Written by Michael Palomba
Coronavirus has more than hurt California’s finances, the state is currently facing a $54 billion budget deficit. Obviously some things have to be reduced—or outright eliminated—to make up for the massive shortfall. Gov. Gavin Newsom has proclaimed that “our heroes and first responders, our police officers and firefighters” will be the first to be “laid off by cities and counties.”
What makes this even more infuriating is that Newsom and the Democrats in the State Legislature are still wasting millions of dollars on liberal nonsense. For one, Newsom is still requesting $21 million to enforce Assembly Bill 5. AB 5 is a bill written by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez that effectively eliminated the gig economy in California. Several rideshare and food delivery companies have taken the bill to court, and a ballot initiative to repeal the disastrous legislation will be on the ballot in November.
It's astounding that #AB5 Lawmakers continue to peddle the "Dynamex made us do it" falsehood. For one thing, Dynamex isn’t making them spend twenty-one million scarce budget dollars to hammer in the law.
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) June 9, 2020
Additionally, Gov. Newsom is saying that police officers are more expendable than all the diversity and social justice personnel that are on the state’s payroll. It really seems like he is using the state’s deficit as leverage to get what he wants, and his priorities are starting to show as well.
The fact that Newsom will continue with the implementation of AB 5, even in the midst of an economic disaster, is unfathomable. He’s sending money to eliminate jobs at a time when unemployment is through the roof. Not only is he disregarding Californians who need to work in any way possible, he’s putting every Californian in danger by holding our first responders hostage. Ideally, AB 5 shouldn’t get funding ever, but it absolutely should not be funded before our public safety programs.
Newsom is doing this because he is banking on a bailout from the federal government. He knows that he and legislative Democrats are responsible for balancing the state’s budget and he doesn’t want to cut what’s necessary to do so. One common thread that runs through all the big, liberal cities in the U.S. is that they are begging for bailouts from the federal government. The HEROES Act put forward by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is loaded with handouts to states that were ill-prepared for an emergency. The truth is that some states needed this wake-up call since they are too busy wasting money on nonsense and not focusing enough on proper budgeting.
Now is the time for Democrats allies to face reality and start cutting useless expenditures. In California, we should start with repealing AB 5 so millions of Californians go back to working how they please. Then we need to cut all of the needless expenditures taken on by the state. It’s time to completely overhaul the budget and make fiscal responsibility the number one priority.
