Kevin McCarthy seeks answers about secret Chinese-run lab in California. ‘Disturbing’

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy joined other local politicians in sounding alarms about the ties between China and a secret lab that was shut down earlier this year in Reedley, talking with reporters Thursday in Clovis.

News of the lab – run by company Prestige Biotech Inc., whose owners reside in China – broke last week along with concerns about vials of exotic contagions the lab had been illegally storing. A slew of state and federal agencies are investigating, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI.

The Bakersfield Republican, who met with the media at his newly opened office in Clovis, said he’d spoken to local officials earlier that day about the “disturbing” discoveries out of Reedley. He pledged to take these concerns back to the select committee on China he convened shortly after becoming Speaker of the House this January.

“My concern is to get to the bottom of what happened here,” he said, “but also … where’s this happening in other parts of this country?”

The speaker also alleged that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration provided the lab with state funding.

“Now we’re finding out that the governor of California provided them with $360,000 in this process,” he said.

A spokesperson from the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) told The Bee in an email that Universal Meditech, Inc., the predecessor of Prestige Biotech, received a $360,000 tax credit through the office’s California Competes program in April 2019, but the credit was ultimately revoked.

“(Universal Meditech, Inc.) did not achieve any of its milestones and was not approved to claim any of the tax credits. GO-Biz recaptured the entire credit and voided the Agreement with UMI,” the spokesperson said.

The office also said that Prestige Biotech never received any California Competes funding and that it was “never a party” to the agreement.

McCarthy said he plans to follow up with the FBI in light of his discussions Thursday.

“There’s a lot more questions that need to be answered,” he said.

The House speaker weighs in on Tulare Lake

McCarthy took more than just one swing at Newsom.

When asked about the future of the recently resurrected Tulare Lake following a barrage of storms this winter, McCarthy criticized the Democratic governor for putting up “roadblocks” to water storage leading up to this year.

Much of California’s stormwater flows to the sea due largely to environmental laws that protect endangered species of fish. McCarthy and other politicians, meanwhile, are calling for more of this water to be pumped into reservoirs to increase the state’s water supply.

“We’re living off infrastructure that was built in the 60s. We’re now 2023. We need to be planning for 2050,” he said. “And all (Newsom’s) done is fight it.”

The Bee reached out to the governor’s office for a response to McCarthy’s criticisms.

McCarthy added that he believes agriculture is “the greatest use” of the land beneath Tulare Lake and he wants to restore it to agriculture, although the lake is likely to stick around for months, if not longer.

The tributaries that once fed the historic lake were diverted for agriculture in the early 1900s and the lakebed dried out, KVPR reported in June. The Yokuts tribe that once lived around the lake has gathered in recent months to honor the returned vestige of pre-colonial life.

McCarthy spoke with reporters at the newly opened office in Clovis – the result of a promise he made to constituents in the recently redistricted 20th Congressional District. He represents an area that encompasses parts of Kern, Fresno, Tulare, and Kings counties, including areas of Bakersfield and Clovis.