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Dear Friends: I am beginning my March monthly e-newsletter a little differently because I believe we are at a critical crossroads when it comes to the future of our state. I also believe that, working together, we can solve our state's fiscal crisis. Let the People Vote
In just a few days the Legislature will vote on finalizing some drastic, painful cuts to services in California. We will also vote on whether voters should be able to be part of the decision-making process. You have a right to vote on Governor Brown's budget proposal and the future of our state. But unfortunately my Republican colleagues have said they will not let you vote on how you want your money spent. In the past two years the Legislature has faced a total of $80 billion in budget deficits and has been forced to make drastic cuts to services. This year we are facing another $25.4 billion dollar deficit. Unlike previous administrations, Governor Brown has laid out an honest budget that is free of gimmicks and seeks to finally put our fiscal house in order for years to come. The governor's proposed budget calls for $12.5 billion in cuts which the governor is asking lawmakers to enact by March 10, 2011. The Senate Budget Committee has responded by approving those $12.5 billion in cuts to services I hold dear - programs for children, the aged, the disabled, community colleges, the UC and CSU systems, libraries, and state parks. These cuts will extend beyond the current budget year. K-12 education, which has been cut by $18 billion in the past three years, is spared cuts under the governor's proposal, but only if voters approve maintaining existing taxes for another five years (those taxes are set to expire in July, 2011). That vote would happen during a June special election - after the Legislature has enacted the difficult cuts I outlined above. Under the governor's plan, no one will pay a penny more in taxes than they do now. Voters must have a voice in determining the future of California. You deserve a say on whether you want to approve extending the current (2010) tax rate for five years, or whether you want to see deeper cuts that many experts believe will devastate public education and other vital services. You deserve a say on whether schools are forced to shorten the school year and dramatically increase class sizes - putting our children at a greater disadvantage to compete in a global economy. You deserve a say on whether we see more cuts to higher education, putting a college education out of reach for many middle class families. You deserve a say on whether counties will be forced to release more criminals onto the streets. Our budget situation is grave. And I think you have a right to be heard. But in order for a measure to be placed on the ballot, every Democrat in the Legislature along with four Republicans would have to agree (a 2/3rds vote is necessary). Many Republicans have drawn a line in the sand. They say they will not allow voters to weigh in on this budget package. When it comes to the education of your children and the safety of your neighborhoods, you should have a say. Senate Democrats intend to give California voters a choice about how our state works. I urge all Republicans to do the same, and to let the people vote. Recently both the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the Valley Industry and Commerce Association voted to endorse Brown's proposal to put the issue of maintaining existing taxes before voters in June. George Skelton with the Los Angeles Times recently weighed in on the budget debate, and numerous other newspaper editorial boards across the state have urged Republicans to let the people vote. The Daily News wrote: "In this case the right thing is allowing the voters (to) decide whether they want to support the governor's budget plan. Not doing so isn't only obstructionist, it's offensive to Californian's who have a right to decide if they want to go deeper in their pockets to support their beloved state." For more information on the governor's proposed budget you can go to the governor's webpage, and for an in-depth look at the budget along with analysis you can log on to the non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office website. And if you'd like to challenge yourself to balance the state budget, Next 10 - an independent, nonpartisan organization - has set up the California Budget Challenge. It puts the big decisions in your hands and allows you to create a budget for our state that reflects your values. It's a wonderful exercise. Also in this Issue
While the budget is my top priority, I am also working on legislation I believe will improve public safety, streamline government, and help create jobs. I have listed some of the legislation I am authoring this year. SB 224 Department of Water Resources - Contracting Authority SB 366 Regulatory Reform Bill SB 449 State Controller/Auditing of Local Government Funds SB 467 Dept. of General Services: Energy Efficiency Contracts SB 586 Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse SB 723 Domestic Violence Prevention
Last year Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) authored legislation, which I co-authored, to ban plastic bags in California. Amid heavy lobbying form the American Chemistry Council the ban failed at the state level. But many local entities are taking up the charge and implementing their own bans. Calabasas is the most recent city or county to implement a ban on plastic bags. The City Council voted unanimously last month to implement the ban. Other areas with bag bans include: Santa Monica, Los Angeles County, Long Beach, and Malibu. Heal the Bay, a non-profit environmental organization based in Santa Monica, sponsored Brownley's legislation. "Local governments are going to address this critical issue despite threats from industry," said Heal the Bay President Mark Gold. "The plastics industry knows the writing is on the wall." Municipalities spend nearly $25 million a year to collect and dispose of plastic bag waste. Less than 5% of plastic grocery bags are recycled each year statewide. Most wind up in landfills or can harm animals when the bags land in waterways. I encourage you to watch this tongue-in-cheek mockumentary called "the majestic plastic bag" that gets the message across in a fun way.
Each year, the State Controller's Office, in partnership with the IRS, provides free income tax preparation assistance for low-to-moderate income families throughout California. Trained community volunteers in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program help with basic tax returns as well as ensure that those who are eligible receive special credits they are entitled to, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, and Credit for the Elderly or the Disabled. VITA sites are located in community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools and shopping malls. Most locations also offer free electronic filing. For more information about VITA or to find a site nearest you, please click here. I am sponsoring a free Tax Assistance Workshop with the State Controller's office and Assemblymember Das Williams at Oxnard College On March 18. When: Friday, March 18, 2011, from 4:00 - 9:00 p.m. Where: Oxnard College, 4000 South Rose Ave. Oxnard, CA 93033 Room CSSC-101 (map). Parking is $2.00. Info: Stephanie Molen, 805-815-3917 Stephanie.molen@sen.ca.gov. I'd like to inform all of the entrepreneurs and small business owners in my District of a free service that can help you grow your business plan and improve your bottom line. The California Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) provide free-of-charge counseling services to existing business owners or potential entrepreneurs on topics such as business plan development, access to capital, and marketing and sales. In addition to counseling services, the SBDC offers low-cost workshops for specialized training. There are several service centers in or near the 23rd Senate District - Chatsworth, Calabasas, Santa Monica and Camarillo. The Santa Monica center has recently begun counseling for green start-up businesses. They welcome green businesses from all over Los Angeles County. In the 23rd Senate District alone, these centers have advised hundreds of clients, trained thousands of workshop attendees and generated millions to the local economy. Funding for these programs comes from the State of California and the U.S. Small Business Administration. Please contact the center nearest you to learn more about the SBDC's programs. San Fernando Valley - www.cocsbdc.org; Ventura County - www.edcsbdc.org; Santa Monica - www.smcsbdc.org. For the Ventura County and Malibu areas, SCORE (http://www.scoreventura.org/) provides similar workshops for the business community. Super Sunday Fundraising Drive I recently took part in the Jewish Federation Centennial Super Sunday. This annual fundraising event by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles is even more vital this year due to state budget cuts to social service providers. The money raised will go a long way to ensure the continued delivery of many vital social services to people of all backgrounds in the greater L.A. area - such as emergency cash grants for families, food for the hungry, literacy programs in public schools, assistance for the elderly, job support services, etc. It was nice to say hello to some friends such as LA City Controller Wendy Greuel and many local residents. Congratulations to the volunteers and generous donors who make this effort such a success and help fill in the gaps from our reduced state budget to provide needed services. Also, congratulations on the 100th anniversary of the LA Jewish Federation. Striking up Support for the Needy
My District Director Rebekah Rodriguez-Lynn had a wonderful time at the 15th annual Super Bowl-A-Thon for the Westside Shelter and Hunger Coalition. About 575 people, including Santa Monica City leaders such as Mayor Bloom, Mayor Pro Tem Gleam Davis, SMPD Chief Tim Jackman, and SMFD Chief Scott Ferguson joined in on the fun at the Bay Shore Lanes in Santa Monica for the fundraising event. Other participants included Bank of America, Bayside District Corp., Chrysalis, the CLARE Foundation, Hotel Erwin, the Santa Monica Firefighters Association, the Santa Monica Police Officers Association, Santa Monica Place, Morley Builders, Striker Media Group, and Ocean Park Community Center (OPPC). The proceeds from this annual event go to the Westside Hunger and Shelter Coalition, one of Los Angeles County's oldest nonprofit organizations working to end homelessness and hunger. This year organizers say they raised $20,000. I'd like to invite you to an upcoming free event that promises to be both fun and educational. The Conejo/Las Virgenes Future Foundation in conjunction with Los Robles Hospital is presenting Conejo Health Expo 2011 "Healthy Living for a Healthy Future". This event will take place Saturday March 19, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Agoura Hills/Calabasas Community Center located at 27040 Malibu Hills Rd., Calabasas. The interactive health expo will include free screenings for blood pressure, BMI body mass, and blood glucose, as well as information on preventing and managing diabetes, the benefits of exercise, and proper nutrition choices for eating at home and dining out. For more information please visit the Conejo/Las Virgenes Future Foundation website at: www.clvff.org
Each month I recognize a business, person or organization in my district that is dedicated to preserving our environment by living and working responsibly. This month I'm proud to announce that I presented an Environmental Sustainability Award to the Santa Monica Water Treatment Plant. For more than a decade the City of Santa Monica has had to import 85 percent of its water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California because the city's water supply became polluted in 1996 with methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), a gasoline additive. The Santa Monica Water Treatment Plant will be able to process 8 million gallons per day which is two-thirds of the city's daily average water use. Now the city will only have to import one third of its water supply. Construction of the plant took 18 months and cost $60 million, which was funded from the $252 million legal settlement with the oil companies. The settlement money will also help pay for the plant's annual operating costs. By enabling the filtration of previously polluted groundwater, the plant has brought the City of Santa Monica closer to becoming self-sufficient in its water supplies and providing a more inexpensive and more sustainable method of attaining water.
Voters approved Proposition 11, the Voters First Act, in November 2008, shifting the responsibility of drawing legislative and Board of Equalization district lines from the Legislature to a "Citizen's Redistricting Commission." The 14 member commission, which as required by the Voters First Act, is made up of five registered Democrats, five registered Republicans and four registered either Decline-to-State or with another party, have now hired staff and have held a few public meetings. The redistricting Commission has until Aug 15 to come up with maps to delineate the boundaries of California's legislative districts to account for shifts in population revealed by the 2010 census. There will be public meetings up and down the state in April and May and the draft maps should be released sometime in June. The rules, set by the voter initiative, require the legislative districts to be geographically compact and to respect neighborhood, city and county boundaries as well as communities of interest. They also can't consider political makeup of the new district. If you'd like to learn more about the Citizen's Redistricting Commission and their work, go to www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov Santa Monica Mountains Watershed Grant I'm pleased to announce that the State Department of Conservation recently granted the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains a Watershed Coordinator Grant. The $155,000 grant is provided through the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Act of 2006 (Prop. 84). The grant program supports watershed coordinator positions that facilitate collaborative efforts to improve and sustain the health of California's watersheds. For more information on the Statewide Watershed Program, click here. Local Students Head to State Academic Decathlon Oxnard High Yellow Jackets will be swarming the State Academic Decathlon Competition in March after landing the top spot in the Ventura County Academic Decathlon recently.
The UCLA Center for Community Learning was awarded a "Learn and Serve America Higher Education" grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service. The grant was used as a "Student Leadership Initiative" to engage UCLA student leaders in the development of community gardens located on local high school campuses. Students from UCLA and Olympic High School recently worked together to dig three new garden beds on the Santa Monica High School grounds. These beds will supplement the current garden and provide more curriculum options for teachers. The students were joined by Master Gardeners and Chef Ray Garcia from Santa Monica restaurant, FIG. The Learn and Serve grant will allow the students to continue their work throughout the year. Calabasas Environmental Excellence Award
My District Office nominee for the 2010 Carl Gibbs Environmental Excellence Award was TreePeople, a community and volunteer-driven non-profit organization that provides education, materials, and resources to capture, reuse and preserve our natural resources. TreePeople is a leader in providing sustainable solutions to urban ecosystem problems through: environmental education, forestry programs, demonstration projects, and policy outreach. The Calabasas Environmental Commission presented the Carl Gibbs Environmental Excellence award to TreePeople and three other groups: Teens Against Toxins, Lupin Hill Elementary Beautification/Green Team, and California Recycles, Inc. I was happy to have staff to represent me and present certificates on my behalf to these environmental champions! The Carl Gibbs Environmental Excellence Award is a symbol of commitment to California's environment. The award honors a wide array of individuals, businesses, municipalities, government agencies, organizations, all working to benefit our environment. The Award recognizes voluntary activities by companies and organizations, big or small, private or non-profit, in or working in the City of Calabasas and California, that result in cleaner air or water, less waste, less traffic, conservation of energy and natural resources, efficient and water conserving landscaping, or reduced use of hazardous materials, etc.
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