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Republican California lawmakers on Thursday known as for an investigation into Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ties to a billionaire Panera franchisee and the restaurant’s exemption from a brand new state legislation that can require main fast-food chains to pay their staff $20 an hour. “He owes everyone a proof,” Republican State Senate Minority Chief Brian Jones stated. Some Republican lawmakers stated they’d little religion within the capability of California’s Democratic Supermajority Legislature or different high Democrats in state authorities to research the problem. Assemblyman Joe Patterson, R-Rocklin, went so far as to say the FBI ought to get entangled. “Frankly, I do not suppose the California Lawyer Normal is able to doing that,” Patterson stated. “I believe it must be an out of doors company that investigates this.” A number of sources who spoke on situation of anonymity have confirmed to KCRA that billionaire franchisee and Newsom donor Greg Flynn influenced Newsom’s push to carve out chains that promote and make bread on-site from the brand new legislation within the remaining weeks of the legislative session in 2022. Newsom’s workplace has stated that it was the results of two years’ price of negotiations between him and the Legislature. The legislation goes into impact in April. “The Governor by no means met with Flynn about this invoice & this story is absurd. Our authorized workforce has reviewed and it seems Panera will not be exempt,” Newsom’s spokesman Alex Stack stated on Thursday. Newsom’s workplace stated the exemption applies to those that produce bread on-site, and stated some bakeries, together with Panera, combine dough off-site at a centralized location earlier than sending it to their eating places for baking and sale. Consultants word that look is up for interpretation, and stakeholders for years have understood it as an exemption. The laws additionally doesn’t outline the phrase “produce.” KCRA 3 requested Newsom why the exemption was in there when he signed the legislation in September of 2023. He stated it was “a part of the sausage making … a part of the negotiations.” Greg Flynn despatched KCRA 3 a prolonged assertion on Thursday night time: “It’s true that I opposed AB1228, as did hundreds of different California restaurant homeowners. If the intent of the invoice was to handle alleged labor code violations in quick meals eating places, then the scope of the legislation needs to be restricted to true quick meals eating places and never embody quick informal eating places like bakeries, bagel outlets, delis, and so on. I steered the invoice’s language defining “quick meals restaurant” needs to be amended to exclude quick informal eating places,” Flynn stated. “To be clear, at no time did I ask for an exemption or particular concerns. In reality, the concept by no means even occurred to me and I used to be shocked when the exemption appeared within the remaining laws. Such a slim exemption has little or no sensible worth. Because it applies to all of our peer eating places within the quick informal phase, we are going to virtually actually have to supply market worth wages so as to entice and retain staff,” Flynn stated. “I additionally by no means met with Governor Newsom about this invoice, although I did meet together with his workers in a bunch assembly with different restaurant homeowners. And eventually, though we attended the identical highschool, I by no means met him there and actually didn’t meet him till many years later,” he stated. Flynn has not stated if he agrees with Newsom’s new interpretation of the legislation, that it could not exempt Panera.Democratic Assemblyman Chris Holden, who wrote the legislation, stated he didn’t know why the exemption was put into the invoice. He advised reporters on Thursday that regardless of being the writer of the legislation, he was not a part of the negotiation to incorporate the carve-out for bakeries. “It is my invoice, however by way of the negotiations, it was bringing collectively the enterprise group and franchisees and franchisors and thru the governor’s management, it got here collectively and what got here out of that got here the amendments of the invoice,” Holden stated. Holden stated he was not conscious of the connection between Flynn and Newsom. When KCRA 3 requested if, to the typical Californian, Panera’s exemption from the legislation could seem questionable, Holden replied, “That is a dialog you will need to have with others.”Neither Speaker of the Meeting Robert Rivas nor Senate Professional Tem Mike McGuire have responded to a request for remark.Marketing campaign finance information present Flynn donated $100,000 to Newsom’s marketing campaign to combat his recall in 2021. In 2022, Flynn donated $64,800 to Newsom’s reelection marketing campaign. That features a $32,400 contribution deposited three months earlier than the legislation handed with the exemption in 2022, and a $14,800 donation that October after Newsom signed it. Flynn has donated to different state politicians individually, however the majority of his contributions have gone to Newsom. Since 2020, Flynn has made smaller contributions to State Treasurer Fiona Ma and State Sen. Steve Glazer. His most up-to-date contribution was made to Lawyer Normal Rob Bonta for $5,000 in June of 2023. Bonta didn’t reply to a request for remark. Flynn is the franchisee of dozens of Panera eating places throughout Northern California. In accordance with metropolis information, Flynn opened one other Panera restaurant inside view of the state capitol in Sacramento in December. See extra protection of high California tales right here | Obtain our app.
Republican California lawmakers on Thursday known as for an investigation into Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ties to a billionaire Panera franchisee and the restaurant’s exemption from a brand new state legislation that can require main fast-food chains to pay their staff $20 an hour.
“He owes everyone a proof,” Republican State Senate Minority Chief Brian Jones stated.
Some Republican lawmakers stated they’d little religion within the capability of California’s Democratic Supermajority Legislature or different high Democrats in state authorities to research the problem. Assemblyman Joe Patterson, R-Rocklin, went so far as to say the FBI ought to get entangled.
“Frankly, I do not suppose the California Lawyer Normal is able to doing that,” Patterson stated. “I believe it must be an out of doors company that investigates this.”
A number of sources who spoke on situation of anonymity have confirmed to KCRA that billionaire franchisee and Newsom donor Greg Flynn influenced Newsom’s push to carve out chains that promote and make bread on-site from the brand new legislation within the remaining weeks of the legislative session in 2022.
Newsom’s workplace has stated that it was the results of two years’ price of negotiations between him and the Legislature. The legislation goes into impact in April.
“The Governor by no means met with Flynn about this invoice & this story is absurd. Our authorized workforce has reviewed and it seems Panera will not be exempt,” Newsom’s spokesman Alex Stack stated on Thursday. Newsom’s workplace stated the exemption applies to those that produce bread on-site, and stated some bakeries, together with Panera, combine dough off-site at a centralized location earlier than sending it to their eating places for baking and sale. Consultants word that look is up for interpretation, and stakeholders for years have understood it as an exemption. The legislation also does not define the word “produce.”
KCRA 3 requested Newsom why the exemption was in there when he signed the legislation in September of 2023. He stated it was “a part of the sausage making … a part of the negotiations.”
Greg Flynn despatched KCRA 3 a prolonged assertion on Thursday night time:
“It’s true that I opposed AB1228, as did hundreds of different California restaurant homeowners. If the intent of the invoice was to handle alleged labor code violations in quick meals eating places, then the scope of the legislation needs to be restricted to true quick meals eating places and never embody quick informal eating places like bakeries, bagel outlets, delis, and so on. I steered the invoice’s language defining “quick meals restaurant” needs to be amended to exclude quick informal eating places,” Flynn stated.
“To be clear, at no time did I ask for an exemption or particular concerns. In reality, the concept by no means even occurred to me and I used to be shocked when the exemption appeared within the remaining laws. Such a slim exemption has little or no sensible worth. Because it applies to all of our peer eating places within the quick informal phase, we are going to virtually actually have to supply market worth wages so as to entice and retain staff,” Flynn stated.
“I additionally by no means met with Governor Newsom about this invoice, although I did meet together with his workers in a bunch assembly with different restaurant homeowners. And eventually, though we attended the identical highschool, I by no means met him there and actually didn’t meet him till many years later,” he stated.
Flynn has not stated if he agrees with Newsom’s new interpretation of the legislation, that it could not exempt Panera.
Democratic Assemblyman Chris Holden, who wrote the legislation, stated he didn’t know why the exemption was put into the invoice. He advised reporters on Thursday that regardless of being the writer of the legislation, he was not a part of the negotiation to incorporate the carve-out for bakeries.
“It is my invoice, however by way of the negotiations, it was bringing collectively the enterprise group and franchisees and franchisors and thru the governor’s management, it got here collectively and what got here out of that got here the amendments of the invoice,” Holden stated.
Holden stated he was not conscious of the connection between Flynn and Newsom.
When KCRA 3 requested if, to the typical Californian, Panera’s exemption from the legislation could seem questionable, Holden replied, “That is a dialog you will need to have with others.”
Neither Speaker of the Meeting Robert Rivas nor Senate Professional Tem Mike McGuire have responded to a request for remark.
Marketing campaign finance information present Flynn donated $100,000 to Newsom’s marketing campaign to combat his recall in 2021. In 2022, Flynn donated $64,800 to Newsom’s reelection marketing campaign.
That features a $32,400 contribution deposited three months earlier than the legislation handed with the exemption in 2022, and a $14,800 donation that October after Newsom signed it.
Flynn has donated to different state politicians individually, however the majority of his contributions have gone to Newsom. Since 2020, Flynn has made smaller contributions to State Treasurer Fiona Ma and State Sen. Steve Glazer. His most up-to-date contribution was made to Lawyer Normal Rob Bonta for $5,000 in June of 2023. Bonta didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Flynn is the franchisee of dozens of Panera eating places throughout Northern California. In accordance with metropolis information, Flynn opened one other Panera restaurant inside view of the state capitol in Sacramento in December.
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