Politics
Newsom scales back some special pandemic rules, but not California’s state of emergency
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday rescinded a slate of COVID-19-related govt orders in response to indicators of a subsiding pandemic, however didn’t finish California’s almost two-year-long state of emergency regardless of criticism from Republican lawmakers that he not wants its immense govt powers.
The governor’s workplace summarized 19 provisions in govt orders that can be instantly terminated, which included necessities that every one state-owned properties be made obtainable for emergency use and state companies to determine amenities for housing and medical therapy.
One other 18 provisions will expire on the finish of March, together with people who defend COVID-19 reduction funds from garnishment and permit for digital company and public conferences, in accordance with Newsom’s workplace. Further govt orders that restrict legal responsibility for knowledge breaches on telemedicine platforms and permit video assessments for these with COVID-19 signs who obtain in-home supportive care can be rescinded on June 30.
Newsom administration officers mentioned California’s COVID-19 state of emergency wants to remain in place, nonetheless, as a result of it’s essential to proceed the state’s COVID response. Utilizing that broad authority, the Democratic governor waived statutes and legal guidelines to permit testing and vaccination packages and to make sure that California had sufficient capability in hospitals to deal with one other surge in instances.
“Many people know households, communities, people who benefited, perhaps had their life saved, as a result of these provisions have been in place up till this level,” mentioned Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Well being and Human Providers Company. “It isn’t by chance or mistake that California has one of many lowest dying charges of a giant state.”
Since he declared a state of emergency on March 4, 2020, Newsom has issued 70 govt orders involving the COVID-19 pandemic that addressed a spread of points, together with worth gouging, halting evictions and suspending the deadline for submitting tax returns in 2020. The overwhelming majority of these have both been rescinded or have expired.
Beneath the 1970 California Emergency Providers Act, the governor has broad authority to reply throughout a state of emergency resembling a pandemic. The governor can “make, amend, and rescind” state rules and droop state statutes and has the ability to redirect state funds to assist in an emergency — even funds appropriated by the California Legislature for a wholly totally different objective. The governor additionally has the authority to commandeer non-public property, together with hospitals, medical labs, lodges and motels.
The California Supreme Courtroom in 2021 upheld an appeals courtroom ruling that affirmed Newsom’s emergency powers. Two state Republican lawmakers had challenged Newsom’s energy, arguing he had no proper to problem an govt order requiring ballots to be mailed to the state’s 22 million registered voters earlier than the Nov. 3, 2020, election.
The excessive courtroom dominated the regulation was constitutional as a result of it required the governor to terminate a declared state of emergency as quickly as attainable and in addition permits the Legislature to finish it by passing a joint decision.
For greater than a yr, GOP lawmakers have been pushing for the Democratic-controlled Legislature to take motion. Nevertheless, it wasn’t till final week that Senate President Professional Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) agreed to carry a listening to on the proposal, now scheduled for March 15.
“I believe it’s outrageous that he would acknowledge that these govt orders can expire however that his claimed prerogative to rule the state by decree will stay in impact. The Emergency Providers Act may be very clear that the governor should terminate the emergency on the earliest attainable date that circumstances warrant,” mentioned Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), who sponsored a invoice in his chamber to finish the emergency.
Ann Patterson, the governor’s authorized affairs secretary, mentioned rescinding the state of emergency would “cripple” California’s response to the pandemic.
Patterson additionally mentioned that every one state masks and vaccine mandates, together with these for schoolchildren and healthcare employees, had been enacted below the state well being and security code. Even when the state of emergency ends, these mandates would stay in place till rescinded by the state’s high public well being officer.
Beneath Newsom’s govt powers that can stay in place, the state will proceed to largely waive licensing necessities for healthcare amenities, employees and testing labs — actions designed to spice up the state’s vaccination and testing capability and increase the scope of apply for pharmacists, technicians and EMS employees. Pharmacies are allowed to offer testing and vaccinations and cellular vaccination clinics are permitted.
Patterson famous that declared states of emergency stay in impact for disasters that struck years in the past, together with the lethal Camp fireplace in 2018 that decimated the Northern California city of Paradise. A 2015 emergency declared by then-Gov. Jerry Brown over tree morbidity in California’s forests additionally stays in impact, she mentioned. These emergencies give the administration extra flexibility to restore injury, scale back threats and permit communities to rebuild, she mentioned.
“The emergency isn’t over when the bottom stops shaking. It’s not over when the fireplace is put out. It’s not even over after we’ve offered instant medical consideration or safe broken bridges after an earthquake,” Patterson mentioned. “The results of a catastrophe can proceed for years.”
Patterson mentioned Newsom has confirmed to be very considered when exercising his emergency powers through the pandemic. With the actions introduced Friday, the governor’s workplace mentioned solely 30 of 561 govt order provisions associated to the pandemic will stay in place by this summer season.
Nevertheless, till the state of emergency ends, Newsom will retain his expanded emergency powers — together with the authority to vary legal guidelines, reappropriate funds with out legislative approval and enter into no-bid contracts.
Within the first months of the pandemic, Newsom got here below fireplace for a secretive $1-billion masks deal his administration signed in 2020 with BYD, a Chinese language electrical automobile producer that had been ramping up its political presence in California in recent times. The contract was saved below seal for weeks, prompting bipartisan issues from lawmakers.
Final yr, Newsom introduced in Blue Defend of California to supervise the state’s distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, prompting objections from county officers and questions on preferential therapy of a longtime donor to the governor.
Critics have argued that lots of the no-bid contracts awarded below Newsom’s emergency powers have gone to corporations which have donated thousands and thousands to the governor or on his behalf by behested funds, which they are saying creates the looks of a pay-to-play system.
Senate Republican chief Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) launched a invoice this week that might prohibit a state company from awarding no-bid contracts to corporations which have made a charitable donation on behalf of the governor within the yr main as much as the reward.
“I’m deeply involved concerning the growing use of huge no-bid contracts,” Wilk mentioned in a press release.
Occasions employees author Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
Politics
Appeals court rules Texas has right to build razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration: 'Huge win'
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that Texas has the right to build a razor wire border wall to deter illegal immigration into the Lone Star State.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the ruling on X, saying President Biden was “wrong to cut our razor wire.”
“We continue adding more razor wire border barrier,” the Republican leader wrote.
Wednesday’s 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals clears the way for Texas to pursue a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of trespassing without having to remove the fencing.
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It also reversed a federal judge’s November 2023 refusal to grant a preliminary injunction to Texas as the state resisted federal efforts to remove fencing along the Rio Grande in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee during the president-elect’s first term, wrote for Wednesday’s majority that Texas was trying only to safeguard its own property, not “regulate” U.S. Border Patrol, and was likely to succeed in its trespass claims.
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Duncan said the federal government waived its sovereign immunity and rejected its concerns that a ruling by Texas would impede the enforcement of immigration law and undermine the government’s relationship with Mexico.
He said the public interest “supports clear protections for property rights from government intrusion and control” and ensuring that federal immigration law enforcement does not “unnecessarily intrude into the rights of countless property owners.”
Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton called the ruling a “huge win for Texas.”
“The Biden Administration has been enjoined from damaging, destroying, or otherwise interfering with Texas’s border fencing,” Paxton wrote in a post on X. “We sued immediately when the federal government was observed destroying fences to let illegal aliens enter, and we’ve fought every step of the way for Texas sovereignty and security.”
The White House has been locked in legal battles with Texas and other states that have tried to deter illegal immigration.
In May, the full 5th Circuit heard arguments in a separate case between Texas and the White House over whether the state can keep a 1,000-foot floating barrier on the Rio Grande.
The appeals court is also reviewing a judge’s order blocking a Texas law that would allow state officials to arrest, prosecute and order the removal of people in the country illegally.
Politics
Rep. Katie Porter obtains temporary restraining order against ex-boyfriend on harassment allegations
U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) secured a temporary restraining order Tuesday against a former boyfriend, saying in dozens of pages of court filings that he had bombarded her, as well as her family and colleagues, with hundreds of messages that she described as “persistent abuse and harassment.”
Porter, 50, alleged in a filing with Orange County Superior Court that her ex-boyfriend Julian Willis, 55, was contacting her and her family with such frequency that she had a “significant fear” for her “personal safety and emotional well-being.”
Judge Stephen T. Hicklin signed a restraining order Tuesday barring Willis from communicating with Porter and her children until a mid-December court hearing. He also barred Willis from communicating about Porter with her current and former colleagues.
In the court filing, Porter said that Willis had been hospitalized twice since late 2022 on involuntary psychiatric holds and had a history of abusing prescription painkillers and other drugs.
She said in a statement to The Times that Willis’ mental health and struggles with addiction seemed to have gotten worse since she asked him in August to move out of her Irvine home. She said she sought the court order after his threats to her family and colleagues “escalated in both their frequency and intensity.”
“I sincerely hope he gets the help he needs,” Porter said.
Willis declined to comment. He will have an opportunity to file a legal response to the temporary restraining order and challenge Porter’s allegations.
Porter is leaving the House of Representatives in January after losing in California’s U.S. Senate primary in March. She has been discussed as a front-runner in the 2026 governor’s race in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out, but has not said whether she will launch a campaign.
The 53-page court filing, first reported by Politico, included 22 pages of emails, text messages and other communications among Porter, family members and colleagues who had received messages from Willis, as well as messages that Willis sent to Porter’s attorney and to her political mentor Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
The filing also included messages between herself and Willis’ siblings as they discussed trying to help him during his psychiatric holds and while he was staying in a sober-living facility.
Porter said that since she ordered Willis to move out, he had sent her more than 1,000 text messages and emails, including texting her 82 times in one 24-hour period in September, and 55 times on Nov. 12 before she blocked his number.
Porter said in the filing that her ex-boyfriend had “already contacted at least three reporters to disseminate false and damaging information” about her and her children, which she said “poses a serious risk to [her] career and personal reputation.”
The filing includes an email that Porter said Willis sent to her attorney late Monday, in which Willis said he had visited Porter’s son at college in Iowa and told him that he would “bring the hammer down on Katie and smash her and her life into a million pieces.”
Another screenshot shows Willis telling Porter’s attorney that he would file a complaint about Porter, who has children ages 12 and 16, with child protective services.
One of Porter’s congressional staff members received a text message from Willis saying he would “punish the f—” out of him if he did not agree to “cooperate” with a New York Times reporter and Willis’ attorneys, according to a screenshot included in the court document.
Willis previously made the news in 2021, when he was arrested after a fight that broke out at a Porter town hall at a park in Irvine.
Times staff writer Christopher Goffard contributed to this report.
Politics
Homan taking death threats against him ‘more seriously’ after Trump officials targeted with violent threats
Incoming Trump border czar Tom Homan reacted to news of death threats against Trump nominees on Wednesday and said he now takes the death threats he has previously received seriously.
“I have not taken this serious up to this point,” Homan told Fox News anchor Gillian Turner on “The Story” on Wednesday, referring to previous death threats made against him and his family.
“Now that I know what’s happened in the last 24 hours. I will take it a little more serious. But look, I’ve been dealing with this. When I was the ICE director in the first administration, I had numerous death threats. I had a security detail with me all the time. Even after I retired, death threats continued and even after I retired as the ICE Director. I had U.S. Marshals protection for a long time to protect me and my family.”
Homan explained that what “doesn’t help” the situation is the “negative press” around Trump.
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“I’m not in the cabinet, but, you know, I’ve read numerous hit pieces. I mean, you know, I’m a racist and, you know, I’m the father of family separation, all this other stuff. So the hate media doesn’t help at all because there are some nuts out there. They’ll take advantage. So that doesn’t help.”
Homan’s comments come shortly after Fox News Digital first reported that nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” prompting a “swift” law enforcement response.
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The “attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” according to Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman and incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “In response, law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”
Sources told Fox News Digital that John Ratcliffe, the nominee to be CIA director, Pete Hegseth, the nominee for secretary of defense, and Rep. Elise Stefanik, the nominee for UN ambassador, were among those targeted. Brooke Rollins, who Trump has tapped to be secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to be EPA administrator, separately revealed they were also targeted.
Threats were also made against Trump’s Labor Secretary nominee, GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, and former Trump attorney general nominee Matt Gaetz’s family.
Homan told Fox News that he is “not going to be intimidated by these people” and “I’m not going to let them silence me.”
“What I’ve learned today I’ll start taking a little more serious.”
Homan added that he believes “we need to have a strong response once we find out is behind all this.”
“It’s illegal to threaten someone’s life. And we need to follow through with that.”
The threats on Tuesday night came mere months after Trump survived two assassination attempts.
Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman contributed to this report
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