SACRAMENTO - In applying a one size fits all template to how the state of California is reopening after having shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, critics fear Gov. Gavin Newsom may be trampling upon constitutional rights.
"California businesses cannot all be neatly assigned to Stage 2, 3 or 4. That's why the blunt instrument of a statewide edict is inherently not based on data,” tweeted Assemblyman Kevin Kiley who represents the 6th District, which includes Placer, Sacramento, and El Dorado counties.
Newsom unveiled the Resilience Roadmap for how industries will reopen on April 28. The plan comes three weeks after Gov. Newsom mandated staying-at-home on March 19 in Executive Order N-33-20.
“Phase 2 is the phase that is upon us and where we will be the next few weeks and perhaps it’s the most important phase in terms of at least getting everybody's attention focused so that we can prepare for it,” Gov Newsom told journalists during a Facebook Live press conference last week. “We'll be meeting sector by sector with our economic recovery team.”
The Resilience Roadmap outlines the stages in which businesses could potentially reopen. For example, retail store curbside pickup, manufacturing and offices where remote working is not possible all fall under Stage 2, according to a press release.
“Phase 2 is in weeks not months,” Gov. Newsom said. “Phase 3 is in months not weeks. That's important to distinguish so people have a sense of where we are and where we believe, based on the data, we are going but what I just said can substantially change if the data shifts, if the health prevalence changes and if the spread of the disease changes.”
Higher risk business segments, such as gyms, hair salons, movie theatres and church services, would reopen under Phase 3 with adaptations and size limits on gatherings while Phase 4 would mark the end of stay-at-home orders with the highest risk workplaces, such as concerts, convention centers and live audience sports, relaunching but only after therapeutics, such as medication or a vaccine, are developed.
However, one size fitting all isn’t sitting well with Assemblyman Kiley.
“Communities are so different from each other in how they are impacted by the virus, how dense they are and how many businesses they have and all of that is ignored in this statewide plan,” Kiley told the Southern California Record. “Why is the plan statewide rather than regional or local? Establishments are laying out reasonable proposals with how they can accommodate that are consistent with social distancing guidelines and there are a variety of business models possible but they can’t be factored into the standards Gov. Newsom has set."
In recent weeks, some counties have defiantly announced plans to re-open despite the governor’s shut down orders. In Modoc, for example, schools, hair salons, churches, restaurants and a movie theater opened on May 1, according to media reports.
“The state doesn’t have granular knowledge, which is why I favor a coordinated approach between state and local governments to reopen the economy,” Kiley said in an interview. “There is a role for government in this process of bringing business back to life but that doesn’t mean the voice of the business community should be silenced."