It Has Been My Honor. Thank You.

2024 marks my last year in the California Legislature. I have never taken for granted the
trust of my community. For the last eight years, I have fought hard to improve the lives of my
constituents in real, tangible ways. I’m excited for what 2025 will bring, for the change I intend
to fight for in Congress.

California, like every state, is a work in progress; I am proud of the contribution my team and I have made. The bulk of my legislation affects four issue areas: the environment,
transportation, healthcare and housing. During my time in the Legislature, I have served in
leadership as the assistant speaker pro tempore, chaired the Assembly Natural Resources
Committee, the Assembly Transportation Committee, the Assembly Select Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and the Assembly Select Committee on Urban Development to Combat Climate Change. As chair of the Joint Rules Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response, I led a historic bicameral and bipartisan reform of the Legislature’s response to sexual harassment that’s become a model for the nation. I spent 2024 chairing the Assembly Select Committee on Biodiversity, while also chairing the bicameral Environmental Caucus, and serving as the Policy chair of the Progressive Caucus.

I have authored dozens of bills that were signed into law. But I do have my favorites. Among them are my wildlife bills. I authored two bills that require CalTrans (AB 2344) and local cities and counties (AB 1889) to plan for wildlife crossings and wildlife corridors to better help us live in harmony with the natural world. A few years ago I authored and passed AB 1322, a bill that bans third generation rodenticides – rat poisons that unintentionally kill animals much higher on the food chain such as owls, hawks, coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions and pets. That bill, however, left old but dangerous chemicals known as first generation anticoagulant rodenticides on the market. This year I successfully authored AB 2552 that will finally ban the sale and use of those dangerous poisons.

Of course, the health and safety of humans is the top priority. I’ve authored bills to remove toxic, endocrine disrupting chemicals from makeup and personal care products (AB 496) and to remove fiberglass and dangerous chemicals from mattresses (AB 1059). In order to fight climate change, I authored AB 3232, which requires California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from California’s residential and commercial buildings by 40% by 2030.

Every year, thousands of Americans are injured or die due to speed-related traffic accidents. To help bring sanity back to our roads, I authored and passed AB 645, a revolutionary speed camera bill that will target school zones, high-fatality corridors, and areas known for street racing. It’s not just drivers that can be injured on our streets. It’s also bicyclists and pedestrians. I secured $30 million for the completion of the Garden River Bridge, a safe bike and pedestrian bridge connecting Glendale to Griffith Park over the LA River.

During my time on the Budget Committee and Transportation Committee, I advocated for $1 billion in active transportation money, with vast sums going to make bikeable, walkable and safer streets a
reality. This work will help save lives. Public transportation will only work though if it’s near where we all live. In that vein, I proposed legislation that aimed to bolster the development of housing near transit by
authorizing local governments to provide property tax reimbursements for compact and efficient housing projects near high-quality transit.

There is a growing body of evidence that peoples’ health and well-being are primarily shaped by two things: access to high-quality affordable health care and housing. Under preexisting state law, hospitals must offer charity care to low income patients. However, despite patients qualifying for charity care or Medi-Cal, some hospitals were failing to notify patients of their rights and options. Kaiser Health News reported in 2019 that nonprofit hospitals in California could have — but did not — provide $135 million in charity care to eligible patients and instead pursued collection actions against those vulnerable patients. Worse, hospitals often sell patient accounts to collections agencies who sometimes place liens on the
homes of those same patients.

I wrote AB 1020 to address both those issues. AB 1020 now strengthens state enforcement and oversight of the Hospital Fair Pricing Act, helping to ensure that hospitals screen patients for charity care, and by limiting a hospital’s ability to sell patient debt, providing greater transparency for patients and screening requirements for both hospitals and debt collectors. This year, I passed AB 2297 to prevent hospitals from placing liens on homes to collect medical debt for patients that should qualify for charity care.

There are so many other issues I’ve had the chance to lead, including bills to support foster youth, prevent sexual assault on college campuses, and fight antisemitism on college campuses. Doing this work matters, and serving in the legislature has been the honor of my lifetime. Thank you for the trust you’ve put in me, and for our years of partnership. I couldn’t do any of this without you.