Three young lives were cut short on July 28 in Gilroy, California – a 6-year-old boy, Stephen Romero; a 13-year-old girl, Keyla Salazar; and a 25-year-old man, Trevor Irby. They were indiscriminately murdered while attending a community celebration, the Gilroy Garlic Festival, where people should be concerned with nothing more than great food, lively music, and enjoying one another's company.

We had barely gotten to know who they were before a horrific massacre occurred in El Paso just six days later, when a racist gunman traveled 650 miles to "kill Mexicans" at a popular Walmart. Before he was apprehended, he murdered 22 people with the same kind of military-style weapon used in Gilroy.

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I was proud to participate alongside colleagues when Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 392, and grateful for the leadership of Assemblymember Dr. Shirley Weber (center, right photo).

Monday, August 18, was a landmark day in California. That's when Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 392 and placed our state firmly on the right side of history, and I was proud to be there to witness it firsthand.

AB 392 reforms the standard for when law-enforcement officers may use lethal force. For the past 147 years, officers have been permitted to use lethal force when they believed that doing so was "reasonable." Going forward, officers may do so when it is "necessary."

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Talking about health care funding with Governor Gavin Newsom and Assemblymember Todd Gloria at 2-1-1 San Diego.

I was pleased to join Governor Gavin Newsom in San Diego on August 9 to share the great news that California has become the first state in the nation to make health care more affordable for many middle- and lower-income residents.

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Until September 20, San Diego County businesses, nonprofit groups and government agencies can apply for funding to swap out polluting heavy-duty trucks, machinery, and equipment for electric and low-carbon-emission alternatives – through the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District's Clean Air for All Grant Campaign.

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This year's legislative session ends on September 13, our deadline for sending this year's bills to the Governor for his signature. As of late-August, each of my bills, listed below, was in the Assembly Appropriations Committee awaiting release to the Assembly floor.

SB 1 – the California Environmental, Public Health, and Workers Defense Act of 2019 – is California's "insurance policy" against the reckless deregulation happening at the federal level. SB 1 ensures that any federal environmental or worker safety standard in place as of January 19, 2017, remains in effect under state law even if the federal government rolls it back.

SB 66 allows clinics and rural health care providers to bill Medi-Cal for two visits on the same day if patients receive mental health treatment on the same day they receive other medical treatment. This will help ensure health care providers can continue to deliver vital mental health services and be reimbursed for those services.

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My district staff is always available to help constituents navigate a complex web of state agencies. If you're having trouble working out an issue with any state agency, please call my office at 619-645-3133, and my staff will do everything in their power to help.

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I enjoyed being with my friends in Pacific Beach for National Night Out! I love to see community members and police officers come together with the common goal of keeping our neighborhoods safe.

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