Newsom's Relief Package Could Pay Rent, Parking Tickets For Some

CALIFORNIA — Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a cascade of new spending last week to render aid to some of California's most impacted residents as they emerge from the state's waning coronavirus crisis.

The proposed spending includes an ambitious $100 billion relief package made possible by a striking $267.8 billion budget and another $27 billion in pandemic aid from the federal government.

"We are trying to do things this state has talked about but never been able to accomplish because we’ve never had the resources to do it," Newsom said on Friday. "This is not a budget that plays small ball."

The governor fired off a menagerie of proposals to voters on Friday — $12 billion to fight homelessness; state stimulus checks up to $1,100 for millions of low and middle-income Californians; $2.7 billion to pay for all of the state’s 4-year-olds to go to kindergarten for free; and hundreds of millions to help small businesses recover from the economic downturn.

Newsom — who's officially in the midst of battling a gubernatorial election — is turning his attention to voters who were the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. On Friday, he declared that the new funding would be "generational and transformational" for Californians.

"This pandemic has not impacted all of you equally," Newsom said in a speech last week to the California Chamber of Commerce. "I'm very mindful that it's impacted, disproportionately, women."

Among the initiatives Newsom announced on Friday were $7.2 billion to pay off outstanding rent and utility bills — and even $300 million to wipe out traffic and parking tickets for lower-income residents. He also proposed $35 million to encourage local universal basic income programs and money to give Medicaid benefits to people 60 and older living in the country without documentation.

In another ambitious stretch, Newsom proposed $1 billion for workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic.

"You can go back to school, get new training, or start a business," Newsom tweeted on Friday.

But the Legislature still needs to approve the expansion of the Golden State Stimulus and the buffet of new proposals — included in an all-encompassing $100 billion "California Comeback Plan."

READ MORE: CA Stimulus Payments: 5 Essential Things To Know

The first-term governor is trying to land initiatives wherever he can to circumnavigate his way back to higher approval ratings as he faces a set of circumstances that no other California governor ever has.

And according to Tim Rosales, a veteran GOP strategist, it might just work.

With conditions in the state improving "it’s harder and harder to maintain that level of ... anger" during the worst days of the pandemic, he said, adding that Newsom is "on the right trajectory in terms of his approval ratings."

As the threat of spreading coronavirus fades, the economy heals and Californians return to normalcy, Rosales warned that Republican candidates will need to underscore policy differences on issues such as taxes and homelessness instead of depending on existing resentment from pandemic spurred business closures and restrictions.

In the race to unseat Newsom, four Republicans have tossed hats in the ring. Among them, there are two candidates making the most noise — Caitlyn Jenner and John Cox, but it's unclear yet just how much support they have.

The pair have branded themselves in separate campaign videos as Cox "the beast" and Jenner the "compassionate disrupter." Cox has also mocked Newsom as a "pretty boy" while another competitor, Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said the race was about "genuine versus phony."

Faulconer rolled out his own plan Wednesday to end state income tax for those making $50,000 and households up to $100,000.

The fourth competitor is former Rep. Doug Ose (Sacramento).

Meanwhile, Newsom has continued to tear down the recall effort and frame it as a political "power grab" concocted by the Republican party.

"Now is not the time to waste hundreds of millions of dollars on a recall effort that is nothing more than a partisan power grab," Newsom said earlier this month. "I hope people take the time to discover what this actually is."

The election will likely be scheduled for the fall.

"Right now the recall is not in the hands of the governor or its backers. This is all about the direction of the state," said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego. "What really matters is where we are in the fall."

READ MORE: CA Recall Election: 'The Beast' Vs. The 'Compassionate Disrupter'

The Associated Press contributed to this report.