More fires, more blackouts + Trouble for Prop. 15? + Labor Day gig worker rally
Good morning and happy Tuesday! Hopefully you were able to relax and stay cool this Labor Day weekend.
IT’S BEEN A LONG YEAR: Start your day with with a dose of something good. Check out the California National Guard pilots who flew into the Creek Fire over and over to rescue hundreds of stranded campers. Here’s a story on their heroics by McClatchy DC’s Tara Copp.
FIRST, THE NEWS
Welcome back from the holiday weekend. Let’s catch up.
Big rally, few masks: Thousands gathered at the Capitol on Sunday evening for a Christian concert and what they called a “Let us worship” rally. Recently quarantined California Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove was among the speakers.
“We are gonna worship like we’ve never worshiped before, and I declare that after all of this is over tonight, the remnant, the residue of this worship will saturate this ground and seep into that building,” she said.
Blackouts are back: PG&E announced late Monday it planned to shut off power to tens of thousands of customers because of high wind.
More fires: Look for more evacuations in the central San Joaquin Valley and Sierra Nevada. Bass Lake, Oakhurst and Coarsegold are on notice.
TROUBLE FOR PROP 15
A new survey released today points to trouble for the union-supported initiative that would create a “split roll” for assessments and raise property tax on many California businesses, Proposition 15.
The opinion survey by Probolsky Research shows the initiative’s supporters need to make up ground by Election day with 48.8% of respondents planning to vote against it. About 41% of respondents support and 10.3% are undecided.
Adam Probolsky said his firm does not have a client connected to either side of the campaign. He said he’s releasing the results in the public interest.
“The voter contact part of the campaign has already started. With so few voters unsure about their vote, the yes side will need to move voters from their current position to win,” he said.
His firm reached 900 voters between Aug. 27 and Sept. 2 for the survey through a mix of online and telephone contact.
Proposition 15, dubbed the Schools and Communities First Initiative, could generate up to $12 billion a year in tax revenue for schools and government services. It’s endorsed by a number of California mayors, the California Teachers Association and SEIU, who argue it would compel large businesses to pay their fair share for the state’s services.
Since 1978, California has assessed property at purchase price and restricted property tax increases. Proposition 15 would retain those protections for homeowners, but tax commercial properties worth more than $3 million at their current, market rate. That’d effectively raise property tax on many commercial sites.
It’s opposed by the California Business Roundtable, which argues the initiative would dent the state’s historic property tax restrictions and ultimately raise the cost of living in the state.
Not surprisingly, 81% of Republicans surveyed said they opposed Proposition 15, while nearly 60% of Democrats polled said they would support the measure. Nearly half of No Party Preference voters said they were against the property tax revision.
Younger voters between 18 and 29 comprised the greatest bloc in support of the proposal, while respondents 65 and up are the most critical of Proposition 15.
Among racial demographics, 54.1% of Latinos/Hispanic voters surveyed said they wouldn’t vote for the initiative, along with 46.4% of whites surveyed, 48.6% of black respondents and 52.4% of Asians polled. White voters made up the highest percentage of supporters with 44% reporting they support Proposition 15.
LABOR DAY ANTI-PROP 22 RALLY
The No On Prop 22 campaign held a Labor Day rally outside the Capitol Monday morning, following a caravan of gig drivers from West Sacramento. Photos show lots of masks.
They’re fighting the well-funded ballot measure that would allow Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and other gig economy giants to exempt app-based drivers from AB 5, the new California labor law that requires companies to provide employment benefits to more workers.
“They represent a coalition of rideshare drivers tens of thousands strong, urging Californians to vote NO on Prop 22, the November measure funded by Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash that gives only app companies a special exemption to deny their employees the benefits they deserve and are currently guaranteed under laws the companies are flagrantly ignoring,” according to a statement released by the campaign.
Speaking at the rally included Sacramento Assemblyman Kevin McCarty and Fabrizio Sasso, executive director of the Sacramento Central Labor Council.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Why is bowling, with its inherent social distancing, allowed in 45 states but not California? And why is Gov. Newsom’s Public Health Department refusing to answer that question?”
- Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
This Democrat gave Devin Nunes a close race. Now he’s going after Kevin McCarthy, via Kate Irby
Citing “a strong suspicion of recent fraud,” the state’s Employment Development Department is actively investigating reports of suspicious mailings regarding unemployment benefits that people all over the state have received, David Lightman.
The California Air Resources Board voted to enact a sweeping, complicated series of rules aimed at reducing the pollution output of heavy-duty diesel trucks, via Andrew Sheeler.
