Last Thursday, April 9, 2020, Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) announced that each of their respective houses will begin conducting budget subcommittee hearings focused specifically on the state’s COVID-19 response prior to the full Legislature reconvening on May 4 (see “Legislature to Hold COVID-19 Hearings Beginning Next Week” in the current Fiscal Report).
On the same day of this joint statement from the house leaders, the Senate announced that their newly formed budget subcommittee on the COVID-19 response will be chaired by Senate Budget and Fiscal Committee Chair Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) and that they will hold their first hearing this Thursday, April 16 at 2:00 p.m. You can find a list of the members who will serve on the new subcommittee here.
Today, the Assembly announced that rather than forming a new budget subcommittee they will be assigning their COVID-19 fiscal discussions to the existing Subcommittee on Budget Process Oversight and Program Evaluation, which is chaired by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) who also serves as chair of the full Assembly Budget Committee. The subcommittee will hold its first hearing on COVID-19 next Monday, April 20 at 10:00 a.m. You can find a list of the members who serve on this subcommittee here.
Both houses are recommending that the public and media view these hearings remotely to practice more effective social distancing health directives. The Legislature will announce a process to submit online public comment closer to the hearing dates. You can watch this Thursday’s Senate budget subcommittee hearing here and Monday’s Assembly subcommittee hearing here. We will be sure to provide a recap and analysis of the significant discussions and information from the hearings in subsequent Fiscal Report articles.