Office of the Governor

Governor Newsom Signs Legislation to Ensure Access to Supplemental Paid Sick Leave for Workers Impacted by the Pandemic (03/19/2021)

• Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill No. 95, a bill to ensure 80 hours of COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave for eligible employees, including those who quarantine or isolate and those caring for COVID-19-impacted family members. Provisions are extended through September 30, 2021, and are retroactive to sick leave taken beginning on January 1, 2021. Small businesses with 25 or fewer workers are exempt from the legislation but may offer paid supplemental paid sick leave and receive a federal tax credit.   

Governor Newsom and State Superintendent Thurmond Announce Deployment of Up to 3 Million Free Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Tests to Help High-Needs Schools Safely Reopen Classrooms (03/18/2021)

• The free rapid COVID-19 antigen tests will be delivered to school districts in regions hardest hit by the pandemic and serve greater numbers of high-risk students and families, including households in poverty, farmworkers and communities of color. The coordination and outreach to high-needs school districts will employ the Health Places Index, a tool that uses census-tract demographic data to identify under-resourced communities highly impacted by COVID-19. 

Governor Newsom Distributes $50 Million in Grants to Local Communities to Mitigate Public Safety Power Shutoffs (03/17/2021)

• The funds were allocated through the 2020–2021 state budget and designed to maintain the continuity of critical services impacted by power outages, including schools, county election offices, food service reserves and COVID-19 testing sites.
• Approximately $13 million was awarded to counties, $13 million was allocated to cities, $2.5 million was allocated to federally recognized tribes and $20 million was allocated to special districts that identified critical facilities.