October eNews from Speaker Emeritus Toni Atkins of San Diego, California, United States as well as Sacramento, California, United States for Saturday, 1 October 2016October eNews
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Fall is upon us, and that means I'm winding down my time in the state Assembly. I will have some things to say about that in a future newsletter. For now, please enjoy this month's news and helpful information, and have a great October!
IN THIS ISSUE:
A Note from Toni
When I boarded a plane bound for Paris in late November 2015, where I would participate in an international climate-change summit, my pride was still fresh from the Legislature recently passing Senate Bill 350, which expanded renewable energy and increased energy efficiency. However, we still had work to do on Senate Bill 32 to advance our targets for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
By the time I returned home from Paris, I was even more invigorated, because our California delegation had been greeted as rock stars in the global campaign to battle climate change. I knew we could get SB 32 done with a bit of hard work.
California is the leader on climate change because we set ambitious emissions-reduction targets, and we have created innovative ways of hitting them. As I told my colleagues near the end of this year’s legislative session, when we once again were debating SB 32, when you view our climate policies and programs from the 50,000-foot level, this is the approach we should take, and it is working.
But that doesn’t mean the system is perfect. When you look at our policies and programs at the ground level, depending on where you are in the state, you can find pieces that need improvement. Some communities – struggling rural towns in the north, disadvantaged urban neighborhoods, and our border region in the south – are feeling left out.
My message to my colleagues that day was: Let’s not throw away the sturdy structure of our policies that provides a model for the rest of the world just because not every part of it is working exactly how we would like it. Instead, let’s continue what’s working overall and commit to fixing the parts that some of my colleagues say are leaving their communities behind.
I’m happy to say that we succeeded. We passed SB 32. And Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, my friend from the Coachella Valley, is a big reason for that.
Mr. Garcia is one of the colleagues I selected to join our Assembly delegation in Paris. Last year, he declined to vote for SB 32 because he felt that our climate programs weren’t benefiting disadvantaged communities. But this year, he became a partner with Sen. Fran Pavley, the author of SB 32, and he proposed a companion bill, AB 197, to address the concerns that he and other members of the Assembly had last year.
At the end of our session, we passed both bills, and in early September, Governor Jerry Brown signed them. SB 32 requires California to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to 40% of 1990 levels by 2030 (its predecessor, 2006’s AB 32, required the state to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020). AB 197 makes the California Air Resources Board (CARB) more accountable to the Legislature and requires CARB to be more considerate of disadvantaged communities when it develops new climate programs.
This was a great example of people representing different factions of the Legislature working together to solve a problem. In the process, we sent an important message to the private sector that California remains committed to green technologies and supportive of clean-industry innovation, and we made our climate program – as Assemblymember Garcia puts it – more equitable, accountable, and transparent.
However, not everyone voted for both of these bills. Some of my colleagues spoke passionately about how our policies are hurting industries in their districts. That’s an example of something we see at the ground level that might need some improvement.
I’m thrilled with the steps we’ve taken to fight climate change, and I’m proud of California’s role of global leader. But I hear what my colleagues are saying about impacts in their districts, and I know we have work to do to smooth the edges and fix aspects of the system that they say aren’t working ideally. We don’t want to leave anyone behind. We’re all in this together.
Warmly,
Toni G. Atkins
Speaker Emeritus of the Assembly
78th Assembly District
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See You at My New Community Coffees?
Enjoyed spending time with my constituents in La Jolla last month. Hope you’ll join me in Mission Beach this month or Hillcrest next month.Last month, I launched a new series of Community Coffees in my district. I hosted the first coffee in La Jolla, and we will have two more in the coming weeks, in Mission Beach and Hillcrest. I hope you can join us!
This is a great opportunity to sit with me and talk about the issues – I want to hear about your community concerns and ideas for how to make our state work better for you and your neighbors.
I’m also happy to answer your questions about our state budget, my bills, and our legislative accomplishments, from the landmark legislation this year to continue the fight against the harmful effects of climate change to our actions to improve the lives of working families, including expanding family leave.
Our next two coffees are on:
Saturday, October 22nd, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Olive Café, 805 Santa Clara Place in Mission Beach, and
Saturday, November 12th, from 10 to 11 a.m. at Lestat’s Coffee House, 1045 University Ave. in Hillcrest.
Please join us – I always value the opportunity to touch base with my constituents and keep up with what’s happening in my district.
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Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month
These two are just a small example of the many wonderful dogs and other pets available at local shelters like the San Diego Humane Society.Every day is a good day to adopt a shelter animal, but the month of October is set aside especially to call attention to the plight of shelter dogs. This cause is near and dear to my heart.
Although San Diego’s Humane Society shelter has no euthanasia policy, each year about 3 million animals waiting to find loving homes are euthanized. During Adopt-A-Shelter-Dog Month, animal advocates and shelters across the country will do their part to connect dogs with just the right new family.
American Humane established the month in 1981 to encourage people to save animal lives – and enhance their own – by adopting a dog from a shelter or rescue group.
My dogs Haley and Joey bring me so much love and joy, so I know firsthand the benefits to adopting a dog, or any other homeless pet. They include:
Saving an animal’s life. The disturbingly high rate of euthanasia shows we simply need more people willing to adopt (and more to take on the very important responsibility of spaying and neutering their pets).
Taking the opportunity to bond with a great animal. Most shelter pets are happy and healthy. They are given up because their owners have issues, not because the pets did anything wrong.
Getting a great deal. In most pet adoptions, the cost of spaying and neutering, initial vaccinations, and sometimes even microchipping, are included.
Improving your health. Not only do pets offer unconditional love; they’ve also been shown to give their humans various health benefits, from lowering blood pressure and cholesterol to easing feelings of loneliness, according to the Centers for Disease Control. They also increase a person’s physical activity and chances to meet new people.
In case you’re worried about the possible risks of adopting, some organizations, like the San Diego Humane Society, offer a no-questions-asked return policy. If pet adoptions don’t go as planned, the Humane Society accepts returns of animals, with a full refund – and no judgment.
“Love your new pet or let us know. We’ll always make it right,” they say, because they realize some adoptions just don’t work out. They want their clients and their animals to find the right fit.
I encourage all who are willing and able to adopt an animal from one of our local shelters, whether it’s the Humane Society, San Diego County Animal Services, or one of our many special rescue groups. I am confident that a shelter animal will become a special part of your family, just like Haley and Joey have in mine.
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Saving the Starlight
Ask San Diegans about the Starlight Bowl, the historic open-air amphitheater in Balboa Park, and you’ll get an enthusiastic response about the productions they attended or personal stories about having performed on its stage. The first performance I saw there was The Wizard of Oz, one of my very favorite productions.This once-popular venue for musical theater and concerts opened in 1935 but was shuttered in 2011 after the operating organization declared bankruptcy. It’s now been overtaken by weeds, trash, and graffiti. There were even reports of trespassers using the stage as a marijuana farm, complete with heat lights! This isn’t the kind of production we have in mind for the Starlight.
I recently participated in the Reverse Gardening Party at the Starlight Bowl. Having represented this area for 14 years, both as a member of the San Diego City Council and in the state Assembly, it was easy for me to join the 300-plus volunteers who worked hard to clean up the theater. The effort was sponsored by Save Starlight, a nonprofit grassroots organization that is trying to renovate and reinvent the Starlight Bowl on Pan American Plaza.
The effort is massive. It’s a 3,500-seat theater. Save Starlight hopes to make the amphitheater a viable space again for open-air concerts, cinema, special events, festivals, and more. This is an ambitious goal, but one worth all the effort. By the end of this year, the city hopes to begin accepting lease proposals for a new use for the property.
At the clean-up, many folks shared memories as they joined this special effort for this special place. If you’d like to support Save Starlight, go to www.savestarlight.org for more information and updates on future clean-ups.
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Breast Cancer Awareness and Mammograms
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and so it’s no surprise that National Mammography Day falls on a date in October, the third Friday of the month – this year, it’s October 21st.Both were launched – Breast Cancer Month in 1985 and Mammography Day in 1993 – in order to focus more attention on breast cancer, encourage early detection, and raise money for efforts to find a cure.
Early diagnosis is so important, because there are more treatment options in the early stages of breast cancer, and it’s critical to treat the cancer before it spreads and becomes far more dangerous.
All women should learn how to perform a self-exam and create a plan to do it regularly. There are many resources online that help support us to do this regularly.
I know from my days working in women’s healthcare how important early diagnosis and treatment are. And I know that there are gaps in coverage for screening and treatment for low-income Californians. That’s why this year I introduced AB 1795, which closes two of those gaps in coverage for breast cancer and cervical cancer.
Currently, women who show symptoms and are younger than 40 years old aren’t eligible for mammograms under the state’s Every Woman Counts program. AB 1795 changes that. And currently, under the Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Program, Californians who have a recurrence of cancer in the same part of the body as the first occurrence don’t get the same level of care as those whose cancer develops in a different part of the body. There’s no reason for that, and AB 1795 addresses this also.
I’m pleased that Governor Jerry Brown recognized the importance of this bill and signed it in September.
If you or someone you know are eligible and in need of screening, the San Diego affiliate of Susan G. Komen will offer free mammograms to low-income, uninsured or underinsured women who are 40 or older, or younger than 40 with symptoms, and haven’t had a mammogram within the past year (call 619-269-1299 for an appointment):
Friday, October 7th, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., Northgate Market, 2909 Coronado Ave. in Otay Mesa West
Friday, October 14th, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., Northgate Market, 1410 S. 43rd St. in Southcrest
Saturday, October 15th, 9 a.m. - noon, Bayview Baptist Church, 6134 Benson Ave. in Encanto
Friday, October 14th, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., Outlets at the Border, 4463 Camino de la Plaza in San Ysidro
Friday, October 21st, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., Northgate Market, 5403 University Ave. in Redwood Village
Friday, October 28th, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., Northgate Market, 1150 E, Vista Way in Vista
Saturday, October 29th, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., Calvary Baptist Church, 719 Cesar E. Chavez Pkwy. in Logan Heights
You can help spread the word on social media by using the hashtag #NationalMammographyDay in your posts.
And you can find lots of information about breast cancer, early detection, self exams, mammograms, and treatment at www.nationalbreastcancer.org.
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San Diego EDC Can Help Your Business Compete
Economic growth isn’t just good for businesses – it’s good for all of us, providing jobs and opportunities for workers. That’s why it’s so important for me to support entrepreneurs and businesses that want to relocate to California or are established here and ready to grow. We have many dedicated experts locally who are available to help, so we invited one, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., to offer information on an important way they can help you with plans to grow your business.The California Competes Tax Credit is a program created by the state Legislature and managed by the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). Tax credits are awarded to companies that are looking to move to California, or stay here and grow.
Since the program began in 2014, California has awarded more than $350 million in tax credits to 500 companies that pledged to create more than 54,000 jobs statewide. In San Diego, 89 companies have received more than $75 million in the credits, for the creation of 11,575 new jobs.
These local jobs will result in more than $369 million in wages paid to workers throughout San Diego. Those same companies will be investing $214 million in a variety of capital projects over that same period.
So you understand how vitally important the California Competes program is to our regional growth. That’s why we want to help make sure as many companies as possible apply for the tax credits.
If your company is interested in learning more about this program, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC) provides free advice to any San Diego County business. Support from the EDC has been leveraged by a wide variety of companies large and small to help them understand how to complete a competitive application.
We answer questions about what type of companies are eligible for the credit, how to write an effective project description, how much to ask for in the program, and strategies on how to evaluate your business’ five-year plan. EDC’s goal is to help eligible business owners in San Diego County create strong winning proposals.
To contact EDC for assistance regarding California Competes, please email Jesse Gipe at jg@sandiegobusiness.org.
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Celebrate Reading in October
The San Diego Public Library will be host to some of the programs celebrating Teen Read Week.
Courtesy: SDPL
There are few things I love more than sitting down and escaping into a good book. I only wish I had the time to do it more often.
I recently reread my favorite children’s book, The Velveteen Rabbit, which I highly recommend if you have kids (it’s even good for big kids!). Other books that had a big impact on me include Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War by Joe Bageant, andPhenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou, which I’ve read many times, including this past summer.
Reading changed my life, so I advocate reading every chance I get, and I encourage you to support it with me in October, when Teen Read Week happens from October 9th through 15th and National Friends of Libraries Week happens from October 16th through October 22nd.
Created by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) as a national literacy initiative, Teen Read Week encourages young readers to pick up a book and explore. It began in 1998 and has continued annually every October. YALSA hopes to inspire teens and their parents to visit local libraries and bookstores and make reading a lifelong habit.
This year’s theme is “Read for the Fun of It,” serving as a basis for developing programs in schools, public libraries, and bookstores. YALSA also encourages libraries to use Teen Read Week to promote its services and to focus on the 22% of the nation's youth who speak a language other than English at home.
One great way to celebrate Teen Read Week is by exploring book cover design in the downtown San Diego Central Library’s multimedia space, the IDEA Lab (330 Park Blvd.), from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on October 13th and 14th. This two-day program will feature designs from various countries in honor of Teen Read Week’s multilingual theme. Teens will have the opportunity to be a book designer by learning the basics of Adobe Photoshop and redesigning a book cover. Registration is required. Call the Pauline Foster Teen desk at (619) 238-6675 to register or email the teen services librarian at gterzian@sandiego.gov.
Teen Read Week will be celebrated at thousands of public libraries, schools, and bookstores across the country. Join me by picking up a book, visiting your local library, and using the hashtag #TRW16 on Twitter.
Thanks to National Friends of Libraries Week, we get to celebrate reading for an additional week! It, too, is a chance to promote reading through appreciation of all the great things libraries do for our communities.
I encourage everyone to read all year round, but if you need a reason, these two weeks in October provide it.
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We’re Here to Help You
Have a question about a state agency? My staff is happy to guide our constituents when they have issues before the state, whether with the Employment Development Department, the Secretary of State’s office, or any other California agency.
We were recently contacted by a constituent, a woman on paid family leave who was dealing with the challenge of balancing her work life with travel across country to support her ailing elderly mother. She is entitled to benefits while she is unable to work because of her care for her mother, but there were complications regarding an issue with her wages that caused a delay in receiving payment from the state.
We contacted EDD to facilitate communication between the constituent and the representative assigned to her case. Once they connected, EDD opted to grant her benefits immediately while the discrepancy is being cleared up. The constituent agreed to provide pay stubs and her tax information to settle the matter.
If you find you need help with EDD or any other state agency, please call us at (619) 645-3090. Our field representatives are in frequent contact with state offices and will be happy to assist you with your case, or any other questions you might have about a state or policy issue.
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Around the District
Though actions that endanger wildlife seem to take place a world away, what we do in California can have a major impact in preventing extinction. That’s why I pushed to make my AB 96 law -- to close loopholes that allowed the continued sale of items made from elephant tusks and rhinoceros horn, and to ensure that almost $1.8 million was allocated to support enforcement of the ban. Last month, the California Department of Fish & Wildlife joined with the San Diego Zoo, a longtime leader in conservation, in burning rhino horn and objects fashioned from it, to send the message that California, zoos, and advocates across the United States are committed to playing a leading role in putting an end to poaching and wildlife trafficking -- and ending extinction once and for all.
San Diegans are fortunate to have access to some of the top-ranked healthcare services in the country. Soon we will have even more options, when a new hospital, Jacobs Medical Center, opens to respond to our healthcare needs. The center, part of the UC San Diego Health system, will offer specialized surgical and cancer treatment, along with a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Last month, UCSD Health hosted a community open house to give San Diegans a chance to see what new services will be available locally.
Happy to shine a light on Hunger Action Month and thank scores of volunteers, as Feeding America of San Diego celebrated their hard work to help the 13% of San Diegans who face food insecurity.
I joined a dedicated group of corporate volunteers to support a Habitat for Humanity project to rehab older homes in Imperial Beach.-------
To view the district events calendar, please click the button below
View Calendar+
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Warmly,
Toni G. Atkins
Speaker Emeritus
78th Assembly District
Toni G. Atkins
Speaker Emeritus
78th Assembly District
In Pacific Beach for Police and Emergency Services Appreciation Night, or PAESAN, the annual community celebration of police, firefighters, lifeguards and park rangers. Police Chief Shelly Zimmerman is second from the right. Congratulations to the honorees!P.S. Social media is a great way to connect with my office! Use the icon below to like my page on Facebook.
Website: http://www.asmdc.org/members/a78Email: Assemblymember Toni G. Atkins
Capitol Office:
State Capitol
P.O. Box 942849
Sacramento, California 94249-0078, United States
Tel: (916) 319-2078
Fax: (916) 319-2178 District Office:
1350 Front Street
Room 6054
San Diego, California 92101, United States
Tel: (619) 645-3090
Fax: (619) 645-3094
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