Many people join the League because they want to work on get-out-the-vote efforts—voter registration, candidate forums, pros and cons, fair elections. That is important work, and our League does a great job of getting into the community and making those things happen.

Many also join the League because they like to get into the nitty-gritty of influencing policymaking. You will find them on one or more of the subject-area committees in our League: Education, Healthcare, Housing, Immigration, Natural Resources, Police Practices, Social Justice. This year is a great one to get involved with one of these committees, because after a long period of very little activity at the national level, we are beginning to see lots of ideas being floated and debated and shaped into legislation. If we want to be part of the shaping, we need to understand and follow legislation at the national, state, and local levels.

The Advocacy Committee is undertaking some basic work to help make it easier for all of us to know who our city and school board leaders are and how to reach them: the Know Your Town Project. Elsewhere in this Voter there is an article from the Housing Subcommittee urging members to get involved in the development of their community’s housing element.

Interview with Assemblyman Chris Holden

The Committee conducted a formal legislative interview with Assemblyman Chris Holden to help League lobby teams know where they can find legislators who might be open to shaping legislation consistent with League positions. The questions give us insight into where LWVC lobbying will probably focus during this session. Do any of the following issues appeal to you? Join a committee!

The interview had three specific questions and one open-ended one. The first addressed the problem of carbon emissions, specifically from natural and working lands. The second asked about reforming exclusively single-family zones into ones that accept multiple family housing. The third focused on making sure that the economic recovery from COVID-19 doesn’t leave the most vulnerable in our state even farther behind. Finally, we asked Holden what issues he found most interesting.

Unfortunately, the interview could last only half an hour. That half hour, however, was very informative. Assemblyman Holden answered fully, although sometimes focusing on aspects of the issue that were slightly different from what we had asked. He clearly is knowledgeable about all three of our focus areas, as well as social justice in policing.

Getting Started—Resources

For those who want to learn more about this work, lots of resources are available:

• You can look up all the California bill numbers you find in news reports at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/, where you can download the bill with its legislative summary. AB = assembly bill, and SB = senate bill; the difference is important.
• You can also follow the LWVC website to find information about the bills on which LWVC has taken a position during the current California legislative session. Both of these web pages have information about the bills’ status.
• You can also request that you get action alerts from LWVC.

As the legislative session progresses and bills get weeded out or amended or passed, the Advocacy Committee will have a monthly list of bills of interest.

The Committee meets the fourth Monday of the month; our next meeting is on March 22 at 1:30. Connect with Anita Mackey at 203-685-2315 or anita [at] pixelriot.com for an invitation to the virtual meeting.

—Anita Mackey