Governor Newsom Signs New Executive Order Extending Statewide Eviction Halt

During a busy Friday consisting of continued coronavirus fears, a major Supreme Court ruling over church services, and riots over the death of George Floyd, Governor Gavin Newsom quietly signed an executive order that will bring significant changes across the state.

Executive Order N-66-20 will make the following changes:

• City and County governments received an extension to allow eviction halts for those negatively affected by the coronavirus epidemic and economic downturn until July 28th.
• The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) can now waive regulations tied to Emergency Services Grant funding of the CARES Act. Essentially, any HCD project that had been hit negatively by the coronavirus can now survive and remain viable.
• The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) will have extended waivers to allow for mail-in driver’s licenses and ID cards.
• Remove some restrictions against children of essential infrastructure workers from child care and after-school programs.
• Revamp current teacher credential requirements. Teachers can receive preliminary credentials or get into teacher preparation courses without taking assessments. Testing will not be waived completely, but the California Teaching Performance Assessment and the Reading Instruction Competence Assessment will not be needed for new and upcoming teachers for at least one school year.

The changes by Newsom have largely been in response to the continuation of coronavirus closures across the state and the economic downturn.

“These changes largely are emergency decisions,” explained “Dana,” who works in the State Capitol. “The eviction extension is a continuation of what Newsom and many counties and cities have done. The HCD bit has a lot of construction tied to it, and if you stop those programs, that’s a lot of jobs out the window and a lot of needed buildings and infrastructure delayed.

DMV is pretty self-explanatory, but there will be some confusion over vision tests and other factors coming up too. The daycare part is too. You know, why restrict those who need it most?”

Education organizations noted that the teaching requirement changes were needed as well.

“Because of COVID, our new teachers missed significant portions of their preparation to teach,” explained Chairwoman of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing Tine Sloan. “This solution will support them to carry on, and ensure they are prepared to give their best to students this fall. We are grateful to the administration and all who worked on these solutions.”

The Executive Order went into effect immediately after Newsom’s signing on Friday.