Nearly every Republican in the California Senate was barred from the state Capitol on Thursday and required to vote remotely after contact tracing showed that a lawmaker who tested positive for COVID-19 had exposed the others.
The state Senate abruptly canceled session on Wednesday after learning that Sen. Brian Jones (R-Santee) tested positive for the virus. Jones is now under quarantine orders along with Republican lawmakers he had personal contact with in recent days.
“Unfortunately, the nature of the gathering that resulted in the exposures was such that virtually every member of the Republican Caucus is now unable to enter the Capitol without violating public health orders,” Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said in a statement. “I know our Republican colleagues are disappointed not to be on the floor or in their offices today, but I also know they would never knowingly put the health and safety of others at risk.”
Jones was in the Capitol this week before being tested along with several other lawmakers in recent days. Lawmakers of both parties met for a floor session Monday, while Senate Republicans, including Jones, met in person for a caucus meeting Tuesday. Some Republicans also met in person for a private gathering on Monday night.
Only Sen. Jim Nielsen (R-Gerber) was allowed on the Senate floor Thursday. He said he skipped the Republican caucus meeting and a dinner with his GOP colleagues this week.
Atkins said the lawmakers who were exposed will continue to debate and vote from their homes in order for the house to wrap up the final days of the legislative session on Monday. Remote voting would not begin Thursday, a Senate official said.
As of Thursday morning, the Senate had nearly 280 bills awaiting action.
On Wednesday, Senate officials also identified a second case inside the Capitol, an officer of the California Highway Patrol who had last been inside the building Monday.
An email sent Wednesday night announced that staffers and lawmakers would be required to have their temperatures taken before entering the state Capitol. Previously, only visitors to the building were required to be screened and staff and lawmakers were asked to take their own temperatures before leaving home.
Lawmakers have discussed remote voting or a hybrid model of in-person and virtual sessions, but there has been strong opposition to those accommodations, including from Jones. The Senate has allowed remote voting for bills being voted on in committee if the voting was conducted from district offices, but did not allow proxy votes during floor sessions. The Assembly has allowed lawmakers at high risk for contracting the virus to submit proxy votes to the house’s leaders.
Atkins said to reduce the risk of spreading the virus inside district offices, the Senate will allow lawmakers subjected to a quarantine order to vote from their Sacramento residences.
“I know you all join me in wishing a speedy recovery to Sen. Jones and in hoping that our quarantined colleagues remain in the best of health,” Atkins said. “Thank you all for your patience and your perseverance through these unprecedented and constantly changing times.”
Nielsen questioned Atkins’ decision to bar his Republican colleagues from the Capitol and implored the Senate to examine exchanges Jones may have had with Democrats in the Appropriations Committee.
“There is a hypocrisy of majority that sometimes borders on arrogance,” Nielsen said. “I’m disappointed in the institution.”
Nielsen said his colleagues should be allowed return to the Senate in person if they test negative for COVID-19.
Atkins insisted that the Senate is following health and state protocols.
“This is the position we did not want to find ourselves in, which is why you have heard me again and again plead with people to follow the guidelines,” Atkins said.
Atkins said she worked hard with experts to find solutions and that it was regretful that Republicans were not able to be on the Senate floor.
“Let me just say that if there were Democratic caucus members who needed to be quarantined, we would be doing exactly the same thing,” she said.
After the terse exchange, Nielsen took dozens of bills, all of them expected to be acted on with a quick voice vote, off the Senate’s consent agenda, forcing Democrats to slow down the legislative process with formal votes on each measure.
Wednesday marked the third known COVID-19 diagnosis for a state lawmaker after two Assembly members tested positive last month.
Last month, Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) was hospitalized following COVID-19 complications, while Assemblywoman Autumn Burke (D-Marina del Rey) also tested positive. Several staffers also tested positive around the same time as the Legislature was meeting to pass the state budget.
The Legislature has dealt with disruptions since March, when leaders in both houses decided to move up and extend a spring recess to lessen the risk of spreading the virus. Then, during summer recess, both houses delayed a return to the Capitol last month.
Staff writer John Myers contributed to this report.
