Republican State Senator Melissa Melendez is chastising fellow state lawmakers who traveled to Hawaii for a lobbyist conference this week. Melendez says she doesn't understand why lawmakers would participate in the trip given the circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We have people who have lost their businesses, who have lost their jobs, who are struggling to figure out how to pay the bills," said Melendez. "Now, we have legislator who are going off on tropical expenses-paid vacation to Maui."
Two Democratic Assemblymembers, Jim Cooper and Blanca Rubio, and one Republican Assemblymember, Jordan Cunningham, all reportedly purchased plane tickets for the Independent Voter Project conference. The organizers declined to provide a list of all the lawmakers who attended the conference, but the Sacramento Bee reports that about legislators from across the country from both parties were participating.
The news comes one day after California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly apologize for attending a birthday celebration with several people, after the state issued strict rules on mixing households at gatherings to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
But Melendez says lawmakers could have attended the conference virtually.
"I'm not certain why, given the state we're that in with this pandemic, why they couldn't discuss these issues in California or via Zoom, like the rest of us are doing."
The organizers have stressed safety protocols, including that masks must be worn at all times.