'This Is A Liberty Issue': Group Representing Placer County Restaurant Owners Threatens To Sue Newsom Over COVID Regulations
ROCKLIN (CBS13) – Ongoing coronavirus-related regulations that are limiting restaurants have left a bad taste in owners' mouths, leaving one group from Placer County threatening to sue the state and Gov. Gavin Newsom if those restrictions aren't lifted.
Congressman Tom McClintock and other elected officials rallied alongside a dozen Placer County restaurant owners who have had their fill of the state shutdown.
"We're all here to say the same thing: Enough is enough!" said Congressman Tom McClintock.
Rula Khatib, who runs Primo Pizza Burger and Brew in Rocklin, is part of an ever-growing group that says ever-changing COVID-19 restrictions have made it hard to conduct business.
"I used to make my schedules weeks ahead of time. Now I go day by day. I bring in people for no reason and send them home. If I tip over I'm going to tip over 30 families," she said.
That's why the California Constitutional Rights Foundation is preparing to file suit against Newsom on their behalf.
"This isn't a conservative issue, this isn't a liberal issue. This is a liberty issue," said Steven Bailey, the foundation's senior counsel.
Restaurant owners and Bailey say the emergency declaration that prolongs the shutdown needs to end and the law is on their side.
"[Newsom's] in violation of the substantive due process, procedural due process. He's making these things up as he goes without a hearing. He's not involving the legislature," Bailey said.
Assemblymen Kevin Kiley said, "We firmly believe the law is on our side, that our constitution does not countenance an autocracy under any circumstances, not for a single day, certainly not for a full year."
Lawmakers took their shot at Newsom and the reopenings and reversals.
"Obviously, he doesn't believe in his own orders because he's been caught repeatedly violating them," said McClintock.
But restaurant owners say it's not about politics – it's the principle.
"If someone was to come to us and ask us how would we go about doing this, that's one thing. But for someone to impose something on us, that's a whole other thing. So now it becomes one-sided," said Ivan Flowers with The Brass Tap.
These owners said they are taking a stand so their customers can sit in the restaurants that are serving communities in more ways than one.
"We are hardworking people. We don't want money for free. We want to work, that's the idea. We're fighting to work," said Rula Khatib.
