Tuesday, July 25, 2017
Open Board of Directors Meeting
San Bernardino Community College District
114 S. Del Rosa Drive
San Bernardino, CA 92408
Minutes
Present: Deborah Barmack, Peter Barmack, Carole Beswick, Mike Burrows, Ken Coate, Ashley Gaines, Louis Goodwin, Otis Greer, Scott Hofferber, Fran Inman, Mark Kaenel, Lowell King, Doug Kleam, John Mirau, Vikki Osterman, Brian Reider, Michael Rivera, Kristine Scott, Paul Shimoff, Lupe Valdez, Hassan Webb and Ray Wolfe.
Guests: Layne Arthur, Josh Candelaria, Sandra Espadas, Adam Eventov, Roxanna Gracia, Nick Grooters, Matt Liebman, Frank Reyes, Arnold San Miguel and Louis Vidaure.
Announcements: 1) The group was reminded that Inland Action is dark for the month of August. The next Inland Action meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 12, 2017.
M/S/P: Minutes from July 18, 2017
Brian Reider introduced Assemblymember Eloise Reyes
Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes was elected to the California State Assembly in November 2016 to represent California’s 47th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Colton, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Rialto, San Bernardino, and the unincorporated communities of Bloomington and Muscoy. Assemblymember Reyes serves on the Appropriations, Judiciary, Labor and Employment, and Privacy and Consumer Protection Committees. She is also the Co-Chair of the Special Committee on Legislative Ethics.
A graduate from Colton High School, the Assemblymember received her A.A. from San Bernardino Valley College, completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Southern California and then earned her law degree at Loyola Law School. A proud daughter of immigrants, the Assemblymember has been a champion for the community throughout her career. She has worked to be a voice for the voiceless and an asset for those requiring legal representation but are unable to afford it. Working alongside Legal Aid, she helped provide free legal services and represented the residents of the Inland Empire providing proper representation to many in her community that needed it most. The lack of access to quality legal services in her community led her to become the first Latina to open her own law firm in the Inland Empire.
Her primary goals are to ensure that the voices of her constituents are heard and that resources make their way back into our communities. She voiced that for far too long the Inland Empire has not gotten their fair share of funding and regional equity is needed. Her first act in public office was to introduce (AB 44) legislation to aid survivors of the San Bernardino terrorist attack by removing roadblocks that keep workers who suffer job-related injuries from receiving treatment for PTSD and other disorders. The Bill provides for expedited review process for victims so that they can get the treatment they need and continue the recovery process.
Since elected, 17 pieces of her legislation have been heard in their respective committees and were then voted on by the full Assembly. These bills are working their way through the Senate and soon to the Governor’s desk. Additionally she has been able to add some specific “asks” to the state budget which includes, for example, a new fire truck for the City of Colton.
She supported SB 1 (increase gas taxes and vehicle fees) that will bring $205 million to her district over the next 2-5 years for road, bridge and other transportation improvements.
Legislative priorities include:
Teacher Shortage
AB 952- establishes the Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program with the purpose of developing bilingual educators for California’s increasingly diverse classrooms.
Electric Program Investment Charge allocation AB523- requires that 25% of renewable technology funds collected through the EPIC program be spent in disadvantaged communities like ours and 10% to be spent specifically in low-income communities.
Threatening a witness: threats to report immigration status AB578 – Increases the penalty for an individual who threatens to report the immigration status of a crime victim or witness.
State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program: funding
AB550- Provides support for long-term care Ombudsman programs which help investigate and resolve various issues in long-term health care and residential care facilities.
Pupil discipline: suspension: informal conference.
AB667- Ensures that there is a transparent and fair process for students who are at risk of being suspended from school.
Assemblymember Reyes will conduct seminars providing information and guidance about the home buying process, encouraging home ownership vs renting.
Since her one month stay in the district began she has toured the San Manuel facility and was pleased at the number of jobs they have created for the area. The Assembly member also encourages trade skills be made available through our Community Colleges.
She will continue to weigh the many decisions she must make first by asking “how will the District benefit?”.
A Q & A period followed
Meeting adjourned at 8:31 a.m.