who is running in the all-mail special election on May 12, raised nearly $1.2 million for the quarter. He has $500,000 in the bank.
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — CA-21: Freshman Rep. T.J. Cox pulled in around $623,000 in the first quarter as he seeks to defend the Central Valley CA-21 seat that saw the narrowest victory margin of any GOP-to-Dem California flip last cycle. That outpaced former Rep. David Valadao, who reported around $522,000.
BOTH SIDES NOW — “Stanford study: Mail voting doesn’t benefit one party over another,” by POLITICO’s Jeremy B. White.
GOP RISERS — The NRCC and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced seven “Young Guns” candidates whose top-tier status gets them part resources, and four of them are California Republican contenders: Valadao in CA-21, Garcia in CA-25, former Assemblywoman Young Kim in CA-39 and Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel in CA-48.
— “Undocumented workers face obstacles qualifying for benefits during the pandemic,’’ by CALMatters’ Jacqueline Garcia and Erica Hellerstein: Undocumented workers who lost their job because they are sick or quarantined don’t qualify for unemployment. But they can apply for state disability insurance, paid family leave and workers compensation.
— “Is California winning the battle against coronavirus spread? Here are the surprising numbers,” by The Sac Bee’s Tony Bizjak, Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks and Sophia Bollag.
— “California students need fast internet more than ever. Here are the state’s dead zones,” by The Sac Bee’s Michael Finch.
— “California excludes health care workers, emergency responders from federal sick leave,” by The Sac Bee’s Wes Venteicher: “The list includes doctors, nurses, patrol and peace officers along with lifeguards, painters, mechanics, chaplains and many other classifications.”
— “Coronavirus: $388 million in federal help for Bay Area airports, large and small,” by The Mercury News’s George Avalos: “The money for the local airports is being made available through a $10 billion program within the CARES Act signed into law by President Donald Trump in late March and is designed to bolster airports that are being buffeted by the coronavirus fallout.”
EDITORIAL — “Elon Musk’s ventilator fiasco shows need for more oversight of Gavin Newsom’s mask deal,” by The Sac Bee editorial board: “[M]illions of Californians heard the governor announce Musk’s heroic donation of ‘ventilators.’ Yet not one unit has been delivered – and Musk likely never had the real ventilators our hospitals need.”
— “’I do not believe it will work’: NYC mayor Bill De Blasio dismisses Oakland’s plan to close streets,” by SFGATE’s Michael Rosen: “Last week, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced the ‘Oakland Slow Streets Program,’ closing roughly 74 miles of residential streets to cars passing through the neighborhood.”
— “California law schools want to cancel this year’s bar exams due to coronavirus: Should graduates still be allowed to practice?” by the SF Chronicle’s Bob Egelko: With the July bar exam in doubt for tens of thousands of law school graduates nationwide, including about 8,000 in California, the law school deans at UC Berkeley and UCLA say states should postpone the exam and instead allow new graduates to practice law under an experienced attorney’s supervision until things clear up.”
TAX DAY MESSAGE — Amy Everitt, president of the non-profit Golden State Opportunity, says her organization has launched a new campaign today to help cash-strapped, low income Californians in the Covid-19 crisis. GSO’s ‘Million 4 a Billion’ campaign “will connect Californians with free online tax filing resources they can access safely from their homes, aided by trained tax volunteers,’’ to help them benefit California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC). In addition to scheduling an appointment to file their taxes, those contacted will also learn of other resources, such as how to sign up for CalFresh or apply for unemployment benefits.”
AIRBNB’s $1 billion deal: Airbnb announced last night “it has secured commitments of $1 billion for a syndicated term loan from institutional investors. The new resources will ensure Airbnb can continue to invest in its company and community of hosts and guests in over 220 countries and regions around the world.”
— “Salesforce’s CEO vows no layoffs for at least 90 days,” by Yahoo Finance’s Julia LaRoche.
— “Apple is gathering data from Apple Maps to show how well people are social distancing,” by CNBC’s Todd Haselton and Christina Farr: “You can plug in a city or a region and see a graph of how much people are moving in that area.”
— “Tesla surges 28% in two days as traders look beyond coronavirus disruption,” by Reuters’ Noel Randewich.
— “Disney animator’s coronavirus-related death is third at motion picture retirement home,” by the LA Times’ Richard Winton: “As of Tuesday, 16 residents and eight staff have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.”
— “Weed is deemed ‘essential’ in California, but many pot businesses are on the brink of failure,” by WaPo’s Reed Albergotti: “Like grocers, the marijuana industry’s ability to operate during the pandemic offers a much-needed source of revenue. But for the pot business, the lack of a safety net, access to banking or the ability to tap into federal stimulus dollars means the tiniest misstep could lead to bankruptcy.”
— “New lawsuit says conditions in immigrant detention center ripe for virus,’’ via OCRegister’s Roxana Kopetman.
— “Despite reported increase in drinking, California craft brewery sales drop 43% post-coronavirus,’’ by SFChronicle’s Esther Mobley.
— “Photos: Kevin Durant selling former Oakland hills mansion for $6M,” by The Mercury News’ Pueng Vongs.
— “Airport Says the Coronavirus Could Have ‘Six Times the Impact of Sept. 11,’” by the Voice of San Diego’s Ashly McGlone.
— “San Jose mulls rent freeze, more tenant protections,” by the San Jose Spotlight’s Nadia Lopez.
TIME TO SUBSCRIBE — Via LATimes’ John Myers @johnmyers: “Due to the unexpected effects of COVID-19, our advertising revenue has nearly been eliminated.” That’s the news in today’s email to @latimes staff. And then the impact: pay cuts for managers, 16 weeks of furloughs on the business side, cancellation of 401k match for everyone…”
Amy Everitt, former head of NARAL California, now president of Golden State Opportunity
WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel welcomed baby Noah this week.
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NEWSOM’S 6-point plan to reopen — PASTORS sue over Covid-19 shutdowns — SF PRIDE 50th anniversary cancelled — PELOSI’s counter-strategy to TRUMP — KHANNA’s new bill: ‘Monthly assistance’ to Americans — SCHIFF endorses BIDEN
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