Hello friends.

We closed the legislative session for the year and I want to provide you with an update on important legislative and budget matters.

In addition to my individual legislative program reviewed below, I voted for a number of significant bills on climate change, women's health, gun safety, homelessness, and mental health. We also set aside a record amount of funds in a rainy day reserve for economic uncertainty.

If you’d like to see the results of a survey that nearly 6,000 residents of my Senate district responded to, please see below.

If you would like more information on these or any other legislative matters, please call my district office at 925-258-1176.

Legislative Highlights

Here are some highlights of my legislative work signed into law:

Bills I Authored:

Education

• Cal-Works (SB 768) will assist Cal-Works welfare students attending a university.

Elections

• Elections Pay-to-Play: Conflict of Interest Standards for Local Government(SB 1439) – One of the most significant campaign finance reforms in the past 50 years, this bill will prohibit local government officials from receiving $250 or more in campaign contributions 12 months before or after a vote on any permit, license or entitlement (development application).

Health

• Blood Banks: Collection (SB 1475) – This bill will now allow blood to be collected at blood drives with a registered nurse available through telehealth. This is the same practice that was allowed during the COVID state of emergency. Authored in partnership with the American Red Cross, we have been experiencing blood shortages throughout California and this can help.

Bills I Co-Authored:

• Institutional Purchasers: Purchase of California-grown Agricultural Food Products (AB 778, E. Garcia) – This bill requires a California state-owned or state-run institution that purchases agricultural food products to ensure that at least 60% of the agricultural food products that it purchases in a calendar year are grown or produced in the state.
• Mental Health: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (AB 988, Bauer-Kahan) – Among other things, this bill establishes the Miles Hall Lifeline Act to establish a 988 Crisis Hotline Center for the purpose of connecting individuals experiencing a mental health crisis with suicide prevention and mental health services. Thanks to Assembly Member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan for her leadership on this.
• Theft: Jurisdiction (AB 1613, Irwin) – Allows the Attorney General to charge retail theft crimes committed across multiple counties under one filing in one county superior court and reduce organized retail theft statewide.
• California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program (AB 1664, Gabriel) – This bill increases award amounts and expands eligible uses of funds by nonprofits for the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program.

Budget:

The Legislature and Governor approved allocations for my two budget actions. I also voted for historical education spending to bolster K-12, pre-K school and child care.

• Public Media – Directed $25 million to the School of Journalism at UC Berkeley to administer a statewide fellowship program to expand coverage of civic affairs. The media plays a central role in the oversight and accountability of governmental officials. News deserts have appeared throughout our state and this void has allowed misinformation and fake news to proliferate. There are valuable models of government support for media through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and NPR. I’m hopeful other states will see this approach as a model for upholding the journalism industry as well as our democracy, as this article indicated: https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/A-tipping-point-in-protecting-our-17428705.php
• Homeless – Allocated $5 million to expand a tiny homes project, Goodness Village, in Livermore. (see below).
• K-12 education, childcare and pre-K school. (AB/SB 185; AB/SB 190) - I voted for the highest funding levels for education in California history at $170 billion. Public schools will add a new grade before kindergarten for Universal pre-K. By 2025, schools will serve an additional 450,000 children per year. Under the $4.7 billion Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health, all young people ages 0-25 will have access to universal mental health support. All students, regardless of income, will have access to two free school meals per day under California’s new universal school meals program. Families will have more access to the state's expanded subsidized child care system, which will receive $100.5 million to develop and renovate child care facilities; this program is also being reshaped to serve three-year-olds and children with disabilities, and temporarily extends family fee waivers and reimburses subsidized child care and state preschool providers.
• CSU Graduation Rates – I continued to prod California State University to increase its graduation rates. Through legislative and budget actions and extraordinary work by faculty and campus leaders, four-year graduation rates have improved to 33.3% in 2021. This is a substantial increase from the graduation rate of 19% when I began my legislative efforts in 2016.

BART Legislation Vetoed:

I was disappointed that the Governor vetoed my bill to strengthen the office of the BART Inspector General, which provides oversight of BART’s management and finances.

The office was created through my legislative initiative in 2018.

This bill, SB 1488, would have aligned the duties and authority of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District Inspector General with national standards with those of other inspectors general in California.

The Alameda County Grand Jury found that BART’s board of directors and management engaged in a “pattern of obstruction” that has impeded the Inspector General’s ability to conduct independent oversight and “stymied OIG independence and the confidentiality of investigations.”

I will continue to work on this issue to ensure residents have the confidence that the Inspector General can conduct thorough and unimpeded oversight over BART’s management and finances.

Care for the Homeless

I was successful in getting state financial support for some important local projects detailed below.

Goodness Village Gets State Funding for Expansion

In this year’s budget, we were able to secure $5 million for Livermore’s Goodness Village to go toward its second phase building expansion.

Goodness Village is a 501(c)3 non-profit community-supported temporary housing organization that has 28 tiny homes on CrossWinds Church’s 35-acre plot in Livermore.

Most of the Goodness Village Tiny Homes’ units are eight feet by 20 feet, for a total of 160 square feet.

The expansion will include the long awaited Community Center, which will hold a classroom and group space, a laundry room, a large cooking space and a storage pantry. The funds will result in more tiny homes and a medical clinic.

The Village is designed to provide permanent and supportive housing for individuals who meet the HUD criteria of “chronically homeless,” which can be defined as having no home for at least 12 months.

If you want to learn more about Goodness Village, visit www.gvlivermore.org.

Food Bank Delivers

Pictured at the Contra Costa/Solano Food Bank with one of the new food distribution trucks.

The Contra Costa/Solano Food Bank got a nice boost to expand its operations and ability to serve healthy food to people in need after receiving $1.5 million in state funding in the 2021-22 budget.

The funds, which are directed toward expanding and improving transportation logistics and volunteer services, support the Food Bank’s efforts to provide food for an average of more than 270,000 people each month, as it meets the ongoing and increased level of food insecurity in its community.

The photo above shows me with one of the Food Bank’s distribution trucks, more of which will be purchased with state funds, enabling them to reach deeper into communities.

For more information about the Food Bank, visit foodbankccs.org.

Crisis Nursery Nonprofit of the Year

The Concord-based Bay Area Crisis Nursery was selected as the 2022 California Nonprofit of the Year for the 7th Senate District.

The Bay Area Crisis Nursery provides free clothing and diapers for children and babies.

The Bay Area Crisis Nursery provides short-term residential care and emergency childcare for children up to five years old, allowing parents time to focus on resolving a crisis or a stressful situation.

This is invaluable, especially during these times when so many peoples’ lives have been upended by the pandemic.

The crisis nursery has been working to prevent child abuse and neglect since 1981 by providing supportive services to families.

Susun Kim honored as my District’s Woman of the Year

Susun Kim, executive director of the Family Justice Center, was selected as the Woman of the Year for my Senate district for her leadership in responding to a sobering spike in family violence and crises during the pandemic. In 2021, the Family Justice Center, which has offices in Concord, Antioch and Richmond, offered more than 5,000 individuals in Contra Costa County a place to go for their safety to begin their healing process.

District Survey Results

Last spring I sent a survey on education, criminal justice, the economy, health care and the environment to 7th District residents. Nearly 6,000 residents responded online and through the mail. Here are the results.

Thank You

Thank you for taking the time to read my newsletter. I look forward to running into you as I make my way through the wonderful towns and cities of my Senate district in the coming weeks and months ahead.