Representative Ted Lieu*
I. INTRODUCTION
When SARS-CoV-2 (“COVID-19” or the “coronavirus”) began spreading in the United States in early 2020, it quickly became apparent that we were facing a global crisis with consequences for our local communities. The Trump White House decided early in the pandemic to cede most decision-making to the states and local municipalities.1See Kevin Liptak, Kristen Holmes & Ryan Nobles, Trump Completes Reversal, Telling Govs “You Are Going to Call Your Own Shots’ and Distributes New Guidelines, CNN (Apr. 16, 2020), https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/16/politics/donald-trump-reopening-guidelines-coronavirus/index.html [https://perma.cc/CPC5-LCD2].