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Committee to tackle monkeypox + CPAC talks Newsom for POTUS + Electric school bus ride

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

SENATORS TALK MONKEYPOX RESPONSE

Via Lindsey Holden...

The Senate Select Committee on Monkeypox today will discuss California’s response to theoutbreak and how to better treat and prevent the disease.

Committee Chair Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and five other members will hear from state and local public health officials, LGBTQ advocates, labor representatives and a monkeypox patient, according to a meeting agenda.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on August 1, which was followed three days later by a federal declaration.

California had reported 1,310 monkeypox cases as of Thursday, with the vast majority concentrated in Los Angeles and San Francisco, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Monkeypox causes a rash of blisters and flu-like symptoms, although it’s rarely fatal.

Anyone can be infected with monkeypox, but it has primarily affected gay and bisexual men and transgender people in California and the United States.

Wiener has been outspoken about the need for more vaccines, testing and treatment access across the state, but especially in his home city of San Francisco.

“Monkeypox is a public health emergency, and we must do everything in our power to expand access to vaccination, testing, treatment, and information,” Wiener said in a statement. “We need to listen to those who have contracted monkeypox, healthcare providers, public health officials, and advocates on the ground. Working together, we can protect our community’s health.”

CPAC FUELS NEWSOM PRESIDENTIAL RUN RUMORS

Via David Lightman...

At least conservatives think Gov. Gavin Newsom is a decent bet to run for president in 2024.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas over the weekend, attendees were asked in a straw poll who they thought would be the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee.

Newsom, who has said emphatically he’s not interested, easily topped the field with 37%. Next was former First Lady Michelle Obama with 16%.

President Joe Biden, whose approval ratings have been in the 30s and low 40s, was third at 8%, tied with 2016 Democratic nominee HIllary Clinton.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who ran in 2020, had 5% and Vice President Kamala Harris, a former California U.S. senator, had 4%.

The group’s loyalties, though, were clear: Former President Donald Trump got 69% support for a 2024 run as the Republican nominee.

ELECTRIC SCHOOL BUS TO DO RIDE AROUND CAPITOL

In a bid to get AB 2731 across the finish line, the bill’s author, Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, will join other officials and electric vehicle advocates in riding an electric school bus around the Capitol on Wednesday.

AB 2731 would require all of California’s new school bus purchases to be all-electric by 2035.

“Most school buses still run on diesel, a toxic pollutant that harms kids’ health and threatens the climate. Electric buses, on the other hand, provide a clean, green transportation alternative, and can save school districts money over the long run,” according to a statement put out by event organizers.

Prior to the bus ride, Ting will join others in a press conference promoting the bill, which is set to begin at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at Capitol Park, between 12th and 13th streets on N Street, southeast of the Capitol building.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“This little gay boy was completely obsessed with Olivia Newton-John in Grease & especially Xanadu. I’m heart-broken. What an amazing performer & human being. Rest In Peace, Olivia.”

- Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, via Twitter.

Best of the Bee:

  • California’s unemployment insurance agency “caused hardship for unemployed workers and their families”’ during tough economic times and “mischaracterized” the extent of its problems to the state Legislature, a blistering new report from the state Legislative Analyst’s Office said Monday, via David Lightman.

  • President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are touting the “Inflation Reduction Act” as their big election year triumph, a major way of getting soaring prices to come down. But don’t look for any radical plunge in prices anytime soon. In the future, probably, but not now, via David Lightman.