Photo Courtesy of Dave Monley

Scavengers from the time of wooly mammoths and saber toothed tigers, today condors eat carcasses left by hunters. These carcasses are laden with fragments of lead ammunition. Condors, mistaking these fragments for bones, ingest the lead and become stricken with life-threatening lead poisoning.  If left unchecked, and untreated, lead poisoning would have killed nearly half of the California Condors flying wild today.

In response, Assemblymember Nava introduced AB 821 to require the use of non-lead ammunition in condor range. There are many affordable substitutes available. According to Nava, "A condor, poisoned acutely from lead fragments was sent to the Los Angeles zoo for emergency treatment.  After $10,000 worth of invasive treatment this condor survived to hatch the first wild condor chick in the Ventana Wilderness in California in over 100 years. "With the passage of AB 821 from the Assembly and on its way to the Senate, California is one step closer to protecting the newest member of the condor family from its biggest threat, lead ammunition."

To garner support for condor protection, Assemblymember Nava launched a website "Savethecondor.com."  Register now to support AB 821 and enter the contest to help name the newest addition to the California condor family!

Sacramento - Eight bills authored or co-authored by Assemblymember Pedro Nava, Chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee and Chair of the Joint Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security successfully passed from the Assembly with broad or unanimous bi-partisan support and move on to the Senate. Below is a description of these bills:

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS DISASTER RESPONSE
AB 319- Establishes the California Tsunami Preparedness and Mitigation Steering Committee to bring together coastal agencies and the state to address the threat of tsunamis.

SCHOOL ZONE SAFETY
AB 321-Permits local jurisdictions, should they choose, to lower the speed limit to 25 mph between 1000 and 500 feet of a school and to 15 mph within 500 feet of a school.
AB 57- Extends indefinitely the popular Safe Routes to School Program that was set to expire in 2008.  

HIGH SCHOOL EXIT EXAM ASSISTANCE
AB 347-Provide the necessary support to ensure that students who are working to complete the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) have the resources they need to pass and receive their high school diploma.

FARMWORKER HOUSING
AB 762- Makes improvements to the Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program to ensure that funds are efficiently used for housing California's agricultural workers.

VOTER APROVED BOND ACCOUNTABILITY
AB 995- Guides implementation of Proposition 1B, the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Fund of 2006.

MAKING EVERY VOTE COUNT
AB 1167- Ensures that absentee ballots get delivered even if they have insufficient postage. 

IMPROVE LOCAL CONTROL
AB 1611- Authorizes the California Transportation Commission (CTC), to relinquish to the City of Oxnard portions of State Routes 1 (better known as Oxnard Boulevard), 34, and 232 within the city. 

The California Association of Museums represents historical societies, cultural centers, art museums, botanical gardens, science centers, tribal museums, zoos, aquariums, and children's museums. According to the CAM website, recipients of the California Association of Museums' President's Award are "elected officials in California state government who have shown support of California museums, demonstrated a continuing commitment to museums in California, and shown publicly their support of museums in their local district."

Assemblymember Nava received the award in front of the future California Condor habitat at the Santa Barbara Zoo, a member organization of CAM. "I am honored and deeply humbled to be recognized by the Association," said Nava. "I am committed to enhancing and advocating for our museums and the important role they play throughout California and that they will be here for our children and grandchildren to enjoy."

Local Museum and Cultural Institution Contacts:

"As Chair of the Joint Committee on Emergency Services and Homeland Security, I am pleased that the governor vetoed BHP's Cabrillo Port LNG project," said Nava. "The governor understood the risks of this project and that it would pose irreparable harm to marine resources, air quality and place in jeopardy thousands of people along our precious coast. The governor did the right thing. Thank you.

"In my opinion and supported by research, the Cabrillo Port LNG facility, which was proposed just fourteen miles off the coast of Oxnard, would have from extraction in Australia to consumption in the United States generated 23 million tons of greenhouse gasses, the equivalent of 4 million cars. Additionally, a terrorist attack on such a facility would have put at risk thousands of people along the coast. For at least the next 40 years, it would have discouraged progress made in advancing renewable energy and shackle us to yet another foreign imported energy source."

Santa Barbara Mayor Pro Tem Das Williams in Sacramento to Support Assemblymember Nava's Recycled Road Base Environmental Legislation

(Photo Courtesy of City of Santa Barbara) Councilmember Das Williams advocates protecting the environment through the use of recycled road base.

The idea for AB 484 was introduced to Nava by Williams, based on his research that instead of dumping heavy, space-hogging concrete and asphalt into California landfills, this material should be recycled into road base.

A source of aggregate, used in virtually every road and highway, has been quarries. Now, counties in California are refusing to permit quarries because of environmental concerns from local communities about the impact of mining.

Williams' solution:  recycle aggregate that would otherwise be dumped into landfills.  Diverted from landfills, concrete and asphalt are ground up and turned into a recycled foundation mixture that replaces sand and gravel. Williams, and Assemblymember Nava, want to increase the use of this recycled material.

"AB 484 will help the environment by requiring Caltrans to use recycled aggregate base in its road and construction projects when it is cost effective," said Williams. "From the local perspective, often the best thing that the state can do is lead by example."

AB 484 passed the Assembly Floor and is now awaiting hearing before the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee.

Assemblymember Nava with (from left) Diane Durst, Director of Corporate and Individual Giving, and Kathy Hayes, Director of Operations.

Santa Barbara - Assemblymember Nava toured the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County and met with staff on Friday, May 11th.

The foodbank facility houses shelves of non-perishable food items and personal hygiene products for distribution to Foodbank member agencies. The warehouse complex also has refrigeration facilities to store donated produce from local farmers. Santa Barbara County farmers donate more produce to their local food banks than any other county group of farmers in the United States.

The Foodbank is an official distributor to over 220 social service agencies, churches, and community groups throughout Santa Barbara County. These agencies and groups include children and senior programs, emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency and residential shelters. For more information on services provided, contact Foodbank of Santa Barbara County at (805) 967-5741, or visit their website at www.foodbanksbc.org.

Assemblymember Pedro Nava Tours Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter

Assemblymember Nava plays with a kitten at SB County Animal Shelter. Nava toured the facility to highlight June as Adopt-A-Cat Month.

ASAP is a volunteer-based, non-profit organization that takes care of the cats and kittens at the Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter. ASAP provides humane care for these animals and works to eliminate the practice of euthanizing them for reasons other than terminal health and/or serious behavior problems.

"Five years ago, my wife and I adopted Luna from this very shelter. It is important to get the word out to promote animal adoption. The animal shelter and support organizations like ASAP play a vital role in supporting the shelters activities and finding homes for abandoned and unwanted cats," said Nava.

Every year, over 430,000 cats and dogs from animal shelters in California are put down because they have no home. ASAP and Assemblymember Nava encourages anyone considering adopting a cat and can provide a good home to come visit the shelter.

For information regarding ASAP's Adopt 2 adult cats or kittens over 6 months of age for the price of 1 program please call 805-683-3368 or view the cats online at http://www.asapcats.org/.

Participants register online through the Team Bike Challenge website and prizes are awarded to the top 185 teams, and include gift certificates for movie tickets, to the iTunes store, and to local bike shops. Participation is open to anyone who lives or works in Santa Barbara County.

Last year over 1,100 participants made over 40,000 trips and traveled 130,000 miles by bicycle (5 times around the earth). This year, the goal is "shooting for the moon in June" (240,000 miles).

"I applaud the goal of the Team Bike Challenge to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality by encouraging people to make smarter transportation choices. Encouraging those who live and work in Santa Barbara County to establish new bicycle transportation routines also promotes health and well being through physical activity," said Nava, who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee.

To find out more about the Traffic Solutions Team Bike Challenge, call (805) 963-SAVE or visit http://trafficsolutions.info.