As a trained Project Wildlife Native Songbird Rehabilitator, my experience raising orphaned and injured songbirds and returning them to the wild has guided me in legislation I introduce and support. I’m happy to report that most of that legislation has been signed into law. The “Beagle Freedom Bill,” which I co-authored, requires research institutions that use dogs or cats to offer those animals for adoption. I also co-authored legislation that indemnifies good Samaritans who break into hot cars to rescue trapped animals, and I supported a bill that bans puppy mills and encourages adoption… read more

As any Economics 101 student knows, when the federal government creates billions/trillions of dollars out of thin air, the result is massive inflation. That inflation has now reached a 40-year high, and those with low and moderate incomes are bearing the heaviest burden. Even so, Californians pay more. Compared to national averages, Californians pay a 46% premium for gasoline, (now approaching $7 a gallon) a 37.4% premium for diesel fuel, a 73% premium on residential electricity, and nearly a 50% premium for natural gas. 47% of all Californians and 61% of renters report that housing costs… read more

In 2020, there were just under 46,000 suicides in the United States, making it the nation’s 12th-leading cause of death. California’s suicide rate is 10.7 per 100,000, compared to 13.4 nationally. Suicide rates across the United States have been increasing, and are now double homicide rates. Obviously, more can be done to end this ongoing tragedy. September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, and this session I co-authored Assembly Concurrent Resolution 37, declaring September 5 through September 11 Suicide Prevention Week in California. To view ACR 37, please click here. While suicide… read more

Legislation in Sacramento often flies under the radar. Here are a few bills you may have missed that made it through, along with some that didn’t: Bills forwarded to the Governor that remain unsigned as of this writing include AB 2188, prohibiting employers from terminating or refusing to hire persons using cannabis if impaired work performance is unproven; SB 70, requiring children to complete a year of kindergarten before entering the first grade; and SB 1157, phasing in additional water conservation targets by reducing indoor use from 52.5 gallons per person/day (gpcd) to 42 gpcd by 2030… read more

In 2011, federal courts ruled that California prisons were overcrowded -- populations had to be reduced. As a result, Assembly Bill 109 was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown. The state’s prison system was “realigned,” meaning the responsibility to incarcerate, monitor and track lower-level offenders would now rest with the counties, not the state. 80 percent of incarcerated felons have Substance Use Disorders (SUDs), and in the San Diego region alone, 1 in 3 arrestees in 2018 tested positive for more than one drug. But county jails weren’t funded or equipped to hold felons serving… read more

The 2021-2022 legislative session is history --- we adjourned around 1:30 a.m. on September 1st. As usual, some of the most significant legislation was delayed until the last days, with votes sometimes occurring late at night and in the wee hours of the morning. In light of continuing attempts to place Sexually Violent Predators (SVPs) in rural San Diego County, I was a big supporter SB 1034 which creates more structure and transparency to make local authorities and stakeholders participants in the SVP placement process. I’m happy to report that SB 1034 passed without opposition. Other… read more

California’s mental health system is struggling to keep up with demand.  Those seriously in need of treatment are trapped in a rotating cycle that takes them from living on the street, to the emergency room, sometimes to jail, then back to the street. Since more serious cases get the most attention, people with milder symptoms don’t receive needed care and often fall into the same cycle. Today, only about a third of Californians with mental illness receive the care they need, and 31 of California’s 58 counties with a “high need” for mental health services report a shortage of mental health… read more

California is once again in a serious drought, the second in a decade. This is a recurring problem in the arid West, but even in dry periods, we should have enough water to meet our needs. Voters understood that in 2014 when they approved a $7.5 billion water bond, which included $2.7 billion to fund construction of new dams and reservoirs. Unfortunately, few projects are underway, or even in the planning stage.  Our largest dams and reservoirs were built before 1979, most between 1945 and 1968, when our population was less than half its current size. My caucus and I have long supported… read more

Our veterans have never failed us, but sometimes we fail them. Adrian Darren Bonar, a U.S. Army Veteran, is a tragic example.  After serving three tours of duty in Iraq, he returned home to North County suffering from PTSD.  But due to poor consistency of local treatment services; turning to drugs, he was ultimately murdered. Sadly, his case is not that unusual. VFW statistics from 2019 indicate that the Veteran's Administration (VA) system is tracking more than 64,000 veterans with opioid disorders, and this number has more than doubled since 2002. Wait times for mental health services are… read more

We’re in the last month of a two-year legislative session. During August, we’ll be voting on approximately 1,200 bills, over 500 in the Assembly and about 700 in the Senate. These include my AB 2768, which addresses the critical shortage of psychiatric beds by leading to the development of a real-time, internet-based app providing information on available beds/facilities to serve mentally ill patients in emergency rooms and in ambulance transport.  With 31 counties reporting a shortage of behavioral healthcare workers, I joined Senator Scott Weiner as co-author of SB 964 to deal with the… read more