Newsom and the supply chain + Equality CA tackles redistricting + Republicans want EDD hearing

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

NEWSOM SIGNS SUPPLY CHAIN EXECUTIVE ORDER

Can the governor really do anything about the supply chain issues facing the state, and nation?

Well, Gov. Gavin Newsom is trying, signing an executive order on Wednesday that calls on the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, or GO-Biz, to address the supply chain issue by “engaging the diverse network of stakeholders along the supply chain to discuss key challenges and identify short-term and long-term solutions,” according to a statement from the governor’s office.

“California’s ports are critical to our local, state and national economies and the state is taking action to support goods movement in the face of global disruptions,” Newsom said in a statement. “My administration will continue to work with federal, state, labor and industry partners on innovative solutions to tackle immediate challenges while also bringing our distribution processes into the 21st century.”

The order also directs state agencies to identify state-owned properties that can be converted into storage for goods unloaded from ships, among other things.

But is Newsom going far enough? A coalition of business groups, including the California Business Round Table and others, begs to differ.

“While we support the governor’s response to this crisis, today’s executive order is a first of many steps in addressing the crisis unfolding at every level of the supply chain. There are additional real, tangible actions the governor could take to meet the moment and tackle this crisis head-on, but convening taskforces in 2022, delaying urgent actions for at least a month, and pushing funding discussions to the January budget proposal do not provide the sense of urgency needed to address this crisis now,” the coalition said in a statement following the governor’s announcement that he had signed the order.

The coalition is calling for Newsom to declare a state of emergency at the ports and to suspend labor laws like AB 701 and AB 5 “until the supply chain has normalized.”

EQUALITY CALIFORNIA CALLS FOR EMPOWERED LGBTQ+ REDISTRICTING

When the California Citizens Redistricting Commission meets Friday, LGBT advocacy group Equality California will present the commission with a set of “LGBTQ+ Unity Maps” which the group says “would empower LGBTQ+ communities throughout the state to elect ‘candidates of choice’ — representatives from the community and allies who are responsive to the unique needs of their LGBTQ+ constituents.”

The maps specifically identify geographically connected LGBTQ communities in the Los Angeles, Long Beach, Bay Area, San Diego, Sacramento and Coachella Valley regions.

“This is our once-in-a-decade opportunity to empower LGBTQ+ Californians to elect leaders who will fight for us and champion our needs,” said Equality California Associate Program Director Jeremy Payne in a statement. “As LGBTQ+ people — especially trans and gender-nonconforming people — face unprecedented attacks in state capitals across the country, we have a responsibility to ensure that our community and the diverse communities to which we belong are empowered through the redistricting process in California.”

Equality California points to success in past redistricting efforts that empowered LGBTQ communities to elect LGBTQ politicians, beginning with Harvey Milk in 1977, when he was elected after San Francisco switched from at-large to voting districts.

“With the power to elect candidates of choice, San Francisco’s historically LGBTQ+ neighborhoods went on to elect out LGBTQ+ Supervisors including Harry Britt, Roberta Achtenberg, Mark Leno, Bevan Dufty, Tom Ammiano, Leslie Katz, Scott Wiener, David Campos and Rafael Mandelman. Achtenberg later made history as the first openly LGBTQ+ presidential appointee to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Leno, Ammiano and Wiener went on to serve in the California Legislature, and Campos is currently Vice Chair of the California Democratic Party. Dufty serves on the BART Board of Directors,” according to an Equality California statement.

SENATE REPUBLICANS CALL FOR EDD HEARING

Sen. Rocilie Ochoa Bogh, R-Rancho Cucamonga, led her fellow Senate Republicans in calling for an informational hearing on the status of the Employment Development Department, in a letter to Joint Legislative Audit Committee Chair Rudy Salas Jr, D-Bakersfield.

The letter comes amid news, as reported by the Capitol Bureau’s own David Lightman, that people are having to wait up to 26 weeks for an interview with EDD about their unemployment benefits eligibility.

Ochoa Bogh specifically called for an informational hearing to discuss EDD’s implementation of recommendations contained in a pair of audits released last January.

“It has been eight months since JLAC last held any oversight hearing on EDD. While plans were made to hold an oversight hearing numerous times over the past two months, these hearings were canceled without providing a credible reason,” the letter reads in part. “Nevertheless, it is crucial that the Legislature exercise our oversight of EDD by ensuring that the department is properly implementing the recommendations made by the auditor and codified by some recently passed bipartisan legislation that was crafted based on those recommendations.”

The letter, which Ochoa Bogh shared on Twitter, goes on to say that the committee should schedule a hearing on the subject before Veterans Day, in November.

“I am heartbroken as I hear from constituents on a daily basis who have found themselves in desperate need of help from the California EDD through no fault of their own. They deserve to know what steps have been taken to ensure the department is functioning efficiently,” Ochoa Bogh wrote in her tweet.

Signing the letter were Ochoa Bogh, Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk, and Sens. Melissa Melendez, Patricia Bates, Shannon Grove, Jim Nielsen, Andreas Borgeas and Brian Jones.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“How about we run a real Democrat against him and make the decision a whole lot easier?!”

- Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, responding to a Mother Jones story about Sen. Joe Manchin pondering leaving the Democratic Party, via Twitter.

Best of the Bee:

• California women and people of color are still getting paid substantially less than white men despite new state laws and policies designed to promote equal wages, according to recent analyses of data, via Jeong Park.

• The Protecting Our Democracy Act, introduced by Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff last month and supported by lots of Democrats, probably won’t take the trip to President Joe Biden’s desk as is, via David Lightman and Gillian Brassil.