Compiled by Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — Bernie Rhinerson, a member of the San Diego Community College Board, attended a legislative conference in Sacramento last weekend in his capacity as chair of the Community Colleges League of California’s advisory committee on legislation. He moderated a Town Hall meeting with Senator Marty Block (D-San Diego) who shared his views on higher education issues and the budget. The conference was attended by College Board Trustees and Community College Presidents and Chancellors from throughout the state.
Some of the key policy points discussed at the Town Hall meeting included encouragement of “dual enrollment” for those students who are able to take college-level courses while in high school; increasing the amount of money
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available for student financial aid; providing more classes to meet needs that were suppressed during times of budget cutbacks; supporting additional classes at community colleges to meet local workforce needs; providing colleges with cost-of-living increases and stable funding to plan for the future; enabling greater community college participation in adult education programming; and providing more slots for full-time faculty.
U.S. Senate
HOMELESSNESS—U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) have introduced legislation to expand the definition of homelessness for purposes of federal aid. Specifically, according to Feinstein, “children living in motels and doubled-up in households with acquaintances would be recognized as homeless. Children living in these situations are particularly vulnerable to predators because they are hidden to social service providers and do not have case managers.” In addition, the Homeless Children and Youth Act would make eligible for federal housing assistance “children currently forced to live with traffickers in exchange for sex.”
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PRIVACY – U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota) is pressing Uber and other car services to detail what their policies are concerning protecting the privacy of passengers from third parties who might want to know their whereabouts.
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INFRASTRUCTURE – U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland) have introduced legislation to spend $1 trillion over the next five years repairing America’s infrastructure and providing ongoing jobs to 13 million Americans.“For too many years, we’ve underfunded our nation’s physical infrastructure. We have to change that and that’s what the Rebuild America Act is all about. We must modernize our infrastructure and create millions of new jobs that will put people back to work and help the economy,” Sanders said.
House of Representatives
REDISTRICTING — Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tennessee), ranking member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice, has joined Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-California) and 18 other Members of Congress in filing a bipartisan amicus brief in the Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission case scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court later this year. “The amicus brief, which was signed by 10 other Democrats and 9 Republicans, supports the right of citizens to determine how federal elections are conducted in their individual states and defends the federal government’s Constitutional authority to make or alter regulations related to the ‘time, place, and manner’ of Congressional elections,” Cohen said. “Elected officials should focus on effectively and equitably representing their constituents, not merely winning partisan battles. Unfortunately, in seeking to overturn the decisions of a non-partisan, independent commission endorsed overwhelmingly by the voters of their state, Arizona’s Republican leaders have chosen a different path.”
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SAVCHENKO—Democratic U.S. Reps. Sander Levin of Michigan, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Michael Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Quigley of Illinois and Bill Pascrell of New Jersey, all members of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, introduced a bipartisan resolution Monday, Jan. 26, calling on the release of Ukrainian fighter pilot and a Member of the Ukraine’s Parliament Nadiya Savchenko. This resolution is part of the global community’s effort to bring attention to her plight and demand her immediate release. “We continue to call on Russian authorities to immediately release Nadiya Savchenko from custody,” Levin said. We are gravely concerned by reports of her ill health since the commencement of a hunger strike on December 14, 2014, now into its seventh week. We are equally troubled by Ms. Savchenko’s lack of access to her counsel and adequate medical attention. We demand that Russia abide by its international obligations and the rule of law, and we join the United States Department of State in calling for Nadiya Savchenko’s immediate release.”
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EMPLOYMENT—U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colorado) has been appointed as Ranking Member of the Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions. He will also serve on the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce training. Polis has served on the Education and the Workforce Committee since he was elected to Congress in 2008, and this will be his first term as a Ranking Member.
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AVIATION – U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-New York), member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, has been selected to serve as Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation. Additionally, Zeldin serve on two other important subcommittees: the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation and the Subcommittee on Railroad, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials.
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California Legislature
CROSS-AISLE SALUTE– Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) told Marin magazine that one of his political heroes was longtime Assemblyman William Bagley, who represented the same district back in the 1960s and 1970s. “I’ve spoken with him several times and read his autobiography, along with several historical accounts of that era. He is an incredible model. Even though he was a Republican, he was available to everyone, was forward thinking on social issues for that time and was someone the voters of Marin would very easily support today — if he was a Democrat. I think he really had a sense of how to best represent our community, rather than do what the special interests told him to do. And I think that’s what is sometimes lacking in politics today.”
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. Your comment may be posted in the space provided below or sent to donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com