Newsom does the right thing by vetoing SB 799

Gov. Gavin Newsom is at his best when he fends off the legislative stunts of the Legislature.

On Sept. 30, Newsom vetoed Senate Bill 799, introduced by Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Glendale.

The bill proposed extending unemployment benefits to workers on strike. This notion was absurd on its face.

Unemployment insurance exists to help Californians who lose their jobs through no fault of their own support themselves as they find work. It does not exist nor should it exist to subsidize strikes.

In addition, and as everyone in the California Legislature should have been well aware, California's unemployment insurance system is already underwater. Due to the fiscal irresponsibility of California state government, the state has had to borrow tens of billions of dollars from the federal government in order to sustain the unemployment insurance system.

These concerns are why Newsom vetoed the bill.

“Any expansion of eligibility for UI benefits could increase California's outstanding federal UI debt projected to be nearly $20 billion by the end of the year and could jeopardize California's Benefit Cost Ratio add-on waiver application, significantly increasing taxes on employers,” Newsom wrote in his veto message. “Furthermore, the state is responsible for the interest payments on the federal UI loan and to date has paid $362.7 million in interest with another $302 million due this month. Now is not the time to increase costs or incur this sizable debt.”

This sober, straightforward analysis gets it exactly right. As mentioned, this was also understood to any sensible legislator who voted to advance the bill. And yet, it cleared both the state Senate (27 to 12) and Assembly (59 to 18) easily, with only a couple of Democrats clearheaded and reasonable enough to vote against it.

Following Newsom's veto, Portantino offered a vacuous statement expressing “disappointment” at the veto.

The only disappointment is Portantino's ability to get elected and reelected to public office. He is now running for Congress. We can only hope voters in the 30th Congressional District know better than to allow someone with so little sense to represent them at the national stage.