Assemblyman Gallagher Issues Statement on Governor Newsom’s New Shelter in Place Orders

Yuba City, Calif. — Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City), who successfully sued Governor Newsom for abuse of power during the pandemic, issues the following statement in response to Newsom’s new shelter in place order.

“The only thing consistent with the Governor’s handling of COVID-19 has been his inconsistency.

He started with the essential vs non-essential game. Then he took us into a statewide lockdown after promising local control. Next was his color-coded Gummy Bear fiasco. And now we’re back to another arbitrary lockdown without the evidence to back it up.

When you combine this inconsistency with hypocrisy, the end result is a complete lack of trust.

Government lockdowns do NOT reduce cases or stop spikes. Neither science or reality justify the Governor’s announcement today – just look at how California’s case count compares to less restrictive states.

We know that this virus hits our most vulnerable populations the hardest. Yet, under the leadership of the California Department of Public Health and Governor Newsom, we’re still seeing outbreaks at senior living facilities. This is insane and shows a complete failure of leadership.

The other important thing to do is to make sure our healthcare infrastructure is ready to respond. Instead of arbitrary mandates on small business, the Governor should be spending his time marshaling resources and ensuring we have emergency healthcare workers to help with additional staffing needs.

Unlike changing laws (see Gallagher/Kiley v. Newsom), his power under the Emergency Services Act does allow the Governor to make critical healthcare preparations and protect our most vulnerable populations.”

Assemblyman James Gallagher represents the 3rd Assembly District, which encompasses all of Glenn, Sutter, Tehama and Yuba counties as well as portions of Butte and Colusa counties.