With the legislative session ending a month ago, it's been great to be home in Ventura County. I've been able to meet with constituents, catch up with old friends, and pick up some of my favorite fall traditions. I've also been invited to speak with a number of community groups and organizations across the district to give an update on my first year in Sacramento.
These meetings have given me a face-to-face opportunity to answer questions from civic-minded folks and discuss ideas for policies they'd like to see me advance during the next session, which begins Dec. 5.
This year a whopping 1,800 bills were introduced in the Legislature. Of those, 1,300 were brought up for a vote on the Assembly floor, the majority of them during the last month of the legislative session.
The sheer volume and range of issues covered was staggering. You're likely wondering how it's possible to be informed about so many bills. The simple answer—it's not easy.
No two bills are the same, and arriving at a decision on a particular bill is rarely cut-and-dried. I want to go behind the scenes with you and share some examples to illustrate my decision-making process.
I come from a science and engineering background, so my instinct is to insist on mountains of data and research. I'm also known to ask a lot of questions, often testing the patience and goodwill of my staff. I ask myself several questions: Is this bill necessary? How will this affect my district and my constituents? And what are the unintended consequences? Many bills seem like a good idea until further investigation.
As a result, I've earned a reputation for voting "no" more often than my Democratic colleagues. In fact, the Sacramento Bee recently pointed out that I have the second-highest percentage of "no" votes (4.1 percent) among Democrats this year.
For example, this year the Legislature passed and the governor signed AB 266 to provide a regulatory framework for the medical marijuana industry. California has struggled to regulate medical marijuana since voters approved it in 1996. When AB 266 first arrived on the Assembly floor in June, I didn't support the measure.
Even though the bill had the right intentions, it set up a confusing network of agencies to regulate medical marijuana that would have been extremely difficult for law enforcement to navigate. However, when the bill returned from the Senate, it had been amended into a more thoughtful regulatory structure that was supported by law enforcement and local governments. The bill then earned my support.
Some bills reflect a clear public interest.
Public health is a priority to me, and the overuse of antibiotics in our food supply impacts our ability to effectively combat disease. As a member of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, I had the opportunity to reform the use of antibiotics in livestock.
I worked with the author, state Sen. Jerry Hill, to ensure that the outcomes of the new policy are measured and reported back to the Legislature so we can know if they are working. This will tell us whether changes will be needed in the future.
When I am unsure of which way to go on a bill, input from local officials can be a deciding factor. AB 278, for example, was a bill that would mandate that cities and school boards hold elections in statewide election years only. I needed some perspective on how it would impact local elections, so I spoke to an official from a city that holds off-year elections to ask how this measure affects cities.
From our conversation it became clear that this comes down to an issue of local control. Statewide ballots are often long and complex, so some cities choose to have off-year elections to avoid overshadowing local issues. In general, I believe that cities are in the best position to determine what works for their community. So I voted against the bill.
It's been very interesting to see how things work in Sacramento; it is certainly not easy to deal with the huge volume of bills that pass through the Legislature. I think we should introduce fewer bills and place more emphasis on oversight and effective implementation. More on that next month.