SACRAMENTO—Food safety, violence prevention, and affordable housing incentives lead the package of bills introduced today by Assemblywoman Anna Caballero.  Her carefully selected list of 21 bills and two resolutions focuses on several critical issues facing California, and particularly the 28th Assembly District. 

“I’m working on legislative approaches that will make a real difference for the people of my district, while also benefiting Californians everywhere,” said Caballero.  “My food safety bills are a good example.”

Caballero devoted considerable time during her first weeks as a legislator to conducting meetings with state officials, agricultural organizations, local growers, and local health and agricultural officials to gather information about the likely causes of last year’s E coli contamination of spinach and leafy greens. 

“I believe that food safety is too important of an issue to leave in the hands of politicians—we should rely on scientific research for answers,” Caballero said.  “I’m authoring legislation that will increase funding for research into the causes of E coli contamination, and management practices to prevent future contamination.  In addition, I’ve introduced a resolution that calls upon the federal government to provide additional funding for food safety research, because this is an issue that affects the safety of our nation’s food supply.”

Caballero’s legislative proposals also reflect her chairmanship of a newly formed Assembly Select Committee on Youth Violence Prevention.  She has introduced several measures that could form the basis of a violence prevention “tool-kit” that cities and counties can use to help alleviate the growing problem of youth violence. 

“Youth violence prevention has been a passion of mine for many years,” said Caballero.  “It’s a problem that plagues communities in my district and throughout the state.  The violence prevention tool-kit is an aggressive approach that is based on research and best practices.” 

Befitting her role as chair of the Assembly Local Government Committee, Caballero will also carry several bills specific to local government issues.  These include bills to foster incentives for cities to address local and regional housing needs, reform the state’s housing density law, and to address concerns specific to communities in the 28th district.

“It’s going to be a busy year,” said Caballero.  “I’m looking forward to it.”