3/28/07

Last week I was part of a bi-partisan legislative delegation that went to Washington, D. C. to lobby on behalf of the State of California—the first such delegation since 2002.  California only gets 79 cents back for every tax dollar we send to Washington, an imbalance of 50 billion dollars.  As late as the 1980s, California received one dollar back for every dollar sent to the federal government.

We met with California Senators Feinstein and Boxer, Senator Kennedy, representatives of the White House, the Secretary of Transportation, and many members of the House of Repr esentatives including Speaker Pelosi and our own Rep. Sam Farr.  We also met with organizations and legislators interested in California's leading role in the response to global warming.  There were a number of things I took away from the visit.

On a political level, so much has changed since my last visit.  The new Democratic Senate majority was considering budget proposals very different from those of last year—ending some of the tax breaks for the wealthiest, giving tax relief to the middle class, and shoring up healthcare. 

Leaders in Washington also wished to build on California's climate change actions of last year—and they wanted to know exactly how we did it in California, legislatively and politically.

For California, we were lobbying for renewal of the key children's health program.  California has used the federal program over the last 10 years to lower the number of kids without health coverage.  Renewal of the program at the current level would not even allow us to keep the number of kids covered we’re doing now.  Adding to it would help legislative efforts to close the gap further this year.  It looks like there is congressional support to add to the current program, but the president's response is uncertain.

We also lobbied for a federal share of levee repair, renewal of the family planning services program, protection against the state picking up extra costs due to the federal prescription drug program, and continued assistance for the costs of foreign nationals in California prisons.

The other major change was the effect of moving up California's presidential primary.  Bill and Hillary Clinton joined California's legislators for dinner, Sen. Obama welcomed the delegation the next day, and former Sen. Edwards attempted to change his schedule to meet.  Clearly, moving forward California's primary has pushed the state back onto the presidential campaign trail.

For the first time in a while, I felt like California's voice was being heard in Washington.