Dear San Franciscan,

Americans urgently need and deserve a coordinated, fully-funded, whole-of-government response to keep us safe from the widening coronavirus pandemic. Since Day One of this crisis, House Democrats have been hard at work delivering a response that puts Families First while stimulating the economy.

Two weeks ago, House Democrats took the first step, passing a bipartisan emergency response funding package of $8.3 billion of entirely new funds, which the President has signed. Last week, we took the next step, passing the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which ensures free coronavirus testing for everyone who needs a test, including the uninsured; supports families with two weeks of paid sick leave and up to three months of family and medical leave for eligible workers and enhances Unemployment Insurance; support supports small businesses by fully reimbursing them for providing leave and strengthens nutrition initiatives including SNAP, student meals, seniors’ meals and food banks.

As Congress works to swiftly pass a third coronavirus response package, Democrats are advancing our plan to put “Workers First,” and will soon release our proposal that will:

• Take bold action to help workers and small businesses first by greatly increasing Unemployment Insurance and Medicaid, making massive investments to help small businesses survive, expanding paid sick and family leave and putting money directly into the hands of those who need it most.  We must ensure all workers are protected from the loss of a paycheck or that no family falls into financial ruin because of this pandemic.
• Treat this outbreak as the health crisis that it is: with a Marshall Plan to rebuild our health care infrastructure and ensure the resources are there to test and treat everyone who needs it. 

Democrats continue to insist that any economic stimulus proposal must include new, strong and strict provisions that prioritize and protect workers, such as banning recipient companies from buying back stock, rewarding executives and laying off workers. 

During this difficult time, we will continue to work relentlessly to protect families’ health, economic security and well-being.

Tax Day extension

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have announced that they are moving Tax Day from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 outbreak to allow individuals and businesses additional time to file federal returns and make payments without interest or penalties.

California has also extended the filing and payment deadline for personal and business state tax returns to July 15, 2020.  

For any taxpayer anticipating a refund, they should file their returns quickly in order to receive their refund checks as soon as possible.

The State Department is advising Americans to avoid all international travel at this time. For more information on the State Department’s worldwide “Level 4” travel advisory, please see here. A number of countries have suspended all international air travel, and more may follow suit. Travelers are strongly encouraged to enroll in the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive alerts and make it easier to locate them in an emergency.

State and Local Response

Governor Gavin Newsom has also signed Senate Bill 89 and Senate Bill 117, budget bills that provide $500 million in General Fund monies to help California fight COVID-19 and authorizes increases up to $1 billion. The funding will:

• Increase hospital bed capacity and purchase medical equipment to combat the coming surge in COVID-19 patients;
• Protect hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities most vulnerable to COVID-19 spread;
• Provide lifesaving services to Californians isolating at home;
• Provide $150 million for local emergency homelessness actions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in homeless populations and provide safe beds for people experiencing homelessness;
• Provide funding to clean childcare facilities that remain open;
• Provide $100 million Proposition 98 General Fund for personal protective equipment and cleaning for schools that remain open. It also allows schools to maintain funding despite service disruptions.