• Noreen's View: Assembly Democrats' Summit in Napa
• Your Legislator at Work: Focused on Women's Health
• A Snapshot of Noreen's New Legislation
• An Eye on the Governor
• North Bay Receives Millions for Highway Traffic Relief
• Update on Noreen's Committee Assignments

NOREEN'S VIEW: ASSEMBLY DEMOCRATS' SUMMIT IN NAPA

With 25 new members of the Democratic Caucus, the summit offered an invaluable opportunity to tap new energy and ideas. We spent our days listening to presentations from top-notch speakers, like Lawrence Bender who produced the Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. We also debated and identified our priorities for the year. Among other priorities, the Assembly Democrats will continue to fight for quality public education, environmental protection, and healthcare for all.

Coming out of the summit, our goal is simple. We want to continue along the bipartisan path that enabled the Legislature to work so productively with the Governor. Last year, we got past political differences, found common ground, and found solutions. This led to an on-time budget, a minimum wage increase, landmark bills to reduce climate change and reduce prescription drug prices, and historic investments in our schools and transportation.

Nowhere is the need for reform greater than our broken health care system. Reforming health care is the top priority for Assembly Democrats.

There are five proposals on the table aiming to change that. The Governor, Assembly Speaker Nunez, Senate President Perata, Senator Sheila Kuehl (D- Santa Monica), and the Senate Republicans have all put proposals on the table. With such a broad commitment, I am optimistic that we will get it done! Information about each of these proposals will soon be posted on my website at http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a07/.

As a member of the Assembly leadership team, I will be working directly with other legislative leaders to implement this and other elements of the Assembly Democrats' legislative agenda. I will also work to establish a tone of bipartisanship so that we can continue to put politics aside and make progress against the ongoing challenges facing our state.

YOUR LEGISLATOR AT WORK: WOMEN'S HEALTH

As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That’s why I introduced Assembly Bill 1429 to require health insurers to cover the cost of vaccinating young girls against cervical cancer.

A new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows that we can’t pass this bill fast enough. It found that over 1 in 4 women currently have some strain of human papillomavirus (HPV); two strains of this virus cause cervical cancer.

HPV is believed to be the cause of nearly all cases of cervical cancer, the second most common form of cancer among women. Approximately $1.7 billion is spent in the U.S. each year on treatment of cervical cancer. The HPV vaccine costs about $360.

Cervical cancer disproportionately impacts young women, especially women of color. And, treatment of cervical cancer can cause an inability to have children later in life.

This year, in California, almost 1,100 women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer and nearly 400 will die. This makes California the state with the highest incidence of cervical cancer in the country.

The good news is that we can vaccinate this gruesome statistic away. That is why I introduced AB 1429. We must seize this opportunity and save the lives of thousands of young women.

A SNAPSHOT OF NOREEN’S NEW LEGISLATION

As your representative, I introduced 23 bills this year in order to protect affordable housing, promote better health and services, reform California’s broken foster care system, protect agricultural land and open space, and assist California’s wine industry. I am excited about all of my bills and would like to highlight a few of them here.

AB 323 will enable type 17 (wine wholesaler) and type 20 (off-sale, wine retailer) licensees to donate and pour their wines at non-profit fundraisers. The wine industry has given millions of dollars to important causes. We shouldn’t prohibit or penalize anyone for helping out, as is done under current law.

AB 1330 will require the state to collect personal and medical data on foster children as a first step to determine if they are being overmedicated because they are misdiagnosed with mental illnesses. I have consistently heard that foster kids are given psychotropic medications instead of receiving counseling to assist them cope with the trauma of leaving their families when entering the foster care system. This bill will show us if this is the case.

AB 1542 will regulate the conversion of mobile home parks into condominiums so that seniors and working families are not driven from low-income rentals and communities don’t lose valuable affordable housing.

Furthermore, in response to what I heard from families of residents at the Sonoma Developmental Center, I introduced AB 1128 and AB 1402. Together these bills will begin our journey to better protect developmentally disabled people in our community.

The Lanterman Developmental Disabilities Services Act of 1977 established the state Department of Development Services (DDS) which is tasked with overseeing the state developmental centers and other services for persons living with developmental disabilities. However, the Lanterman Act has never been updated. AB 1128 would convene a Blue-Ribbon Commission that would make recommendations on how this could be done.

AB 1402 will allow families to record hearings at which Individual Program Plans for persons with developmental disabilities are decided. It also requires that contact and complaint procedure information be posted by the DDS, regional centers and vendors. This bill will help ensure that the care provided to developmentally disabled individuals is consistent with their individual care needs.

Stay tuned for further updates about my legislation. Further information about my bills will also be available on my website at http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a07/.

AN EYE ON GOVERNOR

ACTIVITIES:

On February 26, the Governor announced an agreement with the governors of Oregon, Washington, Arizona and New Mexico to establish a regional strategy to fight climate change.

On February 16, the Governor urged the United States Department of Agriculture to designate Sonoma County a disaster area due to agricultural losses sustained by extreme weather and freeze conditions in January and February.

On February 5, the Governor urged the United States Department of Agriculture to designate Solano County a disaster area due to agricultural losses sustained from freezing conditions that occurred in January.

On February 2, the Governor urged the President of the United States to declare a major disaster for 31 California counties that suffered agricultural losses due to the extreme cold weather in January.

For further information about the Governor, please visit www.governor.ca.gov.

NORTH BAY RECEIVES MILLIONS FOR HIGHWAY TRAFFIC RELIEF

Proposition 1B, adopted by the voters last November, provides billions of dollars in bond funding to improve transportation across the state. Since then, I have been leading the charge among the Bay Area and North Bay legislators to assure that our community gets its fair share of the funding. I am pleased to report that we will be seeing significant improvements to highways in our community.

On February 28th, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) allocated funding for the following transportation projects to relieve traffic congestion in the North Bay:

In Solano County, the CTC voted to provide:

• $56.21 million to construct carpool lanes in the Fairfield area along the 80/680/12 stretch to Putah Creek.

In Sonoma County, the CTC voted to provide significant funding for Highway 101 improvements:

• $44.8 million to construct carpool lanes from Wilfred Avenue to Santa Rosa Avenue.
• $42.848 million to construct carpool lanes from Railroad Avenue to the Rohnert Park Expressway
• $68.36 million to construct carpool lanes from Steele Lane to Windsor River Road

In Napa County, the CTC voted to provide:

• $73.99 million to widen Jameson Canyon Road/State Route 12 from two to four lanes and add a center divide between Red Top Road in Solano County and Highway 29.

Further information about the CTC is available online at http://www.catc.ca.gov.

UPDATE ON NOREEN'S COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS

I will be serving on some new Assembly committees for the 2007-2008 legislative session.

As before, I will be serving on:

• The Committee on Budget and its Subcommittee on Resources. This provides me with the opportunity to fight for funding to protect our environment, keep our air and water clean, and improve flood protection.
  
• The Committee on Judiciary. With over 20 years’ experience practicing law, I will continue to fight for legal reforms that make our court system fair, open, and efficient.

I will continue to Chair the Assembly Select Committee on Wine.

My new committee assignments include:

• The Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials. This will enable me to fight for improving public health through a cleaner environment.
• The Committee on Government Organization. When paired with my service as Chair of the Select Committee on Wine, I will continue being a proud advocate for California wine as a vital influence on our way of life and economy.