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Past meetings, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Meeting of October 8, 2019 – Dodd & Grayson / Solano Fair Elections

Senator Bill Dodd and
Assemblymember Tim Grayson guest speakers

Our October 8 General Membership meeting featured Benicia’s two elected officials representing us in the state Legislature – Senator Bill Dodd and Assemblymember Tim Grayson.  The session was recorded on video by Benicia Filmmaker Constance Beutel.

Speaking: Bill Dodd, California Senate District 3. Seated: Tim Grayson, California Assembly District 14. October 8 2019 meeting of Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Grayson and Dodd discussed their views on the recently completed 2019 Legislative Session, including bills related to the Northern California wild fires and PG&E’s bankruptcy and restructuring.

PDB also asked each to respond to the following question:

What are the three most important things that should be done to address the climate change crises and what are you doing to make those actions happen?

Following Sen. Dodd and Asm. Grayson, we discussed election security issues in the 2020 primary and general elections.

Is the vote we cast truly secure? Can an outside party manipulate the voting results in our elections?

John Michael Schwab, Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Alex Padilla, and John Gardner, Solano Co. Asst. Registrar of Voters, shared what steps the state of California and Solano County, respectively, have taken to address cybersecurity and hacking concerns in local and state election processes.

Should a paper trail for all votes be mandated as an anti-hacking protection? Should there be a prohibition on the inclusion of any connectivity-enabling devices in election-related equipment? Has California already adopted these provisions? Or, are they necessary?

These issues are extremely important to the viability and integrity of voting in the U.S.

350 Bay Area, California Legislature, Climate Emergency Declaration, Legislative Action, September 20 Climate Strike, Youth vs Apocalypse

URGENT! Call our representatives today!!

CALL TO IMMEDIATE ACTION! – and a brief  report on our September meeting

Kathy 350 Bay Area Action’s Legislative Action Team.  Download the powerpoint presentation of Kathy’s excellent talk.

The Tuesday, September 10th, Progressive Democrats of  Benicia met and heard featured speaker, Kathy Dervin, Co-Chair of 350 Bay Area Legislative Committee and a consulting professional with a Master of Public Health (MPH) focused in Health Education/Environmental Health.

Kathy presented a compelling overview of pending legislation relating to Climate Change (see bold text below).  She also coveredhe Sept. 20 Climate Strike and 350 Bay Area’s work through Youth vs Apocalypse, the youth‐led environmental justice program

URGENT CALL TO ACTION!
> With only three days to the close of the California Legislature’s  session (now until Sept 13th), everyone is asked to call Assembly member Grayson and Senator Dodd’s office TODAY to advocate for the following bills: (download this list)
BILLS NOW IN ASSEMBLY Call Tim Grayson 925-521-1511
SB 1 (Atkins) SUPPORT Protect Califs Environmental, Health and Worker Safety Laws from Trump Administration roll backs of federal laws that California already administers in state programs under federal authority. (At risk are parts of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, OSHA and others).
SB 54 (Allen) SUPPORT (Companion bill to AB 1080-see below) This bill (with its companion AB 1080) requires manufacturers and retailers in California to reduce single-use plastic packaging and products by 75 percent by 2030. After 2030, all single-use plastics sold in the state would need to be compostable or recyclable, making plastic resale value sufficient enough to be economically worth recycling.
SB 210 (Leyva) SUPPORT Requires the state Air Resources Board to develop a smog check program for heavy trucks similar to the program that has existed for decades for cars and light trucks. This is a critical air pollution control bill, climate bill (reduces emissions and black carbon) and an important environmental justice bill to protect communities with disproportionate exposure to truck emissions.
Also (lower priority – NOTE – THIS BILL PASSED!) SB 127 (Wiener) SUPPORT  Requires Cal Trans to implement its “complete streets” program to support walking and biking infrastructure and protections on “state highways” (like Ashby Ave and San Pablo Ave in Berkeley or Lincoln Ave in SF).
SB 520 (Hertzberg) OPPOSE Would create new obstacles for our CCAs/local clean energy programs in comparison to investor owned utilities.
BILLS NOW IN SENATE Call Bill Dodd 707-551-2389
AB 1080 (Gonzalez) SUPPORT (see companion bill SB 54 above) Reducing single use plastic by 75% by 2030.
Also (lower priority) AB 936 (Rivas) SUPPORT Requires additional state response planning and prevention for oil spills involving non-j/oating oil (tar sands or other heavy oils) which is a particular concern in the Bay Area as area refineries, such as Phillips 66, tries to expand their capacity to take tar sands.

AB 857 (Chiu) SUPPORT Allows local governments to charter local public banks in partnership with “existing local financial institutions” such as credit unions and local community banks so as to increase the lending capacity of the local banking system.

THANKS – CALL NOW! OR SET YOUR ALARM TO CALL TODAY OR TOMORROW!!

Past meetings

Meeting of September 10, 2019 – Climate issues in California legislature


September 10, Tues 7:00 pm
Benicia Library
Dona Benicia room

  • How are actions on climate change issues faring in the CA Legislature? Still time to help?
  • Also, a vote on a bylaws change.

We heard from our powerful and highly informative featured speaker, Kathy Dervin, Co-Chair of 350 Bay Area Legislative Committee and a consulting professional with a Master of Public Health (MPH) focused in Health Education/Environmental Health.

Kathy presented a compelling overview of pending legislation relating to Climate Change (see bold text below).  She also covered

We made plans to post here and send out by email an URGENT CALL TO ACTION!  > With only three days to the close of the California Legislature’s  session (until Sept 13th), everyone was asked to call Assembly member Grayson and Senator Dodd’s office ASAP to advocate on the following bills: (see details at URGENT! Call our representatives today!! or download the list)

The vote on a bylaws change passed unanimously.  New language for Bylaws Article V. C. – New Members shall be entitled to vote on all Club matters sixty (60) days after payment of dues. Existing members, upon payment of membership renewal dues, shall be eligible immediately to vote on all Club matters.