Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Open Board of Directors Meeting
Norton Event Center
1601 E. Third St., Suite 138
San Bernardino, CA 92408
Minutes
Present: Deborah Barmack, Carole Beswick Tom Brickley, Ken Coate, Louis Goodwin, Dick Hart, Scott Hofferber, Dan Murphy, Tom Nightingale, Lowell King, Pam Langford, John Mirau, Vikki Ostermann, Michael Rivera, Elizabeth Romero, Kristine Scott, Elizabeth Romero and Paul Shimoff.
Guests: Adam Eventov, Tyler Madary, Arnold San Miguel, David VanVoorhis and Todd Warden.
Announcements: 1) Inland Action will co-host a Holiday Reception for the California Transportation Commission in Riverside on Wed., Dec. 6. 2) IA has written a letter of support for a goods movement federal grant. 3) Yesterday a press conference was held by Amazon where $100K was donated to various IE causes.
M/S/P: Minutes of October 17, 2017. Moved by Langford/seconded by Mirau
Pam Langford introduced Senator Richard Roth. He serves on several important committees, in particular the Budget Conference Committee and is influential in our region. In his first term he was able to procure the funds for the school of medicine at UCR.
The Senator began by discussing the state’s budget. He mentioned that everything comes through the budget, including policy decisions. The governor uses the budget to advance his agenda. Progress was made this year in getting some healthcare rate increases, which were badly needed. The governor removed $100 million for medical residents, but that figure has been restored. This is a huge benefit to underserved communities, and directly helpful to our region.
Work for Warriors is a program for veterans that is cost effective and has a 70% placement rate. The governor continues to refuse to fund the program requiring the legislature to fund it. This is regrettable on the governor’s part. There is also a veteran’s treatment court that assists when vets have PTSD; this helpful program will be studied for further implementation.
A $4 billion housing bond measure will be on the ballot in 2018. A portion will be dedicated to veteran’s housing.
An insect that destroys trees has hit California citrus. There needs to be an effort to assist homeowners who grow citrus to treat their trees to prevent their loss and the possible migration to commercial groves.
The California Air Resources vehicle emissions testing lab that was slated to go to Cal Poly Pomona is now going to UCR, thanks to the Senator’s efforts. Ground breaking is this week.
The governor was unhappy with two UC campuses (UCR/UC Santa Cruz) based on their community college transfer numbers. He was going to impose a financial $50 million penalty for each campus, which has been defeated.
The Senator led the way on getting some judgeships moved from two northern California counties to our local courts. It was a drop in the bucket for our two counties and the problem still needs resolution.
Mental health funding is an ongoing challenge. The disparity between cities/counties in the north and those in the south is dramatic. It needs resolution and population growth is compounding the problem.
The Senator opened the meeting to questions.
Subjects included SB 1, possible repeal effort, which would be a serious loss for our highway system; sales tax on services, the Senator feels that there needs to be a comprehensive discussion in Sacramento about our budget funding and our revenue stream volatility; a bill that impacts contractors being held accountable for sub-contractors paying prevailing wage, the senator objects to subs who cheat; health care SB 562, single payer bill which the senator thinks is way too costly and should not proceed; partisan politics and the impact on our legislators ability to work effectively; super majority rule; SB 540 housing bill; mental health and the manner in which the costs have all been put upon counties, the Senator feels the payment formula needs to be adjusted; appointments to state boards and commissions, where the Senator will assist if he is asked; UCR medical school needs to be expanded.
The meeting adjourned at 8:27 am.