Written by Michael Palomba
Gov. Gavin Newsom is transferring $1.831 billion to the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account, which will be spent through the current fiscal year. The details for how this money will be spent are extremely limited.
According to the Department of Finance:
- $98.4 million for statewide testing and contact tracing/tracking
- $251.7 million will establish and support over 3,000 hospital beds
- $30 million will go to hotels for healthcare workers and support staff
- $159.4 million will cover costs for ongoing state response activities
- A whopping $1.3 billion will be spent on procuring personal protective equipment.
State Senator Jim Nielsen, who represents California’s 4th district and also serves on the Senate Budget Committee, sent out an announcement urging everyone to demand legislative oversight.
“The spending of billions of taxpayers’ dollars must be reviewed and approved by representatives of the citizens of California. It is time for the Legislature to return to the standard separation and balance of power,” said Nielsen. “There is too little transparency, oversight and accountability. The public deserves better.”
This is not the first chunk of money that California has repurposed for emergency coronavirus response, but there is growing reason to question why more is needed at this time. The virus has long passed its peak, and businesses are beginning to reopen, which will create more tax revenue for the state. Right now, we have little reason to believe that the state government needs more money to spend, and they haven’t provided us with much justification either.
Senator Nielsen says “Californians have answered the call and slowed the spread of the virus.”
“Californians have answered the call and slowed the spread of the virus. Hospitals are safe, and most have few, if any, COVID-19 patients,” Nielsen added. “The U.S. Naval hospital ship Mercy has returned to the port in San Diego. The field hospital at Sacramento’s Arco Arena will close at the end of the month after the state paid an outrageous $1 million to house fewer than 10 patients.”
The state is no longer in the emergency response phase—we’re now on the path of recovery. In San Diego, we’re already in Phase 2 and have submitted a request to the governor to begin a Phase 3 Pilot Program. Now that recovery has started, Gov. Newsom needs to respect the constitutional powers of the Legislature.
“Long standing processes and procedures to establish the balance of power in our government must be strictly followed,” Nielsen said. “The Administration must demonstrate why it needs this colossal pile of taxpayer dollars. These purchases must come before the Legislature.”
Remember all those pop-up hospitals and hospital boats, like Mercy? Many of them did not even see a handful of patients, and most have been or are in the process of being shut down. Despite that, none of the millions spent to make all of that happen is coming back.
We don’t need anymore rash, knee-jerk decisions. Senator Nielsen and others who have sounded the alarm over Newsom’s latest request are right to do so. The state is facing a massive budget deficit as a result of COVID-19 and the last thing we should be doing is spending billions on unneeded initiatives.
