As our earlier post on March 19, 2020 announced, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-33-20 ordering all residents to stay home or at their place of residence except as needed to maintain continuity of operations of the federal critical infrastructure sectors as defined by the federal Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”).

In order to assist businesses in determining whether they fall within one of the recognized critical infrastructure sectors and identifying essential critical infrastructure workers, the CISA developed an initial list of “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers” to help State and local offices as they work to protect their communities, while at the same time ensuring continuity of functions critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security.

The list is advisory in nature and is not a federal directive or standard in itself.  However, in reliance on the CISA list, on March 20, 2020, California’s Public Health Officer issued a similar – but somewhat more expansive – list of “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers” that will be relevant when analyzing compliance with Governor Newsom’s Order.  The list includes various types of jobs under different categories of critical infrastructure sectors that conduct a range of operations and services that are deemed essential to continued critical infrastructure viability in California.

A PDF of the California Public Health Officer’s “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers” list can be viewed or downloaded here.

The attorneys at Weintraub Tobin continue to wish you and your families good health during these difficult times.