Recent News in the 41st District

Maricela P. Morales of Port Hueneme has been named 2012 Woman of the Year for the 41st Assembly District by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Oak Park. Morales is the youngest and first Latina elected to the Port Hueneme City Council and is deputy executive director at the Central Coast Alliance Unified for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE). “Maricela Morales embodies the values our country hopes to instill in everyone,” Brownley said. “She was raised by immigrants, studied hard and excelled in school, and is making outstanding contributions through public service to her community. I am very proud to honor her in the 41st Assembly District.” A celebratory brunch and special session on the Assembly Floor was planned for her and other Assembly honorees. Morales was raised in Fillmore in Ventura County by immigrant parents from Mexico. She graduated as class Salutatorian, earned a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and is now working on a masters degree. At CAUSE, she oversees Health Access and Equity, and Women SEE Justice projects. CAUSE has created free and low-cost health access programs and a woman and family organizing center. It has also promoted local hiring provisions and smart growth approaches to local development.

Campaign spending has reached unprecedented levels following a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows political groups to give unlimited money to political campaigns and advertisements. Many of these political groups have obscure names that prevent voters from knowing the true funders of campaign messages. Assemblywoman Brownley is carrying a bill, AB 1648, that would require the top donors of political ads to be clearly identified on the ads. It will soon face it’s first hearing, but it is modeled after a bill that failed passage in the Assembly by just two votes earlier this year. Nearly 100 people testified in support of the bill in committee. In this video clip from that hearing, Assemblywoman Brownley presents her bill, followed by testimony from Trent Lange, president of California Clean Money Campaign, the sponsor of the bill; and Bob Stern, past president of the Center for Governmental Studies.

As political action committees pour millions into often-vicious campaign advertising in the Republican presidential primaries, the most outrageous thing is the murky source of funding: Donors behind the ads usually aren't identified until after the primary is over.

Read more…

Now that the legislative session has finished, I want to let you know about the work I was able to accomplish this year, even as we grappled with more belt tightening and fewer state resources.

• Improving California's Educational Standards
• Encouraging Students to Learn Multiple Languages
• Eliminating School Delays for Foster Care Youth
• Holding Doctors Accountable for Medical Care
• Improving Audits of Public Retirement Benefits
• Restoring Oversight of College Facilities' Financing

Besides seven bills the governor signed, the Legislature adopted two resolutions I carried: AJR 10 declaring support for school-based health centers and the ACR 62 proclaiming March as “Read Across California” to promote literacy.

(Marina del Rey) - Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) paddles out to sea on 2011 Coastal Cleanup Day, joining hundreds of others mobilized to clear beaches, lakes and parks of plastic bags and other rubbish. Lightweight items left on the beach or in parks often get blown into waterways that lead into the ocean where they kill marine life and destroy the beauty of our precious natural resources. Every single item recovered on Coastal Cleanup Day is sorted and counted to augment research used to reduce pollution.

(Sacramento) – Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) intends to renew her fight for a statewide single-use bag ban in 2012 by amending AB 298, now pending in the Senate. Legislation she introduced in 2010, AB 1998, attracted national attention and sparked local efforts to pass their own bag ban ordinances modeled after the legislation. In this video, Assemblywoman Brownley, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and elected officials around the state joined forces at a state capitol news conference to urge support for single-use bag bans. Assemblymember Brownley says the movement will not be stopped. "Banning single-use plastic bags is no longer just an environmental and economic issue. It's a movement spreading around the globe." Indeed, communities that passed bans that took effect or were upheld in the courts in 2011 included the Counties of Los Angeles and Santa Clara, and the cities of Santa Monica, Calabasas, Long Beach and Manhattan Beach. Here's more in this Assembly Access video.

Watch this hilarious 4-minute video from Heal the Bay, sponsor of AB 1998 Single-Use Bag Ban, which explains the lifecycle of a single-use plastic carryout bag and why we need to ban the bag.

The Majestic Plastic Bag

Chairwoman of the Assembly Committee on Education Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, meets with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan during a private meeting to discuss education issues critical to California.