Republicans in COVID-19 quarantine throw California Senate in disarray as deadline nears
Tensions in the California Senate boiled over Monday evening as Democrats limited debate on bills and Republicans complained of technical glitches interfering with their ability to vote as the clock ticked toward a midnight deadline for lawmakers to act on policy for the year.
Republicans, forced to participate in end-of-session work remotely under quarantine orders following a positive COVID-19 case within their caucus, cried foul when Democrats moved to cap debate.
As the afternoon gave way to night, with dozens of bills still needing final approval, Democrats said the speaking limitations would keep the evening running more efficiently. Republicans instead said it was a violation of their First Amendment rights and Democrats were stifling their freedom of speech.
Senate Republican leader Shannon Grove of Bakersfield and Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, tried to shout objections over Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, the Santa Barbara Democrat leading the floor session.
“So you’re just going to shut Republicans out of debate?” Melendez asked as Jackson talked over her. “This is b-------.”
Other GOP senators also pushed Democrats for an explanation, including Jim Nielsen of Gerber, the lone Republican senator allowed in the chamber.
“This is unprecedented in my experience here, and I want a doggone reason,” Nielsen said.
Nielsen was spared from the quarantine because he skipped a caucus meeting last week that Sen. Brian Jones, the Santee Republican who tested positive, attended.
After Jones announced he had COVID-19, Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, canceled floor session on Wednesday to initiate contact tracing and testing of GOP members and some staff. The cancellation cut one of the few remaining days legislators had to act on a list of consequential measures related to the coronavirus, housing production and policing accountability.
Republicans are still required to quarantine for 14 days even if they tested negative, per public health guidelines. The Senate had implemented new rules in March that would allow quarantined members to vote remotely, though that practice had not been implemented for floor sessions, when members congregate as a whole house to vote on measures.
“It was of course my hope that we wouldn’t be put into that position,” Atkins said last week.
The Democrats’ motion to limit the amount of time members can speak in support or opposition of the remaining measures passed 28-10 along party lines, capping debate to two minutes per speaker and limiting the number of speakers to two per side. The rule applied to both parties.
Although the Assembly always uses time limits to condense speaking time, capping debate is extremely rare in the Senate, where lawmakers frequently give long-winded speeches.
Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, said although time limits are unusual, they are not unprecedented, pointing to several times in the chamber’s history when Senate leaders had capped debate.
The argument came after a day of testy exchanges between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, including snarky comments related to remote senators muting and unmuting themselves during votes. Republicans also attempted several times to introduce amendments on bills, even though the deadline for amending bills had passed Friday.
After a lengthy recess to “reset” the evening, Atkins said she and Grove had a discussion to ask members to “put aside our hurt feelings, our anger, our frustration.”
Hertzberg then rescinded the motion to limit debate.
“It has clearly been a frustrating year,” Atkins said. “I believe in our ability to rise above and beyond this moment of frustration, anxiety and uncertainty. And the clock is ticking.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2020 at 8:04 PM with the headline "Republicans in COVID-19 quarantine throw California Senate in disarray as deadline nears."