Every year the California League asks its member Leagues to interview their legislative representatives. This month’s newsletter includes a link to a summary of the California assembly member who represents Assembly District 4. The meeting was held via Zoom on February 3rd. Ms. Aguiar-Curry and the director of her Napa district office, Tracy Krumpen, met with Woodland League member Carla Cox and Napa County League members Bernadette Brooks, Ingrid Swenson, Nancy Moore, and Robyn Orsini, moderator.
The four interview questions concerned (1) California’s Voter Participation Gap, (2) Equitable Funding for California’s School Facilities Program, (3) Sustainable and Equitable Water Resource Management, and (4) the Legislator’s Personal Priorities. Below is a summary of the legislator’s answers. For more information about the interview questions and answers, email lwvnapa@gmail.com and the moderator will contact you.
Q1: Shrinking CA’s Voter Participation Gap
Aguiar-Curry (A-C) works with the Secretary of State every year to encourage more voter participation. In 2022 she proposed AB 2576 to promote voter education in the high schools (failed). Encourages Latinos to only vote on issues they are interested in and understand. She works hard to get people to vote. All counties need to do more voter outreach. She tried to do a pilot project in several high schools but couldn’t get funding. She is working on another bill to encourage counties to increase voter turnout.
Q2: Equitable Funding for CA’s School Facilities Program
It is hard to get equitable funding for schools. All schools should be ADA-compliant, have more electrical outlets, and access to broadband and computers. A-C authored ACA1, which proposes a constitutional amendment to lower the voter threshold from two-thirds to 55 percent. Small districts need legislative support for helping to provide broadband in rural communities where it is more expensive for providers to supply. How a bill can be implemented is top of mind in considering a new bill.
Q3: Sustainable and Equitable Water Resources Management
Drought and freezing weather have impacted reservoirs and the ability to maintain infrastructure for water storage facilities. To save a grape crop, growers in Napa County spray water on the vines. A-C is working on a bill to allow retention ponds to be used for freeze protection. Some fish species in Clear Lake are almost extinct due to lack of water in the tributaries where they spawn. Farmers used to burn their rice fields, but her bill passed that allows winter flooding of the fields, which helps the fish population. She wants the legislature to form a Water Committee to bring diverse interests together.
Q4: Personal Priorities of Legislator
Healthcare issues include use of psychotropic drugs in senior care facilities, treatment for Alzheimer’s and other senior disorders, and cancer prevention, including mandatory vaccination of school-age children to prevent cervical cancer. For the environment: biomass, carpet recycling, flood control, a grape smoke taint study, and Broom weed invasion. Other issues: housing, therapist licensing, prohibiting self-driving trucks, budgets, consumer protection against car dealers charging extra fees, and credit to homeowners to upgrade electric capacity for electrical vehicle use.
At the end of the interview, Aguiar-Curry was thanked for some of her recent legislative achievements and efforts, and was congratulated on being elected for the second year as co-chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus. The group is bipartisan and women of all parties are encouraged to attend. The caucus offers grants, scholarships, and financial assistance to women in each represented district.