• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) visited the Santa Ynez Valley Charter School on Oct. 8, when the school celebrated 21 years of serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade from across Santa Barbara County. During his time there, Carbajal presented a flag that has flown at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., which became the new flag for the school’s daily pledge of allegiance, according to a press release. “We are so excited to welcome the congressman to our school and receive this very special flag,” Santa Ynez Charter School Director Dr. John Dewey said in the release. “It means the world to us for Salud Carbajal to bestow this honor and share his story with our students.” Carbajal addressed students, faculty, and parents at the event with the message that students can become whoever they choose to be, as Carbajal did the same in his journey to become the representative of the 24th District.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed into law several new bills to enhance protections for survivors of domestic violence and bolster enforcement of gun safety laws, according to an Oct. 8 statement. The new gun law measures will strengthen gun violence restraining orders and analyze crime data to track trends impacting communities across the state. “California has the strongest gun safety laws in the nation, but we’re reminded every day that we can’t afford to be complacent in the fight against the gun violence epidemic in this country—we can and must do more,” Newsom said in a statement. California led the way in statewide gun safety protections—approved by voters in Proposition 63—to ban possession of large-capacity magazines and require background checks. The domestic violence protections will allow survivors to file restraining orders online and enable them to do electronic case filing and remote appearances. The 2021 state budget includes $200 million investment in the CalVIP program to support initiatives designed to break the cycle of violence in impacted communities, according to the governor’s office.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed legislation into law designed to improve college affordability and increase higher education access. The slate of bills included state Sen. Monique Limón’s (D-Santa Barbara) SB 737, which makes financial aid outreach to California’s kindergarteners through 12th graders a priority, a post on Limón’s Facebook page stated. This bill expands standards for the California Student Aid Commission to allocate funds to support projects under the California Student Opportunity and Access Program and expands funded projects’ responsibilities, according to Newsom’s office. It is a part of the governor’s California Comeback Plan to require all students to submit a Free Application for Federal Aid (FAFSA) or California Dream Act application to significantly increase federal aid opportunities for California students. “We’re turning commitments into reality by ensuring that our students have more access to high-quality educational opportunities, creating a change of course for generations to come, and bolstering California’s innovation economy,” Newsom said in a statement. “Californians have thrived at our world-class universities for decades, but not everyone has had similar access—today that’s changing.”
