杨贵妃传媒視頻

SACRAMENTO 鈥� The weekend before California shuttered its Capitol building, Senate leader Toni Atkins spent hours on the phone 鈥� taking the roles of a student learning from epidemiologists and a legislator discussing with colleagues how the country鈥檚 most populous state should respond to the COVID-19 crisis.

Like many lawmakers from New York to Washington state, Atkins and her fellow Sacramento legislators find themselves in uncharted territory.

Legislative sessions are on hold. Sweeping initiatives are shelved. State budgets are already squeezed by massive spending on COVID-19.

On March 19, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide in a bid to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. There is no end date on the order. Some public health experts believe such measures would need to be in effect for to be effective.

California鈥檚 legislature is scheduled to reopen April 13, but with lawmakers practicing social distancing, it鈥檚 not clear that will happen.

This leaves California鈥檚 legislative leadership with an unusual challenge as budget deadlines draw near: How do you hold public hearings to discuss spending priorities and vote on bills when people aren鈥檛 supposed to gather? Do other legislative priorities take a back seat to the coronavirus?

On Tuesday, Newsom鈥檚 budget director sent a letter to state agencies saying they 鈥渟hould have no expectation of full funding for either new or existing proposals鈥� because of deteriorating economic conditions tied to the spread of the virus. Atkins, a Democrat from San Diego, talked to California Healthline鈥檚 Samantha Young about how the legislature can move forward.

Her comments have been edited for length and clarity.

Q: Did you have to educate your caucus about the seriousness of the coronavirus and why the Capitol should shut down?

We were having to educate ourselves about what all this meant. I ran a community clinic three decades ago, but I鈥檓 not up on the latest and greatest on health care, particularly public health, rules, regulations, recommendations. So, I pulled in different members of the Senate with different levels of expertise.

It hasn鈥檛 been without lots of questions, anxiety and concern, but we鈥檝e worked through it, and I feel pretty good about the Senate and the legislature鈥檚 response 鈥� and in working with the governor.

Q: One Republican lawmaker said the legislature鈥檚 approval of $1.1 billion in coronavirus spending showed an incredible degree of trust in Gov. Newsom. Do you agree?

I think it鈥檚 an issue of us understanding the gravity of the situation. My incredibly strong partner has been the Republican leader, Shannon Grove from Bakersfield. We were in sync about what we needed to do. I would say a measure of trust, but I also just think we were prepared to step up and do what we needed to do.

Q: Lawmakers have a constitutional mandate to pass a budget by June 15. Will you be able to come back into session and do that?

It鈥檚 not exactly clear right now. If it鈥檚 not likely we can go back in session because we need to be following physical distance guidelines, then I think we are going to have to figure out how to do this remotely and meet the intent of transparency, the public鈥檚 right to participate 鈥� and how we鈥檙e supposed to conduct government.

I would imagine if we鈥檙e still in the situation we鈥檙e in, as the weeks pass, in order to protect public health, we may have to look at a baseline budget and reconvene when we can to do the work that鈥檚 necessary. It鈥檚 a day-by-day and week-by-week assessment.

Q: The governor and lawmakers had an ambitious agenda to fight homelessness and expand health care. Will these things have to be put on hold?

In San Diego, we are moving to make better space available so that non-symptomatic unsheltered homeless have a place to go, and we have county public health in there triaging and making sure we are providing services.

It鈥檚 the first time I鈥檝e seen this kind of collaborative, efficient effort. In the county, they are seeing this as an opportunity to have the medical staff in place to assess all of the individuals, and they want to bring in mental health and alcohol and drug addiction, too. And they鈥檙e hoping that because of this public health challenge, maybe we will find a way of working collectively and actually get people into units of housing.

Q: What will your priorities be for the state budget? Will the coronavirus overwhelm it?

It鈥檚 going to be basic services: public safety, education, public health. The very, very basics. We have worked our way back over a decade of refunding education, putting more money into health care, putting more money into fire protection. Those are things we鈥檙e going to want to continue to do.

I think we can adjust our level of expectations as the reality sinks in that we鈥檝e got to be concerned about preserving our economic viability in California. We may be the fifth-largest economy in the world. We may have a budget reserve, but a billion dollars can go very quickly in a crisis.

Q: You described health care as one of the basics. What about the governor鈥檚 proposal to extend health care benefits to undocumented seniors?

Undocumented seniors who need health care, who have worked and contributed to our economic success, should be covered. I see that as a key public health thing. That is a priority.

This story was produced by聽, which publishes聽, an editorially independent service of the聽.