Hey everyone, feel free to REPOST this information. I just attended a townhall event with my state assemblymember Raul Bocanegra (representing the Northeast San Fernando Valley). His 3 main points of focus were 1) Introducing a water bond bill on the ballot to help funnel more water into the Central Valley for agriculture 2)tax credits for the film industry 3) more funding for schools by working on a Oil Severance Tax to fund k-12 & college tuition. I did ask poignant questions contextualizing our current state of affairs: 1) In regards to global warming and the drought, what can the state legislature do to mitigate global warming? Specifically, I said that even if everyone stopped watering their lawns and took shorter showers, our 2 main drivers of CO2 global warming emissions (automobiles & agricultural meat-based diets) would continue operating with cap & trade policies that actually are not helping to solve the gravity of the situation. The sense that I got from him were that business lobbyists are clouding his better judgment by pushing for business-friendly policies (short-term profits) over the long-term health of the planet. (The remedy is building a mass popular movement in California led by OUR leaders that will steer the direction of our state of affairs in the right direction). 2) Would he support a $15 dollar an hour minimum wage? The minimum wage will be increased to $10 dollars an hour by 2016. A bill recently failed that would have increased the minimum wage beyond $10 dollars an hour. Raul Bocanegra has shown support in the past of raising the minimum wage beyond $10 dollars an hour, but it sounds like hes on the fence and we would need a push from the community to change his mind. (Again, we need to build a grassroots critical-mass movement because they simply are not listening to our concerns). 3) Taxing the wealthy and corporations at 1950s rates to pay for free higher tuition: Again, the field rep. told me that Jerry Brown is not currently interested in raising taxes of any kind. Apparently, the Oil Severance Tax is on the radar of certain legislators and we might see a bill introduced that will hopefully lead to a ballot initiative in 2016. (The Oil Severance Tax would act as a Prop. 30-style tax buffer that would simply tax oil extracted from California to help offset some of the costs associated with tuition. Not a good remedy at all). 4) What can the state legislature proactively engage in to allocate resources and legal counsel for children coming in from Central America? (Ultimately granting refugee status). The field rep. said that Jerry Brown has been absolutely silent on the issue. Mayor Eric Garcetti is welcoming in children into the city, but again, is the city of Los Angeles footing the bill, or can the state legislature pass a bill to help local municipalities front the associated costs? The field rep. did relate that we still have a broken immigration system at the federal level, but did speak about California proactively working on and granting drivers licenses for undocumented drivers. I didnt receive a direct response in regards to children from Central America, which shows me that the Democrats are either deflecting and placing the majority of the blame on the federal government (unfortunately our system of laws gives jurisdiction of immigration policy to the federal government), or they are simply not interested. 5) Transforming the prison-industrial complex: Unfortunately I didnt have an opportunity to discuss this issue. Feel free to respond :)
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 19:19:41 +0000
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