Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Meeting In-person and via ZOOM
Minutes
Present: Megan Barajas, Deborah Barmack, Peter Barmack, Carole Beswick, Greg Bradbard, Mike Burrows, Mark Cloud, Ken Coate, Kevin Dyerly, Louis Goodwin, Otis Greer, Milford Harrison, Fran Inman, Mark Kaenel, Lowell King, Pam Langford, Bill Lemann, Darcy McNaboe, Jacquelyn Mercado, John Mirau, Dan Murphy, Ginger Ontiveros, Vikki Ostermann, Catherine Pritchett, Thomas Rice, Michael Rivera, Dan Roberts, Elizabeth Romero, Dan Schenkel, Eric Ustation, Reggie Webb, Marisa Yeager.
Lowell King, Chair presiding.
Announcements: 1) Staff requested that members advise of their plans for the April 5th advocacy meeting. 2) Inland Action will be having a party on Aril 13th to celebrate the success of our 2022 advocacy and to recall our DC trips.
M/S/P approval of March 22, 2022 minutes.
Committee chairs presented their committee’s 2022 State issues. The list is:
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (Page 7)
- Support strategies to serve individuals with mental health and substance abuse disorders, including the Governor’s Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court Teams.
- Support for AB 1288 (Quirk-Silva) which maximizes the number of new affordable homes that can be produced with State Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. • Urge California legislators to strongly consider the inflationary impact of California bills, taxes, and regulations.
EDUCATION (Page 11)
- Urge significant and transformational investments for our Inland Empire students and educational institutions to ensure the region has the skilled, educated workforce it needs for economic growth and prosperity.
- Urge transformational investments in K-12, community colleges, and four-year universities to ensure many more Inland Empire students are prepared for college, have the means to afford college, and receive the support services they need to be successful and graduate in a timely way, including AB 1746 (Medina) and SB 851 (Portantino).
- Support investing the State’s surplus funds in one-time priority capital projects that will transform the educational experience for Inland Empire students
ENVIRONMENT (Page 15)
- Support AB 2387 (Garcia) – Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparation, Flood Protection, Extreme Heat Mitigation, and Workforce Development Bond Act of 2022. • Support SB 833 (Dodd) – Community Energy Resilience Act of 2022, which would create a technical assistance and grant program administered by the California Energy Commission Support the Delta Conveyance Project.
- Enhance reliability of long-term supplies, storage, and drought resiliency for Southern California.
- Inland Action support legislation to accelerate projects addressing water infrastructure needs, including SB 991 (Newman) and AB 1845 (Calderon).
- Support State funding for the Regional Recycled Water System and the Santa Ana River Enhanced Recharge Phase 1B Project, which are two important regional water infrastructure projects that are shovel-ready.
- Support secure funding for monitoring and remediation of PFAS.
- Urge State support for water purveyor consolidation efforts.
- Support funding for continued management of the Salton Sea.
- Support for SB 1075 (Skinner) – Green Hydrogen which would SB 1075 would create the California Clean Hydrogen Hub Fund, making State subsidies available for “green hydrogen projects.
- Support for AB 1640 (Ward) – Regional Climate Planning Initiatives, which would authorize local, regional, tribal, and State governments and other entities (e.g., educational institutions and nonprofits), to jointly establish and participate in a regional climate network. • Oppose Any Efforts to Reduce Local Control of the South Coast Air Quality Management Board (SCAQMD). HEALTH CARE (Page 21)
- Oppose SB 1882 (Rivas) unless amended, which would create redundant annual reporting requirements for acute care hospitals related to compliance with State seismic safety building standards.
- Inland Action urges legislators and Governor to invest $100M from the General Fund in the FY 22-23 budget for data sharing incentives and infrastructure that provide for complete, accurate, and timely health data for all Medi-Cal enrollees.
JUDICIAL (Page 23)
- Support judicial funding at the $5.2 billion level requested in the Governor’s proposed budget for new trial court judgeships and trial court courthouse construction, which will better serve the justice needs of the Inland Empire.
TRANSPORTATION (Page 25)
- Urge innovation and flexibility in transportation funding to meet the growing needs of Inland Southern California’s transportation network.
- Support funding of Inland Empire Transportation Regional Projects as endorsed by the Inland Empire Caucus. • Support SB 1410 (Caballero), Vehicle Miles Traveled, which would allow for Vehicle Miles Traveled regulations to be used only in Transit Priority Areas.
RECALL REFORM FOR STATEWIDE OFFICERS
- Support Little Hoover Commission recommendations for reforming the State’s recall process for Statewide officers.
Members discussed issues and 8 will be sent to those present at the meeting for their vote to rank the top initiatives.
Mark Kaenel, on behalf of the Education Committee, requested support for 3 letters for CSUSB asking for support for their MS in Physician Assistant program. M/S/P
John Mirau, on behalf of the Transportation Committee requested letters of support for SBD/IVDA for work on Third and Fifth Streets. M/S/P
Thomas Rice, on behalf of the Environment Committee requested a letter of support for Valley District’s Santa Ana River Enhanced Recharge Project. M/S/P
The meeting was adjourned at 8:38.