A Southern California Assemblyman Chad Mayes is defending his recent trip to Hawaii to attend a legislative conference.
He's part of a group under criticism for traveling under the travel advisory that discourages Californians from travel.
Several state lawmakers are under fire for going on a conference trip to Hawaii.
Mayes told KESQ in Palm Springs that the trip was paid for by his campaign committee.
He says unfortunately, many of the people attending, including himself, were on the plane before the travel advisory had gone into effect.
"It looks like it is incredibly hypocritical and we are not following the rules and the rules are not for us,” he says in the KESQ story.
But he says the trip is an important one, one he's taken now for five years.
“This is the time when you are out of session to begin to think about what legislation will look like for the next year,” he says.
He also pointed to Hawaii's "Safe Travels" program, a multi-layered screening process.
Earlier this week the California Medical Association confirmed that two of its top brass were among the guests at the birthday party for California Gov. Gavin Newsom's friend and political adviser at French Laundry earlier this month. Newsom also got into hot water after being at the party.
This comes after the state and Gov. Gavin Newsom "pulling an "emergency brake" and trying to stop the spread of coronavirus - placing at least 41 counties back into more restrictive tiers including Orange County. Other counties that slipped back include Ventura, Santa Barbara and other counties in SoCal.
