Stimulus bills signed, but Newsom dodges questions on schools
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several bills Tuesday providing billions of dollars in financial aid to lowincome Californians and small businesses struggling through the coronavirus pandemic.
But he signaled little progress on his push to reopen schools, weeks after promising that a deal was imminent. During a signing ceremony in downtown Sacramento, Newsom declined to discuss his negotiations with legislative leaders who stood a few feet away or even say whether all students would be able to return for inperson instruction before the end of this academic year.
“We’re working together on that,” he said. “I’m not saying we’re at the 1 or 2yard line, but we’re certainly in the red zone in terms of working with the Legislature.”
The $7.6 billion package Newsom signed includes $600 stimulus payments for more than 5 million lowincome California households.
Taxpayers who claim the state earned income tax credit for the working poor — generally, those with incomes of $30,000 a year or less — will receive a $600 rebate about five weeks after filing their tax return.
Noncitizens who pay taxes using an individual taxpayer identification number also will receive rebates if they made $75,000 or less last year, regardless of their filing status. The income threshold is higher because noncitizens have not been eligible for federal stimulus checks.
The state will distribute extra $600 grants starting in April to Californians enrolled in its welfare and supplemental Social Security programs.
The plan adds $2 billion to a state grant program to help small businesses and nonprofits adapt operations for the coronavirus. Organizations with annual revenue of $2.5 million or less can apply to the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development for grants of $5,000 to $25,000. Some $50 million is set aside for small cultural institutions.
Other provisions will waive some fees for service industries that have been required to close down or limit their capacity during the pandemic.
The measures sailed through the Legislature on Monday, but the reception was tepid for another proposal to give school districts money to bring back their youngest and most vulnerable students by April 15. During an Assembly Budget Committee hearing, lawmakers raised concerns about testing requirements, the slow timeline and stipulations that schools hire more staff to address learning loss.
Assembly Member Phil Ting, a San Francisco Democrat who helped craft the plan, expressed frustration at school districts that he said had made little effort to resume inperson instruction.
“This year, local control has been a complete failure,” Ting said. “We’ve seen the whole ‘trust us’ motto from the districts fail.”
But Newsom on Tuesday waved off questions about whether he might try to reach a statewide deal with teachers unions or override local bargaining to get students back into classrooms, emphasizing that “one size does not fit all.”